“I said to her, ‘Stop for us.’ She replied, ‘Qaf.’” (1)

That is, “I stopped.” Sa‘id ibn Jubayr said: They are the Names of Allah, Exalted is He, in separated form (2); if people knew how to combine them, they would know Allah’s Greatest Name. Do you not see that when you say alif-lam-ra, ha-mim, and nun, they form al-Rahman, the Most Merciful? The same applies to all the rest, except that we are unable to join them together.

Qatadah said: These letters are names of the Quran. Mujahid and Ibn Zayd said: They are names of the suras (3). This is demonstrated by the fact that, when someone says, “I recited alif-lam-mim-sad,” the listener understands that he recited the sura that begins with alif-lam-mim-sad.

It is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that they are oaths. Al-Akhfash said: Allah swore by these letters only because of their nobility and excellence, since they are the beginnings (4) of His revealed Books and the foundations of His Most Beautiful Names (5).

Regarding His words, “That is the Book”: that is, this Book—the Quran. It was also said that an implied word occurs in “this,” meaning: This is that Book. Al-Farra’ said: Allah had promised His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that He would send down to him a Book which water would not efface and which would not wear out through frequent recitation. So, when He sent down the Quran, He said: This is “that” (6) Book which I promised you that I would send down to you in the Torah, the Gospel, and upon the tongues of the prophets before you. “This” indicates nearness, whereas “that” indicates distance.

Ibn Kaysan said: Before Surah al-Baqarah, Allah, Exalted is He, had sent down suras which the idolaters denied. Then He sent down Surah al-Baqarah and said, “That is the Book,” meaning that there is no doubt concerning the suras that preceded al-Baqarah.

The word “Book” is a verbal noun meaning “that which is written,” just as “creation” may mean “that which is created,” and one may say, “This dirham is the striking of so-and-so,” meaning, what he struck. The original meaning of writing is joining and gathering. Thus, an army unit is called a battalion because of its gathering together; and a book is called a book because it joins one letter to another.

Regarding His words, “There is no doubt in it”: that is, there is no doubt that it is from Allah, Exalted is He, and that it is the truth and the veracious word. It was also said that this is a declarative statement intended as a prohibition: that is, do not doubt it—just as in His words, “There shall be no sexual relations and no wrongdoing” (al-Baqarah 2:197), meaning: Do not engage in sexual relations or commit wrongdoing.

Ibn Kathir recited “therein” with a lengthened pronoun in connected recitation. Likewise, he lengthens every third-person pronominal ha’ preceded by a consonant in the state of rest when it is connected to what follows, unless it is followed by another consonant in the state of rest. If the consonant before the ha’ is ya’, he lengthens it with kasrah as a ya’ sound; if it is other than ya’, he lengthens it with dammah as a waw sound. Hafs agreed with him in “therein, humiliated” (al-Furqan 25:69), lengthening it (7).

Regarding His words, “a guidance for those mindful of Allah”: Abu Ja‘far, Ibn Kathir, Hamzah, and al-Kisa’i assimilate the nasalization before lam and ra’. Hamzah additionally does so