The Miraculous Nature of the Quran: The Disconnected Letters and the Inimitability of the Divine Word
The Quran is the speech of Allah, the Most High — a miracle by every standard and in every dimension. It is a miraculous system and structure built with letters, meanings, ideas, and legislation; with suggestions and sounds, with sentences and verses; with pauses and connections, with extension and assimilation; with numbers, signs, pronouns, and names; with news and information; with threats and intimidation; with encouragement and warning; with description and clarification; with suspense and repulsion. Every letter in the Quran was placed according to a perfect divine system — a high, sublime, delicate, and wise arrangement, far removed from any error. The miracle is present in every letter, every verse, and every surah.
For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ addressed the disbelievers and polytheists publicly, challenging them to produce even one surah like it. They were unable to do so — and they chose war, the sword, the spear, and the loss of wealth, children, and lives rather than produce a surah like it. If they were able to, they would have done so. This will be elaborated in its proper place.
The Miracle Is in Every Letter — But the Letter Is Not to Be Separated from the System
Since the Quran is a miraculous system as a whole, it is not necessary to fragment it or separate one of its letters and ask: what is the miracle in this letter alone? All the letters of the Arabic language are the same — they are letters in their entirety, and their combinations form words and sentences from which meanings and ideas are understood. The letter (ص) that appears in the Quran is the same letter that appears in other books. But this letter became miraculous because it appears within a system that is itself a miracle as a whole. This does not negate the fact that the parts of that system are also miraculous — provided that the part is not divided so as to lose its meaning or go outside that system.
Several points must be noted:
We have never claimed, and will never claim, that the Quran is miraculous linguistically only — that language and its existence are the sole reason for its inimitability. We have not limited the aspects of inimitability at all, nor specified them in some areas rather than others. The miraculous nature of the Quran extends across every field it addresses. And it is known that in every art, the statement of its experts is what is considered. Allah did not send a prophet or messenger with a miracle that his people did not understand — He did not send a prophet unless his people were the most skilled in the relevant field at that time, so that the argument against them would be more complete and clear.
There is, however, a distinction between the miracle of every previous prophet and the miracle of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: the miracle of every past prophet was to establish the argument against his people at that specific time, while the Quran is an eternal miracle that establishes the argument against the people of every time and place.
The Testimony of the Arabs Themselves — The Opponents of the Quran
For those who do not know the Arabic language, it is sufficient to know the statement of the masters of that language — those who were its greatest experts and were opponents of the Quran — and what they said about it.
It was also narrated that when he heard the Quran, his heart softened — so Abu Jahl, his nephew, came to him and denounced him. Al-Walid said: “By God, there is no one among you more knowledgeable about poetry than me. By God, what this man says does not resemble anything like it.”
They then dispersed and sat on the roads warning people against the Prophet ﷺ. Allah, the Most High, then revealed:
“Leave Me and he whom I created alone.”
The Slave Girl and the Verse of Surat Al-Qasas
Al-Asma’i narrated that he heard a slave girl speaking in an eloquent and suggestive manner. He said to her: “What are you seeking forgiveness for, while no pen has written on you?” She recited in reply:
“I killed a man unlawfully — like a soft gazelle in its bucket — it is the middle of the night and I have not prayed.”
He said: “May Allah have mercy on you, how eloquent you are!” She replied: “Is this considered eloquence after the saying of the Almighty?”:
“And We inspired the mother of Moses: ‘Suckle him; but when you fear for him, cast him into the river — and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him one of the messengers.’”
In this single verse, Allah combined two commands, two prohibitions, two pieces of news, and two pieces of glad tidings.
Grade: Sahih · Bukhari & Muslim
These testimonies were given by the most knowledgeable people on earth in the Arabic language — and they are the opponents of the Quran. From this perspective alone, the argument is established against all non-Arabs, since what is considered in every art is the statement of its experts. The Arabic language is not limited to Muslims — there are Arabic speakers of every race and colour. And these scholars, masters of eloquence, poetry, fluency, literature, and the art of speech — none of them was able to produce anything like it, not one of them adhered to the challenge, and yet every one of them testified without doubt that it is not the speech of a human being.
Let the one who says “I will bring something like the Quran” reflect: a sign of his ignorance of Arabic is that he says this at all.
The Eternal Challenge — Three Stages
Stage One: A Single Statement
“Rather, they do not believe. (33) So let them produce a statement like it, if they should be truthful. (34)“
Stage Two: Ten Surahs
“Or do they say, ‘He has fabricated it?’ Say: ‘Then produce ten surahs like it that have been fabricated, and call upon whomever you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’ (13) Then if they do not respond to you, then know that it has been revealed with the knowledge of Allah, and that there is no god except Him. So will you be Muslims? (14)“
Stage Three: A Single Surah
“And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant, then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. (23) But if you do not — and you will never be able to — then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers. (24)”
They did not, and they will not — as the Lord of Glory informed us of their condition and the condition of those who resemble them more than fourteen hundred years ago:
“Rather, they denied that of which they had no knowledge, and whose interpretation had not yet come to them. Thus did those before them deny. So see how was the end of the wrongdoers.”
The inability of all creation to oppose the Quran was recorded until the Day of Resurrection:
“Say: ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.’”
The Disconnected Letters — Al-Huruf al-Muqatta’ah
The disconnected letters appear at the beginnings of certain surahs of the Quran. The number of letters that appear without repetition is fourteen letters (14). They appear in the openings of the surahs as follows:
Openings of one letter — in three surahs: Ṣād (Surat Ṣād), Qāf (Surat Qāf), and Nūn (Surat Al-Qalam).
Openings of two letters — in nine surahs: Ṭā-Hā (Surat Ṭā-Hā), Ṭā-Sīn (An-Naml), Yā-Sīn (Surat Yā-Sīn), Ḥā-Mīm (Ghafir), Ḥā-Mīm (Fussilat), Ḥā-Mīm (Az-Zukhruf), Ḥā-Mīm (Ad-Dukhān), Ḥā-Mīm (Al-Jāthiyah), and Ḥā-Mīm (Al-Aḥqāf).
Openings of three letters — in thirteen surahs: Alif-Lām-Mīm (Al-Baqarah), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Āl Imrān), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Yunus), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Hud), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Yusuf), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Ibrahim), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Al-Hijr), Ṭā-Sīn-Mīm (Ash-Shu’arā), Ṭā-Sīn-Mīm (Al-Qaṣaṣ), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Al-Ankabut), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Ar-Rūm), Alif-Lām-Mīm (Luqman), and Alif-Lām-Mīm (As-Sajdah).
Openings of more than three letters — in two surahs: Kāf-Hā-Yā-‘Ain-Ṣād (Maryam) and Ḥā-Mīm-‘Ain-Qāf (Ash-Shurā).
The Opinion of the Commentators
Al-Zamakhshari said: “Not all of them came together at the beginning of the Quran, but they were repeated to be more eloquent in the challenge and rebuke — as many stories were repeated and the explicit challenge was repeated in various places. Some came with one letter such as {Ṣād}, two letters such as {Ḥā Mīm}, three like {Alif Lām Mīm}, four like {Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād}, and five like {Kāf Hā Yā ‘Ain Ṣād} — because the styles of their speech include what is of one letter, two letters, three, four, and five, no more than that.”
Ibn Kathir said: “For this reason, every surah that begins with these letters must mention the exaltation of the Quran, the statement of its inimitability and its greatness — and this is known by induction across twenty-nine surahs.” Examples he cited include: {Alif Lām Mīm. This is the Book about which there is no doubt}, {Alif Lām Mīm. Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining. He has sent down to you the Book in truth}, and {Alif Lām Mīm. A Book which has been revealed to you} — among others.
The Numerical Structure: Seven and Its Multiples
There is another remarkable aspect to these letters. The number of letters at the beginning of the surahs — excluding repetitions — is 14. The number of distinct letter-combinations that open the surahs — also excluding repetitions — is likewise 14. The number 14 equals seven multiplied by two, indicating a solid structure built upon the number seven and its multiples.
As an example of this structure, consider the first verse of the Quran — the Basmalah: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.” If we count the letters Alif, Lām, and Mīm within it:
| Alif | Lām | Mīm |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 3 |
The number representing the repetition of these letters in the Basmalah is 343. And:
343 = 7 × 7 × 7
Glory be to Him who has counted everything in number.
The Phonetic Miracle — Half of Every Type
Modern phonetics scientists — including what Monsieur Blanchot referred to in Chansons de geste (the Hymn of Movement) — established that these fourteen letters, taken together and excluding repetitions, represent all the phonetic phenomena found in the Arabic language. If we examine these letters, we find that they include precisely half of every category of Arabic phonetics:
Half of the voiceless letters: Ṣād, Kāf, Hā, Sīn, and Hā.
Half of the voiced letters: Alif, Lām, Mīm, Rā, ‘Ain, Ṭā, Qāf, Yā, and Nūn.
Half of the stressed (shidda) letters: Alif, Kāf, Ṭā, and Qāf.
Half of the soft (rakhāwa) letters: Lām, Mīm, Rā, Ṣād, Hā, ‘Ain, Sīn, Hā, Yā, and Nūn.
Half of the closed (iṭbāq) letters: Ṣād and Ṭā.
Half of the open (infitāḥ) letters: Alif, Lām, Mīm, Rā, Kāf, Hā, ‘Ain, Sīn, Hā, Qāf, Yā, and Nūn.
Half of the elevated (isti’lā) letters: Qāf, Ṣād, and Ṭā.
Half of the low (istifāl) letters: Alif, Lām, Mīm, Rā, Kāf, Hā, Yā, ‘Ain, Sīn, Hā, and Nūn.
Half of the Qalqalah letters: Qāf and Ṭā.
If these letters were combined into a sentence, their pronunciation would render: ==“A wise text with a decisive secret” (نَصٌّ حَكِيمٌ قَاطِعٌ لَهُ سِرٌّ)==.
“This is a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, O Muhammad, that they may ponder its verses and that those of understanding may be reminded.”
How could Muhammad ﷺ — an unlettered man who could neither read nor write — have known all of this? How was it possible that what he brought in the Quran would be confirmed, hundreds of years later, by the science of phonetics: that these letters were not placed arbitrarily and were not chosen haphazardly, but rather are “a wise text with a decisive secret” whose letters constitute half of the letters of every phonetic category, without any increase or decrease? And this arrangement did not come in a book of music or a book of puzzles — it came within the Book of Allah:
“There is no creature on earth or bird that flies with its wings except that they are communities like you. We have neglected nothing in the Book. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered. (38) And those who deny Our verses are deaf and dumb, within darknesses. Whomever Allah wills He sends astray, and whomever He wills He places on a straight path. (39)”
“And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things, and as guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims.”
Appendix: The Twenty-Nine Surahs Beginning with Disconnected Letters — Ibn Kathir’s Induction
Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, established by induction that every surah beginning with disconnected letters mentions the exaltation and inimitability of the Quran. The twenty-nine surahs are as follows, with the opening verses cited:
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Alif Lām Mīm. This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah. — Al-Baqarah
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Alif Lām Mīm. Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence. He has sent down upon you the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. — Āl Imrān
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Alif Lām Mīm. A Book sent down to you, so let there not be in your breast any discomfort therefrom — to warn thereby and as a reminder to the believers. — Al-A’rāf
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Alif Lām Rā. These are the verses of the Wise Book. — Yunus
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Alif Lām Rā. A Book whose verses are perfected and then presented in detail from One Who is Wise and Acquainted. — Hud
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Alif Lām Rā. These are the verses of the clear Book. Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran that you might understand. — Yusuf
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Alif Lām Rā. These are the verses of the Book, and that which has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, but most of the people do not believe. — Ar-Ra’d
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Alif Lām Rā. A Book which We have sent down to you so that you may bring mankind out of darknesses into light. — Ibrahim
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Alif Lām Mīm. These are the verses of the Book and a clear Quran. — Al-Hijr
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Ṭā Hā. We have not sent down the Quran to you to cause you distress, but only as a reminder for whoever fears — a revelation from He who created the earth and the high heavens. — Ṭā Hā
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Ṭā Sīn Mīm. These are the verses of the clear Book. — Ash-Shu’arā
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Ṭā Sīn. These are the verses of the Quran and a clear Book — a guidance and good tidings for the believers. — An-Naml
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Ṭā Sīn Mīm. These are the verses of the clear Book. — Al-Qaṣaṣ
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Alif Lām Mīm. These are the verses of the Wise Book — a guidance and mercy for the doers of good. — Luqman
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Alif Lām Mīm. The revelation of the Book, about which there is no doubt, is from the Lord of the worlds. — As-Sajdah
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Yā Sīn. By the Quran full of wisdom. — Yā Sīn
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Ṣād. By the Quran full of remembrance. — Ṣād
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Ḥā Mīm. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Knowing. — Ghafir
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Ḥā Mīm. A revelation from the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful — a Book whose verses are explained in detail, an Arabic Quran for a people who know. — Fussilat
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Ḥā Mīm. ‘Ain Sīn Qāf. Thus does Allah reveal to you and to those before you — Allah is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. — Ash-Shurā
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Ḥā Mīm. By the clear Book — indeed, We have made it an Arabic Quran that you might understand. And indeed, it is in the Mother of the Book with Us, sublime and wise. — Az-Zukhruf
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Ḥā Mīm. By the clear Book. — Ad-Dukhān
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Ḥā Mīm. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise. — Al-Jāthiyah
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Ḥā Mīm. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise. — Al-Aḥqāf
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Qāf. By the Glorious Quran. — Qāf
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Kāf Hā Yā ‘Ain Ṣād. A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah. — Maryam
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Alif Lām Mīm. Do people think that they will be left to say “We believe” and they will not be tested? — Al-Ankabut
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Alif Lām Mīm. The Romans have been defeated. — Ar-Rūm
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Nūn. By the pen and what they inscribe — you are not, by the grace of your Lord, a madman. And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. And indeed, you are of a great moral character. — Al-Qalam
The previous texts from surahs 1 through 25 refer explicitly to the Holy Quran. As for the remaining four surahs: Maryam mentions the story of Zakariyya and Yaḥyā (peace be upon them); Ar-Rūm announces the coming victory of the Romans — the People of the Book — over the pagans within a few years; Al-Ankabut addresses those who believed in the Prophet ﷺ and this Quran to be patient in the face of harm; and Al-Qalam describes the character of the Prophet ﷺ, whose character was the Quran itself.