حمٓ · عٓسٓقٓ
The full examination of the disconnected letters was made in al-Baqara in the section on 2/1; it was repeated once more, and more heavily, in Qāf at 50/1. I do not write it out again here. Its summary is this:
- The meaning of these letters is not known with certainty. This is what must be said honestly and at the outset.
- One group of scholars refers the meaning to God (tafwīḍ); this is not a confession of ignorance but a choice to keep silent where the text gives no explanation.
- Among the views that do seek an explanation, the one that finds most support from within the text is the explanation that the letters, by pointing to the raw material of the Qurʾān, make the challenge meaningful — because most of the letter-groups are followed immediately by an expression that speaks of the Book.
- And, as was written plainly there: no abjad, no counting of letters, no numerical calculation is done on these letters. That road is not taken in this commentary.
The one difference in al-Shūrā is this, and it is the only thing I treat: the splitting of the sequence in two.
Twenty-nine sūras in the Qurʾān open with letters. In these sūras the standing of the letters in the numbering of verses is of two kinds, and both can be verified from the muṣḥaf: in some the letters count as a verse on their own (alif-lām-mīm — al-Baqara 2/1; ḥā-mīm — al-Aḥqāf 46/1; kāf-hā-yā-ʿayn-ṣād — Maryam 19/1), and in others the letters form a single verse together with the sentence that follows them (alif-lām-rā — Yūnus 10/1; qāf — Qāf 50/1). But in both cases the sequence of letters is not divided: however many the letters, they are read in one place, one after another. Kāf-hā-yā-ʿayn-ṣād is five letters and is not divided.
| Maryam 19/1 | al-Shūrā 42/1-2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of letters | Five: كٓهيعٓصٓ | Five: حمٓ · عٓسٓقٓ |
| Number of verses | One | Two |
| Its arrangement | A single line | Two lines |
The point, then, is not the number of the letters but that they are divided. Another sequence of the same length is not divided; this one is.
And one further detail must be recorded: in six of the seven sūras that open with ḥā-mīm, the opening is a single ḥā-mīm and that is one verse. Al-Shūrā is the sole exception within this group too — because a second sequence follows the ḥā-mīm.
There is no certain knowledge. I am obliged to write this plainly, because this is one of the details about which most claims are produced, and most of the claims rest on letter-calculation — the road not taken in this commentary.
I give the explanations transmitted in the classical sources not as a list of preferences but as an inventory:
| Explanation | What it says | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| A division based on transmission (tawqīfī) | The division of verses rests on the tradition of recitation and numbering; no reason is sought | Consistent with the general rule that verse boundaries are fixed by transmission. But it does not answer the question "why" |
| Two sequences, two separate units | Ḥā-mīm is the common opening of the group, ʿayn-sīn-qāf an addition peculiar to this sūra | Consistent with the textual data: ḥā-mīm is shared by seven sūras, ʿayn-sīn-qāf occurs only here. But this is not an explanation; it is a restatement of the fact |
| A requirement of the verse-ending (fāṣila) | Since the sounds of the two sequences differ, they were counted separately | In other sūras too there are differences of sound and there is no division there; so this is not sufficient |
| Meanings assigned to the letters | It is said that each letter points to a name or a word | As recorded in al-Baqara, this is not systematic; applied to all the groups, the same method does not give consistent results |
And what must be written above all of them is this: none of the explanations above suffices to say "this is the reason for the division."
The one measurable effect the division produces is in the rhythm of recitation. Had it been a single verse, the five letters would have been read in one breath. Because they are two verses, there is a place to pause between them. In its first two verses the sūra brings the reader to a stop twice.
And then comes the third verse: kadhālika yūḥī ilayka wa ila'lladhīna min qablik — "thus does He reveal to you and to those before you." The first thing that comes after the letters, that is, belongs once again to the field of revelation, in keeping with the pattern set out in al-Baqara. This says nothing on its own about the meaning of the letters; what it says is what the letters attach to.