Tafsir Ibn Kathir -> Surah Al-Qalam -> Which was revealed in Makkah

﴿بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴾

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

﴿ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ - مَآ أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ - وَإِنَّ لَكَ لاّجْراً غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ - وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ - فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ - بِأَيِّكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ - إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ ﴾

(1. Nun. By the pen and by what they Yastur.) (2. You, by the grace of your Lord, are not insane.) (3. And verily, for you will be reward that is not Mamnun.) (4. And verily, you are on an exalted character.) (5. You will see, and they will see,) (6. Which of you is afflicted with madness.) (7. Verily, 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.) We have already discussed the special letters of the Arabic alphabet at the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah. Thus, Allah's saying,

﴿ن﴾

(Nun), is like Allah's saying,

﴿ص﴾

(Sad), and Allah's saying,

﴿ق﴾

(Qaf), and similar to them from the individual letters that appear at the beginning of Qur'anic chapters. This has been dis- cussed at length previously and there is no need to repeat it here.