وَلَو أَنَّما فِي الأَرضِ مِن شَجَرَةٍ أَقلامٌ وَالبَحرُ يَمُدُّهُ مِن بَعدِهِ سَبعَةُ أَبحُرٍ ما نَفِدَت كَلِماتُ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزيزٌ حَكيمٌ
If all the trees on the earth were pens, and the sea replenished with seven more seas [were ink], the words of Allah would not be spent. Indeed, Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.
EXEGESIS
Shajarah (tree) can also mean a bush, and trees and plants in general. It refers to every plant that stands on a trunk and grows boughs and branches.
Aqlām (pens) is the plural of qalam. The original meaning of this term is something hard or stiff that is clipped or cropped, such as a nail. It is associated specifically with writing.
Al-baḥr (the sea) in this context is not a reference to any particular body of water but rather encompasses all the water bodies present on earth. This broad interpretation highlights the significance and interconnectedness of the various seas, oceans, and other water sources that cover the planet.
Nafidat (be spent) is a feminine past tense verb conjugated from nafida. It means to run out, to come to an end, extinction. Its verbal noun is al-nafād (38:54), and here the verb occurs in relation to kalimāt (words).
Kalimāt (words) is the plural of kalimah. It means words, which are phonetic articulations that express what occurs to the human mind of meaning; utterances that carry meaning. Subsequently, it was applied to a broader meaning to mean anything that can explain or clarify what is intended or required. In this verse, it could refer to creatures created by God, exemplified as words, because each of the different creatures of this universe clarify and point to the sacred essence of God and His majesty. Therefore the term kalimat allāh (word of God) can validly apply to every creature and existent existing in the universe. It not only points to God but also expresses God’s power and capability to originate the creation whenever He wishes, (by the imperative word kun) as in 36:82, 2:117, 3:47, 3:59, 6:73, 16:40, 19:35, 40:68, and 54:49-50. The singular kalimah has been applied to Prophet Jesus (a) in the Quran as God’s direct, miraculous creation in the same meaning (4:171, 3:45, 3:39). It could also refer to God’s knowledge and wisdom exemplified by words.
EXPOSITION
In this verse, kalimāt refers to God’s creative power personified by every existing creature. Seven may be a figure of speech to indicate excessiveness or abundance rather than a specific number. Thus the verse would mean that if all the trees of the earth were rendered pens and the sea ink, and the latter was replenished by an innumerable number of seas like it, and all of them were rendered ink for the sake of writing, and then God’s words, which is what He has brought forth into existence of creation, were written down by substituting them for phonetic articulations indicative of ‘God’s words’, and these were written down by means of those pens using that immense amount of ink, then the seas would run dry and the pens would run out and be consumed before the words of God ran out, due to their being immeasurable!
Indeed, Allah is all-mighty, all-wise: this serves to explain what went before it, which is that since God is all-mighty, and there is nothing that can overcome Him, therefore whatever is from Him cannot be exhausted by this writing. He is all-wise, meaning He creates everything based on knowledge and wisdom. He is wise in His deeds, carrying out deeds according to His wisdom.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Although it was previously stated that this surah is of Meccan provenance on the basis of its contents, Quran commentators have narrated an occasion of revelation (sabab al-nuzūl) for this verse which suggests that this verse could be of Medinan provenance. A representative narration reads that the Jews asked the Messenger of God about the spirit (al-rūḥ). So he recited out to them the verse, They question you concerning the spirit. Say: ‘The spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you have not been given of the knowledge except a little’ (17:85). This apparently did not go down well with them, so they retorted by asking whether having little knowledge pertained to them specifically, to which the Messenger of God replied that it pertained to humanity at large. At this, they pointed out a contradiction, saying: ‘Muhammad, you claim that you have been given little knowledge yet you have been granted the Quran! This is while we have been granted the Torah and you have recited that whoever has been given wisdom, which is the Torah, has been given abundant good [2:269], [so how can this be]?’ At that, God revealed verse 27, intending to say that His knowledge is greater than what has been granted, and that while what has been granted is a lot for those to whom it has been granted, it is little near God.
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 476.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 476.
[3] Tibyan, 8/285; Lane, 1/1517.
[4] Munyah, 21/147; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 774.
[5] Munyah, 21/147.
[6] Munyah, 21/147.
[7] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 952.
[8] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 952.
[9] Munyah, 21/147.
[10] Munyah, 21/147; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 952.
[11] Munyah, 21/147; Amthal, 13/63.
[12] Amthal, 13/63; Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 819.
[13] Munyah, 21/147; Amthal, 13/63.
[14] Mizan, 16/232.
[15] Amthal, 13/63.
[16] Mizan, 16/232; Munyah, 21/147; Amthal, 13/63.
[17] Amthal, 13/63.
[18] Amthal, 13/63.
[19] Tabrisi, 8/504; Kashif, 4/165.
[20] In these verses the imperative word kun (be!) denotes God’s creative power.
[21] Munyah, 21/147; Mizan, 16/232; Amthal, 13/63.
[22] Qummi, 2/166; Tabrisi, 8/504; Munyah, 21/147.
[23] Mizan, 16/232; Kashif, 4/165.
[24] Mizan, 16/232-233; Kashif, 4/165; Tabrisi, 8/504; Munyah, 21/148.
[25] Tibyan, 8/285.
[26] Tabrisi, 8/504.
[27] In another version it is 16:89 that the Jews quote to the Prophet.
[28] Qummi, 2/166; Tibyan, 8/285, which gives a highly abridged version of this anecdote, narrated by Ibn Abbas; Munyah, 21/147-148.