Tafsir of Al-Haqqah 69:19

This is a detailed account of the rulings concerning the Presentation (of deeds). By "his record" is meant what the angels recorded therein of what he did in the worldly life. It has been mentioned that the deeds of every day and night are written in a scroll, such that the scrolls of a single servant are numerous. Some have said that these are joined together for him, so he is given them as a single connected entity. Others said that what is in all of them is transcribed into one scroll; this is what al-Ghazali—may mercy be upon him—affirmed. According to both opinions, what the servant is given is truthfully called a "record." It is also said that the servant writes his own deeds in a book while in his grave, and this is what he is given on the Day of Resurrection, but this is a weak opinion that is not to be relied upon. The explanation of how the servant is given this will follow, if Allah the Exalted wills.

"He says"—expressing boastfulness and pride:

"Take and read my record!" Al-Radi said: "Ha'um" (هاؤم) is a noun meaning "take" (خذ), and it has eight linguistic variations:

1. With a solitary, quiescent alif: Used for the singular, dual, and plural, whether masculine or feminine.
2. Attaching the pronominal 'ka' (kāf al-khiṭāb) to the solitary alif, as in dhālika (ذلك), conjugated like: hāka, hākumā, hākum, hākunna.
3. Attaching a hamza in place of the kāf: Conjugated like the kāf: hā'u, hā'umā, hā'um, hā'i, hā'uhā, hā'unna.
4. Attaching an open (fatha) hamza before the pronominal kāf: Conjugated like the kāf.
5. Ha' (هأ) with a quiescent hamza after the hā' for all (genders/numbers).
6. Conjugating this form like the word da' (دع).
7. Conjugating it like the word khuff (خف). Included in this is what al-Kisa'i narrated from someone who was told hā' (with fatha)—that the mother said ihā' or ihā' with the hamza of the first person in fatha or kasra.
8. Attaching a hamza and conjugating it like the word nād (ناد).

The latter three are indeclinable verbs, having neither past nor present tenses, nor are they nouns of action (asmā' al-af'āl). Al-Jawhari said: Hā' (هاء) with a kasra on the hamza means "bring" (hāt), and with a fatha, it means "take" (khudh). When you are told hā' (with fatha), you say mā ahā' (ما أهاء), meaning "I will not take," and mā uhā' (ما أهاء) in the passive voice, meaning "I will not be given." This statement is based on the seventh form, like mā akhāfu (ما أخاف) and mā ukhāfu (ما أخاف).

Abu al-Qasim said regarding these forms: The best of them is what Sibawayh narrated in his book, where he said the Arabs say: Hā' (هاء) for a man (with fatha), hā'i (هائي) for a woman (with kasra), hā'umā (هاؤما) for two men or two women, hā'um (هاؤم) for men, and hā'un (هاؤن) for women. The mīm in hā'um is like the mīm in antum (أنتم), and its damma is like the damma in antum at times.

It is interpreted here as "take" (khudhū), which is transitive by itself to the object. The object is omitted, indicated by the mentioned noun, namely kitābiyah (كتابيه), which is the object of iqra'ū (اقرؤوا). This (omission) was chosen rather than the opposite because if it were the object of hā'um, it would have been said iqra'ūhu (اقرؤوه), since it is preferred to use a pronoun when possible, as is the case here. It was not made explicit in the first instance (with hā'um) so that it would not refer to something that is late in both utterance and rank. It is in the accusative case, even though the operative word—according to the preferred linguistic view—is a noun of action (ism fi'l), which does not attach to a pronoun.

It is said that hā'um means "come," so it becomes transitive with ilā (إلى). Al-Qutaybi claimed that the hamza is a substitute for the kāf. It is said that this is weak, unless he meant that it occupies its place in the language (as you have heard), which is possible; it is not a technical substitution, as the kāf is not substituted for the hamza nor the hamza for it.

It is also said that hā'um is a word established to respond to a caller during joy and activity. In the hadith, a Bedouin called out to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with a loud voice, and he responded to him with his own loud voice, "Hā'um." It is permitted to intend this meaning here, for it is possible that the one given his record in his right hand calls out to his relatives and companions, for example, to read his book, and he responds to them in his intense joy and activity by saying "Hā'um."

Some claimed it is originally a compound: Hā ummū (ها أموا), meaning "proceed," then lightness and usage transferred it to what was mentioned. Others claimed that the mīm is a pronoun for a group of males.

The hā' in kitābiyah, ḥisābiyah, māliyah, sulṭāniyah, and likewise māhiyah in al-Qāri'ah, is a hā' for silence (sakt), not a third-person pronoun. Thus, its proper state is to be omitted in continuity and maintained in pausing, to protect the vowel of the word paused upon. When continuous, it is redundant. Among them, some maintain it in continuity, treating it as one would in a pause, or because the continuity was intended with the pause in mind.

The recitations differ: the majority recited it with the maintenance of the hā' in both continuity and pausing. Al-Zamakhshari said: "Following the Imam's copy (the Mushaf)." Ibn al-Munir refuted him, saying: "Minimizing the recitation by following the Mushaf is strange, given that the true belief is that the recitations, in all their details, are transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)." He elaborated in denouncing him, and it is as he said. Ibn Muḥaiṣin recited it with the omission of the hā' in both continuity and pausing, and with the sukun of the yā' in those mentioned (though this was not narrated for māhiyah in what I have reviewed). Ibn Abī Isḥāq and al-A'mash omitted the hā' in all of them during continuity, but not in pausing. Ḥamzah omitted it in māliyah and sulṭāniyah and māhiyah during continuity, but not in pausing, and he put a fatha on the yā' in all of them. What al-Zahrāwī said—that maintaining the hā' in continuity is a grammatical error not permitted by anyone he knows—is invalid, for it is mutawātir (mass-transmitted), so its acceptance is mandatory.