Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:1
Alif, Lam, Meem.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. O Lord, give support.
(The discourse on the exegesis of the sūrah in which the Cow is mentioned)
The discourse on the explanation of the saying of Allah — exalted be His praise —: الم (Alif Lām Mīm).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes of the Qurʾān have differed concerning the explanation of the saying of Allah — exalted be His remembrance — "Alif Lām Mīm." Some of them said: it is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
Mention of who said this:
225 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying "Alif Lām Mīm," he said: it is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
226 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Āmulī related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa Mūsā ibn Masʿūd related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm" is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
227 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm" is one of the names of the Qurʾān.
And some of them said: they are opening letters with which Allah opens the Qurʾān.
Mention of who said this:
228 — Hārūn ibn Idrīs al-Aṣamm al-Kūfī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm" are opening letters with which Allah opens the Qurʾān.
229 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim al-Ghifārī related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm" are opening letters.
230 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Ādam, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm," "Ḥā Mīm," "Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād" and "Ṣād" are opening letters with which Allah opens.
231 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, similar to the narration of Hārūn ibn Idrīs.
And others said: it is a name for the sūrah.
Mention of who said this:
232 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I asked ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam about the saying of Allah "Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book," and "Alif Lām Mīm — The sending down," and "Alif Lām Mīm Rāʾ — That," and he said: My father said: they are merely names of the sūrahs.
And some of them said: it is the greatest name of Allah.
Mention of who said this:
233 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: I asked al-Suddī about "Ḥā Mīm," "Ṭā Sīn Mīm" and "Alif Lām Mīm," and he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: it is the greatest name of Allah.
234 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū al-Nuʿmān related to me, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī, on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, he said: ʿAbd Allāh said — and he mentioned something similar.
235 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: the opening letters of the sūrahs belong to the names of Allah.
And some of them said: it is an oath by which Allah has sworn, and it belongs to His names.
Mention of who said this:
236 — Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Sahmī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: it is an oath by which Allah has sworn, and it belongs to the names of Allah.
237 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: "Alif Lām Mīm" is an oath.
And some of them said: they are separate letters from nouns and verbs, each letter having a meaning different from the meaning of the other letter.
Mention of who said this:
238 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — and Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Alif Lām Mīm" — he said: it means "I, Allah, know" (Anā Allāh aʿlam).
239 — It was related to me on the authority of Abū ʿUbayd, he said: Abū al-Yaqẓān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: concerning His saying "Alif Lām Mīm," he said: "I, Allah, know."
240 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn al-Hamdānī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād al-Qannād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī, in a report that he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd — and on the authority of some people among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "Alif Lām Mīm," he said: as for "Alif Lām Mīm," it is a letter derived from the spelling-letters of the names of Allah — exalted be His praise.
241 — Muḥammad ibn Maʿmar related to us, saying: ʿAbbās ibn Ziyād al-Bāhilī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying "Alif Lām Mīm," "Ḥā Mīm" and "Nūn," he said: it is an abbreviated name.
And some of them said: they are spelling-letters that have been placed [there].
Mention of who said this:
242 — It was related to me on the authority of Manṣūr ibn Abī Nuwayra, he said: Abū Saʿīd al-Muʾaddib related to us, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the opening letters of all the sūrahs — "Qāf," "Ṣād," "Ḥā Mīm," "Ṭā Sīn Mīm," "Alif Lām Rāʾ" and the rest — are placed spelling.
And some of them said: they are letters each one of which comprises several divergent meanings.
Mention of who said this:
243 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṭabarī related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, concerning the saying of Allah — exalted be His remembrance — "Alif Lām Mīm," he said: these letters, out of the twenty-nine letters, all tongues revolve within them. There is no letter among them but it is a key to one of His names, and there is no letter among them but it occurs in His benefits and His trials, and there is no letter among them but it occurs in the lifespan of a people and their appointed terms. And ʿĪsā the son of Maryam said: "It is astonishing: they speak by His names, and they live from His provisions, how then can they disbelieve?" He said: the Alif is the key to His name "Allāh," the Lām is the key to His name "Laṭīf" (the Subtle), and the Mīm is the key to His name "Majīd" (the Glorious). The Alif stands for the benefits (ālāʾ) of Allah, the Lām for His subtlety (luṭf), and the Mīm for His glory (majd). The Alif is one year, the Lām thirty years, and the Mīm forty years.
244 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, with something similar.
And some of them said: they are letters according to the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums (ḥisāb al-jummal) — we deemed it improper to mention the one from whom this was related, since the one who transmitted it belongs to those upon whose transmission and rendering one does not rely. And the narration has already passed with something of the kind regarding that statement on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas.
And some of them said: every book has a secret, and the secret of the Qurʾān is its opening letters.
As for the philologists of Arabic, they have differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said: they are letters from the alphabet, and by mentioning those of them that are mentioned at the beginning of the sūrahs one could dispense with mentioning the rest, which form the completion of the twenty-eight letters; just as one who informs — the one to whom he informs that it concerns the twenty-eight letters of the alphabet — by mentioning "alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ" could dispense with mentioning the rest of the letters that form the completion of the twenty-eight. He said: and therefore "That is the Book" (ḏālika al-kitāb) was put in the nominative (rafʿ), because the meaning of the words is: the Alif, the Lām and the Mīm belong to the separate letters; that is the Book which I have sent down to you, assembled, concerning which there is no doubt.
If someone says: but "alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ" have become like a name among the spelling-letters, just as "al-ḥamd" was a name for the Opening [sūrah] of the Book?
He is answered: since it is permissible for someone to say: "my son is engaged in [learning] ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ," and it would be known — if he said that — that he means thereby to inform about his son that he is occupied with the separate letters, one thereby knows that "alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ" is not a name for it, even if it is preferred over the rest when [the matter] is mentioned. He said: a distinction has only been made in mentioning the spelling-letters in the openings of the sūrahs so that they are mentioned at their beginning in separate [disconnected] form, whereas they — when they are mentioned with their beginning, which is "alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ" — are mentioned in compounded form. This is to distinguish between informing about them when one intends — by mentioning those letters in separate [disconnected] form — to point to connected speech, and when one intends — by mentioning them in compounded form — to point to the separate letters as such. And they cited as proof — for the permissibility of someone's saying "my son is engaged in ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ" and the like, as informing about him that he is occupied with the spelling-letters, and that this in their manner of speech takes the place of his saying "my son is engaged in alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ" — a rajaz verse of one of the poets of the Banū Asad:
"When I saw her affair in ḥuṭṭī and she turned to lying and intrigue, I seized her by grey braids of hair, and my striking her and my dealing with her did not cease, until over the head there rose blood that covered it."
He claimed that by this he meant to inform about the woman that she was engaged in "abī jād," and he set his saying "when I saw her affair in ḥuṭṭī" in the place of his informing about her that she was engaged in "abī jād," since that in his speech pointed the listener to that to which his saying would point him: "when I saw her affair in abī jād."
And others said: the openings of the sūrahs were begun precisely with these [letters] in order to open the ears of the polytheists (mushrikīn) to listening to it — since they had enjoined upon one another to turn away from the Qurʾān — so that, when they listened to it, its compounded portion would be recited to them.
And some of them said: the letters that are the openings of the sūrahs are letters with which Allah opens His discourse.
If it is said: can there be in the Qurʾān something that has no meaning?
It is answered: the meaning of this is that He opened with it so that it would be known that the sūrah that came before it has already ended and that He has begun another; thus He made this a sign of the separation between the two. And that occurs in the speech of the Arabs: a man among them recites a poem and says:
"Bal — and many a land, whose people are not among its inhabitants..."
And he says:
"Lā bal — what is it that stirred up grief and sorrow, which had already grieved..."
And "bal" does not belong to the verse and does not count in its metre, but with it one breaks off a discourse and begins anew with another.
Abū Jaʿfar said: for each of the statements that have been made by those whose statement we have described in this matter, there is a known interpretation.
As for those who said: "Alif Lām Mīm" is one of the names of the Qurʾān, for that statement of theirs there are two interpretations:
The first: that they meant that "Alif Lām Mīm" is a name for the Qurʾān, just as "al-Furqān" is a name for it. And if the meaning of the one who says that is thus, then the explanation of His saying "Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book" is according to the meaning of an oath. As if He said: by the Qurʾān, this Book concerning which there is no doubt.
The second of them: that they meant that it is one of the names of the sūrah by which it is recognized, just as all other things are recognized by their names which are marks for them by which they are recognized. Thus the listener understands from the speaker, when he says: "Today I recited 'Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād' and 'Nūn'," which sūrahs he recited among the sūrahs of the Qurʾān, just as one understands from him — when he says: "Today I met ʿAmr and Zayd," while they both know Zayd and ʿAmr — whom of the people he met.
And if the meaning of this is unclear to someone, and he says: how can this be so, while in the Qurʾān there are a number of sūrahs that correspond to "Alif Lām Mīm" and "Alif Lām Rāʾ"? For names are only marks when they distinguish between persons, but when they do not distinguish, they are not marks.
It is answered: names — even if, due to the commonality of many among people in one of them, they have not become distinguishing except by other meanings that accompany them, such as adding the lineage of the one named, or his qualification or his description, by which a distinction is made between him and others of his kind — are nonetheless originally instituted for distinction, of that there is no doubt. Then, in the case of commonality, one needed the meanings that distinguish between the two bearers of that name. So it is also with the names of the sūrahs. Each name is — according to the statement of the one who says this — made into a mark for the sūrah that is named by it. And when other sūrahs of the Qurʾān shared in it with the named sūrah, the one who informs about one of these sūrahs needed to add to its name by which it is named something by which the listener distinguishes between informing about it and about another, such as a qualification or description or something else. Thus the one who informs about himself that he recited Sūrat al-Baqara, when he names it by its name which is "Alif Lām Mīm," says: "I recited 'Alif Lām Mīm — al-Baqara'," and for Āl ʿImrān: "I recited 'Alif Lām Mīm — Āl ʿImrān'," and "Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book," and "Alif Lām Mīm — Allah, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting." As is the case when one wishes to inform about two men, the name of each of whom is "ʿAmr," except that one is a Tamīmī and the other an Azdī: then one is obliged to say to the one to whom one wishes to inform about them: "I met ʿAmr the Tamīmī and ʿAmr the Azdī," since no distinction can be made between them and others who share with them in their names, except by mentioning their lineage thus. So it is also with the statement of the one who explains the separate letters as names for the sūrahs.
As for those who said: they are opening letters with which Allah — Mighty and Exalted — opens His discourse, they directed that to approximately the meaning that we have rendered from the one whom we rendered from the philologists of Arabic, that he said: those are indications of the end of one sūrah and the beginning of another, and a sign of the separation between the two, just as "bal" at the beginning of a poem is made into an indication of a beginning therein and the end of another poem before it, as we have mentioned from the Arabs that they, when they intended the beginning of the recitation of a poem, said:
"Bal — what is it that stirred up grief and sorrow, which had already grieved..."
And "bal" does not belong to the verse and does not go into its metre, but it serves to point thereby to the breaking off of one discourse and the beginning of another.
As for those who said: they are separate letters, some from the names of Allah — Mighty and Exalted — and some from His attributes, and each letter thereof has a meaning different from the meaning of the other letter, they directed their explanation thereof to approximately the saying of the poet:
"We said to her: halt for us; she said: 'qāf' do not think that we have forgotten haste."
He means by his saying "she said: 'qāf'": she said: "I have halted" (waqaftu). By making visible the qāf of "waqaftu," she pointed to her intention of the complete word, which is "waqaftu." Thus they turned His saying "Alif Lām Mīm" and the like to approximately this meaning. Some of them said: the Alif is the alif of "anā" (I), the Lām is the lām of "Allāh," and the Mīm is the mīm of "aʿlam" (I know), and each letter thereof points to a complete word. They said: the totality of these separate letters, when at each letter thereof the continuation of the letters of the word is made visible, is "Anā Allāh aʿlam" (I, Allah, know). They said: and so it is with all the rest of that kind which is found at the beginning of the sūrahs of the Qurʾān — according to this meaning and this explanation. They said: it is widespread and clear in the speech of the Arabs that a speaker among them omits letters from the word, when in what remains there is an indication of what was omitted — and adds to it what does not belong to it, when the addition does not render its meaning unclear to the listener — such as their omission in shortening in the vocative (tarkhīm) of the thāʾ of "Ḥārith," so that they say: "Yā Ḥāri," and of the kāf of "Mālik," so that they say: "Yā Māli," and the like; and such as the saying of their rajaz-poet:
"What is the matter with the ostrich, raised up high? How is it that not — yā — its skin is flayed from it when it — yā —"
As if he wished to say: "when it does such and such," but he contented himself with the yāʾ of "yafʿal" (it does). And as another of them said:
"With good: good things; and if there is evil, then — fā —"
He means: "then evil" (fa-sharran).
"And I do not want evil, unless you — tā —"
He means: "unless you wish" (illā an tashāʾ), and he contented himself with the tāʾ and the fāʾ in both words, as against the rest of their letters; and the like in testimonies, of which the book would become too long to comprise them all.
245 — And as Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb and Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: When Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya died, ʿAbda said to me: I see it as nothing other than that a tribulation (fitna) will come; so flee your estate and join your family. I said: and what do you command me? He said: the dearest thing to me for you is that you — tā... — (Ayyūb and Ibn ʿAwn did it with his hand under his right cheek, to describe lying down) — until you see a matter that you recognize.
Abū Jaʿfar said: he means by "tā" "taḍṭajiʿu" (you lie down), and he contented himself with the tāʾ of "taḍṭajiʿu." And as another said in adding in speech in the manner I have described:
"I say, when she lay down upon the al-kalkāl: O my she-camel, how much room to move has been taken from me!"
He means: "al-kalkal" (the chest). And as another said:
"Indeed, my nature and your nature are different, so keep to the hut and bow down, you will become white — tabyaḍḍī."
He added a ḍād, while it does not belong to the word.
They said: thus what is lacking from the continuation of the letters of each word of these words, which we have mentioned form the completion of the letters of "Alif Lām Mīm" and its likes, is like what is lacking from the speech that we have rendered from the Arabs in their poems and their speech.
As for those who said: each letter of "Alif Lām Mīm" and its likes points to several meanings — such as what we have mentioned from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas — they directed that to the same to which it is directed by the one who said: it has the explanation "Anā Allāh aʿlam" (I, Allah, know), namely that each letter thereof is a part of the letters of a complete word, and by its pointing to the complete word one could dispense with mentioning the complete word — even though they differ from him concerning each letter thereof: whether it belongs to the word that the former claimed it belongs to, or to another word? They said: no, the Alif of "Alif Lām Mīm" belongs to several words; it points to the meanings of all of that and to its continuation. They said: each letter thereof was isolated and shortened from the continuation of the letters of the word only because, if all the letters of the word were made visible, the word that becomes visible — of which these separate letters are a part — would point only to one meaning and not to two or more. They said: and since therein there would be no indication, if they were all made visible, except of their meaning which is one meaning, while Allah — exalted be His praise — intended by each letter thereof to point to many meanings for a single matter, it could not be otherwise than that the letter that points to those meanings was isolated, so that those addressed would know that Allah — Mighty and Exalted — did not intend by that with which He addressed them a single meaning and did not [intend] the indication of a single matter, but rather He intended thereby the indication of many matters. They said: the Alif of "Alif Lām Mīm" therefore requires many meanings, among which is the continuation of the name of the Lord which is "Allāh," and the continuation of the name of the benefits of Allah which is the ālāʾ (favours) of Allah, and the indication of the appointed term of a people that it is one year, since the Alif in the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums is one. And the Lām requires the continuation of the name of Allah which is "Laṭīf," and the continuation of the name of His favour which is "luṭf," and the indication of the appointed term of a people that it is thirty years. And the Mīm requires the continuation of the name of Allah which is "Majīd," and the continuation of the name of His greatness which is "majd," and the indication of the appointed term of a people that it is forty years. Thus the meaning of the words — in the explanation of the one who makes the first statement — is that Allah — exalted be His praise — opened His discourse by describing Himself as the Knowing, from whom nothing is hidden, and He made that for His servants a path that they tread at the beginning of their addresses, their letters, and their weighty matters, and as a trial from Him for them, so that they might thereby earn the great reward in the Abode of Recompense.
As He opened with الحمد لله رب العالمين ("All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds"), and الحمد لله الذي خلق السموات والأرض ("All praise belongs to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth," Sūrat al-Anʿām: 1), and the like among sūrahs whose openings He made into praise of Himself; and as He made the openings of some of them into glorification of Himself and exaltation by means of glorification (tasbīḥ), as He — exalted be His praise — said: سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلا ("Glory be to Him Who made His servant journey by night," Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: 1), and the like among the remaining sūrahs of the Qurʾān, whose openings He made — some of them into praise of Himself, and the openings of some into glorification thereof, and the openings of some into exaltation and purification thereof. Thus He made the openings of the other sūrahs, the beginning of which is some spelling-letters, into praises of Himself — sometimes with knowledge, sometimes with justice and equity, and sometimes with grace and beneficence — in concise and summarized form, and thereafter the detailing of the matters.
And according to this explanation the Alif, the Lām and the Mīm must stand in the positions of the nominative (rafʿ), being put in the nominative by one another, separate from His saying "That is the Book," and "That is the Book" is a new statement, disconnected from the meaning of "Alif Lām Mīm." And so "That" in the explanation of the one who makes this second statement is put in the nominative by one another, even if its meaning differs from the meaning of the statement of the one who makes the first statement.
As for those who said: they are letters from the letters of the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums, separate from the meanings that diverge from that, they said: we know for the separate letters no comprehensible meaning except the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums, and except the spelling of someone's saying "Alif Lām Mīm." And they said: it is not permissible that Allah — exalted be His praise — address His servants except with that which they understand and comprehend. And since that is so — and His saying "Alif Lām Mīm" has no comprehensible direction toward which it can be directed, except one of the two directions that we have mentioned, and since one of the two directions falls away, namely that by it the spelling "Alif Lām Mīm" is meant — it is correct and established that by it the second direction is meant, namely the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums; for it is not permissible that someone's saying "Alif Lām Mīm" be followed by the words "That is the Book," because of the impossibility of the meaning of the words and their falling outside the reasonable, if "That is the Book" follows "Alif Lām Mīm."
And they cited for that statement of theirs also that which:
246 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd al-Rāzī related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: al-Kalbī related to me, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Riʾāb, he said: Abū Yāsir ibn Akhṭab passed by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was reciting the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqara: الم ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه ("Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book, concerning which there is no doubt"). He went to his brother Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab of the Jews and said: know — by Allah — I have heard Muḥammad reciting, in what Allah — Mighty and Exalted — has sent down to him: الم ذلك الكتاب ("Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book"). They said: did you [yourself] hear it? He said: yes! He said: then Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab walked with that group of Jews to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they said: O Muḥammad, has it not been reported to us that you recite in what has been sent down to you: "Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book"? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: indeed yes! They said: did Jibrīl bring you this from Allah? He said: yes! They said: Allah — exalted be His praise — has sent prophets before you, and we do not know of any prophet among them to whom was made clear what the duration of his rule is and what the [duration of the] continuance of his community is, except you! Then Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab spoke, and he turned to those who were with him and said to them: the Alif is one, the Lām is thirty, and the Mīm is forty, that is therefore seventy-one years. Will you then enter the religion of a prophet whose duration of rule and continuance of his community amounts to only seventy-one years? He said: then he turned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Muḥammad, is there with this anything else? He said: yes! He said: what then? He said: المص ("Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād"). He said: this is heavier and longer: the Alif is one, the Lām is thirty, the Mīm is forty, and the Ṣād is ninety, that is therefore one hundred and sixty-one years. Is there with this, O Muḥammad, anything else? He said: yes! He said: what then? He said: الر ("Alif Lām Rāʾ"). He said: this is — by Allah — heavier and longer: the Alif is one, the Lām is thirty, and the Rāʾ is two hundred, that is therefore two hundred and thirty-one years. Then he said: is there with this anything else, O Muḥammad? He said: yes, المر ("Alif Lām Mīm Rāʾ"). He said: this is — by Allah — heavier and longer: the Alif is one, the Lām is thirty, the Mīm is forty, and the Rāʾ is two hundred, that is therefore two hundred and seventy-one years. Then he said: your affair has become confused for us, O Muḥammad, so that we do not know whether little or much has been given to you. Thereafter they rose up from him. Abū Yāsir said to his brother Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab and to the scribes who were with him: how do you know? Perhaps all of this has been combined for Muḥammad: seventy-one, and one hundred and sixty-one, and two hundred and thirty-one, and two hundred and seventy-one — that is therefore seven hundred and thirty-four years! They said: his affair has truly become confused for us! And they claim that these verses were sent down concerning them: هو الذي أنزل عليك الكتاب منه آيات محكمات هن أم الكتاب وأخر متشابهات ("He it is Who has sent down the Book to you; in it are unambiguous verses that are the mother of the Book, and others that are ambiguous").
They said: this report has thus confirmed the correctness of what we have said in explanation thereof, and the incorrectness of what our opponents have said therein.
The correct view in the matter, according to my judgement, concerning the explanation of the openings of the sūrahs, which are the spelling-letters: that Allah — exalted be His praise — made them into separate letters and did not connect them to one another — by which He would make them like the rest of connected letter-speech — because He — Mighty be His remembrance — intended by His wording, with each letter thereof, to point to many meanings, not to one meaning, as al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas said. Even though al-Rabīʿ limited himself to three meanings, apart from what goes beyond that.
And the correct view in the explanation thereof, according to my judgement, is: that each letter thereof comprises what al-Rabīʿ said, and what the rest of the exegetes besides him said about it — except what I have mentioned of the statement of the one whom I have mentioned of the philologists of Arabic: that he directed the explanation thereof to the view that they are spelling-letters, and that by mentioning those of them that are mentioned in the openings of the sūrahs one could dispense with mentioning the completion of the twenty-eight letters of the alphabet, with the explanation: that these letters are the Book, assembled, concerning which there is no doubt — for that is an incorrect, corrupt statement, because of its deviation from the statements of all the companions (ṣaḥāba) and the Followers (tābiʿūn) and those who came after them of the later generations among the people of tafsīr and explanation. As an indication of its incorrectness it suffices already [to note] the testimony of the demonstration against it that it is incorrect, together with the fact that the one who says that himself invalidated the statement that we have rendered from him — when he passed to the exposition of the nominative of "That is the Book" — by saying once that each of the two is put in the nominative by the other, and another time that it is put in the nominative by the referring pronoun in His saying "concerning which there is no doubt," and yet another time by His saying "a guidance for the God-fearing." And that on his part is an abandonment of his statement: that "Alif Lām Mīm" puts "That is the Book" in the nominative, and a deviation from the statement that he claimed in the explanation of "Alif Lām Mīm — That is the Book," namely that the explanation thereof is: these letters are the Book.
If someone says to us: how can a single letter comprise the indication of many divergent meanings?
It is answered: just as it is possible for a single word to comprise many divergent meanings, such as their naming of the group of people: "umma," and of the era: "umma," and of the pious man, obedient to Allah: "umma," and of the religion and the creed: "umma." And such as their naming of the recompense and the reckoning: "dīn," and of the rule and the obedience: "dīn," and of the submission: "dīn," and of the reckoning: "dīn," besides many such cases of which the book would become too long to enumerate — among that which occurs in speech with one wording while it comprises many meanings. So it is also with the saying of Allah — exalted be His praise — "Alif Lām Mīm," "Alif Lām Rāʾ," "Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād" and the like among the spelling-letters that are the openings at the beginning of the sūrahs: each letter thereof points to several meanings, and comprises them all of the names of Allah — Mighty and Exalted — and His attributes, [namely] what the exegetes have said of statements that we have mentioned from them. And they are withal the openings of the sūrahs, as the one who said that has said. And the fact that this belongs to the letters of the names of Allah — exalted be His praise — and His attributes does not prevent them from being openings for the sūrahs. For Allah — exalted be His praise — has opened many sūrahs of the Qurʾān with the praise of Himself and the laudation of Himself, and many of them with the glorification and exaltation thereof, so it is not impossible that He begin some of them with an oath thereby.
The sūrahs, then, the beginning of which has been begun with spelling-letters: one of the meanings of their beginning is that they are the openings of that which has been opened with them of the sūrahs of the Qurʾān. And they belong to that by which an oath has been sworn, because one of their meanings is that they belong to the letters of the names of Allah — exalted be His remembrance — and His attributes, as we have set forth beforehand; and there is no doubt concerning the validity of the meaning of an oath by Allah and by His names and attributes. And they belong to the letters of the numerical reckoning of the alphabetical sums. And they are for the sūrahs that have been opened with them a mark and names. That, then, comprises the meanings of all that we have described and set forth of its aspects. For if Allah — exalted be His praise — had intended thereby, or by a part thereof, the indication of a single meaning of what it can comprise, apart from all the other meanings, then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have made that clear to them unambiguously. For He — exalted be His praise — has sent down His Book to His Messenger ﷺ only that he might make clear to them that concerning which they differed. And in the omission of his ﷺ clarification thereof — that by it a part of the aspects of its explanation is meant, apart from another part — lies the clearest proof that by it all the aspects are meant that it can comprise. Since no aspect thereof was impossible in the intellect to belong to its explanation and meaning, just as it was not impossible that many meanings for one word, with one wording, come together in one discourse.
And whoever denies what we have said in this matter, he is asked about the distinction between this and the rest of the words that come with one wording while they comprise many divergent meanings, such as "umma" and "dīn" and the like among nouns and verbs. And he will not make any statement about any of these [cases] but that the like is imposed upon him in the other [case].
And likewise everyone who explains any of that — in one aspect, apart from the other aspects that we have described — is asked about the proof for his claim, from the aspect to which one ought to submit. Then he is confronted with the statement of his opponent therein, and he is asked about the distinction between him and him: from a fundamental principle, or from what a fundamental principle indicates. And he will not make a statement about one of the two but that the like is imposed upon him in the other.
As for the one among the grammarians who claimed: that this is like "bal" in the saying of the one who recites a poem:
"Bal — what is it that stirred up grief and sorrow, which had already grieved..."
and that it has no meaning, but is merely an addition in the speech whose meaning is omission — he has erred in several ways.
One of them: that he described Allah — exalted be His remembrance — as though He addressed the Arabs with something that does not belong to their language, and not to the language of any human. For the Arabs — even if they opened the beginning of their recitation of the poems they recited with "bal" — it is known of them that they began nothing of speech with "Alif Lām Mīm," "Alif Lām Rāʾ" and "Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād" in the sense in which they began that with "bal." And since that did not belong to their beginning — and Allah — exalted be His praise — addressed them with that with which He addressed them of the Qurʾān only with what they knew of their languages and what they used among themselves in their manner of speech, in all His verses — there is no doubt that the nature of what we have described of spelling-letters, with which the beginning of the sūrahs has been opened and of which they are the openings, is the nature of the rest of the Qurʾān, in the sense that He did not by them deviate from their languages which they knew and which they used among themselves in their manner of speech. For if by them there had been a deviation from the path of their languages and their manner of speech, then it would fall outside the meaning of the clarity (ibāna) with which Allah — Mighty and Exalted — has described the Qurʾān, for He — exalted be His remembrance — said: نزل به الروح الأمين على قلبك لتكون من المنذرين بلسان عربي مبين ("The trustworthy Spirit has brought it down upon your heart, that you might be among the warners, in a clear Arabic tongue"). And how can that be clear which no one of the worlds understands or comprehends — according to the statement of the one who proclaims this view — and which is not known in the manner of speech of any creature, according to his statement? And in the report of Allah — exalted be His praise — about it that it is in clear Arabic lies that which belies this view and reports that the Arabs knew it and that it was clear to them. That, then, is one of the aspects of his error.
The second aspect of his error therein: his attributing to Allah — exalted be His praise — that He addressed His servants with that in which there is no benefit for them and which has no meaning, of that speech in which addressing with it and omitting to address with it are equal. And that is the attribution of frivolity (ʿabath) — which according to the statement of all the monotheists is denied of Allah — to Allah — exalted be His remembrance.
The third aspect of his error: that "bal" in the speech of the Arabs has a comprehensible explanation and meaning, and that they insert it in their speech as a return from [previous] speech that has already been completed, such as their saying: "Not your brother came to me, but (bal) your father"; and "Not ʿAmr did I see, but (bal) ʿAbd Allāh," and the like among speech, as Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba said:
"And I shall indeed drink eight of it, and eight, and thirteen, and two, and four..."
and he continued in his poem until he came to his saying:
"...with the rosé wine, and the scent of its sleeves with the balsam, by which the finger is repeatedly stretched out for me."
Then he said:
"Bal — let this be, in another poem, and make mention of a youth, noble of nature, excellent."
It is as though he said: leave this and begin another poem. "Bal" thus occurs in the speech of the Arabs only in this manner of speaking; but as an opening of their speech, as a commencement, in the sense of liberality and omission, without pointing to a meaning — that is something of which we know no one who has claimed it among the knowers of the language and manner of speech of the Arabs, except the one whose statement I have mentioned. So that that would be a fundamental principle by which one could compare the spelling-letters, which are the openings of the sūrahs of the Qurʾān with which they have been opened — if it were comparable to it. And how [could that be], while they are far removed from resemblance to it?
