As for the kalimah—that is, the word—it is the independent form that gathers within itself every constituent “likeness,” meaning the individual letters. The longest words in the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, are those that reach ten letters, such as His saying, “He will most surely grant them succession” (layastakhlifannahum, 24:55) and, “Shall We compel you to accept it?” (anulzimukumūhā, 11:28) and the like. His words, “We gave it to you to drink” (fa-asqaynākumūhu, 15:22) amount to ten letters in writing but eleven in pronunciation.

The shortest words are those built on only two letters, such as mā (ما, “what”), lā (لا, “no”), lahu (له, “for him”) and similar forms. Among the particles of meaning are items that consist of a single utterance, like the interrogative hamzah or the conjunctive wāw, although these are never pronounced in complete isolation.

A single word may also constitute a complete verse, as in His oaths: “By the dawn” (89:1), “By the mid-morning” (93:1) and “By the declining day” (103:1); likewise the isolated letter-groups found at the openings of certain sūrahs—Alif-Lām-Mīm, Alif-Lām-Mīm-Ṣād, Ṭā Hā, Yā Sīn, and Ḥā Mīm—according to the Kufan scholars. (This applies only when they occur at the beginning of a sūrah, not in its middle.)

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said, “I know of no word that, by itself, forms an entire verse except His statement in Sūrat al-Raḥmān, ‘mud-hāmmatān’ (55:64), and no other. Two consecutive words that together form two verses do appear—‘Ḥā Mīm. ʿAyn-Sīn-Qāf’ (42:1–2)—again only according to the Kufans.”

Beyond these cases, a “word” may stand for a full verse and an independent discourse, whether that discourse is longer or shorter. Allah, Exalted, says: “The fair promise of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because they had been patient” (7:137). It is said that the “word” here refers to His declaration, “We desired to bestow favor upon those who had been oppressed in the land …” to the end of the two verses (28:5–6). He also says, “He fastened upon them the word of piety” (48:26), which, according to Mujāhid, is the phrase, “There is no deity but Allah.”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Two words are light upon the tongue, heavy on the scale, beloved to the Most Merciful: ‘Subḥān-Allāh wa bi-ḥamdihī; Subḥān-Allāh al-ʿAẓīm.’”

The Arabs may even apply the term kalimah to an entire ode or to a whole story. They say, “Quss said in his kalimah such-and-such,” meaning in his sermon; “Zuhayr said in his kalimah such-and-such,” meaning in his poem; or, “So-and-so said in his kalimah,” i.e., in his letter. Thus the whole discourse is called a “word” because a word is one of its parts, following their habit of naming the whole by the name of one of its components, or of something closely related to it, whether by metaphor or by rhetorical breadth.

As for the harf (letter), it is the single likeness that stands alone within the word. By extension and metaphor, a letter may be called a word and a word may be called a letter, as has already been explained.

Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī said: “If it be asked, ‘How can what occurs…”