(Nūn)

He, glorified be He, swore by the pen and what they write. For the pen is the means by which speech is recorded in writing—speech encompassing commands, prohibitions, will, and knowledge embracing all things. The oath is thus by the Pen of Decree and what it records. It encompasses two momentous matters corresponding to what the oath affirms.

First: comprehensive knowledge of events before they occur. One who knows a thing before it occurs surpasses one who knows it after it occurs; hence His account of it is more authoritative and truthful.

Second: a thing’s being written and decreed entails its being spoken, uttered, and known, but not conversely. Thus, His swearing by the last of the stages of knowledge entails the first, but not conversely. Knowledge reaches its fullest extent and becomes firmly established when it is written down. Not everything known is spoken, nor is everything spoken written. This shows you the wisdom of describing the prior decree in terms of writing, rather than speech alone or knowledge alone.

What the oath affirms consists of three statements:

“By your Lord’s grace, you are not mad.”

“And indeed, yours will be an unending reward.”

“And indeed, you are of a great moral character.”

He denied that the Prophet had the defect that would discredit him, and affirmed for him the perfection sought in this world and the Hereafter. For what he brought must be either true or false. If it were false, it would have to be accompanied either by sanity or by its absence. These, then, are the possible alternatives in cases of this kind.