Tafseer of The Clot · Al-Alaq · 96:4
Who taught by the pen -
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ ("Who taught by means of the pen") (96:4) — He taught His creation writing and script.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created") (96:1), he recited until he reached عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ ("taught by means of the pen"), he said: the pen is a tremendous favor from Allah; were it not for it, the religion would not stand and life would not be sound. And it was said: this is the first surah of the Qurʾān that was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* Mention of who said that:
Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān al-Baṣrī related to me, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: I heard al-Nuʿmān ibn Rāshid say, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, that she said: the first thing with which the revelation to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ began was the truthful dream; it came like the breaking of the morning dawn. Then solitude was made beloved to him, and he used to withdraw to the cave of Ḥirāʾ to spend a number of nights there in devotion, before returning to his family, after which he would return to his family and take provision for a similar period, until the Truth came upon him suddenly. He came to him and said: "O Muḥammad, you are the Messenger of Allah." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Then I knelt upon my knees while I was standing, then I returned while my shoulder muscles were trembling, then I went in to Khadīja and said: 'Cover me, cover me,' until the terror had left me. Then he came to me and said: 'O Muḥammad, I am Jibrīl and you are the Messenger of Allah.' He said: 'Then I considered throwing myself down from a height [of a mountain], but he appeared to me in form when I considered that and said: O Muḥammad, I am Jibrīl and you are the Messenger of Allah. Then he said: Recite. I said: What shall I recite? He said: Then he seized me and pressed me together three times until exhaustion overcame me, then he said: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created"), and I recited. Then I came to Khadīja and said: I truly fear for myself. And I brought her my account. She said: Rejoice, for by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. By Allah, you uphold the ties of kinship, you speak the truth, you return what is entrusted, you bear the burden of the destitute, you honor the guest, and you assist in the vicissitudes of truth. Then she went with me to Waraqa ibn Nawfal ibn Asad and said: Listen to your cousin. He questioned me and I brought him my account. He said: This is the Nāmūs (the angel of revelation) that was sent down upon Mūsā ﷺ. Would that I were young in it! Would that I were alive when your people will expel you! I said: Will they then expel me? He said: Yes, never did a man come with that which you have come with but he was treated with hostility. And if your day reaches me, I will support you mightily.'" Then the first thing that was sent down upon me of the Qurʾān after اقرأ ("Recite") was: ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ * مَا أَنْتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ * وَإِنَّ لَكَ لأَجْرًا غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ * وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ * فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ ("Nūn. By the pen and by what they inscribe. You are not, by the grace of your Lord, possessed. And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. And indeed, you are of a tremendous character. You will see and they will see") (68:1-5), and يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُدَّثِّرُ * قُمْ فَأَنْذِرْ ("O you who wraps himself in a cloak, arise and warn") (74:1-2), and وَالضُّحَى * وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى ("By the morning brightness and by the night when it brings stillness") (93:1-2).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, saying: ʿUrwa related to me that ʿĀʾisha informed him, and he mentioned the like of it, except that he did not say: "Then I knelt" up to "what was sent down upon me of the Qurʾān"... the words to the very end.
Ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Shaybānī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād related to us, saying: Jibrīl came to Muḥammad and said: "O Muḥammad, recite." He said: "Then I knelt." He said: he embraced him, then he said: "O Muḥammad, recite." He said: "And what shall I recite?" He said: بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("In the name of your Lord who created") until he reached عَلَّمَ الإنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ ("taught man what he did not know") (96:5). He said: then he came to Khadīja and said: "O Khadīja, I think that something has happened to me." She said: "By no means, by Allah, your Lord would not do such a thing to you, and you have never committed anything shameful." He said: then Khadīja went to Waraqa and brought him the account. He said: "If you are truthful, then your husband is truly a prophet, and he will encounter hardship from his community; and if I live to see him, I will surely believe in him." He said: then Jibrīl stayed away for a time, whereupon Khadīja said to him: "I think nothing other than that your Lord has forsaken you." Then Allah sent down: وَالضُّحَى * وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى * مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى ("By the morning brightness and by the night when it brings stillness. Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor has He despised you") (93:1-3).
Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Jawharī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha — Ibrāhīm said: Sufyān said: Ibn Isḥāq retained it for us — that the first thing that was sent down of the Qurʾān was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created").
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Bishr ibn al-Ḥakam al-Naysābūrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, that the first surah that was sent down of the Qurʾān was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord").
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, he said: the first surah that was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created").
He said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, he said: I heard ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr say, and he mentioned the like of it.
Khallād ibn Aslam related to us, saying: al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl informed us, saying: Qurra related to us, saying: Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿUṭāridī informed us, saying: we were in the congregational mosque, and our prayer-leader was Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī; it is as though I am still looking at him, wrapped in two white cloaks. Abū Rajāʾ said: from him I learned this surah: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created"), and it was the first surah that was sent down upon Muḥammad.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of some of his companions, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, he said: the first surah that was sent down of the Qurʾān was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord").
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, both saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the first thing that was sent down of the Qurʾān was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord"). And Ibn Mahdī added: and ن وَالْقَلَمِ ("Nūn. By the pen") (68:1).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, he said: I heard ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr say: the first thing that was sent down of the Qurʾān was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created").
He said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Qurra ibn Khālid, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿUṭāridī, he said: indeed, I am still looking at Abū Mūsā as he recited the Qurʾān in the mosque of Basra, wrapped in two white cloaks, and from him I learned: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created"), and it is the first surah that was sent down upon Muḥammad ﷺ.
He said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the first surah that was sent down was: اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ ("Recite in the name of your Lord who created"). Then ن وَالْقَلَمِ ("Nūn. By the pen").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
