Alif. Lām. Mīm.
There are four topics related to these.
First Topic
The Qur’an’s miraculousness and inimitability rise from the horizon of the Disjointed Letters, for it is a light manifested from the blending of the corruscating subtleties of eloquence (or rhetoric – al‑balāgha). This topic contains many fine points, but whatever their tenuousness a true dawn breaks from their totality.
Firstly: Alif. Lām. Mīm., together with the other Disjointed Letters at the start of some suras, their sisters, consist of half the letters in the alphabet, the basic elements of all words. That is, the Qur’an uses half the twenty‑eight letters and disregards half. Ponder over this!
Secondly: The half it takes are more commonly used than those it leaves.
Thirdly: Of the letters it takes, the Qur’an repeats those easiest on the tongue, like Alif and Lām.
Fourthly: It mentions the Disjointed Letters at the start of twenty‑nine suras, which corresponds to the number of letters of the alphabet.
Fifthly: It takes half of those letters that have pairs, like the concealed (mahmūsa), the emphatic (majhūra), the stressed (shadīda), the soft (rakhwa), and the musta‘liya, munḥafiḍa, and munfatiḥa letters, and the rest of them. Of those that have no pairs (awtār), it takes fewer of the ‘heavy’ like the tremolo (qalqala), and more of the ‘light,’ like the labiolinguals (dhallāqa).
Sixthly: Those it uses of these are finer in character.
Seventhly: The way the Qur’an has chosen for [selecting] the Disjointed Letters is one out of five hundred and four possibilities, and this is the only possible way of halving the letters [of the alphabet] with their particular characters. For the divisions [into different groups of letters] are interwoven and one within the other, as well as being dissimilar. Each of these divisions is truly remarkable and singular.
So if a person fails to appreciate the light of miraculousness born of the blending of these rays, he has only his own lack of discernment to blame.
Second Topic
This topic also contains a number of subtleties.
Firstly: Alif. Lām. Mīm. are each like the rap of a knocker; they rouse the listener, alerting him through their singularity that they are the harbingers of something strange and remarkable.
Secondly: The disjointing of the letters and their being spelled out by name indicates that what they signify is of the same kind as themselves.
Thirdly: These letters being disjointed indicates that what they signify is assumedly one and not compound.
Fourthly: The spelling out of the letters by disjoining them is an indication that it is alluding to the material of the art, as though providing pen and paper for those wanting to dispute them by writing. It is as if the Qur’an is saying: “Hey you obstinate rivals, you’re the masters of fine speech! You have at your disposal the materials I had when I devised these. You do likewise if you can!”
Fifthly: Being devoid of meaning, the disjointing of the letters indicates that [the Qur’an’s] opponents have been left without proof.
For they say: “We don’t know the facts, stories, and ordinances that we might dispute you.” So it appears the Qur’an is saying: “I only want you to produce [something similar to] the eloquent composition (naẓm al‑balāgha) [of the letters], even if it’s made up.”
Sixthly: Calling the letters by their names is the custom of scholars and writers. But both the one uttering this speech and those listening to him were unlettered. Considering its character, therefore, the letters being in this unexpected form infers that “this speech is not his but was imparted to him.”
Seventhly: Spelling out letters syllable‑by-syllable is characteristic of those learning to read and write. It is understood from this that the Qur’an was establishing a new way and was teaching illiterate people.
Those who cannot see the elevated art in the interweaving of these lines – though admittedly some are very fine – are novices to the art of eloquence, so should apply to its adepts!
Third Topic
Alif. Lām. Mīm. indicate the ultimate conciseness, which is the second of the two principles of [the Qur’an’s] miraculousness. This topic comprises a number of fine points.
First: Alif. Lām. Mīm. indicate, allude to, hint, intimate, and suggest the [following] successive parabolic analogy (al‑qīyās al-tamthīlī al-mutasalsil):
“This is the pre‑eternal speech of Allah,
which Gabriel brought down
to Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon them both).”
For sometimes the ordinances laid down in the whole Qur’an are set out in summary in a single long sura; and sometimes a long sura is represented allusively in a short one; and sometimes a short sura is included symbolically in a single verse; and sometimes a verse is indicated in a single sentence; and sometimes a sentence is hinted at in a single word; and sometimes too such a comprehensive word may be discerned in the disjointed letters, like in Sīn. Lām. Mīm. Similarly, the whole Qur’an may be discerned in Sūra al‑Baqara; and al-Baqara in Sūra al-Fātiḥa; and al-Fātiḥa in Bismillāh al‑Raḥmān al-Raḥīm; and Bismillāh al‑Raḥmān al-Raḥīm in a chiselled or sculpted Bismillāh. The same goes for Alif. Lām. Mīm. On the strength of this successive parabolic comparison, and as indicated by “This is the Book,” manifested from Alif. Lām. Mīm. [is the meaning]: This is Allah’s pre‑eternal speech, which Gabriel brought down to Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace).”
Second: The Disjointed Letters are divine cyphers communicated by [the Most High] to His Messenger, who holds the key, to which the human mind has not yet attained.
Third: Alif. Lām. Mīm. show the acute intelligence of the one to whom they were revealed, for he understood what was only allusive, symbolic, and obscure as though it were explicit and clear.
Fourth: The disjointing of these letters indicates that the value of the letters lies not in their meanings but in their natural mutual relationships, like the relationships between numbers. The science of the hidden properties of letters (‘ilm asrār al‑ḥurūf) has discovered these relationships.
Fifth: In particular, Alif. Lām. Mīm. indicate by their being disjointed the three main points of articulating sound: the throat, the mouth, and the lips. And this in turn infers that the attention will be caught and the veil of familiarity rent, driving one to study the wondrous colours of the embroidery of the letters’ creation.
You who is washed in the colours of the art of eloquence! Assemble the various pieces of these fine points and gaze on them as a whole, then listen to their reciting to you: This is Allah’s Word!
Fourth Topic
It is as though when Alif. Lām. Mīm. and their sisters appear in this form that they are declaring: “We are leaders; we imitate no one and follow none. Our style is original and our manner, singular.” This topic too contains a number of subtleties.
First: It is the custom of orators and eloquent speakers to always adhere to patterns and embroider examples and to follow well‑trodden paths. But these letters are virginal, untouched by man or jinn.
Second: From beginning to end, the Qur’an is as it was at first. Although out of their longing, its friends have wanted to imitate it, and likewise its enemies out of their desire to challenge it, it has never been imitated nor has anything similar been achieved.
If you want proof of this, take a look at the millions of Arabic books! Are any equal to the Qur’an, or even close to it? No! Even an ignorant illiterate would exclaim if he were to compare them to it: “The Qur’an is not of their level!” It is either inferior to all of them, and this is impossible; or it is superior, and this is as it should be. It would fall to his lot to perceive this much of its miraculousness.
Third: It is the mark of human art that at first it emerges crude and deficient in many respects. It is dry and lacking in grace. Only later is it perfected and made pleasing. The Qur’an’s style, however, was graceful, fresh, and young when it first appeared, and it still challenges the human mind, which has grown old through the combining of ideas and plagiarizing them. It has triumphed over all of them, proclaiming through its victory that it is the art of the Creator of all powers and destiny.
O you who sniffs at the breeze of eloquence! Doesn’t the bee of your mind gather from the blossoms of these four topics the honey of I testify that this is the Word of Allah!?