Surah al-Qalam (N)

Meccan. It consists of fifty-two verses. (It was revealed after al-‘Alaq).

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

[Exegesis]

N (Nūn): It is one of the disjointed letters (al-ḥurūf al-muqaṭṭaʿah) that appear at the beginning of some surahs. It is said to be a tablet (lawḥ) and a pen (qalam), or an inkwell (miḥbarah). It is also said to be a whale (ḥūt) upon which the earth rests.

By the Pen: It is the Pen with which the Preserved Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) was written, or the pens of the angels, or the pens of the scholars.

And what they inscribe: Meaning, what the angels write down of the deeds of the servants, or what the Pen writes of the decrees of Allah.

Recitations: Nūn wa-l-qalam has been recited with both bayān (clear articulation) and idghām (assimilation), as well as with the nūn being vowelled with sukūn, fatḥah, and kasrah.

The Meaning of "Nūn": It is one of the letters of the alphabet. As for those who say it means "the inkwell," I do not know if this is a linguistic or a religious designation. If it is a name for an inkwell, it must be either a generic noun or a proper noun. If it were generic, where are the inflection (iʿrāb) and the nunation (tanwīn)? If it were a proper noun, where is the inflection? In either case, it would require a position within the structure of the sentence.

If you say it is an object of an oath:

• If it were generic, you would have to use the genitive case and add nunation, as if saying: "By an indefinite, unknown inkwell and by the Pen."
• If it were a proper noun, you would either decline it (with the genitive) or leave it indeclinable (with a fatḥah) due to it being a proper noun and feminine.

The same applies to the interpretation of it as "the Whale" (either as a generic noun for whales or a proper name for the Bahmūt they claim exists), or the interpretation of it as "the Tablet" made of light or gold, or "a river in Paradise."

By the Pen: He swears by the Pen to exalt it, due to the evidence of great wisdom found in its creation and formation, and because of the benefits and utilities it contains that defy description.

{And what they inscribe}: Meaning: what is written of books. It is also said: what the Guardian Angels record. "What" (mā) may be a relative pronoun or a verbal noun (maṣdariyyah). It is also possible that "the Pen" refers to its possessors (the writers), in which case the pronoun in yasturūn (they inscribe) refers to them—as if it were said: "By the possessors of the pen and what they inscribe," or "their lines." It may also refer to everything that is inscribed, or specifically to the Guardian Angels.

{You are not, by the favor of your Lord, a madman. And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted.}