What do the unconnected letters in the Qur'an mean? | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

13 Views· 24/03/23

Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo
Subscribers

In Lectures

What do the unconnected letters in the Qur'an mean? | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini
Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo

Transcript

[0:04]i begin in the name of the almighty god the compassionate the

[0:10]merciful the one who has created everything in utmost perfection and may

[0:13]the peace and blessings of the almighty god be upon his pure

[0:18]and beloved messenger the peak of his creation the symbol of humanity

[0:22]the holy prophet muhammed and his immaculate progeny of the bait peace

[0:33]be upon them especially the leader of our time the awaited savior

[0:40]al-imam al-mahdi allah subhanahu wa states in the holy quran einstein nearly

[1:01]one fourth of the chapters of the holy quran begin with these

[1:07]letters what we call the disconnected or unconnected letters 29 chapters in

[1:14]the quran they begin with these letters and subhanallah when you look

[1:21]at these letters you find that they are 14 letters from the

[1:24]arabic alphabet if you gather all of these unconnected letters that these

[1:28]chapters start with they are 14 letters that's pretty much half of

[1:33]the arabic alphabet half of the arabic alphabet is used to begin

[1:39]these chapters and you have 29 chapters now another interesting aspect is

[1:45]in arabic you have 28 letters right but if you count the

[1:50]hamza as a letter which some linguists do count it as a

[1:52]letter as a separate letter not part of the alif it's its

[1:58]own separate letter you'll have 29 letters in the arabic language and

[2:05]subhanallah allah starts 29 chapters with alphabets from the arabic language the

[2:09]hamza for instance the word zahra right the word zahra at the

[2:15]end has a hamza the hamza is that distinct a in the

[2:17]arabic language that elongated a is what we call himself some have

[2:25]even considered this to be a separate letter what do these letters

[2:29]mean the month of ramadan is the month of reflections we reflect

[2:32]on the book of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what do these letters

[2:38]mean in our discussion tonight we will offer a brief overview of

[2:42]what the disconnected and the unconnected letters of the quran mean there

[2:49]are several possibilities here several tafasir there are several purposes that these

[2:56]letters serve i will mention the four primary ones the first purpose

[3:03]that these letters serve and we have hadiths about this is that

[3:08]these are special symbols between allah and his prophet these are secret

[3:15]symbols that the prophet salallahu has access to he has the knowledge

[3:21]to these symbols in one hadith narrated by abu bashir from imam

[3:26]assad the imam al-isram states you know the great name of god

[3:32]which some hadith states it's 72 letters the great name of allah

[3:36]is found in the quran these letters are parts of that name

[3:42]now you and i we don't have access to it we don't

[3:46]know it but the imam says the prophet knows it and we

[3:49]the imams have access to it when you have that name of

[3:54]allah any time you ask allah allah immediately answers you so these

[3:59]letters are a special code between the prophet and allah subhanahu wa

[4:04]ta'ala it's a special code he had access to it and so

[4:10]he knew the great name of allah subhanahu ta'ala this is the

[4:13]first meaning of these disconnected letters the second meaning or the second

[4:20]purpose that these letters serve is that they are a symbol that

[4:26]refer to certain names of god or certain events knowing them is

[4:30]very helpful knowing them allows you to better focus on the quran

[4:34]so for instance alif lam meme basically means an allahu alam i

[4:41]am the lord who knows best this is what alif means according

[4:46]to certain hadiths so anytime you recite these disconnected letters al-iflam remember

[4:53]that allah is the most knowledgeable alef means you have that extra

[5:07]r this means i also see i am aware of you o

[5:12]my servants so these special letters are beautiful symbols of god's name

[5:20]that remind us of the name of allah one hadith sheds light

[5:23]on these five disconnected letters one hadith states kaf means al-kafi it's

[5:33]a reference to this beautiful name of allah when you recite surat

[5:39]maryam and you start the surah with these letters remember that they

[5:43]have a meaning these letters kaf means al-kafi al-kafi means the one

[5:47]who's sufficient and the one who takes care of you you don't

[5:52]need anyone else every day we need to remember this name every

[5:57]day realize that you only need allah allah is the kafi allah

[6:01]subhanahu ta'ala is sufficient for you you don't need to run after

[6:07]dunya after people and after haram means to get what you want

[6:10]what you want is an allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that's what the

[6:12]kaf means kaf ha what does the heart mean al hadi allah

[6:19]is the one who guides remember he is your guide don't follow

[6:24]what society tells you society changes its mind every day one day

[6:28]society tells you this is how you should dress this is how

[6:33]you should behave this is how you should believe one day it

[6:36]changes its mind don't follow what society tells you don't follow what

[6:41]peer pressure does to you follow allah he is the hadi he

[6:46]is the ultimate guide i'm is for instance you want knowledge go

[6:54]to your lord he has the best knowledge that he will give

[6:56]you sad is asada allah is the truthful one trust him do

[7:02]we trust allah when allah says if you rely on me i'll

[7:06]take care of you do we really trust him when allah says

[7:10]get married i'll take care of you financially do which really trust

[7:13]him or we come up with a thousand excuses allah is the

[7:16]sadher he is the truthful when you read these beautiful letters reflect

[7:21]on the meanings of god's names embedded in them that's a beautiful

[7:27]way to stay focused and it's more effective that way when you

[7:31]know this letter represents this name of allah it sticks to your

[7:35]mind every time you read it that name comes to your mind

[7:37]and you interact with it in a more positive way so these

[7:42]letters have meanings now sometimes these letters have multiple meanings you know

[7:49]as the hadith states the quran has 70 layers 70 depths it's

[7:54]an endless ocean and so there's one very interesting hadith i would

[7:59]like to share with you about kaf saad this hadith which gives

[8:05]us a deeper layer to the meaning of these disconnected letters is

[8:09]found in the book of al-qaeda by the great scholar of tabarsi

[8:13]he narrates that even he was one of the great scholars who

[8:22]lived during the era of the 11th imam al-imam he used to

[8:31]debate people from other schools of thought regularly so sometimes he had

[8:37]questions he had no answer to so one day he is losing

[8:44]patience he cannot find the answer to difficult questions that were posed

[8:47]to him so he doesn't know what to do they tell him

[8:51]go and visit your imam go and visit al-imam al-azkari and he

[8:54]will give you the answers so he says according to this narration

[8:59]i visited al-imam al-askari in samara the imam told me meet me

[9:06]in surah which is the city of samara that's where the imam

[9:08]salaam spent you know the last years of his life he says

[9:13]i met him over there when i met him there was a

[9:19]young boy in the lap of al-imam al-askari when i asked al-imam

[9:24]al-askari about this boy he told me this is the hajja after

[9:26]me this is the imam some people did see al-imam al-mahdi after

[9:32]he was born during the life of al-imam al-asikari this hadith is

[9:35]one of those hadiths that proves this he says i saw this

[9:39]young boy he told me this is the hajj after me so

[9:42]sardivan abdullah says i had a list of questions i couldn't get

[9:47]any answer to so when i asked al-imam al-askari about the questions

[9:50]he told me ask the boy he'll answer you imam al-mendu was

[9:54]young maybe three four years old he told him he will answer

[10:00]you so he says i asked him what does kaff ha ya

[10:02]einsad mean can you give me the deeper meaning he says the

[10:07]young boy he said to me this is from the knowledge of

[10:12]the unseen that now i will share with you this is a

[10:17]special name that allah gave to his servants heard that the most

[10:32]special names in the history of existence these are the most special

[10:48]names so he had heard about these names he asked allah subhanahu

[10:51]ta'ala oh allah tell me more about these names teach me these

[10:54]names i want to say them i want to get to know

[10:59]them so allah subhanahu ta'ala revealed to him these names zakariyah would

[11:06]regularly mention these five names one day zakaria says to allah there

[11:11]is something puzzling about these names four of them when i mention

[11:17]them i'm at peace i feel comfortable i feel strength and power

[11:20]when i say muhammad or ali or fatima or hassan i'm at

[11:27]peace i feel this consolation but oh allah whenever i say hussain

[11:32]i start crying i can't control my tears what's up with this

[11:38]name why is it that every time i say hussain i keep

[11:41]crying that hussain is the grandson of my final prophet and he

[11:50]will be killed in karbala allah informs zakariyah about the story of

[11:55]karbala zakariyah begins to cry he says oh allah this will happen

[12:00]to the best of your creation i want you o allah to

[12:05]also give me the honor of having my son achieving shahada just

[12:09]as the grandson of muhammad sallallahu alaihi will achieve martyrdom i want

[12:13]my son to also have that honor allah subhanahu wa ta'ala honored

[12:19]him and yahya his son was martyred and he was beheaded just

[12:22]as imam hussain al-islam so in this hadith according to this hadith

[12:29]says he tells him means karbala that's a reference to karbala allah

[12:40]told zakaria about it that the family of the prophet will perish

[12:45]will be killed ya is the oppressor who will kill hussain his

[12:53]name is yazid the ah stands for yazid i'm stands for attack

[12:58]hussain the thirst of imam hussain and saad represents the sabre and

[13:03]the patience of imam hussain so sometimes you'll find these disconnected letters

[13:08]have these deeper meanings now we cannot come up with our own

[13:12]theories we have to take them from the albeit peace be upon

[13:16]them that's the second meaning of the disconnected letters they either refer

[13:21]to the names of allah or to historical events like that the

[13:26]third meaning the third purpose that they serve when the quran would

[13:31]be revealed and the prophet would speak it you know what the

[13:33]mushrikeen would do the mushrikeen the kuffar who would hear the quran

[13:42]allah the disbelievers said don't listen to this book don't listen to

[13:54]this quran and when the prophet is reciting it when muhammad sallallahu

[13:59]alaihi is reciting it distract him so people don't listen start clapping

[14:06]start whistling and that's what the muslim king do sometimes the prophet

[14:10]would come to recite verses of the quran they'd start clapping and

[14:16]dancing sometimes they would start whistling just so they cause noise and

[14:22]they interrupt the prophet so one of the reasons some chapters start

[14:26]with these letters is to grab their attention so the next day

[14:32]the prophet salallahu would come and he would say suddenly like what

[14:36]what does that mean he got their attention he mentions the verse

[14:40]from the holy quran he mentions the following verse so they automatically

[14:45]hear it they forget to clap and to cause a distraction this

[14:49]was a very powerful way to get their attention this is the

[14:55]third meaning of these the fourth one and really the most important

[15:00]one the fourth meaning my dear brothers and sisters is one that

[15:05]is really important the greatest miracle in the history of humankind is

[15:09]what the greatest miracle of all prophets is what is the holy

[15:12]quran the miracles of all previous prophets they have gone with history

[15:19]as great as they were the miracles of prophet musa al-islam they

[15:25]ended right that staff that stick that turned into a snake it's

[15:29]gone you can't see it anymore all the miracles are gone the

[15:34]only miracle that has survived throughout history is the holy quran it

[15:38]transcends time and space this is the final miracle of allah subhanahu

[15:43]ta'alah for his religion when you look at the quran it's miraculous

[15:48]at every level a few nights ago in our q and a

[15:54]session we spoke about the miraculous nature of the quran look at

[15:58]the quran it has so much power it's so rich this holy

[16:00]quran has scientific references the holy quran tells you that you were

[16:04]created from clay just scientists now these days are confirming that all

[16:11]the ingredients for life are found in clay subhanallah the quran tells

[16:14]you that the universe is constantly expanding that allah created everything from

[16:20]living water the quran tells you this guy that you see which

[16:26]is thin air allah says i've made it a protective ceiling who

[16:28]knew about the layer of ozone back then who knew there was

[16:32]a layer protecting you from all the harmful rays of the sun

[16:37]asteroids everything else many people did not know that see look at

[16:43]the miraculous aspect of the quran and then the predictions that the

[16:46]quran makes the quran predicted that the muslims will achieve victory and

[16:52]the battle of badr it happened the romans will achieve victory over

[16:55]the persians it happened all these predictions and then you look at

[17:01]the beautiful system of the holy quran these elaborate verses that talk

[17:05]about every aspect of life this miracle of allah what is it

[17:08]composed of this final most powerful miracle that transcends time and space

[17:16]what is it made of it's maybe made up of letters subhanallah

[17:19]it's made up of letters so the reason why allah begins one-fourth

[17:25]of the quran with these disconnected letters is to tell people look

[17:29]this merges this miracle that you see is nothing but letters allah

[17:36]arrange them in a way that's miraculous can you bring something like

[17:41]it come and bring what you what you can the holy quran

[17:44]makes an invitation to the jinn and the ends allah subhanahu ta'ala

[17:49]states if the jinn and the ends together they work together to

[17:53]bring like the quran they cannot they cannot it's impossible for them

[18:07]it's impossible so this merges of the final prophet is just letters

[18:13]subhanallah look at letters they changed the course of history they created

[18:17]civilizations just letters the most important one of the most important books

[18:23]in history the most memorized book in history is the quran whether

[18:27]religious or secular there is no book in the history of humankind

[18:32]who has been memorized entirely from cover to cover by millions of

[18:36]people except the holy quran like the holy quran and this is

[18:41]made up from simple letters think allah saying think look at my

[18:44]miracle these letters that you use every day i can make a

[18:50]miracle out of them because usually the miracles of god they come

[18:54]from something simple that's how you know it's a miracle it's nothing

[18:57]fancy it's something simple prophet musa what did he use to split

[19:03]the sea and turn into a snake what did he use a

[19:08]very sophisticated technological device no what did he use he used something

[19:13]every shepherd had at the time which was a stick allah says

[19:16]see that stick which you all have i'll turn it into a

[19:19]snake that's how you know it's from allah subhana wa ta'ala same

[19:21]with the holy quran these letters that you use every day i'll

[19:24]create a miracle out of them so the fourth meaning to these

[19:30]disconnected letters my dear brothers and sisters is that allah is inviting

[19:34]you to think alif think how is this miracle produced that has

[19:42]been surviving 14 centuries have you seen a miracle that has survived

[19:47]a thousand years it's the quran and it's made up of letters

[19:50]that shows you the greatness of allah subhanahu ta'alah so the next

[19:54]time you recite these disconnected letters remember the miraculous nature and the

[20:00]miraculous aspect of the holy quran now scholars have analyzed a lot

[20:04]of these letters and there are many interesting observations about them for

[20:11]instance six of the chapters of the quran start with al-islam right

[20:15]al-islam six of the chapters start with this you have the three

[20:21]letters the alif the lam and the meme now some scholars who

[20:26]are into linguistics and vocalizations they've noted something interesting here they said

[20:30]the alif lam meme these the three letters they point to the

[20:36]three different areas of vocalization when you speak the alif comes from

[20:41]the throat right when you say alif which part of your mouth

[20:46]are you using you're using your throat it comes deeper from your

[20:49]throat when you say the lamb what are you using your tongue

[20:54]and when you say the meme what are you using your mouth

[20:56]your lips these are the three areas that you used to speak

[21:00]you use your throat your tongue and your lips allah says i've

[21:03]used these three letters over here to remind you that my book

[21:09]is this miracle of letters and you vocalize it from all these

[21:11]aspects it's a beautiful reminder it's a beautiful way to look at

[21:17]it so six of the chapters of the quran they start with

[21:21]alif lami now some scholars have said when you analyze these chapters

[21:27]it kind of gives you an idea of these three stages you

[21:30]know you have the beginning of your throat then you have your

[21:33]tongue then you have the outer side these six chapters speak about

[21:38]the origin allah is the one who created us he's the origin

[21:42]and it talks about the end the day of judgment that's the

[21:47]main theme and then how to get there subhanallah it's like you're

[21:50]traveling from your throat to your tongue to the mouth and life

[21:53]is like that you're going from the origin to that destination through

[21:59]the good deeds that you do in this dunya so indeed when

[22:12]you look at these letters my dear brothers and sisters that is

[22:16]truly fascinating how allah challenges all of humanity bring something like that

[22:22]i've made this miracle from letters can you produce something like that

[22:27]this gives the strength that the quran is from allah this gives

[22:34]us confidence and certainty that this book is from our creator we

[22:38]ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to open our hearts to the guidance

[22:44]of the holy quran we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give

[22:47]us the tawfiq in this blessed month of ramadan to benefit more

[22:52]from this book and to make it our best friend and our

[22:57]best companion was too

0 Comments

Up next

What do the unconnected letters in the Qur'an mean? | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

Transcript

Up next

Explore more

Please note that if you are under 18, you won't be able to access this site.

Up next

What do the unconnected letters in the Qur'an mean? | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

Transcript

Up next

Explore more

Choose a payment method

Language