The Guiding Light — Page 122
S u rah al-Baqarah Chapter 2, Verses 1-8 122 connected with the Divine attributes for which the Muqa tt a‘ a t stand. Thus, the letters اﻟﻢ (a lif l a m m i m ) stand for أ ﻧﺎ ا ﷲ أ ﻠ ﻢ ( anall a ho A‘lamo ) i. e. , “ I am Allah, the All Knowing”—a meaning which has the authority of Ibn-e-‘Abb a s, cousin of the Holy Prophet sa ( Jar i r ). Thus a lif l a m m i m placed in the beginning of Al-Baqarah indicate that the central theme of this chapter is Divine knowledge. God proclaims, as it were, that Muslims, weak in the beginning, will soon become strong and attain to knowledge, wisdom and power. The system of using Muqa tt a‘ a t was in vogue among the Arabs, who used them in their poems and conversations. In the modern West also the use of abbreviations has become very widespread. Nearly every dictionary provides a list of them along with their meaning $ y 7 Ï 9≡ s Œ Ü = ≈ t G Å 6 ø 9 $ # Ÿ ω | = ÷ ƒ u ‘ ¡ Ï μ‹ Ï ù ¡ “ W ‰ è δ z Š É ) − F ß ϑ ù = Ï j 9 ∩∪ [2:3] This is a perfect Book; there is no doubt in it; it is a guidance for the righteous,