Al-Qalam
سورة القلمThis is the Arabic text of the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī and Jalāl al-Dīn as-Suyūṭī as the OpenITI corpus has it, from the copy of altafsir.com that the COBHUNI project of Hamburg University took: only the commentary on the verses, with no introductions, no edition and no pagination. Nobody has compared it with a printed book or a manuscript, and no scholar has reviewed it. Each passage stands beside the verses it comments on, which are the Qur’ān text of Tanzil, shown as it is there. Beneath each passage stands its English translation by Feras Hamza, as the copy of Tarteel’s Quranic Universal Library has it; nobody has compared that copy with the printed book either.
Text fromOpenITICC BY-NC-SA 4.0altafsir.comtaken 2026-10-21English translation: Feras Hamza, Tafsir al-Jalalayn (Fons Vitae, 2008), as published at altafsir.com by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, from the copy of Tarteel’s Quranic Universal Library. altafsir.comQUL
نٓ ۚ وَٱلْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ 1
{ ن } أحد حروف الهجاء الله أعلم بمراده به { والقلم } الذي كتب به الكائنات في اللوح المحفوظ { وما يسطرون } أي الملائكة من الخير والصلاح.
Nūn, one of the letters of the alphabet: God knows best what He means by it. By the Pen, with which He has inscribed [the records of] all creatures in the Preserved Tablet, and what they inscribe, that is, the angels, of good and righteousness.
مَآ أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ 2
{ مآ أنت } يا محمد { بنعمة ربك بمجنون } أي انتفى الجنون عنك بسبب إنعام ربك عليك بالنبوة وغيرها. وهذا رد لقولهم: إنه مجنون.
You are not, O Muhammad (s), by the grace of your Lord, a madman, that is to say, madness is precluded in your case, on account of your Lord’s grace to you by way of [His assigning to you] prophethood and in other ways — this was a refutation of their saying that he was a madman.
وَإِنَّ لَكَ لَأَجْرًا غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ 3
{ وإن لك لأجرا غير ممنون } مقطوع.
And assuredly you will have an unfailing reward.
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ 4
{ وإنك لعلى خلق } دين { عظيم }.
And assuredly you possess a magnificent nature, [a magnificent] religion.
فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ 5
{ فستبصر ويبصرون }.
Then you will see and they will see,
بِأَييِّكُمُ ٱلْمَفْتُونُ 6
{ بأييكم المفتون } مصدر كالمعقول، أي الفتون بمعنى الجنون، أي أبك أم بهم؟.
which of you is demented (al-maftūn is a verbal noun, similar [in expressional form] to al-ma‘qūl, ‘intelligible’; al-futūn meaning al-junūn, ‘insanity’) in other words, is it [this insanity] in you or in them?
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِٱلْمُهْتَدِينَ 7
{ إن ربك هو أعلم بمن ضل عن سبيله وهو أعلم بالمهتدين } له و أعلم بمعنى عالم.
Assuredly your Lord knows best those who stray from His way, and He knows best those who are guided, to Him.
فَلَا تُطِعِ ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ 8
{ فلا تطع المكذبين }.
So do not obey the deniers.
وَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ 9
{ ودوا } تمنوا { لو } مصدرية { تدهن } تلين لهم { فيدهنون } يلينون لك، وهو معطوف على تدهن، وإن جعل جواب التمني المفهوم من «ودوا» قدر قبله بعد الفاء: هم.
They desire, they yearn, that (law relates to the verbal action) you should be pliable, [that] you should yield to them, so that they may be pliable [towards you], [so that] they may yield to you (fa-yudhinūna is a supplement to tudhinu, ‘you should be pliable’, but if it is understood to be the response to the optative clause of waddū, ‘they yearn’, then [a free standing pronoun] hum should be read as implied before it after the fā’ [sc. fa-hum yudhinūna]).
وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ مَّهِينٍ 10
{ ولا تطع كل حلاف } كثير الحلف بالباطل { مهين } حقير.
And do not obey any mean, despicable, oath-monger, given to frequent swearing by falsehood,
هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّآءٍۭ بِنَمِيمٍ 11
{ هماز } عياب أي مغتاب { مشآء بنميم } ساع بالكلام بين الناس على وجه الإفساد بينهم.
backbiting, faultfinder, that is to say, calumniator, scandal-monger, spreading [evil] talk among people in order to sow dissension between them,
مَّنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ 12
{ مناع للخير } بخيل بالمال عن الحقوق { معتد } ظالم { أثيم } آثم.
hinderer of good, niggardly with his wealth against deserving causes, sinful transgressor, wrongdoer,