Surah Qaf, Ayah 22

Allah encompasses and watches all of Man's Activity

Allah the Exalted affirms His absolute dominance over mankind, being their Creator and the Knower of everything about them. Allah the Exalted has complete knowledge of all thoughts that cross the mind of man, be they good or evil. In the Sahih, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«إِنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى تَجَاوَزَ لِأُمَّتِي مَا حَدَّثَتْ بِهِ أَنْفُسَهَا مَا لَمْ تَقُلْ أَوْ تَعْمَل»

(Verily, Allah the Exalted has forgiven my Ummah (Muslims) for what they talk (think) to themselves about, as long as they do not utter or implement it.) The statement of Allah the Exalted,

وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ

The Unseen World Becomes Visible at Death

فَكَشَفْنَا عَنكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُ‌كَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ (Now We have removed your veil from you; so your sight today is sharp...50:22). There is a difference of opinion regarding the addressees of this verse. The preferred opinion is that Allah addresses mankind in general. This includes the believers, the unbelievers, the pious and the wicked. Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and others have adopted this interpretation. The analogy drawn here is that this world is like the dream-world and the Hereafter is like the state of wakefulness. When man is in the dream-world, his eyes are closed and cannot perceive by his physical organs of sight the stark realities of the next world. When the physical organs of sight close, his dream-world ends and the state of wakefulness begins, and he is able to discern the stark realities of the Hereafter. Therefore, scholars have formulated the following aphorism:

النَّاسُ نِیَامُ فَاذِا مَاتُوا اِنتَبَھُوا

"People are sleeping in this world; when they die, they will wake up.

The study of this world shows that there is an unerring system of ‘recording’ in operation here. Man’s thoughts are impressed on the membrane of his brain. Every utterance a man makes is permanently preserved in the shape of sound waves in the air. Man’s actions are preserved in the external world by means of heat waves in such a way that they can be repeated at any time. All these are known facts of today, and these known facts are what make the Quran’s claim credible that man’s intentions, his utterances and his actions, are all in the knowledge of his Creator. All affairs of all human beings are entered in the registers of the angels.