/lit/ - Literature

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والحمدلله وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم


A series of threads explaining the entire Quran verse by verse

Last thread
>>19710725

Discord

https://discord.gg/ysvruzyY2E

This thread we go over the first verse

بِسمِ اللّٰهِ الرَحْمَنِ الحِيمِ

Bismillah ar-Rahman at-Raheem

In the Name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful

To start let’s be clear what this verse isn’t saying. Some waiter sufis say the dot under the first letter (in the right, the ب, a b) is the whole Qur’an’s hidden message, it signifies the unity of being. Nasr relates this in his introduction to his study Quran. First of all, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was illiterate. Secondly that dot called a nokta was not in Arabic script then it was added later long after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died. This reading is bogus

Next, is this verse part of the chapter? Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifa held that it’s not but just etiquette to write before it like every chapter except Tawba. Imam Shafi’i and Imam Ahmad say it is part of it. Of the four only Shafi’i says it should be spoken aloud in prayer.

B as a prefix, means in or with. ب. Ism, اسم, means name, coming from an etymology according to Lane’s lexicon that has to do with elevating.

Allah الله is a definite prefix form of diety, ilah (al plus ilah). Ilah is cognate with the Hebrew El. Linguistic experts agree it comes from an old Arabic word for one and also relates to singling out which is an older word for worship. A diety is something singled out and recognized as unique in a worshipful way in Arabic.

In Arabic when the subject is mentioned first it confers exclusivity (a principle we will mention later in this Surah). So if you say in the name of Allah to start instead of finish it means only in His name. The Name Allah encompasses all His names, so for example we don’t say Al-‘Azeez (the Almighty) is Allah, we always say Allah is the Almighty . So if you say this you mean in all of His names and the more names you know the more you know what you’re saying because each name tells you one of His qualities

Cont