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Ulm-ul-Qur’an

An Introduction to the Science of the Qur’an

(How to Study and Understand the Quran)

By:

Dr. Hasanuddin Ahmed, I.A.S.

CHAPTER - 13

AL HURUFUL MUQATTA’AT

The word Muqatta'at is derived from the root 'qata'a meaning to cut. It also applies to that which is cut. Some scholars have interpreted it to apply to what is abbreviated.

As a term Al‑Muqatta'at is used for certain letters found at the beginning of 29 surahs of the Qur'an.

Their occurrence

Fourteen letters (exactly half of the 28 letters of Arabic) are found in 14 different combinations occurring singly or in combination of 2, 3, 4 or 5 as the initials of 29 surahs:

Muqatta'at	Surahs
Alif Lam Ra	10,11,12,14,15.
Alif Lam Mim	2,3,29,30,31,32.
Alif Lam Mim Ra	13
Alif Lam Mim Sad	7
Ha Mim	40,41,43,44,45,46
Sad	38
Ta Sin	27
Ta Sin Mim	26,28
Ta Ha	20
Qaf	50
Kaf ha Ya Ain Sad	19
Nun	68
Ya Sin	36
Ha Mim Ain Sin Qaf	42

These 14 letters are as follows:

ح -ن - ق - س - ط - ص - ع - ى - ە - ک - ر - م - ل - ا

1) Some one has coined a phrase by joining these words:
سر لحكيم نصه قطعا

"A secret of a sage who explained it in piecemeal."

This phrase can be considered as a key to the fawateh of the Qur'an (opening letters).

2) A shi'ite has joined the 14 letters and formed a phrase:
صراط علي حقه نمسكه

"Ali is on the path of truth and we are also on the same path ".

3) A sunnite formed the following phrase as a counter:

صح طريقك مع السنة
"Follow the path of Sunnah."

Variety of explanations.

It is generally believed that the meaning and purpose of the Muqatta'at is not known and that Allah alone knows their real meaning. That is the reason these letters are often termed as 'The Mystic Letters of the Qur'an.'

The eminent Companions of the Prophet 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud and 'Abdullah bin Abbas were of the view that Allah has enjoined to ponder and reflect on its revelations as such the attempt to know the significance and meanings of the 'muqatta'at' is necessary and commendable.

Muqatta'at are very much part of the Qur'anic message and the Qur'anic Text. Every bit of the Qur'an is meaningful and revealed for the understanding of human beings. For that reason the Qur'anic scholars have never been reluctant and there is no commentator who has withheld his suggestion in respect of the Muqatta'at. They offered a variety of explanations. The fact remains that so far no explanation has been offered which can be considered as conclusive. The Muqatta'at have so far baffled interpretation.

These explanations can be divided into two parts: those offered by the Muslim scholars and those offered by the orientalists.

Explanations Offered by Muslim Scholars

1. Some Muslim scholars have suggested that the Muqatta'at might been abbreviations for certain words or phrases, such as Alif Lam Mim standing for Anal Lahu A'lam or Nun for Nur etc.

It may be noted that in the first place to interpret Muqatta'at as abbreviations cannot be justified. Moreover, in the absence of any authority that Alif Lam Mim is abbreviation for Anal Lahu A'lam and so on, the interpretation amounts to mere conjecture.

2. Some Scholars have suggested that these letters are symbols and stand for names of Allah.

This interpretation is also presumptuous. There is no indication in the Qur'an or elsewhere that the Muqatta'at are symbols. The text also does not justify the interpretation. Names or attributes of Allah have been mentioned in the Qur'an and whenever they occur it is easily understood that they are the names or attributes of Allah. Such is not the case with the Muqatta'at. For example on what basis or indication Alif Lam Mim can be accepted as the name of Allah. If it is to be taken as attribute it is not clear as to which particular trait it refers to. Hence the Muqatta'at cannot be accepted as names of Allah.

3. Yet some other scholars have suggested that each letter of the Muqatta'at has numerical value. It is to be noted that for every Semitic letter and as for each of the 36 Sanskrit letters a numerical value, has been assigned. For each of the Roman letters, I, V, X, L, C and M also numerical value is assigned. But Arabs had not assigned any numerical value to the Arabic letters. The system of assigning numerical value to the Arabic letters called Abjad system was introduced during the Buwayhid period (334/946 ‑ 436/ 1044) They used the letters to represent figures and used figures in place of letters.

The first method was used more extensively in making chronograms. Compositions were written mostly in an ayah, describing special events, while the year of the occurrence was obtained from the letters of the composition. The system was further extended to Persian and then to Urdu (wherein Arabic letters are used by adding some letters).[1]

Without the 'abjad' system in the Arabic language at the time of revelations of the Qur'an it cannot be adduced that the Muqatta'at refer to the numerals. Even so the purpose of providing these numbers at the beginning of the 29 Surahs cannot be explained. For example according to the 'abjad' system Alif represents 1, Lam represents 30 and Mim represents 40. Thus the purpose of Alif Lam Mim, representing figure or value 71, at the beginning of Surahs 2, 3 and four others, remains inscrutable.

4. One explanation given is that the Muqatta'at are used in the Qur'an to attract the attention of the addressee.

This suggestion is perhaps not correct. The Qur'an has used stylistic devices to attract the attention of the readers. By giving an altogether different dimension to oaths, the Qur'an has used them as a stylistic device to focus the attention of the addressee. No room is left for the addressee to refute the obvious conclusion drawn. Similarly figures of speech have also been used to attract the attention of the readers. The Qur'an has most effectively used one such figure of speech, 'apostrophe' to heighten the effect of the suddenness of a statement emphasizing the tremendous impact of an event.

Similarly the figure of speech, 'exclamation' is used by the Qur'an to draw greater attention to a point than a mere statement of it can do.

Not less than 89 ayaat of the Qur'an start with exclamations, for example:

"O Wives of the Prophet ! You are not like any of the other women". (33: 32)

In all the cases where particular devices are used it is possible for a careful reader to know that such a device is used. In case of the muqatta'at there is no such indication given in the Qur'an nor the text justify such explanation.

Others are of the opinion that the 'muqatta'at are symbols used to distinguish one surah from the other, before the names of the surahs were introduced.

This suggestion is not acceptable as it is also presumptuous and has no basis.

One suggestion offered by a Qur'anic scholar Dr. Hashim Amir Ali deserves consideration. According to him:

“A simple explanation, but one which has not been offered by a single commentator, is that each and every one of these 29 openings, without exception, are vocatives or forms of address to the Prophet similar to “Ta Ha!” (S. 20), “Ya –Sin!” (S. 36), “O thou, who is ordained!” (S. 73) or “O thou, on whom has fallen the mantle!” (S. 74): their general sense can be conveyed by replacing them with “O Muhammad!’’

The following facts go to prove or support the above thesis

(a) Every one of these 9 instances occur in the beginnings of the Surahs and have, in fact, been referred to in early commentaries as al-Fawatih, or ‘openings’ of the Surahs. It is therefore, logical to regard them as forms of address. This assumption

is confirmed by the fact that the text which follows the ‘Fawatih’ in each of the 29 cases, without exception, is couched in the second person, singular.

(b) Only with one or two exceptions the immediately following words consist of one or more of the following four reassuring statements so often addressed to the Prophet in the Qur’an:

i. That the Qur’anic message is Truth manifest

ii. That the Addressee is ordained by the Divine and not by any other agency;

iii. That the righteous will accept the Message:

the Addressee must not consider his mission in vain and

iv. That failure to convince the hard-hearted

must not daunt the Addressee.

(c) The fact that these letter-openings do not affect the meaning of the text that follows supports the thesis that they are mere vocatives.

(a) The thesis is also supported by the fact that, by far the majority of the Surahs beginning with such openings, 25 out of 29, were revealed during the period when ostracized by people, the Prophet was sorely in need of reassurance.

This solution does not offer the actual words or meanings which these letters in each case represent. But that is of secondary or even negligible importance. Vocation, particles, forms of address, terms of esteem or appreciation, sobriquets, aliases all these need have no specific meaning attached to them. Since they do not affect the sense of the message that follows. It is enough to know that they are only forms of address to Muhammad varying according to the circumstances and contents of the message. Perhaps Muhammad himself understood the words which the letters in each case represented but was too modest to repeat them to the scribes; perhaps he merely felt their appreciative import but was too sincere to replace the feeling with words. In any case this solution does away with the innumerable far-fetched conjectures each of which has been discountenanced by the exponents of others and have together contradicted the claim of the Qur’an that its contents are clear and explicit to all who have approach to it.

Explanations Offered by Some of the Orientialists

Some of the Orientalists suggested that the Muqatta'at are abbreviations of the name of various amanuenses.

These suggestions are also presumptuous and have no authentic basis. There were not less than 42 amanuenses whereas there are only 14 different muqatta’at. Moreover the Qur'an was dictated by the Prophet and the amanuenses wrote under his direct supervision. Once the text of the Qur'an was committed to writing the