The word · The Qur’an
الحُروفُ المُقَطَّعَة
Huruf Muqatta'at
The single letters that open twenty nine surahs, such as Alif Lam Mim, recited letter by letter.
Also written · Huroof Muqattaat · Muqatta'at · Muqattaat · Alif Lam Meem · Alif Laam Meem · Ha Meem · Ya Sin · Ta Ha · disconnected letters · disjointed letters · mysterious letters · Fawatih as-Suwar · Huroof e Muqattaat · broken letters
The meaning
What Huruf Muqatta'at means in Islam
They are read as separate letter names, not run together as a word. Many early scholars, Companions among them, said their meaning is known to Allah alone and stopped there. Others suggested they point at the challenge itself: this revelation is built from the very letters its opponents already had.
Evidence · Scholars differ · The scholars read this one differently
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
Words that sit beside it
- SurahA chapter of the Qur'an; there are 114, arranged in the mushaf rather than by date of revelation.سورَة
- Muhkam and MutashabihThe clear verses whose meaning is decisive, and the verses that can carry more than one meaning.المُحْكَمُ وَالمُتَشابِه
- I'jaz al-Qur'anThe Qur'an's inimitability: that no one can produce its like, and the standing challenge to try.إِعْجازُ القُرْآن
More from The Qur’an
- Al-Ahruf as-Sab'ahThe seven modes in which the Qur'an was revealed, an ease for the community; what a mode is stays disputed.الأَحْرُفُ السَّبْعَة
- Hafs an AsimThe reading found in most printed mushafs today, transmitted by Hafs from his teacher Asim of Kufa.حَفْصٌ عَنْ عاصِم
- Jam' al-Qur'anThe gathering of the Qur'an into one written volume, carried out under Abu Bakr and then Uthman.جَمْعُ القُرْآن
- MufassirA scholar who writes or teaches tafsir, trained in Arabic, the readings, the Sunnah and the occasions.المُفَسِّر
- Qur'anThe speech of Allah revealed to Muhammad in Arabic over about twenty three years, preserved word for word.القُرْآن
- Tafkhim and TarqiqHeavy and light pronunciation: some letters fill the mouth, others stay thin.التَّفْخيمُ وَالتَّرْقيق