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Fatwa CenterRationale behind beginning the Surah of Ar-Room with Alif Laam Meem
Question
Why does the Soorah of Ar-Room begin with Alif Laam Meem?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Like other similar Surahs of the Quran, the Surah of Ar-Room begins with the disjointed Arabic letters “Alif, Laam, Meem.” There are 27 Quranic Surahs that begin with disjointed letters.
This is one of the miraculous aspects of the Glorious Quran, because these letters draw the attention to the fact that this Book is composed of the same letters that the Arabs use and easily utter; however, they could not use them to produce a text that is similar to the Quran.
In past and recent times, Arabs composed eloquent speeches, highly rhetorical poems and fluent articles, but when you compare all this to the Book of Allaah Almighty, you will find immense and amazing differences.
What a great distinction there is between the Words of Allaah Almighty and the words of humans. The Words of Allaah, the Exalted, are full of illumination and vividness and if you put one sentence of the Quran among the most eloquent speeches of the Arabs, it would be easy for the simplest man to recognize. This is what the most implacable enemies of Islam acknowledged in the past as well as in the present.
Allaah Almighty Says (what means): {Say, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."}[Quran 17:88]
Immediately after its opening verse, the Surah of Ar-Room brought a truthful prophecy and an amazing miracle by foretelling that the Romans will be victorious over the Persians within three to nine years, while this was impossible in the view of the Arabs at that time. As the companions’ faith was complete and their confidence in the truthful Promise of Allaah Almighty was limitless, Abu Bakr, may Allaah have mercy upon him, bet against the disbelievers that this was going to happen and he won the bet, and that was before gambling was prohibited. Allaah Almighty Says (what means): {[It is] the Promise of Allaah. Allaah does not fail in His Promise, but most of the people do not know.}[Quran 30:6]
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