'بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Background and Basic Linguistics.

There is a correspondence between language and the world it describes, and the words themselves try to capture things and ideas. Words can point to objects, processes, or abstract ideas. This is why the concept behind the Word has been known as the "Logos", "Aql/Kalima," etc. Over time, corrupted minds failed to see the original meaning, adding more corruptions. If you do an archaeology on words, even nouns will show beautiful meanings. In those times, it was never just a noun or name as in modern nominalism. Originally, every noun represented an idea or story, composed of subjects, objects, adjectives, and verbs. The ancients did not treat a noun as meaningless nominal words as it is today. Today, we impose different meanings on the same words and blame the ancients for their meaningless "Babel." They thought they were just playing an innocent act of naming things according to their will and preference. Unwittingly, day by day, we add layers on words that create an extra burden against understanding the original meaning. Unless you are very careful, you will not see that almost all nouns, especially before modern language, were concepts from adjectives, adverbs, verbs, an event, or occurrence. Only a few can see the original, hidden meanings behind the mystery of Words. For example, the person whose name "Baal Shem" means the Master of Names. Knowing the real Name of anything [i.e., the concept behind the name] is the Mastery of that Name itself! In this setting, Name is actually “What is IT” or the real things can be perceived or recognized. And Allah taught Adam all Names, as in Qur'an 2:31: And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, 'Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful'". But the names can also be a trap if you are not extremely careful. If you accept nouns as meaningless names, then you will be lost in the labyrinth of language like the story of the tower of Babel. On the other hand, the same Name/Word can liberate you from ignorance.

In ancient times, language was utilized to represent ideas or physical objects, sometimes mirroring their attributes via sound mimicry. The examination of etymology operates in a manner similar to the archaeological exploration of words; when standard approaches are insufficient, the historical background of a word, including its genesis, cultural impacts, and chronological position, can guide us in understanding the meaning of the words. Nevertheless, the Quran presents an obstacle to this established etymological procedure due to the inclusion of isolated disjointed letters, such as 'Alif Lam Mim'. In order to find the original meaning, one has to dig deeper than the etymology of words, i.e., the meaning of original individual alphabets.

As ancient language and script in the Middle East co-emerge and influence each other, borrowing and adapting from each other, finding the original meaning of individual alphabets is difficult unless Allah’s willing to guide you to understand them. Based on known scholarly works and historical evidence, Egyptian hieroglyphs appeared slightly after the Sumerian script and were likely influenced by it. It is probable that the idea of writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia. Egyptian writing appeared suddenly, unlike Mesopotamia's long evolutionary history. Around 1800 BCE, a simplified script derived from hieroglyphs developed in Sinai, often considered the progenitor of Semitic alphabets, known as Proto-Sinaitic Script. This script began emphasizing phonetic over pictorial representation, laying the groundwork for later alphabets (Phoenician, Arabic, Aramaic, Greek). Later, the Phoenician alphabet streamlined symbols into purely phonetic representations, discarding ideograms and determinatives. Much of this innovation traces back to Egyptian principles of phoneme representation. Phonemes, the basic sound units of language, were integral to Egyptian writing, and Egyptians used about 24 symbols for individual phonemes, a precursor to phonetic alphabets. Understanding phonemes can give clues to the Phoenician or Arabic letter's original meaning. The word that you can easily understand is the name of Prophet Musa [mim, Sa, sꜣ] which means “Son drawn from Water”. Here, Meem: 𓈖, 𐤌, [m], ـمـ Water, Everchanging [often Chaotic] world below and Sa, sꜣ 'son' was represented by a 'pintail duck'. Letter Ra = Head 𓁶 Res 𐤓, R, Mouth, Authority (who Speaks and the rest Listens), Rex, King, Authority. Alif: 𓃾 𐤀 [ﺍ] A: Ox Head [Symbol of Force, Power, and Creativity]. Lam: 𓌅 𐤋 [ﻝ] L: A shepherd's crook staff is a long and sturdy stick with a hook at one end, often with the point flared outwards, used by a shepherd to manage and sometimes catch sheep. In addition, the crook may aid in defending against attack by predators.

Alif Lam Meem:

Alif Lam Meem (الم) are three Arabic letters that appear at the beginning of several chapters (Surahs) in the Quran. They are considered part of the Muqatta'at, a group of mysterious, disconnected letters that appear at the start of some Quranic chapters. 

The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was asked about the meaning of 'Alif Lam Mim' and similar disjointed letters appearing in the Qur'an. In many reports, he remained silent. Narrated by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, “Whoever recites a single letter from the Book of Allah will have one reward, and each reward will be multiplied by ten. I do not say that 'Alif Lam Mim' is one letter, but 'Alif' is a letter, 'Lam' is a letter, and 'Mim' is a letter.” Source: Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2910, Sunan al-Darimi.

According to another narration, "The Jews came to the Prophet and said: 'Do you not claim that you have been given all knowledge?' The Prophet recited to them 'Alif Lam Mim'. They said: 'Is it possible that this is the duration of your religion? Seventy-one years?' [Alif =1, Lam =30, Mim=40] The Prophet smiled, and then recited 'Alif Lam Mim Sad', 'Alif Lam Ra', 'Alif Lam Mim Ra”. They said you are confusing us. We do not know which one to go by. Source: Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Tabari, sometimes traced to Ibn Abbas.

However, there is no Hadith that clearly states that Prophet Muhammad was unaware of the meaning of 'Alif Lam Mim'. It's possible that most of his close companions also understood 'Alif Lam Mim''s meaning. If the majority didn't know, they would have asked the Prophet about it repeatedly, which would have produced numerous Hadith either clarifying or not clarifying 'Alif Lam Mim'. All this evidence, both direct and indirect, along with logical deduction, indicates that the Prophet and his close companions implicitly understood 'Alif Lam Mim''s meaning. However, after a few generations, people realized they didn't know the meaning of Alif Lam Mim, nor could they find any Hadith explaining it. Consequently, for nearly 1400 years of interpretation, scholars abandoned hope and generally agreed that only Allah knows the meaning of 'Alif Lam Mim'. Nevertheless, the Quran states that it is clear in its meaning for those who are guided to understand, while those who are not guided will be prevented from understanding. Qur'an 12:1: "These are the verses of the clear Book.", Qur'an 20:54 and 20:128 "Thus We explain the signs for a people who use reason." and Qur'an 3:7: "He it is who has sent down to you the Book; in it are verses that are precise—they are the foundation of the Book—and others unspecific as to interpretation. But those firm in knowledge say, 'We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord.' Yet none will grasp the message except those of understanding."

Based on All those discussions above and linguistic background, now let us ask Allah to guide us understand the meaning of Alif Lam Mim.

Alif: 𓃾 𐤀 [ﺍ] A, Primal Ox [Symbol of Force, Power, and Creativity], First Power, The Alpha, First Mover, Unmoved Mover, The Beginning, Ever Standing or Ever Existing, Allah.

Lam: 𓌅 𐤋 [ﻝ] L Shepherd's Crooked staff, Guidance, instruction. The intermediary—guiding intellect or Jibriel—that acts as a divine emanation and transmits it.

Meem: 𓈖, 𐤌, [m], ـمـ Water, Everchanging [often Chaotic] world below or Dunia or Mulk [kingdom/dominion]. Water is the first creation and God has created every living being from water and hence water covers both Mulk and Makhluq (ever-changing World, below The Arsh), and with the direct guidance of the Source, Prophet Muhammad offered the world to redeem itself, uniting the beginning and end.

Combining all of these, Alif Lam Mim means: 

Short: Allah's Guidance [via Jibriel)] to the World [Mulk and Makhluq].

Intermediate: Allah's Mercy (guidance via Jibriel) to the World via Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).

Extended: The source Power, First and Unmoved Mover, the Ever-Existing Allah sent Guidance by Jibriel to the ever-changing material World below as a Mercy to Humanity exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), to redeem the world, uniting the beginning and end.

I thank you Oh Allah who has guided me to understand the mystery of 'Alif Lam Mim', as promised in Qur'an 3:7:“He it is who has sent down to you the Book; in it are verses that are precise—they are the foundation of the Book—and others unspecific as to interpretation. But those firm in knowledge say, 'We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord.' Yet none will grasp the message except those of understanding."