Al-Qalam (The Pen)

Verse 5 - 7

Table of Contents

    5. You shall see before long and they shall see as well,

    6. Which of you is afflicted with insanity.

    7. Your Lord is the Best Knower of him who has gone astray from His Path and He is the Best Knower of those who are guided.

    the blessed Verses 5 and 6 serve as Divine Consolations to His Messenger (S) against his foes, saying that you and they shall see soon which of you is insane. The Arabic past participial form maftun, cognate with fitna (“affliction”) herein connotes “afflicted with insanity.”

    They ascribed such unfounded accusations unto him so that Allah’s servants may distance themselves from you, but people are capable of intellection and they will acquaint themselves with your teachings in time.

    Then, it will be manifest that such noble teachings have been revealed unto your pure and brilliant heart by God Almighty and it will be known that He bestowed you a great capacity for intellection as well as great knowledge.

    Furthermore, you measures and stances and the rapid spread of the Islamic faith in future will reflect that you are the great source of intellect and insight and insane are those bats standing against sun shine and most assuredly such truths shall be further clarified on the Day of Resurrection.

    The blessed Verse 7 lays further emphasis on supporting the Noble Prophet (S), saying:

    “Your Lord is the Best Knower of him who has gone astray from His Path and He is the Best Knower of those who are guided.”

    The point is that God Almighty is Omniscient of His Path and thereby the Noble Prophet (S) is assured that he is on the Path of Guidance and his foes are in error.

    It is narrated through a sound transmission chain that when the Quraysh noticed that the Noble Prophet (S) accorded precedence to ‘Ali (as) over others, they talked evil of the latter saying that Muhammad was afflicted with insanity because of him. Thus, the Chapter in question was revealed in which God Almighty took an oath that the Noble Prophet (S) was not insane.

    Further,

    “those who have gone astray from His Path”

    alludes to the Qurayshi foes of the Noble Prophet (S) who uttered such unfounded claims.

    The clause

    “He is the Best Knower of those who are guided”

    alludes to ‘Ali (as).1

    Footnotes

    1. Majma‘ al-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 334, where Tabarsi narrates the tradition on the authority of a transmission chain attested in the Sunni sources. ↩