The Mahdi Times July 2011 | Page 15

STRAIGHTPATH July 26, 2011 THE SOLVED MYSTERY OF ALIF LAAM MEEM 15 By Laila Ali and Zolfigarr For centuries readers of the Quran have wondered about the mystery behind Alif Laam Meem and other ''randomly placed'' letters in the Quran, with no avail.  Do these letters have a hidden meaning?  Surely everything between the two covers of the Holy Quran serves a purpose, so what is the purpose of these letters? The beauty of this is that even the fallible scholars cannot begin to attempt disecting the meaning behind them as the mysterious letters in Arabic are known as al huroof al muqatta’a, and also as fawaatih as-soor. These letters from the Arabic alphabet are placed at the start of 29 surahs in the Qur’an.  The name “fawaatih as-soor” refers to the fact that these letters are only ever found at the beginning of any surah, in the opening ayah, and never in the middle or end of a surah. Another proof of the Yamani, Ahmed al Hassan a.s is that he came with Knowledge of these letters, that no one before him has even attempted to explain.  This is one of the biggest proofs, as if you recall from the Hujjatullah Formula, the Hujjatullah must have Divine knowledge which would distinguish his rank as a leader and Messenger from Allah swt. In the book of Al Mutashabihaat Ahmed a.s explains the meaning behind Alif Laam Meem; The name of Allah:It is the city of perfection that illuminated and displayed its glorification from His true reality and status swt that no one knows it except Huwa(him) swt. Likewise,AlRahman AlRaheem both of them are associative in meaning, and exemplify the door of this city. And the shadow of this city is the world of possibilities,that He himself illuminated from within Him and so then glorified from Him Muhammad pbuhap. "You are of a great creation"Sura Qalam verse 4. Because Muhammad lived by the greatest morals from Allah out of all of the creations.It became an exception that no creation can be particularly called as a great one except if it was glorified,and the morals of him appeared from Allah swt, and so from here it is the reason that Muhammad is the city of knowledge. As for the door of this city is Ali a.s, and the one whom the flesh and blood was mixed with is Fatima a.s.So with that being said Ali is a glorification of Rahman, and Fatima is a glorification fo Raheem. And both of them are associative with each other in specific ways, and can be seperated the same way AlRahman Al-Raheem can be seperated in specific ways. Alif lam meem: Prince of the believers a.s said:"I am Ha from Hawameem(Ham meem ) I am a part of Alif lam meem, I am the translation of Saad, I am Noon and the Qalam" And these letters are the names of Ahlulbayt, and so from here Meem(Muhammad)Lam(Ali)and Alif(Fatima). And if you counted all the letters you will find that they are 14 letters. And the Meem has been mentioned 17 times , and the Lam(12 times) and the Alif(13 times). And from these letters the Quran was made. And from these letters (Alif lam meem)the greatest name of Allah. Abi Abdullah Imam Jaafer a.s said:"Alif lam meem is a letter from the letters of the greatest name of Allah,the one that is divided in the Quran,the Prophet can comprehend it and the Imam and once he prays to Allah, his dua will be answered"Ma'ani Al-Akhbar p.23 Imam Al-Saadiq a.s says:"Allah swt created us and so he created our images benevolent,and made us His eye(allegory) towards his slaves. And his tongue that speaks for His creation,and His hand that is spread for his slaves, with mercy and gentleness,and His face that people go after,and His door that tell people to Him,and the store of !