Transliteration:( Ya'lamoona ma taf'aloon )
"Who know what you do."
Angels’ Awareness of Human Actions
From this verse, several key insights emerge:
All Aspects of Action Are Included – The heart, soul, and mind are all part of a person’s deeds, not just the physical actions of the limbs.
Recording of Hidden Intentions and Thoughts – If this verse referred only to external actions, how would the angels be able to record:
These angels record all of these unseen aspects.
Angels’ Awareness of Present and Future Actions – The phrase "who know what you do" can also mean that they are fully aware of whatever you have done and whatever you will do, as explained by the revered scholars.
Connection with the Divine Tablet – These angels monitor the Divine Tablet (Lauh al-Mahfuz) and complete daily records based on what is decreed there.
Angels’ Knowledge vs. The Prophet’s Knowledge – This teaches us that Allah has granted these angels vast unseen knowledge about humans, but the unseen knowledge of our Holy Prophet ﷺ is far greater than theirs.
The tafsir of Surah Infitar verse 12 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Infitar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 12.
(82:12) who know what you do.[7]
7. That is, whether you deny the meting out of rewards and punishments, belie it, or mock it, the reality cannot change. The reality is: that your Lord has not left you to your self in the world, but has appointed over each one of you honest and upright guardians, who are recording objectively and faithfully all your good and evil acts, and none of your acts is hidden from them, whether you commit it in darkness, or in private, or in far off jungles, or in secret when you are fully satisfied that whatever you have done has remained hidden from human eye. For these guardian angels Allah has used the words kiram-an katibin, i.e. writers who are honorable and noble They are neither attached in personal love with somebody, nor are inimical to anybody, so that they would prepare a fictitious record on the basis of their favoring one man and un-favoring another unduly. They are neither dishonest that without being present on duty they would make wrong entries by themselves; nor are they bribable so that they would take bribes and make false reports in favor of or against somebody. They are far above these moral weaknesses. Therefore, both the good and the bad people should be fully satisfied that each man’s good acts will be recorded without any omission, and no one will have an evil act recorded in his account which he has not done. Then the second quality that has been mentioned of these angels is: They know whatever you do. That is, they are not like the secret, intelligence agencies of the world, from which, despite all their search and scrutiny, many things remain hidden. They are fully aware of everyone’s deeds. They accompany every person, at all places, under all conditions, in such a way that he himself does not know that someone is watching him, and they also know with what intention has somebody done a certain thing. Therefore the record prepared by them is a complete record in which nothing has been left un-recorded. About this very thing it has been said in (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 49): Woe to us! What sort of a book it is, it has left nothing unrecorded of our doings, small or great. They will see before them everything, whatever they had done.
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