الَّذي عَلَّمَ بِالقَلَمِ

Who taught by the pen.

EXEGESIS

The word qalam means a pen. Its root letters q-l-m mean to cut, to clip, and to pare, reed, and pen. It is suggested that the word qalam is an early borrowing from Greek^{‎[1]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 774.} via Ethiopic.^{‎[2]Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an, p. 243.} It also means a headless arrow used in casting lots as in 3:44. It is suggested that the essential, primary significance of the root letters is to trim, shape, sharpen, and whittle away, to prepare and to endeavour until it becomes a means of attaining, creating, and ordering a matter, material or immaterial. An instance of this is the whittling away and sharpening of a branch or a reed in order to make a pen of it for writing, or to make a spear or an arrow for the purpose of war, or for gambling or casting lots.^{‎[3]Tahqiq, 9/311.} The word qalam occurs only twice in the Quran, one of its instances being this verse and another in 68:1, and its plural also occurs twice, in 31:27 and 3:44.

EXPOSITION

This verse serves as a second predicate for the subject in the previous verse.^{‎[4]Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān wa Bayānuh, 10/529.} Therefore if the particle wa is understood to be the circumstantial wa then this verse would mean: Recite (the name of your Lord) as/while your Lord is the one who taught by the pen. Alternatively, if the particle wa is understood to be the resumptive wa then this verse would mean: Recite (the name of your Lord) and (that is because or since) your Lord is the one who taught by the pen.

Here, God is described as one who taught mankind the art of writing^{‎[5]Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/762; al-Aṣfā fī al-Tafsīr, 2/1459; Qummi, 2/4301; Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603; Mizan, 20/324.} and reading^{‎[6]Mizan, 20/324.} by means of the pen, meaning because of or as a consequence of the pen, and therefore the gift of literacy serves as yet another proof of God’s generosity (karam),^{‎[7]Zamakhshari, 4/776; Kitāb al-Tashīl li-ʿUlūm al-Tanzīl, 2/496.} in addition to His generous bestowal of life mentioned in verses 1-2. (Here the words ‘mankind’ and ‘writing/reading’ are deemed elided or implied grammatical objects of the verb ʿallama (He taught).^{‎[8]Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān wa Bayānuh, 10/529.}  

Hence, God intends to emphasise and exalt the pen by mentioning it in His book and the verse means that God has blessed His creation by teaching them the art of reading and writing which has manifold benefits for it,^{‎[9]Tibyan, 10/380.} such as preserving knowledge and the reports of the past,^{‎[10]Mubin, 1/864.} thereby affording a distant person both temporally and spatially to learn and benefit from past knowledge^{‎[11]Tibyan, 10/380; Daqaiq, 14/346; Mubin, 1/864.} and build on it, affording the ability to a person to express by means of the pen what they imagine in their mind so that they and others may benefit from it,^{‎[12]Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603.} and in general, affording the opportunity for the affairs of the world and hereafter to be made wholesome. A human being expresses his knowledge that lies in his brain and thoughts by means of the tongue and by means of writing; however, a person can bestow benefit through his thoughts and tongue so long as he lives but nothing of his knowledge would remain until and unless he writes it down. It is to this fact that this verse alludes. Thus it is rightly said that writing can act as a substitute for speech while the converse is not true.^{‎[13]Mubin, 1/864.} The following delightful anecdote drives home this point. It is related that Prophet Solomon (a) asked a demon about speech. The latter responded by saying: ‘It is [a breath of] air that does not remain [since it dissipates].’ Solomon asked: ‘So what captures [or fetters and restricts] it?’ The demon replied: ‘Writing; thus, the pen is a hunter. It hunts and captures the sciences in its trap. It causes to weep and to laugh and as a consequence of its movement mankind prostrates, and because of its movement knowledge remains preserved through the passage of nights and days.’^{‎[14]Razi, 32/218.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Anas ibn Mālik reported: ‘The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “Imprison [or record] knowledge by means of writing.”^{‎[15]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.} This prophetic instruction has been related by a number of companions such as ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb,^{‎[16]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.} his son ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿUmar,^{‎[17]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.} and ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abbas. The latter is also reported to have transmitted it with a slight variation in wording, such as: ‘Imprison knowledge, and its imprisoning is by means of writing it down.’ He is also related to have narrated: ‘Writing is the best means by which knowledge is imprisoned.’^{‎[18]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.}
2. Imam Ali (a) is reported to have said: ‘Knowledge is [like the] hunting game and writing is [like] a trap. [So] entrap, entrap your knowledge by means of writing, may Allah have mercy on you.’^{‎[19]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.}
3. Ḥudhayfah said: ‘Set knowledge down in writing before the scholars pass away because knowledge passes away with the death of the scholars.’^{‎[20]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.}
4. The Messenger of God said: ‘May Allah grant happiness to the servant [of Allah] who hears what I say, records it, and conveys it to the one who has not heard me say it.’^{‎[21]Kafi, 1/403, cited in The Unschooled Prophet, p. 59.}
5. The Messenger of God said: ‘Among the rights of a child on his father is to choose for him a good name, teach him writing, and choose for him a spouse when he matures.’^{‎[22]Wasail, 3/134, cited in The Unschooled Prophet, p. 59.}
6. The Messenger of God said: ‘Do not part with the inkwell for goodness lies in it and with those who possess [and interact with] it till the Day of Resurrection.’ He also said: ‘Whoever dies and leaves behind inkwells and pens as his legacy shall enter paradise.’^{‎[23]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/371.}
7. Anas ibn Mālik relates that the Messenger of God said: ‘Beautiful handwriting increases the truth in clarity.’^{‎[24]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/386.}
8. In a series of variant reports transmitted from the Prophet by a number of his companions (such as Abū Hurayrah, Anas ibn Mālik, and Ibn Abbas), a man (sometimes identified as being from the Anṣār) complained to the Prophet of a weak memory or of his fear of forgetting what he heard of knowledge from the Prophet’s speech, whereupon the Prophet counselled him, saying: ‘Aid your memory by means of your right hand, meaning “writing”.’^{‎[25]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/362-364.}
9. Abū Bakr relates the Prophet as saying: ‘Whoever records knowledge or speech from me shall continue to have reward registered in his favour so long as that knowledge and speech remains.’^{‎[26]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/364.}
10. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Books are the gardens of the scholars.’ And he said: ‘What an excellent narrator the book is!’^{‎[27]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/369.}
11. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘The intellects of the meritorious are [situated] at the extremities of their pens.’^{‎[28]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/377.} And he said: ‘Not knowing how to write is an invisible infirmity.’^{‎[29]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/385.}
12. Shuraḥbīl ibn Saʿd relates that Imam al-Hasan (a) called his sons and the sons of his brother and said: ‘My sons and the sons of my brother, [today] you are the young members of society however you are on the verge of becoming senior members of another [future] society, so gain knowledge. While whoever among you is unable to relate it, let him write it down and place it in his house.’ The same report has also been ascribed to Imam Ali (a).^{‎[30]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/378.}
13. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘When the Day of Resurrection arrives, Allah shall gather together mankind on [one] plain, and the scales shall be placed. Thus the blood of the martyrs shall be weighed with the ink of the scholars and the ink of the scholars shall outweigh the blood of the martyrs.’^{‎[31]Faqih, 4/398, h. 5853; Amali.S, p. 233, h. 1.} This report with slight variations has been related by several eminent personalities such as Imam Ali (a) from the Prophet, and by ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿUmar, in addition to Imam al-Ṣādiq (a). Despite the variations, the last sentence describing the weighing of the blood of the martyrs with the ink of the scholars and the former proving weightier than the latter occurs unchanged in them all.^{‎[32]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/366.} This is while in a variant related by Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet, there is a small addition at the end which reads: ‘… the ink of the scholars shall outweigh the blood of the martyrs many times over.’^{‎[33]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/368.}
14. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is reported to have instructed Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar as follows: ‘Write and spread your knowledge among your brothers, and if you die, bequeath your books to your sons. This is because there shall come a time of commotion and tumult for the people when they shall not feel at ease except by means of their books.’^{‎[34]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/380.}
15. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said the following to Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar in the course of a long conversation: ‘Reflect, O Mufaḍḍal, on what Allah, sanctified are His names, has blessed mankind with … One of these [blessings] is the art of writing by means of which information of the past and the present is recorded and safeguarded for posterity. By means of it books are rendered immortal and perpetual in terms of knowledge, literature, and other things. By means of it man is able to preserve information of what transpires between him and others regarding interactions and monetary exchange. Had it not been for it, information of some epochs would be cut off from that of others … knowledge would be obliterated and literature would be lost. Great would be the defects that would permeate into the affairs and interactions of mankind and into what they need to consider and reflect regarding their worldly affairs and what is transmitted to them regarding what they could not afford to be ignorant of.’^{‎[35]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/380-381.}
16. The reports above reiterate several themes such as the fact that writing helps preserve knowledge for posterity, that it aids the memory, and it helps to mitigate the negative consequence of loss of knowledge due to the passing away of those who possess it (that is, the scholars). Consequently, it is observed that the Messenger of God himself practiced this when it came to teaching knowledge to his companions and especially his closest and most valued companion and student, Imam Ali (a). Thus, Imam al-Bāqir (a) relates from his forefathers that the Messenger of God said to Imam Ali (a): ‘Set down in writing what I dictate to you.’ Imam Ali (a) asked: ‘O Prophet of Allah, do you fear forgetfulness on my part?’ The Messenger replied: ‘I do not fear forgetfulness on your part for I have prayed to Allah to make you remember and not to make you forget, however, set down [what I dictate to you] in writing for your partners.’ Imam Ali (a) asked: ‘And who are my partners, O Prophet of Allah?’ The Messenger replied: ‘[They are] the leaders from your progeny by whom my community will be supplied with rain, by whom their prayers shall be answered, by whom Allah shall remove from them afflictions, and due to whom mercy shall descend to them from the heavens,’ and then he pointed to al-Hasan and said: ‘This one is the first of them,’ and then he pointed to al-Husayn and said: ‘The leaders shall be from his progeny.’^{‎[36]Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/403.}

[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 774.
[2] Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an, p. 243.
[3] Tahqiq, 9/311.
[4] Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān wa Bayānuh, 10/529.
[5] Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/762; al-Aṣfā fī al-Tafsīr, 2/1459; Qummi, 2/4301; Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603; Mizan, 20/324.
[6] Mizan, 20/324.
[7] Zamakhshari, 4/776; Kitāb al-Tashīl li-ʿUlūm al-Tanzīl, 2/496.
[8] Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān wa Bayānuh, 10/529.
[9] Tibyan, 10/380.
[10] Mubin, 1/864.
[11] Tibyan, 10/380; Daqaiq, 14/346; Mubin, 1/864.
[12] Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603.
[13] Mubin, 1/864.
[14] Razi, 32/218.
[15] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.
[16] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.
[17] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/360.
[18] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.
[19] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.
[20] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/361.
[21] Kafi, 1/403, cited in The Unschooled Prophet, p. 59.
[22] Wasail, 3/134, cited in The Unschooled Prophet, p. 59.
[23] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/371.
[24] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/386.
[25] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/362-364.
[26] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/364.
[27] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/369.
[28] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/377.
[29] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/385.
[30] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/378.
[31] Faqih, 4/398, h. 5853; Amali.S, p. 233, h. 1.
[32] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/366.
[33] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/368.
[34] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/380.
[35] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/380-381.
[36] Makātīb al-Rasūl, 1/403.