The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Verses 1-7 GROUP_1508 68.1-7
1
ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ
Nun
2
مَا أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ
By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man.
3
وَإِنَّ لَكَ لَأَجْرًا غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ
Most surely, you will have a never ending reward.
4
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
For you are truly of a sublime character.
5
فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ
Soon you will see, as will they,
6
بِأَييِّكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ
which of you is a prey to madness.
7
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ
Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) ‘By the pen, and all that they write’ refers to historical record. In historical records of human memoirs accumulated and preserved in the shape of history, the Quran is an exceptional book and the bearer of that book an exceptional personality. This quality of being exceptional cannot be explained unless the Quran is accepted as the book of God and Muhammad as His Prophet. (b) Having a sublime character means rising above the standard of others’ behaviour. It should not be the believer’s way to deal badly with those who are not good to him, while giving fair treatment to those who are good to him. On the contrary, he should do good to everybody, even though others may not do the same for him. The character of the Prophet was of the latter type, which proves that he was a man of principle. He was not a product of circumstances, but of his own high principles. His sublime character was consistent with his claim to be a prophet.