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I Meaning & Morphology (الصرف
و اللغة)
1. ‘الم’
In religious parlance, these letters
and others similar to them are called the Huruf-i-Muqatta’at (the
separated letters). They are found at the beginning of some twenty-nine
surahs of the Qur’an. Razi, in his exegesis on the Qur’an
has
enlisted some twenty one opinions about what these letters represent. He
has pointed out that most scholars and researchers regard them to be the
names of the respective surahs in which they occur. He says that
grammarians like Khalil and Sibwayh and most theologians
are of this view. He quotes Qifal in the following words:
و
قد سمت العرب
بهذه الحروف
أشياء, فسموا
بلام والد
حارثة بن لام
الطائي, و
كقولهم
للنحاس: صاد, و
للنقد: عين,
وللسحاب :غين.
و قالوا: جبل
قاف, و سموا
الحوت نونا
The Arabs would name things after such letters.
They called the father of Harithah Ibn Lam Al-Ta’i as ‘لام’
(la#m).
They
called ‘brass’ as ‘ص’,
‘money’ as ‘ع’
and ‘clouds’ as ‘غ’.
Similarly, they called a mountain ‘ق’
and ‘fish’ as ‘ن’.i
Ghamidi is also of the opinion that these
letters are the names of respective surahs (ref. 1). His words are:
The way they are placed in the beginning of some
twenty nine surahs of the Qur’an and the way they are referred to
by the demonstrative pronouns ‘ذَلِكَ’
(dhalika)
and ‘تِلكَ’
(tilka) show that they are names of the respective surahs.
Consequently, many of these surahs
are
generally referred to according to this pattern, for example Taha,
Yasin,
Suad,
Qaf
and Nun (all these letters are actually the Huruf-i-Muqatta’at
of
the respective surahs). However, there remains the question of why
the surahs are named in this way. Many scholars have attempted to
answer the question, but what they have proposed is far from being satisfactory.
Farahi
(d: 1930 AD), a scholar of the sub-continent, has presented an explanation
which might hold the key to the problem.ii
The following paragraphs briefly discuss his theory.iii
Those who are aware of the history
of the Arabic alphabet know that it has been derived from the Hebrew alphabet,
which itself has its roots in the alphabet used in ancient Arabia. Farahi
is of the view that the letters of this parent alphabet, unlike English
and Hindi, do not represent phonetic sounds only, but, like the Chinese
alphabet, symbolize certain meanings and objects which usually assume the
shape of the objects and meanings they convey. He goes on to assert that
it was these letters which the early Egyptians adopted and after adapting
them according to their own concepts created the Hieroglyphic script from
them. The remnants of this script can be seen in the tables of the Egyptian
Pyramids.
There are some letters whose meanings
have persisted to this day, and the way they are written also somewhat
resembles their ancient forms. For example, it is known about the Arabic
letter
‘ا’
that it is used to mean a cow and was represented by a cow’s head. The
letter ‘ب’
in Hebrew is called Bayt and means Bayt (house) as well. The
Hebrew pronunciation of ‘ج’
is Jaymal which means Jamal (camel). ‘ط’
stands for a serpent and is written in a serpent’s shape. ‘م’
represents
a water wave and also has a related configuration.
Farahi presents Surah Nun
in
support of his theory. The letter
‘ن’
even in today’s alphabet
denotes its ancient meaning of fish. In this surah, the Prophet Jonah (sws)
has been addressed as Sahibu’l-Hut (Companion of the Fish). Farahi
opines that it is because of this reference that the surah is called
‘ن’. He goes on to say that if one keeps in consideration the examples given
above, it is quite likely that the abbreviated letters by which other surahs
commence are placed at the beginning of the surahs to symbolize a relation
between the topics of a particular surah and their own ancient connotations.
Some other names of the Qur’anic
Surahs reinforce Farahi’s theory. Surah Taha, for example,
begins with the letter
‘ط’
which represents a serpent, as has been indicated before. After a brief
introduction the tale of Moses (sws) and his rod, which is transformed into a
snake, has been depicted in it. Other Su#rahs
as
‘طس’
and ‘طسم’,
which begin with the letter ‘ط’
Tuay, also portray this miraculous
anecdote.
Surah Baqarah, which begins
with the letter
‘ا’, is another example which further strengthens
Farahi’s
claims.
It has been indicated before that the letter ‘ا’
had the meaning
of a cow associated with it and was represented by a cow’s head. Surah
Baqarah, as we all know, contains the anecdote of a cow and its sacrifice.
Another aspect of the surahs which
begin with the same letter is a similarity in their topics and even in
their style and construction. For example, all surahs which begin
with ‘ا’
basically deal with Tawhid (monotheism). It would
be appropriate here to point out that the letter ‘ا’
also stood for Allah, the One and Alone.
2. The Antecedent of ‘ذَلِكَ’
The demonstrative pronoun
‘ذَلِكَ’
in ‘الْكِتَابُ
ذَلِكَ’
refers to the name of the su#rah
mentioned in the previous verse. It is common in Arabic to refer to entities
mentioned previously by demonstrative
pronouns as
‘ذَلِكَ’
and ‘تِلْكَ’.
In the Qur’an, examples of this usage can be seen in the following
verses:
قَالُوا
ادْعُ لَنَا
رَبَّكَ
يُبَيِّنْ
لَنَا مَا
هِيَ قَالَ
إِنَّهُ
يَقُولُ
إِنَّهَا
بَقَرَةٌ
لَا فَارِضٌ
وَلَا
بِكْرٌ
عَوَانٌ
بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ
فَافْعَلُوا
مَا
تُؤْمَرُونَ(68:2).
تِلْكَ
آيَاتُ
اللَّهِ
نَتْلُوهَا
عَلَيْكَ
بِالْحَقِّ
وَإِنَّكَ
لَمِنْ
الْمُرْسَلِينَ
تِلْكَ
الرُّسُلُ
فَضَّلْنَا
بَعْضَهُمْ
عَلَى (2: 252).
قَالَ
لَا
يَأْتِيكُمَا
طَعَامٌ
تُرْزَقَانِهِ
إِلَّا
نَبَّأْتُكُمَا
بِتَأْوِيلِهِ
قَبْلَ أَنْ
يَأْتِيَكُمَا
ذَلِكُمَا
مِمَّا
عَلَّمَنِي
رَبِّي
إِنِّي
تَرَكْتُ
مِلَّةَ
قَوْمٍ لَا
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِاللَّهِ
وَهُمْ
بِالْآخِرَةِ
هُمْ
كَافِرُونَ
(37:12).
3. ‘اَلْكِتَابُ’
As pointed out by the author, the
word ‘اَلْكِتَابُ’ means the ‘Book of God’. This usage is common
in the Qur’an. The following verses, for example, can be cited in
this regard:
وَالَّذِينَ
يُمَسِّكُونَ
بِالْكِتَابِ
وَأَقَامُوا
الصَّلَاةَ (170:7).
And those who hold fast to the Book and establish
the prayer. (7:170)
فَإِنْ
كُنْتَ فِي
شَكٍّ مِمَّا
أَنْزَلْنَا
إِلَيْكَ
فَاسْأَلْ
الَّذِينَ
يَقْرَءُونَ
الْكِتَابَ
مِنْ
قَبْلِكَ (94:10).
So if you [O Muhammad] are in doubt concerning
that which We have revealed unto you, then ask those who are reading the
Book before you. (10:94)
الَّذِينَ
آتَيْنَاهُمْ
الْكِتَابَ
يَعْرِفُونَهُ
كَمَا
يَعْرِفُونَ
أَبْنَاءَهُمْ
(2:
146).
Those to whom We have given the Book recognize
him [— Muhammad —] as they recognize their sons. (2:146)
Also this usage is not new. The words
‘Bible’ and ‘Scripture’ both are used for Books of God. In Greek, ‘Bible’
means ‘book’. and in Latin, ‘Scripture’ also means ‘book’.
4. ‘فيه’
The antecedent of the genitive pronoun
‘ه’
in‘فيه’
is what is evident from the previous sentence and the understood meaning is: ‘لا
ريب في كونه
كتابا منزلا
من الله تعالى’
(There is
no doubt in it being the Book revealed from God).
5.
The
‘ب’
in ‘بالغيب’
In Ghamidi’s opi nion (ref. 5), the
particle
‘ب’
in the expression ‘يؤمنون
بالغيب’
denotes a ‘ظرف’
(nomen locus). Examples of this usage can be seen in the following verses:
الَّذِينَ
يَخْشَوْنَ
رَبَّهُمْ
بِالْغَيْبِ
وَهُمْ مِنْ
السَّاعَةِ
مُشْفِقُونَ (49:21).
Those who fear their Lord though they cannot
see Him and dread the Day of Judgment. (21:49)
إِنَّمَا
تُنْذِرُ
الَّذِينَ
يَخْشَوْنَ
رَبَّهُمْ
بِالغَيْبِ
وَأَقَامُوا
الصَّلَاةَ (18:35)
.
You can warn only those who fear God, though
they cannot see Him. (35:18)
It is thus against the
above usage to regard the particle ‘ب’
as a preposition of the verb ‘يُؤْمِنُونَ’.
6. ‘سَمْعٌ’
As pointed out by Ghamidi (ref. 13),
the word
‘سَمْعٌ’
is a verbal noun, which of course is never plural. This explanation is in order
because ‘سَمْعٌ’
is used with two other words, both of which are plural and, thus according
to usage, it should have been plural as well. It also needs to be pointed
out that both other words
‘اَبْصَار’
and ‘قُلُوْب’
are
actually nouns, which of course take a plural.
II Syntax & Declensions & (النحو
و الاعراب)
1. Parsing of ‘الْكِتَابُ
ذَلِكَ’
Zamakhshari has discussed several
ways in which the initial verses of Surah Baqarah can be parsediv.
In Ghamidi’s opinion, the most appropriate grammatical construction of
verse 2 is that
‘ذَلِكَ’
is ‘مبتدا’
(inchoative) and ‘الْكِتَابُ’
is the ‘خبر’
(enunciative). The following parallel clearly shows that the Qur’a#n
itself has ‘الْكِتَابُ’
as ‘خبر’
in such a construction:
المر
تِلْكَ
آيَاتُ
الْكِتَابِ (13:
1-2).
This is Surah Alif Lam Mim Ra. These are
the verses of the Book. (13:1-2)
2. Parsing of 2:1-2
The first two verses of the surah
are four independent sentences as pointed out by Ghamidi in his translation.
Zamakhshari
also favors this interpretationv.
‘الم’
is the ‘خبر’
(enunciative) of a suppressed ‘مبتدا’
(inchoative). Consequently, the first verse can be parsed as ‘هذه
الم’.
Similarly, ‘لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
هُدًى’
is the enunciative of a suppressed inchoative. The verse can be parsed as ‘لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
هُدًى
هو’,
with the pronoun referring to the word ‘اَلْكِتَابُ’
III Style & Eloquence (الاساليب
و البلاغة)
1. Use of the verb ‘كَفَرُوا’
In classical Arabic, a verb can be
used in various stages (مدارج). Thus the same verb
can be used to express intention, decision, and severity of the actual
meaning it conveys. For example the verb
‘أمَنُوْا’ can mean
‘they intend to believe’, ‘they have decided to believe’ or ‘they fully
believed’. It depends on the context and usage as to which meaning is implied.
Here, as pointed out by Ghamidi (ref. 12), it is obvious that the word
‘ ’ is used to mean ‘they have decided to deny’: The
reason for this is that the punishment which is mentioned is reserved for
such rejecters only.
Here is another example of a verb
being used to express decision of the verb itself:
وَحَرَامٌ
عَلَى
قَرْيَةٍ
أَهْلَكْنَاهَا
أَنَّهُمْ
لَا
يَرْجِعُونَ
(21: 95).
And it is forbidden for a population which we
have destroyed that they shall not desist [from evil]. (21:95)
The verb ‘destroyed’ of course if interpreted
in its actual sense will render the verse ambiguous. A destroyed nation
can obviously never desist from evil. Actually the verb ‘destroyed’ in
this verse expresses strong decision on the part of the Almighty to destroy
people who do not deserve to live since they have knowingly denied the
truth. So the verse can be translated as: And it is forbidden for a population
which We have decided to destroy [in accordance with Our law] that they
shall not desist [from evil]. (21:95)
2. The Implication of a Noun Sentence
In Arabic, a noun sentence does not
have a time frame. Its time frame is determined by the context and by other
intrinsic factors. Thus the verse
‘أُوْلَئِكَ
عَلَى هُدًى
مِنْ
رَبِّهِمْ
وَأُوْلَئِكَ
هُمْ
الْمُفْلِحُونَ’
has
been translated by the author keeping in view the fact that those who were
accepting faith at that time were among the righteous even before the advent
of Islam and were searching for the truth. After the revelation of the
Qur’an
they accepted its message; hence they shall be among the successful.
IV. Exegesis and Explanation ( )
1. Subtle Reference to the Jews
The initial verses of the surah
mention
certain attributes of the righteous who had accepted faith in the prophethood
of Muhammad (sws). These attributes are directly opposite to the ones that
were possessed by the Jews, as a nation, in that period. At various places,
the Qur’an has alluded to these attributes. They proposed that they
would believe in God only if they were allowed to see Him (2:55).
They abandoned the prayer (19:59) and instead of spending in the way of
Allah went as far in its negation as urging people to miserliness (4:37).
They openly acclaimed disbelief in other Books of God and maintained that
they would only profess faith in what was revealed to them (2:91). Their
belief in the Hereafter was nothing more than a dogma and in fact possessed
a great greed for immortality in this life (2:92-4).
2. Implication of ‘لَا
رَيْبَ فِيهِ
This verse is generally taken to mean that there is no
doubt in this book: whatever it says and claims is the absolute truth.
If parallels of this verse are taken into consideration, one comes to the
conclusion that this meaning is not implied here. On the contrary, what
is implied is that there is no doubt in the divinity of the Book; it is
revealed by none other than the Almighty and it is the very Book that the
Jews had been promised. Some of the parallel verses are:
الم
تَنزِيلُ
الْكِتَابِ
لَا رَيْبَ
فِيهِ مِنْ
رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ
(32: 1-2).
This is Alif Lam Mim. The revelation of
the Book is no doubt from the Lord of the world. (32:1-2)
حم
تَنْزِيلُ
الْكِتَابِ
مِنْ اللَّهِ
الْعَزِيزِ
الْعَلِيمِ (40: 1-2).
This is [Surah] Hammim. The revelation
of this Book is from Allah, the All-Mighty, the Knowing. (40:1-2)
For more references see 45:1-2, 46:1-2.
3. Implication of
‘يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِالْغَيْبِ’
The implication of the above expression
is that these people accept certain facts without observing them because
these realities can be intellectually deduced. For example, they may not
be able to see God, the Day of Judgment is concealed from their eyes, and
they have not witnessed Gabriel revealing the Divine Message to the Prophet
(sws). Yet, they believe in all these because present in the Qur’an,
in their nature and intuition and in the various phenomena of nature are
signs which testify to these realities. These may be beyond sensory perception,
but are certainly not beyond reason.
4. Implication of the verb
‘كَفَرُوا’
As pointed out earlier, the verb ‘كَفَرُوا’, actually refers to people in the time of the Prophet (sws) who had made
up their minds to deny the Book of God. The implication being that in spite
of being convinced of its veracity they had taken to deliberate denial.
Imam Razi quotes two different opinions regarding the people referred to
by the words ‘الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا’. According to one group, it refers
to the leaders of the Jews and according to another, a group from among
the Idolaters. The common feature of both these opinions is that both suggest
that the denial was deliberate.vi
Tabari in his exegesis also refers to this deliberate denial on the part
of the Jews in denying Muhammad (sws).vii
5. Law of Guidance
The law of guidance that verse 7 alludes
to is explained in the Qur’an at a number of places. Some of them
are
فَبِمَا
نَقْضِهِمْ
مِيثَاقَهُمْ
وَكُفْرِهِمْ
بِآيَاتِ
اللَّهِ
وَقَتْلِهِمْ
الْأَنْبِيَاءَ
بِغَيْرِ
حَقٍّ
وَقَوْلِهِمْ
قُلُوبُنَا
غُلْفٌ بَلْ
طَبَعَ
اللَّهُ
عَلَيْهَا
بِكُفْرِهِمْ
فَلَا
يُؤْمِنُونَ
إِلَّا
قَلِيلًا(155:4).
[They have incurred divine displeasure] because
they broke their covenant, rejected the signs of Allah, slew the Messengers
in defiance of right and said: ‘Our hearts are closed’ – no, Allah has
set the seal on their hearts because of their blasphemy, and few will believe.
(4:155)
أَوَلَمْ
يَهْدِ
لِلَّذِينَ
يَرِثُونَ
الْأَرْضَ
مِنْ بَعْدِ
أَهْلِهَا
أَنْ لَوْ
نَشَاءُ
أَصَبْنَاهُمْ
بِذُنُوبِهِمْ
وَنَطْبَعُ
عَلَى
قُلُوبِهِمْ
فَهُمْ لَا
يَسْمَعُونَ
تِلْكَ
الْقُرَى
نَقُصُّ
عَلَيْكَ
مِنْ
أَنْبَائِهَا
وَلَقَدْ
جَاءَتْهُمْ
رُسُلُهُمْ
بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ
فَمَا
كَانُوا
لِيُؤْمِنُوا
بِمَا
كَذَّبُوا
مِنْ قَبْلُ
كَذَلِكَ
يَطْبَعُ
اللَّهُ
عَلَى
قُلُوبِ
الْكَافِرِينَ
وَمَا
وَجَدْنَا
لِأَكْثَرِهِمْ
مِنْ عَهْدٍ
وَإِنْ
وَجَدْنَا
أَكْثَرَهُمْ
لَفَاسِقِينَ
(7: 100-2)
.
To those who inherit this land in succession
to its [previous] possessors, is it not a guiding [lesson] that, if We
so willed, We could punish them [too] for their sins, and seal up their
hearts so that they could not hear? Such were the towns whose stories We
[thus] related to you. Indeed there came to them their Prophets with clear
[signs], but they would not believe what they had rejected before. Thus
does Allah seal up the hearts of those who reject Faith. Most of them We
found were not men [true] to their covenant: most of them We found rebellious
and disobedient. (7:100-2)
مَنْ
كَفَرَ
بِاللَّهِ
مِنْ بَعْدِ
إِيمَانِهِ
إِلَّا مَنْ
أُكْرِهَ
وَقَلْبُهُ
مُطْمَئِنٌّ
بِالْإِيمَانِ
وَلَكِنْ
مَنْ شَرَحَ
بِالْكُفْرِ
صَدْرًا
فَعَلَيْهِمْ
غَضَبٌ مِنْ
اللَّهِ
وَلَهُمْ
عَذَابٌ
عَظِيمٌ
ذَلِكَ
بِأَنَّهُمْ
اسْتَحَبُّوا
الْحَيَاةَ
الدُّنْيَا
عَلَى
الْآخِرَةِ
وَأَنَّ
اللَّهَ لَا
يَهْدِي
الْقَوْمَ
الْكَافِرِينَ
أُوْلَئِكَ
الَّذِينَ
طَبَعَ
اللَّهُ
عَلَى
قُلُوبِهِمْ
وَسَمْعِهِمْ
وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ
وَأُوْلَئِكَ
هُمْ
الْغَافِلُونَ
(16: 106-8).
Anyone who, after accepting faith in Allah rejects
Him – except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in faith – but
open their breast to disbelief: on them is wrath from Allah, and theirs
will be a dreadful chastisement. This is because they love the life of
this world more than the Hereafter: and Allah will not guide such rejecters
of faith. They are those whose hearts, ears, and eyes Allah has sealed
up, and they take no heed. (16:106-8)
فَلَمَّا
زَاغُوا
أَزَاغَ
اللَّهُ
قُلُوبَهُمْ (5:61).
Then when they went wrong, Allah let their
hearts go wrong. (61:5)
V. Scriptures and Testaments (العهود
و
الصحف)
The law of guidance referred to in
2:7 is mentioned in the Bible in the following words:
My people would not hearken to my voice … So
I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own
counsels. (Ps. 81:11-12)
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness,
through the lusts of their own hearts. (Ro. 1:24)
Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand
and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have
they closed. (Ac. 28:25-27)
They have not known nor understood for he has
shut their eyes that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot
understand. (Is. 44:18)
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