Ayah

الٓمٓ

Translation

A. L. M.<br/>

Tafsir

As-Sajdah<br/><br/>Meccan, except for verses 16 to 20 inclusive, which are Medinese; it consists of 30 verses revealed after [soorat] al-Mu'minoon.<br/><br/>Alif laam meem: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

Related Q&A

Why muqotto'at verses exist in Quran?
Many scholars say that no one knows the meaning of Huruf Muqatta'at (Disjointed-Letters) except Allah. Then why they exist in the Qur'an which was sent down to the humankind?

ANSWER:

Firstly, to say that no one understands the meaning of these letters except Allah is not the consensus of all scholars. Indeed, some scholars beginning from some Shahabah (Companions) explained their meanings. Yasiin, for example, means "O human" according to Ibn 'Abbas. He also told that "Alif Lam Ra'" stands for "Ana Allah Araa" which means "I -Allah- see."

On the other hand, we should acknowledge that there are several Shahabah and scholars believe that only Allah who knows the meaning of these Huruf Muqatta'at. Abu Bakr said: "There is secret in every book. Then the secret of Allah in the Quran is these letters in the beginning of surahs." Ali ibn Abi Thalib and others also stated the same thing.

Ash-Sha'bi, a Tabi'i, was once asked about these letters. He then answered, "Every book have their secret. The secret of the Qur'an is the letters in the beginning of surahs. So, leave it and ask me other question beside it."
Yet even from this perspective, these Huruf Muqatta'at are not useless. They even show us many benefits, of them are:
- to examine our faith
- to show us that our knowledge is limited
- to show us that the Quran is in Arabic since it is arranged from these Arabic letters
- to attract listeners' attention due to their uniqueness
- to make a pledge
- to be names for some surahs

There are also interesting facts from this Huruf Muqotta'at. Of them is the total amount of these letters is 14 which is a half of 28 Arabic letters. They can be drawn up to be a sentence like this:
نص حكيم قاطع له سر
The wise, absolute text which has secret.

In short, some scholars exegete these letters while the others did not but still say that these letters have benefits and wisdoms.

Allah knows best.

See:
Ma'alim Al-Tanzil (II/249) & (VII/7)
Al-Kashshaf (I/20-28)

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