And He, exalted is He, has also said:

“If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea, replenished by seven seas after it, were ink, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Truly, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.” (1)

Ibn Abī Ḥātim relates in his Tafsīr (2) from Sulaymān ibn ʿĀmir, who said: I heard al-Bayāʿ ibn Anas say, “The knowledge possessed by all creatures together, when set beside the knowledge of Allah, their Lord, is like a single drop taken from all of these seas. Concerning this Allah revealed:

‘If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea, replenished by seven seas after it, were ink, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Truly, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.’ (3)

And His saying:

‘Say, “If the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord, the sea would surely be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We were to bring the like of it as a supplement.”’ (4)

This is what is meant in the ḥadīth: were the sea to serve as ink for the words of my Lord, and all the trees to be pens, the pens would break, the sea-water would run dry, yet the words of Allah would remain—ever-lasting and enduring (5); nothing can exhaust them, because no one can fathom His true measure or praise Him as He deserves, until He (6) Himself praises Himself. Our Lord is as we affirm Him to be—and beyond what we affirm. Moreover, the sum total of this world’s pleasures, from first to last, compared with the bliss of the Hereafter, is like a single mustard seed amid the whole earth.” ⦗4/أ⦘