Huruf Muqatta'at (Disjointed Letters in the Qur'an): Difference between revisions

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'''Muqatta`āt''' (مقطعات), are unique letter combinations that begin certain chapters of the [[Qur'an]].  

Muqatta`āt literally means abbreviated or shortened. They are also known as '''Fawātih''' ({{lang|ar|فواتح}}) or openers as they form the opening verse of the respective chapters.

 

In [[Arabic]] language, these letters are written together like a word, but each letter is pronounced separately. None of these combinations, however, come together to form a meaningful Arabic word. Still, these letters appear joined together in print. Muqatta'at have been and continue to be a topic of intense research and academic discussions in [[Islam]]ic literature and Qur'anic studies.

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 [[surah]]s 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 surah. 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 surahs are Makkan surahs (the exceptions are surahs 2, 3, 13.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The classical Muslim scholars considered the text of the Qur'an to be unchanged. Thus, they do not consider that the muqattā'at may [[Textual History of the Qur'an|possibly have been added after the prophets lifetime]], accounting for the general absence of narrations where companions inquire regarding the meaning of these letters (where mention of the letter does appear, it is usually a companion discussing a surah that begins with these letters, rather than asking about the letters themselves. Critical scholars have suggested, however, that the reference to these surahs by their muqatta'at letters is likely not reflective of conversations that actually took place during the prophet's life time, but was something introduced to these narrations many decades and multiple centuries after the prophet's death. Even the versions of the narrations recorded in the hadith books seem to dis-include these letters at times.)

 

 

 

In 1974, an Egyptian biochemist named [[Rashad Khalifa]] announced he had discovered [[The Miracle of 19|a mathematical code in the Qur'an based on these initials and the number 19]]<ref>Rashad Khalifa, ''[http://submission.org/miracle/visual.html Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle]'', Islamic Productions International, 1982. ISBN 0-934894-30-2</ref>, which is mentioned in Surah 74:30<ref>[{{Quran-url-only|74|30}} Qur'an, Chapter 74, Verse 30]</ref> of the Qur'an.  (However, Günter Lüling claims that the number is really 7, as in the 7 gates of the Christian [[Hell]].  See [http://www.christoph-heger.de/Surah_74_30.htm "Above it are neither nineteen nor seventeen."])  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:

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Yūsuf `Alī in Appendix 1 of his translation of the Qur'an<ref>Yūsuf `Alī, `Abdullah, ''The Holy Qur'ān: Text, Translation and Commentary'', New Revised Edition, Amana Corporation, Brentwood, MD, USA, 1989. ISBN 0-915957-033-5</ref> adduced some statistics regarding the Muqatta`āt (p. 124).

 

==Possible Critical Perspective==

1. The rasm of each of the muqatta`āt is unique. In the case of ي, it is only found initially, so its rasm is unique, too. Except for ي and ن, each letter has no dots. In the case of ن, the dot is usually omitted in handwriting in the final and isolated cases.

2. The muqatta`āt are not mentioned in an early Muslim writings, notably, the ahadith and sirat.

3. The muqatta`āt are not distributed at random. 'Alif Lām Mīm occurs in two consecutive sets of surahs: 2-3 and 29-32. 'Alif Lām Rā' occurs in the consecutive surahs 10-15. Ḥā' Mīm occurs in the consecutive surahs 40-46. Ṭā' Sīn Mīm occurs in the nonconsecutive surahs 26 and 28. However, if Ṭā' Sīn is really Ṭā' Sīn Mīm, then the latter also occurs in consecutive surahs.

From 1 and 2, it appears that the muqatta`āt were written in the original, [[Arabic letters and diacritics|defective (dot-free) Arabic]] script without any diacritics to distinguish consonants or vowels. Moreover, they were possibly written after the Ahadith and Sirat were compiled, or, perhaps, were unknown to the writers of those works.

From 3, we can conclude that the muqatta`āt date to after the recension of the Qur'an that produced its modern, longest-to-shortest organization.

The question now becomes what do the muqatta`āt represent? two hypotheses exist:

2. Scribal initials

If either were true, we would expect no muqatta`āt between the ranges of other muqatta`āt and no overlaps. This is apparently dis-confirmed by:

1. The presence of 'Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād (sura 7) and 'Alif Lām Rā' (suras 10-15) between the ranges of 'Alif Lām Mīm (suras 2-3 and 29-32). Even if 'Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād is really 'Alif Lām Mīm, the presence of 'Alif Lām Rā' dis-confirms the hypothesis.

and

2. The presence of two sets of muqatta`āt in Surah 42. (Though, perhaps this indicates the work of two scribes.)

*[[The Origins of the Quran|The Origins of the Qur'an]]

*[[Al-Fatiha]]