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The Translation of the Abbreviated Letters (Muqatta't) In the Glorious Qur'an into English | ||
| Al-Ma'mon College Journal | ||
| Article 1, Volume 0, Issue 15, 2018, Pages 1-20 | ||
| Author | ||
| Ibtihal Mahdi Al-Tamimi | ||
| Abstract | ||
| More than one –fourth of the Qur'anic Surahs begin with certain abbreviated letters like Alif Laam Meem, Ya Seen, Ha Meem, etc which are called Huruf-i-Muqatta'a.They are also kown as Fawatih or openers as they form the opening verse of the respective chapters. There are 29 letters in the Arabic Alphabet (if hamza and alif are considered as two letters) and there are 29 surahs in the Glorious Qur'an that have the abbreviated letters prefixed to them; exactly one half that is 14 letters appear as muqatta'at.They sometimes occur alone, (e.g. Sad), sometimes in a combination of two letters, (e.g.Ya Seen) and sometimes in a combination of three, four or five letters,(e.g.Alif Laam Meem).There have been a variety of explanations offered by Muslim scholars as well as Western to find out the possible meanings and probable significance of these " mystical letters" as they are sometimes called. The need for translating the Glorious Qur'an arises when a large number of non-Arabic speaking people embrace Islam. However, translating the Glorious Qur'an has always been a problematic and difficult issue since Muslims revere it as miraculous and inimitable(ijaz-al-Qur'an).Numerous opinions have been given on the translation of the exact meaning of the abbreviated letters (Muqatta't),but a consensus elusive.This study is an attempt to discuss the different opinions of the meanings and significance of these letters and how to render them into English. It is noted that though the meaning and purpose of each particular letter or combination of letters is uncertain and only Allah knows their exact meaning, some of the better known opinions are given:(a) they stand for words or phrased related to Allah and His Attributes,according to this view Alif Lam Meem stands for "Ana Allahu 'Alam or I am Allah the All Knowing. The famous companions Ibn Abbas and Ibn Mas'ud are said to have favoured this view;(b) these letters present the names of the Surahs as appointed by Allah in the sense that Arabs would name things after such letters(e.g. 'money' as ' ع ',clouds as ' غ ',and fish as 'ن ' )this view is cited by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi a classical commentator of Qur'an.Nevertheless,according to Rashad Khalifa these initials and number 19 are related to what he describes as "mathematical miracle of the Qur'an;(c)these letters are used to attract the attention of the Prophet and to represent the Divine origin of the Qur'an and then the Arabic rhetoric ability and eloquence.Therefore,translating these letters may vary in accordance with the different views given.Three translations are adopted and will be discussed through this study.These are of Yusuf Ali,Pickthall and Shakir. It must be admitted that though accepted ,the different views still need to be developed and verified if they are considered the only logical explanation of the abbreviated letters.It is concluded that these letters when translated should be spelled out idependently and not to be separated with an explanatory footnote showing its meaning and significane.A suggested translation is presented of these letters | ||
| Keywords | ||
| English | ||
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