The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 31
PT. 1 CH. 2 ۲ سُورة الْبَقَرَة مَدَنِيَّة ٢ ياتها ٢٨٧ الرَّحِيمِ بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِـ المة ركوعاتها ٤٠ (AL-BAQARAH) 1. ªIn the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. 8 2. "Alif Lām Mīm. 8A 8. Commentary: See note under 1:1. a1:1. 3:2; 7:2; 13:2; 29:2; 30:2; 31:2; 32:2. 8A. Commentary: Abbreviations like J (Alif Lām Mīm) are known as (Al- Muqatta'at), i. e. letters used and pronounced separately. They occur in the beginning of not less than 28 Surahs, and are made up of one or more, to a maximum of five, letters of the Arabic alphabet. The letters out of which these abbreviations are constituted are thirteen in number: Alif, Lam, Mim, Ṣād, Rā, Kāf, Ha, Ya, ‘Ain, Țā, Sīn, Ḥā, Nuń and Qaf. Of these Ṣad, Qaf and Ńuń occur alone in the beginning of one Surah only; the rest occur in combinations of two or more in the beginning of certain Surahs. Of the meanings ascribed Muqatta'at two seem to be more authentic: 1. that each letter has a definite numerical value. Thus has the value of 1, of 2, 7 of 3,, of 4, of 5, and so on (Aqrab). This system was known to the early Arabs and is mentioned in some well-known books of tradition (e. g. Jarir, 70 & 71). In numerical terms the letters (Alif Lām Mīm) could signify the length of time which the full manifestation of the inner significance of the Surah was meant to take. ج to A The letters J have the numerical value of 71 ( being 1, J 30 and 40). Thus the placing of Alif Lām Mīm in the beginning of the Surah would mean that the subject matter of Al-Baqarah, i. e. the special consolidation of early Islam, would take 71 years to unfold itself completely. It is well known that this consolidation went on until the year 71 Nabawi (after claim of Prophethood), the year of the coming to power of Yazid, son of Mu'awiyah, when the history of Islam took a different turn. 2. The second and much more important significance of the Muqaṭṭa'at is that they are abbreviations for specific attributes of God and a Surah before which the Muqatta'at are placed is, in its subject matter, connected with the divine attributes for which the Muqatta'at stand. The Arabs used such abbreviations. Says an Arab poet: ولا اريد الشر الا ان تا بالخير خيرات و ان شرفا 31 "I will certainly return good for good; but if you are bent on mischief, so will I. I do not contemplate mischief except that you yourself should desire it" (Jarīr). Here and t stand for and respectively. Similarly, the letters J stand for a alli. e. "I am Allah, the All-