68. Al-Qalam (The Pen)
Mecca Period 2
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
ن ...
68:1. Nun.
C5592. Nun is an Abbreviated Letter: see Appendix I at the end of Surah 2.
Nun may mean a fish, or an ink-holder, or it may be just the Arabic letter of the alphabet, N. In the last case, it may refer to either or both of the other meanings.
Note also that the Arabic rhyme in this Sura ends in N. The reference to ink would be an appropriate link with the Pen in verse 1. The reference to the fish would be appropriate with reference to the story of Jonah in verses 48-50. Jonah's title is "the Companion of the Fish", (Dhu al Nun, 21:87), as he was, in the story, swallowed by the Fish.
... وَالْقَلَمِ ...
By the Pen ...
C5593. The Pen and the Record are the symbolical foundations of the Revelation to man. The adjuration by the Pen disposes of the flippant charge that Allah's Messenger was mad or possessed. For he spoke words of power, not incoherent, but full of meaning, and through the Record of the Pen, that meaning unfolds itself, in innumerable aspects to countless generations. Muhammad was the living Grace and Mercy of Allah, and his very nature exalted him above abuse and persecution. (R).
... وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ ﴿١﴾
... and by the (Record) which (men) write --
مَا
أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ
رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ ﴿٢﴾
68: 2. Thou art not, by the grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed.
C5594. People usually call any one mad whose standards are different from their own. And madness is believed to be due to demoniacal possession, an idea distinctly in the minds of the New Testament writers: for Luke speaks of a man from whom the "devils" were cast out, as being then "clothed, and in his right mind" (Luke,8:35). (R).
وَإِنَّ
لَكَ لَأَجْرًا
غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ ﴿٣﴾
68: 3. Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing:
C5595. Instead of being out of his right mind, the Prophet of Allah had been raised to a great spiritual dignity, a reward that was not like an earthly reward that passes away, but one that was in the very core of his being, and would never fail him in any circumstances. He was really granted a nature and character far above the shafts of grief or suffering, slander or persecution.
وَإِنَّكَ
لَعَلى خُلُقٍ
عَظِيمٍ ﴿٤﴾
68: 4. And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character.
68: 5. Soon wilt thou see ...
C5596. Though Al-Mustafa's nature raised him above the petty spite of his contemporaries, an appeal is made to their reason and to the logic of events. Was it not his accusers that were really mad? What happened to Walid ibn Mugaira, or Abu Jahl, or Abu Lahab? -and to Allah's Messenger and those who followed his guidance? The world's history gives the answer. And the appeal is not only to his contemporaries, but for all time.
... وَيُبْصِرُونَ ﴿٥﴾
... and they will see,
68: 6. Which of you is afflicted with madness.
68:1 Nun. 1 CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith] ! 2
(68:2) Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 3
(68:3) And, verily, thine shall be a reward neverending (68:4) for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4
(68:5) and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, (68:6) which of you was bereft of reason.
[[Asad’s notes - 2 For the meaning of the adjurative particle wa at the beginning of this sentence, see first half of note 23 on 74:32. The mention of "the pen" is meant to recall the earliest Qur'anic revelation, namely, the first five verses of surah 96 ("The Germ-Cell"), and thus to stress the fact of Muhammad's prophethood.
As regards the symbolic significance of the concept of "the pen", see 96:3-5 and the
corresponding note 3.
3 This is an allusion to the taunt with which most of Muhammad's contemporaries greeted the beginning of his preaching, and with which they continued to deride him for many years. In its wider sense, the above passage relates - as is so often the case in the Qur'an - not merely to the Prophet but also to all who followed or will follow him: in this particular instance, to all who base their moral valuations on their belief in God and in life after death.
4 The term khuluq, rendered by me as "way of life", describes a person's "character", "innate disposition" or "nature" in the widest sense of these concepts, as well as "habitual behaviour" which becomes, as it were, one's "second nature" (Taj al-'Arus). My identification of khuluq with "way of life" is based on the explanation of the above verse by Abd Allah ibn Abbas (as quoted by Tabari), stating that this term is here synonymous with din: and we must remember that one of the primary significances of the latter term is "a way [or "manner"] of behaviour" or "of acting" (Qamus). More over, we have several well-authenticated Traditions according to which Muhammad's widow A'ishah, speaking of the Prophet many years after his death, repeatedly stressed that "his way of life (khuluq) was the Qur'an." (Muslim, Tabari and Hakim, on the authority of Said ibn Hisham; Ibn Hanbal, Abu Da'ud and Nasa'i, on the authority of Al-Hasan al-Basri; Tabari, on the authority of Qatadah and Jubayr ibn Nufayl; and several other compilations). ]]