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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam and the Contemporary Man Chapter 10: Some Qur’anic Questions A Question Concerning the Separate Letters that Open a Number of the Surahs of the Qur’an Question We know that God revealed the Qur’an to the Prophet gradually and intermittently. The sum of its verses is 6216 according to Ibn Sirin and 6218 according to Ibn Mas‘ud.[^1] All are agreed, however, that there are 114 surah s.

Twenty eight of these surah s begin with the separate letters [ al-huruf al-muqatta‘ah ]—viz., alif-lam-mim , alif-lam-ra’ , alif-lam-mim-sad , ha-mim , ta-sin , ta-sin-mim , ka-ha-ya-‘ayn-sad , ya-sin , sad , ta-ha , qaf , nun . Now, the question is: why do they open 3 Madani and 25 Makki surah s? Why don’t they appear at the beginning of all surah s?

The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic; the Prophet’s received it from his mouth and preserved it, some by writing, some by heart; one would expect that they understood these letters. But if they had understood the meaning of these letters they would have not given such divergent views about them. We know that these letters have meaning, but what is their meaning? Are they secret codes or acronyms or are they just intended as attention-grabbers?

I have for long been contemplating exegetic hadith s and the sayings of the ; I have mulled the explanations put forth by various exegetes and orientalists; I have considered the esoteric interpretations of the Sufis. None shed light on this enigma. As the Qur’anologists disagrees on this question, I decided to ask for your view, hoping that it would clear my doubts and answer my questions.

Please give me an answer that would shed light on this matter (in which case I would be greatly beholden to you) and do not tell me they are Divine secrets known only to God: the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, a human language, for the guidance of humankind.[^2] Answer I offer my most sincere greetings to you and apologize for the delay. When your letter reached Qum I was in Damavand, escaping the summer heat of Qum. It takes some time before the letters get to me in Damavand.

Let us turn to your question. Our method in understanding the Qur’an is to rely solely on the Qur’an itself. We interpret the equivocal verses with recourse to other Qur’anic verses. Of course, the exegetic hadith s that are mutawatir or have sufficient truth-indicators are, in our opinion, credible and as such are reliable sources in the enterprise of understanding the Qur’an.