So every day or night that passes by him is recorded: 'The lifespan of so-and-so has decreased by such and such.' Until he completes, through this decrease, the number of his days that were written as his term. Thus, his entire lifespan is in a Book, and its decrease is in a Book.

17954 - From 'Ata' ibn Abi Muslim al-Khurasani regarding the verse, he said: Not a day, nor a month, nor an hour passes from a person's life without it being written, preserved, and known.

17955 - From Qatadah regarding the verse, he said: As for the 'lifespan' (al-'umur), it refers to one who reaches sixty years; and as for that which is 'decreased from his life,' it refers to one who dies before reaching sixty years.

17956 - From Mujahid regarding His saying: 'And no aged person is granted a long life,' he said: (It is recorded) in his mother's womb.

17957 - From Ibn Zayd regarding His saying: 'nor is anything decreased from his life,' he said: It refers to what the wombs cast out of children without completion.

17958 - From Hudhayfah ibn Usayd al-Ghifari, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: 'The angel enters upon the drop (nutfa) after it settles in the womb for forty or forty-five nights and says: O Lord, is it wretched or blessed? Is it male or female? God then speaks...' and they are both written. Then his deeds, his provision, his term, his traces, and his calamities are written. Then the scroll is folded, and it is neither added to nor decreased from.

His saying, the Almighty: 'And the two seas are not alike; this is fresh and sweet... and this is salt and bitter.'

17959 - From Qatadah regarding His saying: 'And the two seas are not alike; this is fresh and sweet and this is salt and bitter,' he said: 'Bitter' (al-ujaj) means salty/brackish. 'And from each you eat tender meat'—meaning from both of them together—'and extract ornaments which you wear'—this refers to pearls—'And you see the ships plowing through it'—he said: The ships, coming and going, sailing with one wind. 'He causes the night to enter the day, and causes the day to enter the night'—he said: The decrease of the night is in the increase of the day, and the decrease of the day is in the increase of the night. 'And He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running for a specified term'—he said: A known term, and a limit which it does not transgress and does not fall short of. 'That is God, your Lord'—he says: He is the One who subjected this for you.