The third aspect:

3058 - Muhammad b. Sa'd al-'Awfi narrated to me in what he wrote to me, my father reported to me, my paternal uncle al-Husayn reported to me, from his father, from his grandfather, from Ibn 'Abbas, regarding his saying: "And whether you show what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will bring you to account for it." He said: That is the secret of your deed and its openness; Allah will bring you to account for it. There is no believing servant who conceals in his self some good intending to act upon it, but that if he acts upon it, ten good deeds are recorded for him, and if it is not decreed for him to act upon it, a good deed is recorded for him because he is a believer. Allah is pleased with the secret of the believers and their openness. But if it is an evil [thought] that he spoke to himself about, Allah is aware of it, and He will inform him of it on the day when secrets are made manifest. If he does not act upon it, Allah will not hold him accountable for it until he acts upon it; and if he acts upon it, Allah will overlook it, as He says: "Those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what they did and overlook their misdeeds."

It is reported from Muqatil b. Hayyan that it reached him that Ibn 'Abbas used to say: When the people are called to the reckoning, the servant is held to account for what he did; his deeds are examined, and Allah informs him of what he had concealed in his self and did not do, and of which the angels were not aware. He accounts him for what they [had] announced—that which they concealed within themselves, and Allah knew it, so nothing of it was hidden from Him. This is that reckoning.

3059 - Abu Sa'id al-Ashajj narrated to us, Ibn 'Ulayyah reported to us, from Ibn Abi Najih, from Mujahid: "And whether you show what is within yourselves or conceal it," he said: It refers to certainty and doubt.

His saying: "Allah will bring you to account for it"

[The first aspect]

3060 - Al-Hasan b. Muhammad b. al-Sabah narrated to us, 'Affan reported to us, 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ibrahim reported to us, al-'Ala' b. 'Abd al-Rahman reported to us, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: When "To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. And whether you show what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will bring you to account for it" was revealed, they came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) until they knelt on their knees. They said: "O Messenger of Allah, we have been tasked with prayer, fasting, jihad, and charity. But as for this, we cannot bear it: that we show what is within ourselves or conceal it, and Allah brings us to account for it." He said: "Do you wish to say as the People of the Two Books said before you: 'We hear and we disobey'? No, rather say: 'We hear and we obey.'" Until their tongues became accustomed to it, Allah sent down the alleviation, and He said: "The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers."