Oaths · a Light

One of the earliest chapters swears by the pen

Surah al-Qalam opens with a single letter, Nun, and then an oath: by the pen and what they inscribe. Many early authorities place it among the very first chapters revealed, close behind the five opening verses of Surah al-Alaq, which themselves end with the statement that God taught by the pen. Makkah at that time was a trading town with limited literacy and no scholarly tradition of its own. The oath is sworn on an instrument and on the act of using it, in a chapter that goes on to defend the Prophet ﷺ against the charge of madness. What grew from those verses included paper mills, libraries and a copying trade.

Surah al-Qalam, verse 1

Source · Qur'an 68:1