The Pen

القلم

The first thing God created was the Pen; He said to it 'Write', and it flowed with all that will be until the Day of Resurrection — and by it God swore: Nun, and by the Pen and what they inscribe 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Creed

Summary

The first thing God created was the Pen; told to write, it flowed with all that will be until Resurrection — and God swore by it.

In the texts

Note

Above the Lote Tree the Prophet ﷺ heard the pens' scratching — decrees being written.

People and things also explored

The wind that destroyed Aad· The questioning and punishment of the grave· Dreams (ahlam)· The prophets' dreams· The hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoning· Al-barzakh· Absolute unseen (al-ghayb al-mutlaq)· The Basin (al-Hawd) of the Prophet on the Day of Resurrection

Sources

  1. Sunan Abi Dawud
  2. Jami' al-Tirmidhi
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Pen”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-qalam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words.
Related

The wind that destroyed Aad

God destroyed Aad with a screaming, violent wind for seven nights and eight days in succession; you would see the people felled like hollow palm trunks — the first nation destroyed after the Flood.