Al-Qalam 
By Aslam Fataar
We exist in an unbalanced world, where our psyches and daily lives are deeply affected, described in Surah Ṭāhā as maʿīshatan ḍankan — a life of hardship with distress, lack of contentment, and spiritual unease.
Many live lives marked by ḥuzn/trauma —perhaps like Nabī Yaʿqūb’s grief at the loss of his son, Yūsuf. The Qurʾān says: “His eyes turned white (blinded) out of sorrow/sadness” (Sūrah Yūsuf, 12:84).
Today, we reflect on coming into Allah’s bayān, divinely inspired eloquent expression and clear speech, to address our complex times, out-of-whack existence, and injustices in our world. Bayān is not just about speech and communication; it is about cultivating clarity through intellectual and moral effort, understanding the world and our role in it, and embodying moral fortitude, beauty, and excellence in our actions.
As Allah reminds us in Surah Rahman: “The Most Beneficent (Allah) Taught the Qurʾān, Created humans, and taught them bayan – clear expression.” Bayān is both the clarity of divine guidance and the human capacity to express truth and pursue justice. As Allah explains in Surah Bakarah (verse 118), “Indeed, We have made all the signs manifest unto people endowed with inner certainty.” Inner certainty/faith (yaqin) is essential for accessing Allah’s bayān—divine speech.
We are called to come into Allah’s bayān to confront huzn (sorrow) and dhulm (injustice) in the world. Bayān is more than communication; it requires intellectual clarity, moral effort, and a commitment to beauty and excellence in action. We live in an era shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms—technologies that offer medical breakthroughs, improved agriculture, and enhanced safety. However, these advancements also permeate our lives, primarily through smartphones that colonise our bodies, relationships, and ecosystems. In this context, we are called to engage Allah’s bayān even as AI imposes its own bayān, embedding the logic of consumption and distraction.
Critical digital literacy—an active, reflexive human capacity that enables us to use technology responsibly—is urgently needed. This involves cultivating language, intellect, and sense-making rooted in ethical and moral behaviour. The challenge is to resist AI’s disruption through bayān, developing ethical speech and moral capacity to balance AI’s potential with human and ecological well-being. Establishing our bayān ensures productive AI use, not harmful behaviours.
Our forebears exemplified their bayān during the times of slavery, colonialism, and apartheid, responding to oppression by building language, institutions, and schools. Their spiritually inspired practices fostered resilience, hope, and renewal amidst trauma, offering guidance for today’s challenges.
Allah’s divinely inspired gift of speech, language, and eloquence allows us to gain insight into life’s complexities and cultivate moral behaviour (akhlāq) aligned with divine law.
Knowledge and learning are central to coming into Allah’s bayān. Education systems must prioritise teaching and learning as vital to moral living. It must foster the slow, deliberate cultivation of intellectual and moral virtues, whether in schools, madrasas, adult classes, or informal spaces. It should emphasise adab (etiquette) while developing critical engagement, creativity, and practical application.
Educational and everyday relationships must centre on mentoring the young in adab and critical, innovative thinking. Coming into Allah’s bayān requires intentional moral and educational cultivation to mobilise bayān to counter trauma (ḥuzn) and oppression (ẓulm) and build just lives and fair-minded communities.
I offer the example of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ coming into Allah’s bayān. Three issues related to the first revelation are key. First, the Prophet ﷺ, described in the Qurʾān (Surah Aʿrāf) as nabiyyal ummī—the unlettered prophet —lived in an oral culture. His moral sensibilities responded to polytheistic or shirk-informed lifestyles and moral infractions in 7th-century Arabia.
Second, when Angel Jibrīl instructed him thrice to recite (Iqraʾ), the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) responded that he was unable to. Allah then revealed in Surah al-ʿAlaq: “He taught man what he did not know.”
Being unlettered, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was uninfluenced by human writings, thus founding his nubūwwah (prophethood) on Allah’s command to RECITE (iqra’). This instruction became central to his moral response to jāhilī society, engaging deeply with the language and practices of his society and inserting the revolutionary meanings of the Qur’an in it.
Receiving waḥy profoundly unsettled the Prophet ﷺ, sweating and shaken, he ran to his wife, Khadījah, who comforted and reassured him. The awe-inspiring command to RECITE framed revelation as the foundation for addressing societal injustice. The emphasis on the pen in the first revealed verses underscores humanity’s unique ability to record and transmit thoughts across generations, enabling moral and intellectual growth.
Third, fatrah al-waḥy, which is the pause between the first and second revelation—lasted around 15 days. This interval caused the Prophet ﷺ deep anguish, mirroring Makkah’s spiritual and moral poverty at the time.
Allah reassures the Prophet ﷺ in Surah Duhaa, 93, verses 1-3: “By the morning light and the night as it settles. Your Lord did not abandon you, nor did He forget”.
To address the gap in receiving guidance and clarity through revelation, Allah taught Muhammad ﷺ the process and logic of receiving waḥy. This divinely ordered pedagogical relationship between Allah and His Prophet ﷺ exemplifies the acquisition of bayān—eloquent expression and clear understanding of divine guidance.
About receiving and processing the wahy, Allah instructs Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Surah Qiyamah: “O Prophet. DO NOT MOVE thy tongue in haste, [repeating the words of the revelation:] for, behold, it is for Us to gather it [in thy heart,] and to cause it to be read [as it ought to be read]. Thus, when We recite it, follow thou its wording [with all thy mind] and then, behold, it will be for Us to make its meaning clear”. (Q75, V16-19)
In these verses, Allah outlines the process of receiving revelation. Contrary to the Prophet’s ﷺ desire to immediately commit the waḥy to memory, Allah instructs him not to rush. Instead, the Prophet ﷺ is to listen attentively, allowing the revelation to settle in his heart. Allah will reveal its meanings, and the Prophet ﷺ will articulate the divine words. This emphasises patience, reflection, and understanding before conveying Allah’s message.
Similarly, coming into Allah’s bayān requires thoughtful cultivation aligned with the complexities of our time. Just as the Prophet ﷺ was guided in receiving and understanding revelation, we must engage in a process to understand and live by the divine message today.
In conclusion, this piece reflected on Allah’s bayān—the divine gift of eloquent expression—and its relevance to our times. Inspired by the Prophet’s ﷺ example, we are also called to cultivate our bayān, a process of intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth. In the age of AI, social media, and rising challenges, we must develop the literacies to navigate these realities while upholding justice and dignity. Aligning with Allah’s bayan would allow us to embody compassion and create meaningful lives in today’s complex world.
Aslam Fataar is professor at Stellenbosch University.
