Commentary

Linkage of Surahs

The preceding Surah dealt with the existence of Allah, His Oneness, and His knowledge and power, and adduced, as a positive proof of these attributes, was the fact that Allah is the Creator of death and life, and of the entire universe through whose component parts there runs the beautiful order that pervades the cosmos. He has created man to serve a sublime object and to achieve a noble goal. But man in his ingratitude has always rejected the Divine Message and consequently has been incurring Divine scourge. This is mentioned, in Surah Al-Mulk, with particular reference to the pagans of Makkah. The present Surah deals with the truth of the Holy Prophet's ﷺ claim, and gives sound and solid proof of it. Thus it rebuts the criticisms and taunts of the pagans against the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Their first criticism was that he is [ God forbid!] insane whereas he was perfectly sane person, an embodiment of knowledge and a paragon of virtues. Another reason why they probably called him insane is that whenever an installment of revelation descended upon the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، a physical change came over him. For instance the colour of his face would change and become red, or he would sometimes snore or he would at other times appear to be in grief, or there were times when he would hang his head down. When any of these states was over, he would recite the revealed verses to the people. This matter was beyond the understanding and perception of the pagans. Therefore, they regarded this experience of receiving revelation as insanity. Or they called him insane presumably because he put forward to his people and to the whole world that there is no object worthy of worship except Allah. He put it to them that their self-carved idols cannot be gods because they are insensate and lacking knowledge; and they lack the ability to benefit or harm anyone. His voice of Truth sounded alone yet with this lone voice of Truth without any apparent means and support, he stood unwaveringly against the whole world. People without any insight or foresight did not think that it was possible for him to achieve his goal and they called it insanity. Some called him insane for the sake of calling him insane, without any reason. Having no excuse to refute the teachings of Allah's Messenger ﷺ ، all the pagans could do was to dub him insane. The initial verses of Surah Al-Qalam refute under emphatic oath their false charges.

ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُ‌ونَ مَا أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَ‌بِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ (Nun, by the pen and what they write, with the grace of your Lord, you are not insane....68:1-2). The letter Nun is one of the isolated letters that have been revealed at the beginning of many Surahs. They are the secret signs and symbols and mysteries of Allah. Allah alone knows their hidden meaning, or Allah made their mysterious meanings known to His Messenger. The Ummah is not permitted to investigate the hidden meaning of such isolated letters.

Pen and its Significance

In the phrase wal-qalami, the waw is the particle of oath [ translated here as 'by the pen']. 'Qalam' refers to 'pen', and there are three types of pen: [ 1] the pen of destinies; [ 2] the pen of angels; and [ 3] the pen of human beings. It could refer to any or all of these types of pen. A pen is an object that is used for writing anything [ as is the view of Abu Hatim Al-Busti ]. According to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، it specifically refers to the pen of destinies. Sayyidna ` Ubadah Ibn Samit ؓ narrates regarding the pen of destinies that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The first thing Allah created was the pen, and He told it to write, and when it asked Him what it should write, He told it to write what was predestined, so it wrote what would take place to all eternity." [ Transmitted by At-Tirmidhi, saying that this is a Tradition whose chain of narrators is gharib ]. Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Umar ؓ narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah recorded the destiny of all creatures 50, 000 years before creating the heavens and the earth." [ Sahib Muslim ]. Qatadah (رح) says that pen is a great gift of Allah that He has endowed upon His servants. Some scholars say that Allah first created the pen, and that was the pen of decrees which recorded the destinies of the entire universe and all the creatures. Then He created the second pen that is used by the inhabitants of the earth. The second pen is referred to in Surah Iqra' in verse [ 96:4], thus: عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ '{ He who} taught by the pen'. And Allah knows best!

If qalam 'pen' in the verse under comment refers to the pen of destinies, its greatness and its superiority over everything is quite obvious and swearing by it is quite understandable. If it is taken to refer to all pens in general, including the pen of destinies, the pen of angels, and also the pen of human beings, swearing an oath by it is apt because all great tasks are accomplished by pen. In the conquests of territories, pen play a mighty role: 'The pen is mightier than the sword' goes the famous saying. Abu HatimAl-Busti has encapsulated this idea in two short verses:

اذا اقسم الابطال یوما بسیفھم وَعدّوہ ممّا یکسب المجد وَ الکرم

When the brave people swear by their sword some day,

And count it among things that give honour and veneration to men,

کفٰی قلم الکتاب عزّا ورفعۃ مدی الدّھر انّ اللہ اقسم بالقلم

The writers' pen is sufficient for their honour and superiority

For all times to come, because Allah has sworn oath by the pen

In any case, it is immaterial whether the pen in the verse refers to the pen of destinies or it refers to the pen of creation in general. Then it swears an oath by مَا يَسْطُرُ‌ونَ 'what they write [ 1] '.

In other words, swearing an oath by what the pens have written or what they will record in the future, Allah refutes the unbelievers' false charge of madness that they made against the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، thus:

مَا أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَ‌بِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ (with the grace of your Lord, you are not insane....68:2). The verse contains the phrases بِنِعْمَةِ رَ‌بِّكَ (with the grace of your Lord....68:2). It states not only the claim, but also evidence to support and substantiate the statement of claim. [ See special note below.] Man is required to turn the pages of history, and he will realize that a person as great as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ، upon whom Allah has conferred great blessings and grace, cannot be insane. Calling such a sane person insane is itself insanity.

Special Note

Scholars have explained the Qur'anic concept of 'oath': Wherever Allah has sworn an oath by an object or a phenomenon, its subject has been cited as evidence or testimony to support and substantiate the claim. Here the phrase مَا يَسْطُرُ‌ونَ 'what they write [ 1] '. Is the proof of the claim, that is, world history has been cited as testimony for critics to look into the pages of history, if they can ever find a person of such lofty calibre as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ، with high morals insane. He takes care of other people's sanity. The next verse reinforces the subject.