Ma yalfithu min qawlin illa ladayhi raqeebun AAateedun
English
Ahmed Ali
There is not a word he utters but an observer is ready (to make note of it).
18
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (he uttereth no word) the slave utters no good or evil word (but there is with him an observer ready) to record either that which is in his advantage or disadvantage.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : he does not utter a word but that there is beside him a watcher, a guardian, [who is] ready, present (both [raqībun, ‘watcher’, and ‘atīdun, ‘ready’] are meant to indicate the dual).
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : he does not utter a word but there is beside him a watcher, ready.he said:that is, an attendant guardian who is never absent from him. the angels do not know the good and evil that is within a person’s conscience (ḍamīr) save when that person’s heart acquiesces in it [either good or evil]. when there is a resolution [to do] something good, its effect will manifest a beautiful perfume within the breast (ṣadr) and thence from the breast to the bodilymembers; whereas when there is a resolution to do evil it manifests darkness and a rotten smell. in any event, god knows all of this from [the servant], so he should fear him in accordance with his words, surely god has been watchful over you [4:1].his words, exalted is he:
