Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 68 Al-Qalam, Ayat 1-33

نٓ​ وَالۡقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسۡطُرُوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:1﴾ مَاۤ اَنۡتَ بِـنِعۡمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجۡنُوۡنٍ​ۚ‏ ﴿68:2﴾ وَاِنَّ لَڪَ لَاَجۡرًا غَيۡرَ مَمۡنُوۡنٍ​ۚ‏ ﴿68:3﴾ وَاِنَّكَ لَعَلٰى خُلُقٍ عَظِيۡمٍ‏ ﴿68:4﴾ فَسَتُبۡصِرُ وَيُبۡصِرُوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:5﴾ بِاَيِّٮكُمُ الۡمَفۡتُوۡنُ‏ ﴿68:6﴾ اِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ اَعۡلَمُ بِمَنۡ ضَلَّ عَنۡ سَبِيۡلِهٖ وَهُوَ اَعۡلَمُ بِالۡمُهۡتَدِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:7﴾ فَلَا تُطِعِ الۡمُكَذِّبِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:8﴾ وَدُّوۡا لَوۡ تُدۡهِنُ فَيُدۡهِنُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:9﴾ وَلَا تُطِعۡ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ مَّهِيۡنٍۙ‏ ﴿68:10﴾ هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّآءٍۢ بِنَمِيۡمٍۙ‏ ﴿68:11﴾ مَّنَّاعٍ لِّلۡخَيۡرِ مُعۡتَدٍ اَثِيۡمٍۙ‏ ﴿68:12﴾ عُتُلٍّ ۢ بَعۡدَ ذٰلِكَ زَنِيۡمٍۙ‏ ﴿68:13﴾ اَنۡ كَانَ ذَا مَالٍ وَّبَنِيۡنَؕ‏ ﴿68:14﴾ اِذَا تُتۡلٰى عَلَيۡهِ اٰيٰتُنَا قَالَ اَسَاطِيۡرُ الۡاَوَّلِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:15﴾ سَنَسِمُهٗ عَلَى الۡخُـرۡطُوۡمِ‏ ﴿68:16﴾ اِنَّا بَلَوۡنٰهُمۡ كَمَا بَلَوۡنَاۤ اَصۡحٰبَ الۡجَـنَّةِ​ ۚ اِذۡ اَقۡسَمُوۡا لَيَصۡرِمُنَّهَا مُصۡبِحِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:17﴾ وَلَا يَسۡتَثۡنُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:18﴾ فَطَافَ عَلَيۡهَا طَآئِفٌ مِّنۡ رَّبِّكَ وَهُمۡ نَآئِمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:19﴾ فَاَصۡبَحَتۡ كَالصَّرِيۡمِۙ‏ ﴿68:20﴾ فَتَـنَادَوۡا مُصۡبِحِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:21﴾ اَنِ اغۡدُوۡا عَلٰى حَرۡثِكُمۡ اِنۡ كُنۡتُمۡ صٰرِمِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:22﴾ فَانۡطَلَقُوۡا وَهُمۡ يَتَخَافَتُوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:23﴾ اَنۡ لَّا يَدۡخُلَنَّهَا الۡيَوۡمَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ مِّسۡكِيۡنٌۙ‏ ﴿68:24﴾ وَّغَدَوۡا عَلٰى حَرۡدٍ قٰدِرِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:25﴾ فَلَمَّا رَاَوۡهَا قَالُوۡۤا اِنَّا لَـضَآلُّوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿68:26﴾ بَلۡ نَحۡنُ مَحۡرُوۡمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:27﴾ قَالَ اَوۡسَطُهُمۡ اَلَمۡ اَقُلۡ لَّكُمۡ لَوۡلَا تُسَبِّحُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:28﴾ قَالُوۡا سُبۡحٰنَ رَبِّنَاۤ اِنَّا كُنَّا ظٰلِمِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:29﴾ فَاَقۡبَلَ بَعۡضُهُمۡ عَلٰى بَعۡضٍ يَّتَلَاوَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:30﴾ قَالُوۡا يٰوَيۡلَنَاۤ اِنَّا كُنَّا طٰغِيۡنَ‏ ﴿68:31﴾ عَسٰى رَبُّنَاۤ اَنۡ يُّبۡدِلَـنَا خَيۡرًا مِّنۡهَاۤ اِنَّاۤ اِلٰى رَبِّنَا رٰغِبُوۡنَ‏ ﴿68:32﴾ كَذٰلِكَ الۡعَذَابُ​ؕ وَلَعَذَابُ الۡاٰخِرَةِ اَكۡبَرُ ​ۘ لَوۡ كَانُوۡا يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ‏  ﴿68:33﴾

(68:1) Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write.1 (68:2) By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness,2 (68:3) and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward,3 (68:4) and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence.4 (68:5) So you will soon see, and they too will see, (68:6) which of you is afflicted with madness. (68:7) Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. (68:8) Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; (68:9) they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant.5 (68:10) And do not yield to any contemptible swearer,6 (68:11) the fault-finder who goes around slandering, (68:12) the hinderer of good,7 the transgressor, the sinful;8 (68:13) the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble;9 (68:14) (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons,10 (68:15) and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” (68:16) Soon shall We brand him on his snout.11 (68:17) We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard12 when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, (68:18) without making any allowance (for the will of Allah).13 (68:19) Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, (68:20) and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. (68:21) At daybreak they called out to one another: (68:22) “Hurry to your orchard14 if you would gather its fruit.” (68:23) So off they went, whispering to one another: (68:24) “No destitute person shall enter it today.” (68:25) They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit).15 (68:26) But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; (68:27) rather, we are utterly ruined.”16 (68:28) The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?”17 (68:29) They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” (68:30) Then they began to reproach one another.18 (68:31) They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. (68:32) Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” (68:33) Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew.

Notes

1. The great commentator Mujahid says that by pen here is meant the pen with which the Quran was being written down. From this it automatically follows that that which was being written implies the Quran itself.

2. That is, for which an oath has been sworn by the pen and by the Book. It means that this Quran which is being inscribed by the hands of the writers of revelation, is by itself enough to refute the slander of the disbelievers who say that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is, God forbid, a madman, Before his claim to the Prophethood, the people of Makkah looked upon him as the best of their men and trusted his honesty, intelligence and sagacity. But when he started reciting the Quran before them, they began to call him a madman. This meant that the Quran itself in their sight was the cause because of which they accused him of madness; Therefore, it was said: The Quran by itself is a sufficient proof for the refutation of this slander. The presentation of this highly eloquent revelation which consists of sublime themes, is an argument which proves that Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been especially favored by Allah, and nor an argument which might be used to prove that he has, God forbid, gone mad. Here, one should remember that although the address apparently is directed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), yet the real object is to nail the calumny of the disbelievers. Therefore, no one should have the doubt that this verse was sent down only to assure the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he was not mad. Obviously, the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself had no such doubt for removing which he might have stood in need of such an assurance. The object was to tell the disbelievers, as if to say: The Quran because of which you are calling the one presenting it a madman, is by itself an argument that your accusation is false. (For further explanation see (E.N. 22 of Surah At-Toor).

3. That is, you will get an unlimited and continuous reward, for although you have to hear discouraging and disturbing things in response to the efforts that you are making for the instruction and guidance of the people, yet you are steadfastly performing your mission of calling them to the right way.

4. Here, this sentence gives two meanings:

(1) That you stand exalted to a high and noble character; that is why you are enduring all these hardships in your mission of guiding the people to the right way, otherwise a man of weak character could not have done so.

(2) That besides the Quran, your high and noble character is also a clear proof that the accusation of madness that the disbelievers bring against you is absolutely false, for high morals and madness cannot co-exist in one and the same person.

A madman is he whose balance of mind is upset, who has lost his temperamental equilibrium. Contrary to this, the high morals of a person testify that he is a right-minded and sound-natured person, who possesses perfect temperamental equilibrium. The people of Makkah were not unaware of the morals and character possessed by the Messenger (peace be upon him) of Allah. Therefore, it was enough just to make a reference to them so that every reasonable man of Makkah was made to think how shameless were those people who were calling a man of such sublime morals and character a madman. Their absurd conduct was not at all harmful for the Prophet (peace be upon him) but for themselves, for maddened in their craze for opposition they were saying such a thing about him which could not be regarded as credible by any man of understanding. The same is also the case with those men of knowledge and scholarship, who in the modern time are accusing the prophet (peace be upon him) of having fits of madness and epilepsy. The Quran is available everywhere in the world and the Holy Prophet’s life also exists in the written form in entire detail. Every person can see it for himself what a foolish and meaningless thing is being uttered in their blind enmity by those who regard this man, who brought this unique and matchless Book and who possessed such sublime morals and character, as a mentally deranged person.

The best description of the Holy Prophet’s character has been given by Aishah in her statement: Kana khuluqu-hul- Quran: the Quran was his character. Imam Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Daud. Nasai, Ibn Majah, Darimi and Ibn Jarir have cited, with a little variation in wording, this saying with several chains of transmitters. This means that the Prophet had not merely presented the teaching of the Quran before the world but also given its practical demonstration by his personal example. Whatever was enjoined in the Quran was acted upon practically by himself in the first instance. Whatever was forbidden in it was shunned and avoided by himself most of all. His own self was characterized most of all by the moral qualities which were declared as sublime by it, and his own self was most free from those qualities which were declared as abhorrent and reprehensible by it. In another tradition Aishah has stated: The Prophet (peace be upon him) never hit a servant, never raised his hand on a woman, never used his hand to kill a person outside the battlefield, never avenged himself on anyone for an injury caused unless someone violated a sanctity enjoined by Allah and he avenged it for the sake of Allah. His practice was that whenever he had to choose between two things, he would choose the easier one unless it was a sin, and if it was a sin he would keep away from it most of all (Musnad Ahmad). Anas says: I served the Prophet (peace be upon him) for ten years. He never did so much as express even a slight disgust over what I did or said. He never asked why I had done what I had done, and never inquired why I had not done what I had not done. (Bukhari, Muslim).

5. That is, if you slackened a little in your propagation of Islam, they also would slacken in their opposition to you. Or, if you became inclined to effect some changes in your faith to suit these people, they too would effect a compromise with you.

6. The word mahin is used for a contemptible, degraded and mean person. This is indeed a necessary quality of a person who swears many oaths. He swears an oath for every minor thing because he himself has the feeling that the people take him for a liar and would not believe him until he swore an oath. For this reason he is not only degraded in his own eyes but commands no respect in society either.

7. Khayr in Arabic is used both for wealth and for good. If it is taken in the meaning of wealth, the meaning would be that he is miserly and stingy; he would not even spend a farthing on anyone. And if khayr is taken in the meaning of goodness and virtue, it would mean that he creates a hindrance in every good work as well as that he is very active in hindering the people from accepting Islam.

8. The word utul is used for a person who is stout and strong and greedy in eating and drinking and is also illmannered, quarrelsome and cruel at the same time.

9. The word zanim is used to describe a person of illegitimate birth, who does not, in fact, belong to a family but has joined it. Saeed bin Jubair and Shabi say that this word is used for a person who is notorious among the people for his evildoing.

The views of the commentators with regard to the person who has been described in these verses are different. Some one says it was Walid bin Mughirah; another one says it was Aswad bin Abdi Yaghuth, and still another has applied this description to Akhnas bin Shurayq, and some other people have pointed to some other persons. But the Quran has only described his attributes without naming him. This shows that in Makkah the man concerned was so notorious for his such qualities that there was no need to name him definitely. Hearing his description every person could understand who was being referred to.

10. This sentence may be connected with the preceding theme as well as with the following sentence. In the first case, it would mean: Do not yield to the influence of such a person just because he has plenty of wealth and children. In the second: He has become proud because he possesses abundance of wealth and children; so when Our revelations are recited to him, he says: These are tales of ancient times.

11. Because he thought he was a man of high prestige, his nose has been called a snout, and branding him on the snout means disgracing him. That is, We shall so disgrace him in the world and in the Hereafter that his mark of disgrace will become indelible.

12. Here, one should also keep (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 32-44 )in view, in which the parable of the owners of two gardens has been cited for teaching a lesson.

13. That is, they were so sure and confident of their power and authority that they swore they would surely pluck the fruit of their garden next morning, without feeling any need to say: We shall do so if Allah so willed.

14. The word tilth probably has been used because in the garden there were also fields of crops in between the trees.

15. The word hurd in Arabic is used for hindering and withholding for a purpose and resolution and for making haste. Hence, the composite rendering adopted by us.

16. That is, on seeing the garden they didn’t believe it was their own garden, and they said: Perhaps we have lost our way and come to another place. But, when they considered it seriously and found it was their own garden, they cried out: Alas we are deprived.

17. This means that when they were saying on oath: We shall surely pluck the fruit of our garden tomorrow, this person had warned them at that time, saying: Have you forgotten God? Why don’t you say: If Allah so wills? But they did not listen to him. Then, while they were making up their mind not to give away anything to the needy, he again advised them to remember Allah and to desist from their evil intention, but they persisted in what they had resolved.

18. That is, each reproached and blamed the other that because of his wrong counsel they had forgotten God and resolved upon an evil course. 3