What do the disjointed letters at the beginning of some of the Surahs of the Quran mean? Some people believe that they are among the secrets of the Quran that cannot be known, and some believe that each one of these letters is a symbol for a word; for example, «ن»; “Nun” is a symbol for «النور»; “al-Nur, meaning the light,” «ق»; “Qaf” is a symbol for «القدير»; “al-Qadir, meaning the Powerful,” «حم»; “Ha Mim” is a symbol for «الحميد المجيد»; “al-Hamid al-Majid, meaning the Praiseworthy, the Glorious,” and so on. What is the opinion of Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani on these interpretations?
There is nothing in the Quran that cannot be known; because it is ﴿كِتَابٌ مُبِينٌ﴾[1]; “a clear Book,” which means it is plain and without ambiguity. Allah has sent it down to all people and made it easy for them to learn it, ﴿وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ عِوَجًا﴾[2]; “and He has not placed any crookedness in it”; as He has said: ﴿هَذَا بَيَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ﴾[3]; “This is a statement to all people,” and said: ﴿هَذَا بَصَائِرُ لِلنَّاسِ﴾[4]; “These are insights for all people,” and said: ﴿هَذَا بَلَاغٌ لِلنَّاسِ وَلِيُنْذَرُوا بِهِ﴾[5]; “This is a message for all people and that they may be warned by it,” and said: ﴿فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَاهُ بِلِسَانِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ﴾[6]; “We have made it easy in your language so that they may take heed,” and said: ﴿وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ﴾[7]; “And undoubtedly, We have made the Quran easy to learn. So is there any who would learn?!” Allah addressing people with something they cannot know would be an idle action; as it has been narrated from the Ahl al-Bayt that they said: «مَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُخَاطِبَ خَلْقَهُ بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ»[8]; “Allah will never address His creation with something they do not know.” Therefore, if He wanted to communicate something secretly to His Prophet, He would not have revealed it in the Book that He has sent down to all people; because that would defeat the purpose. All of this indicates that the Quran is entirely understandable to people and there is nothing in it that they cannot know. It also indicates that interpreting a letter or word from it in a way that is unknown to scholars of the Arabic language is an interpretation based on personal opinion, while it has been narrated from the Prophet that he said: «مَنْ قَالَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ بِرَأْيِهِ فَأَصَابَ فَقَدْ أَخْطَأَ»[9]; “Whoever speaks about the Quran based to his opinion, even if he happens to be correct, is still in error,” and said: «مَنْ قَالَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ بِرَأْيِهِ فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ»[10]; “Whoever speaks about the Quran based on his opinion shall take his seat in the fire.” This is because it is saying something about Allah without knowledge and fabricating lies against Him, while Allah has sternly forbidden this and said: ﴿أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾[11]; “Do you say something about Allah that you do not know?!” and said: ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ﴾[12]; “Indeed, those who fabricate lies against Allah will not succeed.”
If you understand this, then know that the disjointed letters do not have a specific meaning among scholars of the Arabic language; because they have not said, for example, that «ن»; “Nun” refers to «النور»; “al-Nur, meaning the light,” «ق»; “Qaf” refers to «القدير»; “al-Qadir, meaning the Powerful,” or «حم»; “Ha Mim” refers to «الحميد المجيد»; “al-Hamid al-Majid, meaning the Praiseworthy, the Glorious.” For this reason, it can be said that these letters do not have any specific meaning, and therefore, the esoteric interpretations that invent meanings for them are all false assumptions and illusions that have no basis; as ibn al-Arabi (d. 543 AH) has acknowledged that in a report narrated from him; he said: «مِنَ الْبَاطِلِ عِلْمُ الْحُرُوفِ الْمُقَطَّعَةِ فِي أَوَائِلِ السُّوَرِ، وَقَدْ تَحَصَّلَ لِي فِيهَا عِشْرُونَ قَوْلًا وَأَزْيَدُ، وَلَا أَعْرِفُ أَحَدًا يَحْكُمُ عَلَيْهَا بِعِلْمٍ، وَلَا يَصِلُ مِنْهَا إِلَى فَهْمٍ»[13]; “The study of the disjointed letters at the beginnings of the Surahs falls under the category of falsehood. I have collected upwards of twenty transmitted explanations of them (from the predecessors), and I did not find any of them saying anything to support this practice, nor did any of them appeal to using reasoning to decode them.” It is as he said, but it does not mean that there is no benefit to these letters; because Allah does not utter a letter without benefit. In the view of His Eminence Mansoor , their benefits are as follows:
1. Testing the voice by the Angel before beginning the revelation of a Surah. This is a subtle benefit that His Eminence Mansoor has revealed; as one of his companions informed us, he said:
«قُلْتُ لِلْمَنْصُورِ: مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِقَوْلِهِ: الف لام ميم؟! قَالَ: ذَلِكَ كَقَوْلِ أَحَدِكُمْ إِذَا يَتَكَلَّمُ بِالْمِجْهَارِ، فَيَقُولُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ: الْوَاحِدُ، الْإِثْنَانِ، الثَّلَاثَةُ، لِيَعْلَمَ أَنَّ الصَّوْتَ بَالِغٌ، وَلِيَنْصُتَ السَّامِعُ! قُلْتُ: إِنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ سِرٌّ أَسَرَّهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ، قَالَ: لَوْ كَانَ سِرًّا لَمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِي الْقُرْآنِ، أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ الْقُرْآنَ نَزَلَ لِلنَّاسِ؟! ثُمَّ قَالَ: مَا مِنْ شَيْءٍ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِي الْقُرْآنِ إِلَّا وَهُوَ بَيَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ: ﴿هَذَا بَيَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةٌ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ﴾[14]»; “I said to Mansoor: ‘What does Allah mean by His saying: “Alif, Lam, Mim”?!’ He said: ‘It is like when one of you speaks with a loudspeaker, then he says before he speaks: “One, two, three,” so that he knows the voice is audible and that the listener becomes silent (and attentive)!’ I said: ‘They say it is a secret that Allah has shared with His Prophet!’ He said: ‘If it were a secret, Allah would not have revealed it in the Quran! Do they not know that the Quran has been sent down for all people?!’ Then he said: ‘There is nothing from what Allah has revealed in the Quran unless it is a statement to all people! Allah Almighty says: This is a statement to all people, and guidance and exhortation for the pious.’”
2. Drawing the attention of the Prophet to the beginning of the revelation in order to prepare him to receive it when he was preoccupied. Some researchers from among scholars have pointed out this benefit; as it has been narrated from al-Hufi (d. 430 AH) that he said: «الْقَوْلُ بِأَنَّهَا تَنْبِيهَاتٌ جَيِّدٌ؛ لِأَنَّ الْقُرْآنَ كَلَامٌ عَزِيزٌ وَفَوَائِدُهُ عَزِيزَةٌ، فَيَنْبَغِي أَنْ يَرِدَ عَلَى سَمْعٍ مُتَنَبِّهٍ، فَكَانَ مِنَ الْجَائِزِ أَنْ يَكُونَ اللَّهُ قَدْ عَلِمَ فِي بَعْضِ الْأَوْقَاتِ كَوْنَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي عَالَمِ الْبَشَرِ مَشْغُولًا، فَأَمَرَ جِبْرِيلَ بِأَنْ يَقُولَ عِنْدَ نُزُولِهِ: ”الم“ وَ”الر“ وَ”حم“ لِيَسْمَعَ النَّبِيُّ صَوْتَ جِبْرِيلَ، فَيُقْبِلَ عَلَيْهِ وَيُصْغِيَ إِلَيْهِ، وَإِنَّمَا لَمْ تُسْتَعْمَلِ الْكَلِمَاتُ الْمَشْهُورَةُ فِي التَّنْبِيهِ كَأَلَا وَأَمَا لِأَنَّهَا مِنَ الْأَلْفَاظِ الَّتِي يَتَعَارَفُهَا النَّاسُ فِي كَلَامِهِمْ، وَالْقُرْآنُ كَلَامٌ لَا يُشْبِهُ الْكَلَامَ، فَنَاسَبَ أَنْ يُؤْتَى فِيهِ بِأَلْفَاظِ تَنْبِيهٍ لَمْ تُعْهَدْ لِتَكُونَ أَبْلَغَ فِي قَرْعِ سَمْعِهِ»[15]; “This view that they are for drawing (the Prophet’s) attention is good; because the Quran is a special speech and has special benefits, and accordingly, it should reach an attentive ear. Therefore, it is possible that Allah knew at some times that the Prophet
was preoccupied (with something) in the human world, so He commanded Jibril to say upon his descent, ‘Alif, Lam, Mim’ and ‘Alif, Lam, Ra’ and ‘Ha Mim’ so that the Prophet would hear the voice of Jibril, turn toward him, and listen to him. For this reason, the words known for drawing attention, such as ‘Behold’ and ‘Be aware,’ have not been used, as they are words that are common among people, and the Quran is a speech that is not similar to the speech of people, so it is appropriate to use uncommon words for drawing attention in order to be more effective in drawing the Prophet’s attention.”
3. Having people become silent and attentive before beginning the recitation of a Surah; because disbelievers would make noise and talk idly and would not listen; as Allah has informed of it and said: ﴿وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَا تَسْمَعُوا لِهَذَا الْقُرْآنِ وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَغْلِبُونَ﴾[16]; “And those who disbelieved say: ‘Do not listen to this Quran and make noise during (the recitation of) it so that you may gain the upper hand.’” Therefore, when they heard these letters, they would fall silent and listen in astonishment, and perhaps this silence and listening would lead to their guidance; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنْصِتُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ﴾[17]; “And when the Quran is recited, listen to it and be silent so that you may receive mercy.”
4. Drawing people’s attention to the fact that the Quran, which even if all of mankind and jinn were to come together to produce something like it, they would not be able to do so, even if they were to support each other, is composed of these simple letters that they know and use.
These are the four benefits that His Eminence Mansoor sees for the disjointed letters at the beginning of some of the Surahs. Also, one of his companions informed us, he said: «سَأَلْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ عَنِ الْحُرُوفِ الْمُقَطَّعَةِ فِي الْقُرْآنِ، فَقَالَ: أَصْوَاتٌ مِنَ الْمَلَكُوتِ سَمِعَهَا النَّبِيُّ قَبْلَ انْتِظَامِ الْوَحْيِ»; “I asked Mansoor about the disjointed letters in the Quran. So he said: ‘They were sounds from the Heavenly Kingdom that the Prophet heard before the organization of the revelation!’” This apparently refers to some or all of these benefits, although there may be another aspect, meaning that at the beginning of the revelation, it sometimes had different sounds like the sounds of spelling, and this is not strange; as it has been narrated that they asked the Messenger of Allah
how the revelation came to him, and he said: «يَأْتِينِي أَحْيَانًا لَهُ صَلْصَلَةٌ كَصَلْصَلَةِ الْجَرَسِ، فَيَنْفَصِمُ عَنِّي وَقَدْ وَعَيْتُ، وَذَلِكَ أَشَدُّهُ عَلَيَّ، وَيَأْتِينِي أَحْيَانًا فِي صُورَةِ رَجُلٍ، فَيُكَلِّمُنِي كَلَامًا، فَأَعِي مَا يَقُولُ»[18]; “Sometimes it comes to me like the ringing of a bell, and it leaves me when I learn what it has said, and that is the hardest for me, and sometimes it comes to me in the form of a man, then he speaks to me, and I learn what he says.” Also, it has been narrated from Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud that he said: «كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِذَا نَزَلَ عَلَيْهِ الْوَحْيُ يَسْمَعُ لَهُ صَوْتًا كَأَنَّهُ سِلْسِلَةٌ عَلَى صَفْوَانَ»[19]; “When the revelation came down to the Messenger of Allah
he would hear a sound like the clanging of a chain on a smooth rock,” and in the narration of Abu Hurairah: «لِقَوْلِهِ صَوْتٌ كَصَوْتِ السِّلْسِلَةِ عَلَى الصَّفَا»[20]; “For Allah’s word, there is a sound like that of the clanging of a chain on (Mount) Safa.” It appears that it was at the beginning of the revelation before the organization of the speech, and Allah knows best.