folk like you: nothing have We passed over in the Book: then unto their Lord shall they be gathered.' ¹ In both of these passages Rodwell takes the word 'Book' as referring to the Book of the decrees, but when the passages in which they occur are carefully considered it seems best to explain the words as referring to the Day-Book of God. The subject referred to in both the verses is the minute and complete knowledge God has of even the unseen changes which affect the life of man, and of the doings of the brute beasts which also on the day of resurrection will have to give an account of the deeds done in the body. In the following passage this is very clearly brought out. All is written, nothing escapes Him. 'Not the weight of a mote either in the Heavens or in the Earth escapeth Him; nor is there aught less than this or aught greater, which is not in the clear Book.' ²

Yet while the word book is employed in the Qur'an most frequently to designate the record of all that comes to pass, it is also used otherwise. There is, according to the Qur'an, another book, the book of fate. In the following passages we can see references to this book. 'And who is worse than he who deviseth a lie of God, or treateth our signs as lies? To them shall a portion here below be assigned in accordance with the book of our decrees, until the time when Our messengers, as they receive their souls, shall say.' ³ 'No one can die except by God's permission, according to the Book that fixeth the term of life.' ⁴ It appears to me, however, that to

describe this book as 'the Book of God's decrees' from all eternity is not truly in accordance with the usage of the Qur'an itself. ¹ We have already seen (see 'God's Works in Creation and Providence,' Section 5) that nothing can come to pass without God's creative command which is sometimes referred to as written and sometimes as spoken. In such passages as the two preceding, therefore, it seems preferable to explain the Book as the Day-Book of the divine acts, rather than as the Book of the divine decrees.

There is one passage which seems to show clearly that such an explanation of the word Book is not merely in accordance with the use of the expression in the Qur'an, but is demanded by the language we find employed. '...and as soon as ye are secure, observe prayer; for to the faithful, prayer is a prescribed duty' (kitaban mauqutan). ² Prayer is a duty which God has written down in His Book, that is, in non-figurative language, which God has commanded.

Before passing on to the next word we must glance at the uses of the verb kataba (to write). We find that a very frequent use of the word is to express simply command or order, as in the following. 'O believer! retaliation for bloodshedding is prescribed to you' (kutiba'alaikum). ³

There are, however, two passages in which the word is used otherwise. 'Say: Had ye remained in your homes,