The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 553
PT. 15 BANI ISRĀ'ĪL CH. 17 وَكُلَّ إِنْسَانِ الْزَمُنْهُ طَبِرَهُ فِي عُنُقِهِ And every man's works. 14 pštegórš abjíykij وَنُخْرِجُ لَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِمَةِ كِتبًا يَّلْقُهُ and on the Day of Resurrection مَنْشُورًا have We fastened to his neck; We shall bring out for him a book which he will find wide open. 1943 "45:29; 83:7-10. 'Day' being the symbol of happiness and prosperity and 'night' that of grief and sorrow, the verse points to two kinds of signs: (a) those that lead to a people's prosperity and advance; and (b) those that lead to their misery and destruction. We are exhorted here to pray that we may only be shown the first kind of signs. By inference we are also exhorted to make both the time of our distress and misery and the period of our progress and prosperity means of our spiritual advancement, just as God has made both night and day as a source of great material benefits for us. 1943. Important Words: (his works). Jis derived from b which means, it (a bird) moved in the air by means of its wings; it flew. means, his courage fled away. The Arabs used to say to a man from whom they augured evil, i. e. what God doth and decreeth, not what thou dost and causest, is to be feared. Or they would say i. e. there is no evil fortune but that which is of God. means, an omen, a bodement of good or evil; good or evil fortune, especially evil fortune; ill-luck; the means of subsistence; the actions or works of a man which are, as it were, attached as a necklace to his neck (Lane & Aqrab). See also 7:132. Commentary: The words, every man's works have We fastened to his neck, mean that no work of man goes in vain; every action of his must bear some fruit, good or bad. The fastening of the work to the neck of a man denotes that his actions will stick to him permanently and their effects will cling to him as long as he lives. 1761 The word b (lit. bird) has been very appropriately used here for the actions of man in order to denote that just as a bird flies away and becomes hidden from the eye, so does a man very often seem to forget his actions, but they remain fastened to his neck with a cord like a bird which is secured from flying away by a string tied round its neck; and therefore, even if they seem to fly away and become hidden from his view, man's connection with them never ceases and one day he has to reap the fruits thereof. The word has also been used to draw attention to the fact that if a long string were tied to the leg of a bird and it were let off to fly away, it can fly to the extreme length of the string. The same is the case with the