NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe,
1
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : and from his narration on the authority of ibn 'abbas that he said regarding the interpretation of allah's saying (nun): '(nun) he says: allah swears by the nun, which is the whale that carries the earths on its back while in water, and beneath which is the bull and under the bull is the rock and under the rock is the dust and none knows what is under the dust save allah. the name of the whale is liwash, and it is said its name is lutiaya'; the name of the bull is bahamut, and some say its name is talhut or liyona. the whale is in a sea called 'adwad, and it is like a small bull in a huge sea. the sea is in a hollowed rock whereby there is 4,000 cracks, and from each crack water springs out to the earth. it is also said that nun is one of the names of the lord; it stands for the letter nun in allah's name al-rahman (the beneficent); and it is also said that a nun is an inkwell. (by the pen) allah swore by the pen. this pen is made of light and its height is equal to the distance between heaven and earth. it is with this pen that the wise remembrance, i.e. the guarded tablet, was written. it is also said that the pen is one of the angels by whom allah has sworn, (and that which they write (therewith)) and allah also swore by what the angels write down of the works of the children of adam,
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : 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.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : nūn. by the pen, and by what they inscribe!he said:‘al-nūn’ is one of the names of god, exalted is he, for if the opening letters of the sūras, alif lām rā, Ḥā mīm and nūn, are joined together they make up the name al-raḥmān. ibn ʿabbās y said: ‘al-nūn is the ink-well (dawāt) from which the reminder (dhikr) [the qurʾān] was written, and the pen is that with which the wise reminder was written.’by what they inscribe — ⸢the reminder which is written on the preserved tablet concerning the [divinely decreed] wretchedness (shaqāwa) or felicity (saʿāda) [of human beings].ibn ʿabbās has said in another report, ‘nūn is the fish upon which rest the worlds (arḍūn),⸣ what they inscribe is the deeds of the children of adam which the recording angels have written down.’ ʿumar b. wāṣil said:by what they inscribe means: by the writing (kitāba) [i.e. the scripture] which god has undertaken[to provide] for his servants, which contains benefits (manāfiʿ) for people, and things that are in the best interests (maṣāliḥ) of his servants and their lands.his words, exalted is he:
