Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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ALIF. The letter Alif (ا‎) is a monogram frequently placed at the head of letters, prescriptions, &c. It is the initial letter of the word Allāh (الله‎), “God.”

ALIF LĀM MĪM. The Arabic letters الم‎, corresponding to A L M, which occur at the commencement of six Sūrahs, namely Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah (II.), Sūratu Ālu ʿImrān (III.), Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt (XXIX.), Sūratu ʾr-Rūm (XXX.), Sūratu Luqmān (XXXI.), and Sūratu ʾs-Sijdah (XXXII.). Muḥammad never explained the meaning of these mysterious letters, and consequently they are a fruitful source of perplexity to learned commentators. Jalālu ʾd-dīn gives an exhaustive summary of the different views in his Itqān (p. 470). Some suppose they stand for the words Allāh, “God”; Lat̤īf, “gracious”; Majīd, “glorious.” Others say they stand for Ana ʾllāhu aʿlamu, “I am the God who knoweth.” Others maintain that they were not meant to be understood, and that they were inserted by the Divine command without explanation, in order to remind the reader that there were mysteries which his intellect would never fathom.