18كَلّا إِنَّ كِتابَ الأَبرارِ لَفي عِلِّيّينَMuhammad AsadNAY, VERILY - the record of the truly virtuous is [set down] in a mode most lofty!1I.e., in contrast to the record of the wicked (see verse 7 above). As regards the term 'illiyyun, it is said to be the plural of 'illi or 'illiyyah ("loftiness") or, alternatively, a plural which has no singular (Qamus, Taj al-'Arus); in either case it is derived from the verb 'ala, which signifies "[something] was [or "became"] high" or "lofty" or - tropically - "exalted": thus in the well-known idiomatic phrase, huwa min 'illiyyat qawmihi, "he is among the [most] exalted of his people". In view of this derivation, the plural 'illiyyun has evidently the intensive connotation of "loftiness upon loftiness" (Taj al-'Arus) or "a mode most lofty".