Surah al-Shura — Meccan (1)

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

“Ha Mim. (1) Ayn Sin Qaf. (2) Thus Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise, reveals to you and to those before you. (3)”

Concerning “Ha Mim, Ayn Sin Qaf”: al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl was asked, “Why are Ha Mim and Ayn Sin Qaf divided, whereas Kaf Ha Ya Ayn Sad is not divided?” He replied, “Because this is a surah whose opening is Ha Mim, and so it follows the pattern of its counterparts. Thus, Ha Mim is the subject and Ayn Sin Qaf its predicate. It is also because they are counted as two verses, whereas their counterparts—such as Kaf Ha Ya Ayn Sad, Alif Lam Mim Sad, and Alif Lam Mim Ra—are counted as a single verse.”

It was also said: This is because the scholars of interpretation did not differ that Kaf Ha Ya Ayn Sad and its counterparts are merely letters of the alphabet, whereas they differed concerning Ha Mim. Some excluded it from the category of letters and regarded it as a verb, saying that it means: hamma—that is, He decreed what is to occur. (2)

Ikrimah narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: “Ha denotes His forbearance; Mim, His glory; Ayn, His knowledge; Sin, His splendor; and Qaf, His power.” Allah swore by them.

Shahr ibn Hawshab and Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: “Ha denotes a war in which the lowly will be exalted and the mighty of Quraysh humiliated; Mim, a dominion that will pass from one people to another; Ayn, an enemy who will target Quraysh; Sin, an evil that will occur among them; and Qaf, Allah’s effective power over His creation.”