Disconnected Letters

Fourteen surihs (chapters) of the Qur'án begin with what are known as disconnected letters. These are seemingly random letters of the (Arabic) alphabet, but were always included in these particular chapters whenever they were revealed or repeated by Muhammad. Over the centuries there have been many attempts to unravel their meaning. The fifth Imam indicated one level of meaning to them. Bahá’u’lláh, however, wrote a long Tablet about them, in answer to a query from a believer. In the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the Báb likewise uses disconnected letters at the start of the chapters.

The disconnected letters as prophetic indicators

The first Sura of the Qur'án is the Fatihah, which is a sort of spiritual prologue. Sura 2 is therefore often regarded as the start of the text proper. This Sura begins with the letters A.L.M. The fifth Imam explained that the set of letters at the start of each chapter indicated a time (year) in which a significant event would happen to someone within Muhammad's own family. In the Abjad system of numbering, A represents 1, L represents 30, and M 40. ALM is therefore worth 71. 71 years after the revelation of His Station to Muhammad, His grandson Husayn was killed by the Umayyad family.

Sura 3 likewise begins with A.L.M., which, as explained above, adds up to 71. 71 years after the death of Husayn, As-Saffah, descended from Muhammad's own clan, defeated the Umayyad family, and began a new and more enlightened phase in Muslim history. Further examples can be taken from succeeding chapters, using the same principle.

In the same way, if the values of all of the disconnected letters in the chapters 2 to 13 of the Qur'án are added together (this is the part of the book in which most of them are found), they total 1267. Muhammad first announced that He was a Manifestation of God three years after the revelation of this fact to Himself. Another way of looking at this is that He announced Himself seven years before the Hejira, or 7 years before the Muslim calendar begins. Therefore, from the year of Muhammad's first declaration to the year of the declaration of the Báb was 1267 years.

The disconnected letters as proofs of the next Manifestation

Sura 2 of the Qur'an begins: "A.L.M. That is the book...." Bahá'u'lláh's own interpretation explains the Arabic words which these letters are short for. Using Bahá'u'lláh's explanation: "A" represents the Absolute Divinity, "L" represents the Absolute Trusteeship, and "M" represents the Beingness of Muhammad. By placing the L before the M, at the very start of the Qur'án, Muhammad (God) was confirming the name of the next Manifestation, Ali-Muhammad, in which the name of Ali, the Trustee, comes before the name of Muhammad Himself. (The name of the Báb was, of course, Ali-Muhammad.) The first verse continues: "That is the Book, wherein is no doubt, a guidance to the God-fearing who believe in the Unseen". Bahá'u'lláh identifies the "Unseen" as the Dispensation of the Báb.

The disconnected letters as explanations for existence

At another level, Bahá'u'lláh explains the centrality of "A". In English, the *name* of the letter "A" is pronounced as the "ay" in hay. Its Arabic *name* is "alif", and it is written as a single stroke. Bahá'u'lláh argues that in the disconnected letters, the alif is being used to represent Oneness, Divinity, etc. The other letters proceed from it. For example, "B" (ba) is a slightly flattened half-circle that lies on the line, with a dot under it. Bahá'u'lláh says that it is the alif prostrating itself on the dust before God. Bahá'u'lláh develops this theme quite extensively, demonstrating layers of hidden meanings within these letters, at a theological or philosophical level. No complete translation of this Tablet into English is yet available.

The disconnected letters as proof of divine revelation

See also the article Nineteen

In some of the chapters of the Qur'án, particular letters are used a number of times, and these numbers are multiples of 19. Surih 50, for example, begins with the disconnected letter Q ("Qaf"), and indeed the chapter is identified by the name Qaf. Including this Q at the beginning, the letter Q is found 57 (19 x 3) times in this chapter. Surih 42 also has Q as one of its disconnected letters, and the letter Q is likewise found here 57 times. These two lots of 57 add up to 114, which is the number of chapters in the Qur'án. So, not only is the number 19 hidden here, but the number of chapters in the Qur'án is also hidden here. (The letter "Q" presumably indicates the Qur'án itself.) It would seem that mathematical evidence of design is hidden here, as proof of the divine origin of both the revelation of Muhammad and that of the Báb.