“By The Pen”

“Noon. By the Pen, and all that they write!” (Soorah al-Qalam, 68: 1-2) and “Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One. He Who taught by the Pen. Taught man what he did not know.” (Soorah al-‘Alaq, 96: 3-5)

Do we notice something striking here? Both the above verses refer to pen – one swearing by it and the other describing it as a very important tool of writing. The pen as a tool is not something which was born or was found when the man landed on the planet earth. It is a tool which he himself developed. It is a technology which he worked upon and has been improving upon it ever since.

Despite this the Almighty uses this tool as a means of swearing to prove an argument – which is mostly the case with the swearing in Qur’an. When Allah swears by the sun and the moon, by the day and the night it is something which is beyond our scope and we haven’t done anything about them. But the Pen is different.

It means when the human beings were working on Pens they were carrying out the writ of Allah and His command. They were acting on His bidding. It will apply to all the tools of writing manufactured so far. By the same analogy. From the most ancient times to the most modern age. Pen in its various forms – including the digital and that which we cannot think of now.

Shouldn’t the upholders of this Book, then, be the leaders of the world in science and technology if science and technology has been used in pens and it is still being used? Shouldn’t they aim at regaining the same glorious status of founders and promoters of sciences as they did earlier? This is not an option. It is an obligation knowing that this is how they can lead the humanity in the right direction. Let us not forget that they have been brought up for the people. And not the other way round.