Chapter 17, Verse 72

69:20; 84:8, 9.

Commentary:

The word امام (Leader) here means a spiritual Leader or a Prophet. On the Day of Judgement every people will be summoned along with their Prophet, for he will have to render an account of how he discharged his divine mission and how his people received and treated his Message (4:42; 16:85, 90; Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir).

According to Islam the right hand is a symbol of blessing while the left is a symbol of punishment. In the human body the right side enjoys a certain superiority over the left since the tissues of the right side generally are stronger than those of the left. The giving of the record of one’s deeds in one’s right hand as mentioned in this verse signifies that it will be a good and favourable record.

A certain preference for the right hand is a trait common among all races. Medical science has established the fact that the right hand of man is comparatively stronger than the left. Various explanations for this phenomenon have been offered by scientists, some of which are based on psycho-physics and others on social habits. At any rate among normal men the percentage of left-handed persons has been found to vary from 4 to 8, while among the mentally defective the percentage is much higher (Enc. Brit., 14th Edition, under Handedness).

It may well be concluded from these facts that the right hand is better suited for the performance of work than the left. So it is quite reasonable to regard the right arm as the symbol of strength. The receiving by believers of the records of works in their right hands may therefore be understood to point to the fact that they were industrious, diligent and self-sacrificing, while the receiving by disbelievers of their records in their left hands would signify that they were slow, lazy and selfish, the left hand being symbolic of weakness.

Moreover, the right hand is reserved for doing works which are generally regarded as clean while the left hand is reserved for unclean works. Thus the holding by believers of their records in their right hands would signify that their works were good and pure and the works of disbelievers were unclean and dirty as they would hold their records in their left hands.

According to some commentators of the Quran the word یمین (right hand) also signifies strength and power (69:46). According to this sense of the word the holding by believers of their records in their right hands would signify that they had taken hold of virtue with strength and resolution while the holding by disbelievers of their records in their left hands would signify that they did not strive after virtue with requisite strength and zeal.

The word یمین (right hand) also means a blessed thing as in the hadith کلتا یدی ربی یمین i.e. both the hands of my Lord are full of blessings. (Bihar, vol. 2, p. 503). In this sense the words, "whoso shall be given his book in his right hand" would symbolize that the believers’ record would be a blessed one.

The words, such will read their book, only point to a common habit of man. The possessor of a good record naturally reads it again and again while he whose record is bad conceals it and avoids reading it. See also v. 15 above. For the word فتیلا (a whit) see 4:50.

69:20; 84:8, 9.

The right hand is a symbol of blessing while the left is that of punishment. Also in the human body the right side enjoys a certain superiority over the left since the tissues of the right side generally are stronger than those of the left. Giving of the record of one’s deeds in one’s right hand as mentioned in this verse signifies that it will be a favourable and blessed record. Again, the right hand signifies strength and power (69:46). The holding by believers of their records in their right hands is meant to signify that they had taken hold of virtue with strength and resolution, while the holding by disbelievers of their records in their left hands would signify that they did not strive after virtue with requisite strength and zeal.