Muqatta'at

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Muqatta`at (Arabic): مقطعات ,are unique letter combinations that begin certain chapters of the Quran. Muqattaat literally means abbreviated or shortened. They are also known as Fawatih (فواتح)or openers as they form the opening verse of the respective chapters.

[edit] Introduction

In Arabic language, these letters are written together like a word, but each letter is pronounced separately. None of these combinations actually form a meaningful Arabic word . Muqatta'at have been and continue to be a topic of intense research and academic discussions in Islamic literature and Quranic studies.

A few examples of Muqatta'at
1. Alif Lam Mim as in Surah Al Baqra and Surah Al Imran among others
2. Alif Lam Ra Sura Yunus and Surah Hud
3. Alif Lam Mim Ra Sura Ar Raa'd
4. Ha Mim Surah Ha Mim Sajda
5. Kaaf Ha Ya Ain Saad Surah Maryam

Of the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, exactly one half that is 14 letters appear as muqattaat, either singly or in combinations of two, three, four or five letters.The fourteen letters are: أ ح ر س ص ط ع ق ك ل م ن ه ي (alif, ha, ra, sin, sad, ta, ain, qaf, kaf, lam, mim, nun, ha, ya.

[edit] Context

A tree diagram of the Qur'anic initial letters, labelled with the respective numbers of occurrences. To be read right to left.

Certain co-occurrence restrictions are observable in these letters; for instance, alif is invariably followed by lam. The substantial majority of the combinations begin either alif lam or ha mim. See the diagram for fuller information.

In all but 3 of the 29 cases, these letters are almost immediately followed by mention of the Qur'anic revelation itself (the exceptions are suras 29, 30, and 68); and some argue that even these three cases should be included, since mention of the revelation is made later on in the sura. More specifically, one may note that in 8 cases the following verse begins "These are the signs...", and in another 5 it begins "The Revelation..."; another 3 begin "By the Qur'an...", and another 2 "By the Book..." Additionally, all but 3 of these suras are Makkan suras (the exceptions are suras 2, 3, 13.)

The suras that contain these letters are: sura 2, sura 3, sura 7, sura 10, sura 11, sura 12, sura 13, sura 14, sura 15, sura 19, sura 20, sura 26, sura 27, sura 28, sura 29, sura 30, sura 31, sura 32, sura 36, sura 38, sura 40, sura 41, sura 42, sura 43, sura 44, sura 45, sura 46, sura 50, sura 68.

[edit] Classical Research

While there has been some speculation on the meaning of these letters, a majority of Muslim scholars believe that these letters' full meaning is beyond our understanding (Ibn Kathir, for instance, describes them as "among those things whose knowledge God has kept only for Himself".) However, in light of their observed distribution, one traditional hypothesis suggests that these letters represent a challenge to the doubting reader: this book is made of ordinary letters, but can you produce anything like it? The rare combinations Ya Sin and Ta Ha are commonly interpreted in Muslim tradition as names of Muhammad, an interpretation which their context makes natural, though not certain.

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, a classical commentator of Quran, has noted some twenty opinions regarding these letters, and mentions multiple opinions that these letters present the names of the Surahs as appointed by God. In addition, he mentions that Arabs would name things after such letters (for example, 'money' as 'ع', clouds as 'غ', and fish as 'ن'). ^[1]

[edit] Modern Research

In 1974, an Egyptian biochemist named Rashad Khalifa claimed to have discovered a mathematical code in the Qur'an based on these initials and the number 19^[2], which is mentioned in Sura 74:30^[3] of the Quran. According to his research, these initials which prefix 29 chapters of the Qur'an occur throughout their respective chapters in multiples of this very number, nineteen. He has noted other mathematical phenomena throughout the Quran, all related to what he describes as the "mathematical miracle of the Qur'an." Although subsequently dismissed as a heretic by Muslim scholars, his work did receive some acclaim by notable sources:

Scientific American of September 1980, p. 22. Martin Gardner wrote of Khalifa's initial publication in the West: "It's an ingenious study of the Quran,...Nineteen is an unusual prime. For example, it's the sum of the first powers of 9 and 10 and the difference between the second powers of 9 and 10."

Three years later the Canadian Council on the Study of Religion reported in its Quarterly Review of April 1983 that the code Khalifa discovered is "an authenticating proof of the divine origin of the Quran." Since 1983, little notice has been taken of this work. In spite of that, Khalifa's work has been published in the United States in six books.

Amin Ahsan Islahi, a renowned exegete of the Quran, has mentioned that Arabs used to use such letters in their poetry and since Quran addressed them in their own linguistic style, it was only appropriate for Quran to use the same style. He agrees with Razi and mentions that since these letters are names for Surahs, being proper nouns they are not bound to have a meaning. At the same time, he cites research from Hamiduddin Farahi, a Quranic scholar from the Indian subcontinent, on how these letters must be appropriately chosen according to the content and theme of the surahs. Farahi links these letters back to Hebrew alphabet and suggests that those letters not only represented phonetic sounds but also contained a symbolic meaning to them, and Quran perhaps uses the same meanings when choosing the letters for surahs. For instance, in support of his opinion, he presents the letter Nun (ن), which symbolizes fish and Surah Nun mentions Prophet Jonah as 'companion of the fish'. Similarly, the letter Ta or Tuay (ط) represents a serpent and all the Surahs that begin with this letter mention the story of Prophet Moses and serpents.^[4]

Western scholars have only occasionally attempted to explain them. In 1996, Keith Massey proposed new evidence for an older theory that the "Mystery Letters" were the initials or monograms of the scribes that had originally written the sura down.^[5] As evidence for this, he demonstrated that the letters themselves occur in a specific order, suggesting a hierarchy of importance. This idea has not yet gained wide acceptance. Other explanations similarly failed to satisfactorily explain the letters.

[edit] The complete Muqatta'at letters and their appearance in the Quran

  1. Chapter 2, The Cow: Alif Laam Mim
  2. Chapter 3, Ale-Imran: Alif Laam Mim
  3. Chapter 7, al-A’araaf: Alif Laam Mim Suad
  4. Chapter 10, Yunus: Alif Laam Ra
  5. Chapter 11, Hud: Alif Laam Ra
  6. Chapter 12, Yusuf: Alif Laam Ra
  7. Chapter 13, Ra'd: Alif Laam Mim Ra
  8. Chapter 14, Ibrahim: Alif Laam Ra
  9. Chapter 15, Hijr: Alif Laam Ra
 10. Chapter 19, Maryam: Kaf Ha Ya Ain Suad
 11. Chapter 20, Ta-Ha: Ta Ha
 12. Chapter 26, The Poets: Ta Sin Mim
 13. Chapter 27, The Ant: Ta Sin
 14. Chapter 28, Qasas: Ta Sin Mim
 15. Chapter 29, The Spider: Alif Laam Mim
 16. Chapter 30, The Romans: Alif Laam Mim
 17. Chapter 31, Luqman: Alif Laam Mim
 18. Chapter 32, The Adoration: Alif Laam Mim
 19. Chapter 36, Ya-Sin: Ya Sin
 20. Chapter 38, Suad: Suad
 21. Chapter 40, The Believer: 7a Mim
 22. Chapter 41, 7a-Mim: 7a Mim
 23. Chapter 42, Shuraa: 7a Mim; Ain Sin Qaf
 24. Chapter 43, The Embelishment: 7a Mim
 25. Chapter 44, The Smoke: 7a Mim
 26. Chapter 45, The Kneeling: 7a Mim
 27. Chapter 46, The Sandhills: 7a Mim
 28. Chapter 50, Qaf: Qaf
 29. Chapter 68, The Pen: Nun

Note: 7a denotes the Arabic letter ح. The chapter numbers might have special meanings just as the Chapter 57, The Iron, mark one of the less common isotopes of the Iron (Fe) atom, which can occur with an atomic mass of 57.

[edit] Muqatta'at in the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths

The Báb, who Bahá'ís see as the immediate forerunner of their religion, uses Muqatta'at in his Qayyúmu'l-Asmá'.^[6]

In 1857-58, Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, wrote his Commentary on the Isolated Letters (Tafsír-i-Hurúfát-i-Muqatta'ih, also known as Lawh-i-Áyiy-i-Núr, Tablet of the Light Verse).^[7][8] In it, he describes how God created the letters. A black teardrop fell down from the Primordial Pen on the "Perspicuous, Snow-white Tablet", by which the Point was created. The Point then turned into an Alif (vertical stroke), which was again transformed, after which the Muqatta'at appeared. These letters were then differentiated, separated and then again gathered and linked together, appearing as the “names and attributes” of creation. Bahá'u'lláh gives various interpretations of the letters "alif, lam, mim", mostly relating to Allah, trusteeship (wilaya) and the prophethood (nubuwwa) of Muhammad. He emphasizes the central role of the alif in all the worlds of God.

[edit] References

1. ^ Michael R. Rose; Casandra L. Rauser; Laurence D. Mueller; Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Shehzad Saleem (July 2003). "Al-Baqarah (1-7)". Renaissance. 
2. ^ Rashad Khalifa, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions International, 1982. ISBN 0-934894-30-2
3. ^ Qur'an, Chapter 74, Verse 30
4. ^ Islahi, Amin Ahsan (2004). Taddabur-i-Quran. Faraan Foundation, pp. 82-85. 
5. ^ Massey, Keith (1996). "A New Investigation into the “Mystery Letters” of the Quran" in 'Arabica', Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 497-501. 
6. ^ Lawson, Todd. Reading Reading Itself: The Bab's `Sura of the Bees,' A Commentary on Qur'an 12:93 from the Sura of Joseph. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
7. ^ Marshall, Alison. What on earth is a disconnected letter? - Baha'u'llah's commentary on the disconnected letters. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
8. ^ Lambden, Stephen N.. Tafsír-al-Hurúfát al-Muqatta'át (Commentary on the Isolated Letters) or Lawh-i Áyah-yi Núr (Tablet of the Light Verse) of Mírzá Husayn 'Alí Núrí Bahá'-Alláh (1817-1892). Retrieved on 2007-03-19.

[edit] External links

• Mathematical Miracle of the Qur'an
• An alternative opinion on the origin of muqataat
• Complete Abjad table
• Islamic Voice: Abbreviated letters
• The Official String Theory Web Site