Topic: Abbreviations (Muqatta‘at), Meaning Of
View Aspects
الٓمٓ
像 الٓـمٓ (Alif Lam Mim) 等缩写词称为 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (Al-Muqatta‘at), 其所使用的字母要分开发音, 在不少于28章的开头都有这些词, 它们是由一个或几个、最多到五个阿拉伯字母表中的字母组成。组成这些缩写词的字母有14个: ا (Alif)、ل (Lam)、م (Mim)、ص (Sad)、ر (Ra)、ك (Kaf)、ح (Ha)、ی (Ya)、ع (‘Ain)、ط (Ta)、س (Sin)、ه (Ha)、ق (Qaf) 和 ن (Nun)。后两字母, 单见于 ق (Qaf) 与 قَلَمْ (Qalam) 两章开始出现, 其余的由两个或更多个字母组合出现在某些章开始。阿拉伯人使用 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (Muqatta‘at) 是非常流行的, 在诗与会话中都用它们。有一个阿拉伯诗人说 قُلْنا: قِفِی لَنا، فَقَالَت: قَافْ (Qulna Qifi Lana, Faqalat Qaf) 也就是说:” 我们对她说, ‘为我们停一会儿’而她说, 她就要停下来了,”字母قَافْ (Qaf) 表示 وَقَفْتُ (Waqaftu--------我就要停下来了)。据古尔杜比 (قُرْطُبِی--------Qurtabi) 传说, 穆圣也有一句话, 其大意是: كَفَی بِالْسَّيْفِ شَا (Kafa Bis Saifi Sha) 即刀剑是足够的补救办法, 这里 شَا (Sha) 表示 شَافِياً (shafiyan)。现在的西方国家和东方国家普遍使用缩写词。每部字典都有一份缩写词的表。位于一章之前的 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (缩写词) 是安拉的独特常德的缩写词也是那一章的题目的缩写词。一章的题目与位于一章前的安拉常德有密切的关系。它们不是任意地放在各章的开始部分, 它们的字母也不是任意组合的。在它们的不同组合之间有深刻与深远的连系, 而且组成这些缩写词的字母也有着明确的目的。每章之首的缩写词代表安拉的一些常德。这些常德与这章的主题是深切连在一起的。章的主题中如果没有缩写词的字母, 那就是从属于或按前面的具有这些缩写词的那些章的格式行事。对于 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات 的意义, 有两个看来更为可信: (a) 每个字母具有肯定的数值 (جَرِيْر--------Jarir)。字母 الٓمٓ 的数值是71 (ا 的数值是1, ل是30, م是40)。这样, 把الٓمٓ 放在此章的开端, 可能指示这一章的主题, 即早期伊斯兰教的整顿与巩固将会经过71年的时间才能完成。 (b) 如上所述, 它们是安拉特种常德的缩写而特种缩写被放置之章, 在主题方面, 与其所代表的常德是有关联的。这样, 写在这一章以及第3、29、30、31与32章开始的缩写词 الٓمٓ 的意义是: “我是全知的安拉” 这句话具有伊本•阿巴斯 (اِبْنِ عَبَّاس --------Ibn-e-‘Abbas) 与伊本•麦斯武德 (اِبْنِ مَسْعُوْد--------Ibn-e-Mas‘ud) 的权威, ا 代表 اَنا (Ana, 我), ل 代表 الله (Allah, 安拉) 而 م 代表 اَعْلَمُ (A‘lamu, 全知者); 或者按照有些人说, ا 代表 الله (Allah, 安拉), ل 代表 جِبْرِيْل (吉布里尔, Jibril) 而 م 代表 مُحَمَّدْ (穆罕默德, Muhammad), 指示这一章的中心论题是安拉通过吉布里尔授予穆罕默德自己的知识。这些缩写字母构成 «古兰经» 启示的主要部分 («布哈里»)。
الٓـــمّٓ اور اسی قسم کے اور حروف جو مختلف سورتوں کے شروع میں آئے ہیں مُقَطَّعَات کہلاتے ہیں۔ یہ حروف الگ الگ بولے جاتے ہیں۔ ان میں سے ہر حرف ایک لفظ کا قائم مقام ہوتا ہے مثلاً الٓـــمّٓ میں اللہ الف اَنَا کا قائم مقام ہے اور لام اللہ کا قائم مقام ہے اور میم اَعْلَمُ کا۔ گویا الٓـــمٓ کے تینوں حروف مل کر اَنَا اللّٰہُ اَعْلَمُ کے معنے دیتے ہیں۔ یعنی میں اللہ سب سے زیادہ جاننے والا ہوں۔ اِن حروف کے ذریعہ اللہ تعالیٰ کی ان صفات کی طرف اختصار اً اشارہ ہوتا ہے جو اس سورۃ میں بیان ہوتی ہیں جس کے ابتدا میں یہ حروف لائے جاتے ہیں۔ بعض او
Abbreviations, like Alif Lam Mim, are known as al-Muqatta‘at (letters used and pronounced separately), and occur in the beginning of not less than 28 Surahs, and are made up of one or more, to a maximum of five, letters of the Arabic alphabet. The letters out of which these abbreviations are constituted are fourteen in number: Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad, Ra, Kaf, Ha, Ya, ‘Ain, Ta, Sin, Ha, Qaf and Nun. Of these Qaf and Nun occur alone in the beginning of Surahs Qaf and Qalam, the rest occur in combinations of two or more in the beginning of certain Surahs. The use of Muqatta‘at was in vogue among the Arabs. They used them in their poems and conversation. An Arab poet says: Qulna Qifi Lana, Faqalat Qaf i.e. "We said to her, 'Stop for us for a while' and she said that she was stopping" the letter Qaf standing for Waqaftu (I am sto
3:2; 7:2; 13:2; 29:2; 30:2; 31:2; 32:2.
Commentary:
Abbreviations like الم (Alif Lam Mim) are known as المقطعات (Al-Muqatta‘at), i.e. letters used and pronounced separately. They occur in the beginning of not less than 28 Surahs, and are made up of one or more, to a maximum of five, letters of the Arabic alphabet. The letters out of which these abbreviations are constituted are thirteen in number: Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad, Ra, Kaf, Ha, Ya, ‘Ain, Ta, Sin, Ha, Nun and Qaf. Of these Sad, Qaf and Nun occur alone in the beginning of one Surah only; the rest occur in combinations of two or more in the beginning of certain Surahs.
Of the meanings ascribed to Muqatta‘at two seem to be more authentic:
1. that each letter has a definite numerical value. Thus ا has the value of 1, ب of 2, ج of 3, د of 4, ھ of 5, and so on (Aqrab). This system was known to the early Arabs and is mentioned in some well-known books of tradition (e.g. Jarir, 70 & 71). In numerical terms the letters الم (Alif Lam Mim) could signify the length of time which the full manifestation of the inner significance of the Surah was meant to take.
The letters الم have the numerical value of 71 (ا being 1, ل 30 and م 40). Thus the placing of Alif Lam Mim in the beginning of the Surah would mean that the subject matter of Al-Baqarah, i.e. the special consolidation of early Islam, would take 71 years to unfold itself completely. It is well known that this consolidation went on until the year 71 Nabawi (after claim of Prophethood), the year of the coming to power of Yazid, son of Mu‘awiyah, when the history of Islam took a different turn.
2. The second and much more important significance of the Muqatta‘at is that they are abbreviations for specific attributes of God and a Surah before which the Muqatta‘at are placed is, in its subject matter, connected with the divine attributes for which the Muqatta‘at stand. The Arabs used such abbreviations. Says an Arab poet:
بالخیر خیرات و ان شر فا
ولا ارید الشر الا ان تا
"I will certainly return good for good; but if you are bent on mischief, so will I. I do not contemplate mischief except that you yourself should desire it" (Jarir). Here فا and تا stand for فشر and تشاء respectively. Similarly, the letters الم stand for انا الله اعلم i.e. "I am Allah, the All-Knowing"—a meaning which has the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, cousin of the Holy Prophet (Jarir). Thus Alif Lam Mim placed in the beginning of Al-Baqarah indicate that the central theme of this chapter is divineknowledge. God proclaims, as it were, that Muslims, weak in the beginning, will soon become strong and attain to knowledge, wisdom and power.
The system of using Muqatta‘at was in vogue among the Arabs, who used them in their poems and conversations. In the modern West also the use of abbreviations has become very widespread. Nearly every dictionary provides a list of them along with their meanings (For fuller discussion of the Muqatta‘at see Tafsir-e-Kabir by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II, Qadian).
16
像 الٓـمٓ (Alif Lam Mim) 等缩写词称为 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (Al-Muqatta‘at), 其所使用的字母要分开发音, 在不少于28章的开头都有这些词, 它们是由一个或几个、最多到五个阿拉伯字母表中的字母组成。组成这些缩写词的字母有14个: ا (Alif)、ل (Lam)、م (Mim)、ص (Sad)、ر (Ra)、ك (Kaf)、ح (Ha)、ی (Ya)、ع (‘Ain)、ط (Ta)、س (Sin)、ه (Ha)、ق (Qaf) 和 ن (Nun)。后两字母, 单见于 ق (Qaf) 与 قَلَمْ (Qalam) 两章开始出现, 其余的由两个或更多个字母组合出现在某些章开始。阿拉伯人使用 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (Muqatta‘at) 是非常流行的, 在诗与会话中都用它们。有一个阿拉伯诗人说 قُلْنا: قِفِی لَنا، فَقَالَت: قَافْ (Qulna Qifi Lana, Faqalat Qaf) 也就是说:” 我们对她说, ‘为我们停一会儿’而她说, 她就要停下来了,”字母قَافْ (Qaf) 表示 وَقَفْتُ (Waqaftu--------我就要停下来了)。据古尔杜比 (قُرْطُبِی--------Qurtabi) 传说, 穆圣也有一句话, 其大意是: كَفَی بِالْسَّيْفِ شَا (Kafa Bis Saifi Sha) 即刀剑是足够的补救办法, 这里 شَا (Sha) 表示 شَافِياً (shafiyan)。现在的西方国家和东方国家普遍使用缩写词。每部字典都有一份缩写词的表。位于一章之前的 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات (缩写词) 是安拉的独特常德的缩写词也是那一章的题目的缩写词。一章的题目与位于一章前的安拉常德有密切的关系。它们不是任意地放在各章的开始部分, 它们的字母也不是任意组合的。在它们的不同组合之间有深刻与深远的连系, 而且组成这些缩写词的字母也有着明确的目的。每章之首的缩写词代表安拉的一些常德。这些常德与这章的主题是深切连在一起的。章的主题中如果没有缩写词的字母, 那就是从属于或按前面的具有这些缩写词的那些章的格式行事。对于 اَلْمُقَطَّعَات 的意义, 有两个看来更为可信: (a) 每个字母具有肯定的数值 (جَرِيْر--------Jarir)。字母 الٓمٓ 的数值是71 (ا 的数值是1, ل是30, م是40)。这样, 把الٓمٓ 放在此章的开端, 可能指示这一章的主题, 即早期伊斯兰教的整顿与巩固将会经过71年的时间才能完成。 (b) 如上所述, 它们是安拉特种常德的缩写而特种缩写被放置之章, 在主题方面, 与其所代表的常德是有关联的。这样, 写在这一章以及第3、29、30、31与32章开始的缩写词 الٓمٓ 的意义是: “我是全知的安拉” 这句话具有伊本•阿巴斯 (اِبْنِ عَبَّاس --------Ibn-e-‘Abbas) 与伊本•麦斯武德 (اِبْنِ مَسْعُوْد--------Ibn-e-Mas‘ud) 的权威, ا 代表 اَنا (Ana, 我), ل 代表 الله (Allah, 安拉) 而 م 代表 اَعْلَمُ (A‘lamu, 全知者); 或者按照有些人说, ا 代表 الله (Allah, 安拉), ل 代表 جِبْرِيْل (吉布里尔, Jibril) 而 م 代表 مُحَمَّدْ (穆罕默德, Muhammad), 指示这一章的中心论题是安拉通过吉布里尔授予穆罕默德自己的知识。这些缩写字母构成 «古兰经» 启示的主要部分 («布哈里»)。
1
الٓـــمّٓ اور اسی قسم کے اور حروف جو مختلف سورتوں کے شروع میں آئے ہیں مُقَطَّعَات کہلاتے ہیں۔ یہ حروف الگ الگ بولے جاتے ہیں۔ ان میں سے ہر حرف ایک لفظ کا قائم مقام ہوتا ہے مثلاً الٓـــمّٓ میں اللہ الف اَنَا کا قائم مقام ہے اور لام اللہ کا قائم مقام ہے اور میم اَعْلَمُ کا۔ گویا الٓـــمٓ کے تینوں حروف مل کر اَنَا اللّٰہُ اَعْلَمُ کے معنے دیتے ہیں۔ یعنی میں اللہ سب سے زیادہ جاننے والا ہوں۔ اِن حروف کے ذریعہ اللہ تعالیٰ کی ان صفات کی طرف اختصار اً اشارہ ہوتا ہے جو اس سورۃ میں بیان ہوتی ہیں جس کے ابتدا میں یہ حروف لائے جاتے ہیں۔ بعض او
b
3:2; 7:2; 13:2; 29:2; 30:2; 31:2; 32:2.
8A
Commentary:
Abbreviations like الم (Alif Lam Mim) are known as المقطعات (Al-Muqatta‘at), i.e. letters used and pronounced separately. They occur in the beginning of not less than 28 Surahs, and are made up of one or more, to a maximum of five, letters of the Arabic alphabet. The letters out of which these abbreviations are constituted are thirteen in number: Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad, Ra, Kaf, Ha, Ya, ‘Ain, Ta, Sin, Ha, Nun and Qaf. Of these Sad, Qaf and Nun occur alone in the beginning of one Surah only; the rest occur in combinations of two or more in the beginning of certain Surahs.
Of the meanings ascribed to Muqatta‘at two seem to be more authentic:
1. that each letter has a definite numerical value. Thus ا has the value of 1, ب of 2, ج of 3, د of 4, ھ of 5, and so on (Aqrab). This system was known to the early Arabs and is mentioned in some well-known books of tradition (e.g. Jarir, 70 & 71). In numerical terms the letters الم (Alif Lam Mim) could signify the length of time which the full manifestation of the inner significance of the Surah was meant to take.
The letters الم have the numerical value of 71 (ا being 1, ل 30 and م 40). Thus the placing of Alif Lam Mim in the beginning of the Surah would mean that the subject matter of Al-Baqarah, i.e. the special consolidation of early Islam, would take 71 years to unfold itself completely. It is well known that this consolidation went on until the year 71 Nabawi (after claim of Prophethood), the year of the coming to power of Yazid, son of Mu‘awiyah, when the history of Islam took a different turn.
2. The second and much more important significance of the Muqatta‘at is that they are abbreviations for specific attributes of God and a Surah before which the Muqatta‘at are placed is, in its subject matter, connected with the divine attributes for which the Muqatta‘at stand. The Arabs used such abbreviations. Says an Arab poet:
بالخیر خیرات و ان شر فا
ولا ارید الشر الا ان تا
"I will certainly return good for good; but if you are bent on mischief, so will I. I do not contemplate mischief except that you yourself should desire it" (Jarir). Here فا and تا stand for فشر and تشاء respectively. Similarly, the letters الم stand for انا الله اعلم i.e. "I am Allah, the All-Knowing"—a meaning which has the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, cousin of the Holy Prophet (Jarir). Thus Alif Lam Mim placed in the beginning of Al-Baqarah indicate that the central theme of this chapter is divineknowledge. God proclaims, as it were, that Muslims, weak in the beginning, will soon become strong and attain to knowledge, wisdom and power.
The system of using Muqatta‘at was in vogue among the Arabs, who used them in their poems and conversations. In the modern West also the use of abbreviations has become very widespread. Nearly every dictionary provides a list of them along with their meanings (For fuller discussion of the Muqatta‘at see Tafsir-e-Kabir by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II, Qadian).
16
Abbreviations, like Alif Lam Mim, are known as al-Muqatta‘at (letters used and pronounced separately), and occur in the beginning of not less than 28 Surahs, and are made up of one or more, to a maximum of five, letters of the Arabic alphabet. The letters out of which these abbreviations are constituted are fourteen in number: Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad, Ra, Kaf, Ha, Ya, ‘Ain, Ta, Sin, Ha, Qaf and Nun. Of these Qaf and Nun occur alone in the beginning of Surahs Qaf and Qalam, the rest occur in combinations of two or more in the beginning of certain Surahs. The use of Muqatta‘at was in vogue among the Arabs. They used them in their poems and conversation. An Arab poet says: Qulna Qifi Lana, Faqalat Qaf i.e. "We said to her, 'Stop for us for a while' and she said that she was stopping" the letter Qaf standing for Waqaftu (I am sto