Surah 96. Al-Alaq

READ¹ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created -

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "this divine writ". The imperative iqra' may be rendered as "read" or "recite". The former rendering is, to my mind, by far the preferable in this context inasmuch as the concept of "reciting" implies no more than the oral delivery - with or without understanding - of something already laid down in writing or committed to memory, whereas "reading" primarily signifies a conscious taking-in, with or without an audible utterance but with a view to understanding them, of words and ideas received from an outside source: in this case, the message of the Qur'an.

Read! In the name of your Rabb Who created

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Read, 'O Prophet,' in the Name of your Lord Who created-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Proclaim! (or Read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher Who created ^{6203 6204}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Iqraa may mean "read", or "recite or rehearse", or "proclaim aloud", the object understood being Allah's Message. In worldly letters he was unversed, but with spiritual knowledge his mind and soul were filled, and now had come the time when he must stand forth to the world and declare his mission.

The declaration or proclamation was to be in the name of Allah the Creator. It was not for any personal benefit to the Prophet: to him there was to come bitter persecution, sorrow, and suffering. It was the call of Allah for the benefit of erring humanity. Allah is mentioned by his title of "thy Lord and Cherisher", to establish a direct nexus between the source of the Message and the one addressed. The Message was not merely an abstract proposition of philosophy, but the direct concrete message of a personal Allah to the creatures whom He loves and cherishes. "Thy" addressed to the Prophet is appropriate in two ways: (1) he was in direct contact with the divine Messenger (Gabriel) and Him Who sent the Messenger; (2) he represented the whole of humanity, in a fuller sense than that in which Christ Jesus is the "Son of Man".

created man out of a germ-cell!²

  - Mohammad Asad

The past tense in which the verb khalaqa appears in these two verses is meant to indicate that the act of divine creation (khalq) has been and is being continuously repeated. It is also noteworthy that this very first Qur'anic revelation alludes to man's embryonic evolution out of a "germ-cell" - i.e., out of a fertilized female ovum - thus contrasting the primitiveness and simplicity of his biological origins with his intellectual and spiritual potential: a contrast which clearly points to the existence of a conscious design and a purpose underlying the creation of life.

- created man from a leechlike mass.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

created humans from a clinging clot.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 ’Alaq, meaning the embryo resembles a leech.

Createth man from a clot.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Created man out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: ⁶²⁰⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxiii. 14, The lowly origin of the animal in man is contrasted with the high destiny offered to him in his intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature by his "most bountiful" Creator. No knowledge is withheld from man. On the contrary, through the faculties freely given to him, he acquires it in such measure as outstrips his immediate understanding, and leads him ever to strive for newer and newer meaning.

Read - for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One

  - Mohammad Asad

Read! Your Rabb is the Most Gracious,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

who has taught [man] the use of the pen -

  - Mohammad Asad

Who taught by the Pen,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who taught by the pen-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who teacheth by the pen,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He Who taught (the use of) the Pen ⁶²⁰⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See n. 5593 to lxviii. 1. The Arabic words for "teach" and "knowledge" are from the same root. It is impossible to produce in a Translation the complete orchestral harmony of the words for "read", "teach", "pen" (which implies reading, writing, books, study, research), "knowledge" (including science, self knowledge, spiritual understanding), and "proclaim", an alternative meaning of the word for "to read". This proclaiming or reading implies not only the duty of blazoning forth Allah's message, as going, with the prophetic office, but also the duty of promulgation and wide dissemination of the Truth by all who read and understand it. The comprehensive meaning of qaraa refers not only to a particular person and occasion but also gives a universal direction. And this kind of comprehensive meaning, as we have seen, runs throughout the Qur-an -for those, who will understand.

taught man what he did not know!³

  - Mohammad Asad

"The pen" is used here as a symbol for the art of writing or, more specifically, for all knowledge recorded by means of writing: and this explains the symbolic summons "Read!" at the beginning of verses {1} and {3}. Man's unique ability to transmit, by means of written records, his thoughts, experiences and insights from individual to individual, from generation to generation, and from one cultural environment to another endows all human knowledge with a cumulative character; and since, thanks to this God-given ability, every human being partakes, in one way or another, in mankind's continuous accumulation of knowledge, man is spoken of as being "taught by God" things which the single individual does not - and, indeed, cannot - know by himself. (This double stress on man's utter dependence on God, who creates him as a biological entity and implants in him the will and the ability to acquire knowledge, receives its final accent, as it were, in the next three verses.) Furthermore, God's "teaching" man signifies also the act of His revealing, through the prophets, spiritual truths and moral standards which cannot be unequivocally established through human experience and reasoning alone: and, thus, it circumscribes the phenomenon of divine revelation as such.

taught man what he knew not.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

taught humanity what they knew not.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Verses 1-5 are known to be the first ever revealed of the Quran. The Prophet (ﷺ) was retreating at a cave in the outskirts of Mecca when the angel Gabriel appeared to him, squeezing him tightly and ordering him to read. Since the Prophet (ﷺ) was unlettered, he responded, “I cannot read.” Ultimately, Gabriel taught him: “Read in the Name of your Lord …” Some scholars believe that this encounter is the fulfilment of Isaiah 29:12, which states, “Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, ‘Read this.’ And he will say, ‘I cannot read.’”

Teacheth man that which be knew not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Taught man that which he knew not. ⁶²⁰⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah teaches us new knowledge at every given moment. Individuals learn more and more day by day; nations and humanity at large learn fresh knowledge at every stage. This is even more noticeable and important in the spiritual world.