Surah Al-Qalam (68) — Ayah 1

(Ayah 1) ➊ {’’ نٓ ‘‘} is one of the alphabetic letters. The true meaning of these letters that appear at the beginning of various surahs is known only to Allah Almighty. The closest opinion is that by mentioning these letters, the entire world is challenged that Allah Almighty has revealed the Noble Qur’an in these very alphabetic letters. If you doubt its being from Allah, these alphabetic letters are also in your knowledge and use; you too should bring forth a surah like it. The indication for this is that generally, wherever these letters appear, the Qur’an, the Book, or revelation is mentioned afterward. (And Allah knows best)

Some commentators have said that {’’ نٓ ‘‘} means “fish,” and here an oath is sworn by that great fish upon whose back the seven earths are placed, but this is not correct. Firstly, because the existence of such a fish is not established by any Sahih hadith; secondly, although in Arabic speech “noon” can mean “fish,” as He said: «وَ ذَا النُّوْنِ اِذْ ذَّهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا » [ الأنبیاء : ۸۷ ] “And the man of the fish, when he went off in anger.” But here the word is in the form of “N,” not “noon.” Furthermore, if it meant “fish,” it should have a nominative, accusative, or genitive ending and tanween at the end, whereas here there is a pause at the end, which is evidence that it is an alphabetic letter like the other disjointed letters, for example, {’’ الٓمّٓ ‘‘}. Some have said that {’’ نٓ ‘‘} means “inkpot,” but this is not well-known in the language, and the absence of case ending and tanween also refutes this.

➋ { وَ الْقَلَمِ …: ’’ الْقَلَمِ ‘‘} may refer to the pen that writes on the Preserved Tablet, about which Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ إِنَّ أَوَّلَ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ اللّٰهُ تَعَالَی الْقَلَمُ وَ أَمَرَهُ أَنْ يَّكْتُبَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ يَكُوْنُ ] [ سلسلۃ الأحادیث الصحیحۃ للألباني : 257/1، ح : ۱۳۳ ] “The first thing Allah Almighty created was the pen, and He commanded it to write everything that would happen in the future.” This hadith is also narrated by Ubadah bin Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) in Tirmidhi (3319), Abu Dawood (4700), and Musnad Ahmad (5/317). And it may also mean the pen with which people write. The word is general, so it cannot be restricted to one specific pen. In {’’ وَ مَا يَسْطُرُوْنَ ‘‘}, the heavenly scriptures written in the Preserved Tablet, the Noble Qur’an, the destiny of the entire universe written from the beginning of creation, and everything that humans or angels write are all included.

N, By the pen and (1) what they (the angels) write.

Nun. [1] By the pen and what [2] they write,

[1] According to some people, ﴿ن﴾ refers to the inkpot, and this analogy is based on the close connection between the pen and the inkpot.
[2] It can have several meanings. One is the same as mentioned in the following hadith: Waleed bin ‘Ubadah narrates from his father that: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: Allah Almighty created the pen first and said to it, “Write.” So the pen wrote everything that was to happen until eternity. [ترمذي۔ ابواب التفسير]
According to this hadith, the writing pen itself is meant. Or it is possible that by this pen are meant the angels of Allah who write. The second meaning is that it is an oath by the pen and those angels who copy the Quran from the Preserved Tablet (Lawh Mahfuz). The third meaning is that after the revelation of the Quran, it is an oath by those noble Companions ؓ who wrote down the revelation of the Quran with the pen. And the fourth meaning is that it is an oath by those historians who, with the pen, record the life stories of great reformers in the pages of history.