‘Obscure Initials’, ‘Holy Language’, and ‘Muslim names’
By Neil Maybanks (e-mail: neil_maybanks@yahoo.com.au)

Ha Mim. Ain Sin Qaf. Thus/in that manner (KADHALIKA) inspiring you and those before you is God, the Honourable, the Wise Judge [42:1-3].

Alif Lam Mim. Thus/that is (DHALIKA) the Book. There is no doubt in it (the book) [2:1-2].

The above verses gives us much information about the purpose and meaning of the initials of the Recitation. When we think about what the initials actually are, which the verses inspire us to do, then we can identify the manner that God inspires. Initials are letters which are the basic building blocks of both the phonetic (qur’aan;recitation) and the written (kitab; book). Letters make up words. Words make up phrases. Phrases make up sentences. Ultimately all of these add up to being the elements of language. Here the emphasis is upon human languages generally and not specifically the Arabic language in particular. That is because every person before Muhammad wasn’t inspired by the Arabic language.

And we didn’t send a messenger except in the tongue/language (lisaan) of his people, in order that he make things clear for them.. [14:4].

For every community there is a messenger..[10:47].

..We are not punishers until we have sent a messenger [17:15].

So for all the communities throughout history there has been a messenger making things clear for them in their own language before the punishment is brought to them.

God doesn’t create new languages which only the elect few can understand. God inspires people through pre-existing human languages which the common people who use it can understand.

And if we made it a non-Arabic recitation they would have said, Why aren’t it’s verses detailed in non-Arabic and Arabic?..[41:44]

Thus no matter the choice of messenger and thus language (lisaan) of the message there will always be an entire other group complaining that the recitation wasn’t sent down in their language also. The point is that it had to be in at least one human language and the same problem would arise no matter which one was chosen.

..Say, For those who believe it is a guidance and a healing, and those who don’t believe, in their ears is deafness, and they are blind to it, being invited from a far-away place [41:44].

From this part of the verse we can understand that familiarity with the language of the message is of no use to those who don’t believe. To the disbelievers it will appear a foreign thing from a far-away place like a different language.

No language is any holier than another.

And among his signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the variations in your languages and colours. Certainly, in that there are signs for the knowledgeable. [30:22]

All of the languages of mankind are among the signs of God.

Mankind was one community.. [2:213],

and thus had one language. All languages can be traced back to the comprehensive (kullahaa) prototype language of descriptions/names (al-asmaa’a) taught to Adam by God.

And He taught Adam the names, all of them..[2:31].

By means of being the Teacher of language to humans He is thus also, the Teacher of the recitation [55:3].

He taught him explanation /elucidation /clearness (al-bayaana) [55:4].

A general characteristic of all languages is making things clear.

God is ..The One who teaches with the pen. He teaches the human what he didn’t know [96:4-5].

This is talking about the use of pen in general terms throughout all humanity. The use of the pen in language, writing descriptions (al-asmaa’a), teaches the human what he didn’t know. In [8:31] Adam was taught the names while the angels hadn’t yet been taught them and were asked by God to communicate to Him (anbi’uwnee) the names.

They said, Glory be to you, we have no knowledge except what you have taught us..[2:32].

Adam, the human, taught by God by means of the pen (written language) what he didn’t know, was now asked by God to communicate to the angels (anbi’hum) the names (al-asmaa’a) that they didn’t have knowledge of. Thus, through the use of the pen Adam communicated the meaning of the names to the angels.

The initials represent human language in general. In that manner (of human languages) inspiring you and those before you is God, the Honourable the Wise. [42:3]. This realization should bring to our attention the fact that human languages are just the tools that God uses to make the inspiration ‘digestable’ to us. The letters and language are not the totality of book itself but are merely a representation of it.

Alif Lam Ra. These (initials) are signs/tokens/representations/manifestations (ayaatu) of the book of wise judgement. [10:1]

The initials are ayats of the book of wise judgement. Everything comes down to how we understand ‘ayaat.’ An ayaat is not the thing itself but it is something which points to something else beyond itself. Like how the sun is sign of God but it isn’t God Himself. The initials, manifested in phonetic and written language,

Ta Seen. These are signs of the the recitation and the clear book [27:1],

are not the book itself but are token representations of it which we humans can digest. Thus we can understand that there is a greater book/recitation which is beyond the confines of human language.

Ha Mim. The clear book, certainly we have made it an Arabic recitation, in order that you may comprehend. And certainly it (the clear book) is according to (fee) the mother/source/origin (ummi) of the book, near us, exalted and wise. [43:1-4]

The mother/source of the book (ummi al-kitab) is the ‘greater book’ which itself is beyond the total representation of human language. The mother of the book provides the contents of the message while the form of the message changes according to the audience. The book was only put into the human language of Arabic so that we may comprehend it. The origin of the book is not in any human language.

That letters are just signs should draw our attention to another aspect of language. The connections between the sound of a letter and it’s written form, the sounds produced to indicate a certain thing and the thing itself are totally arbitrary representations. There is no traceable line of logic that the sound for book must be either ‘book’ or ‘kitab’ or that any sound made in any other language is more like the ‘real’ sound of book. The same goes for the many different written expressions of different sounds in the world. All languages are just representations and we should not let ourselves be blinded to the forest by the trees.

..And He didn’t make your adopted sons or your physical offspring. That is your speech with your mouths, and God speaks the truth and He guides to the path. Call them (the adopted sons) according to their fathers (names). It is more just according to God. Then if you don’t know who their fathers are then they are your brothers in religion and your dependants. There is no sin upon you in that which you did in error concerning it except what your hearts intended. God is a Forgiver, Merciful [33:4-5].

Considering the above verse and the points previously raised in this article it should be clear that the ‘Muslim names’ concept has no support in the Recitation. In the above verse we are ordered to call adopted sons according to the names of their fathers (not according to the Muslim names theory). This verse emphasizes the importance of maintaining the names of forefathers, ‘it is more just according to God.’ Every child grows up to want to find out about their physical origins. Whether test tube baby, orphan, dispossessed or any other person, each of us has a yearning to have knowledge about our heritage. Great injustices have occurred throughout history where whole peoples have been dispossessed from their ancestoral names. eg. African slaves, Australian Aborigines, Kurds, ‘Russified’ peoples of former Soviet Union, and the list goes on. According to the Recitation anyone dispossessed from their ancestoral name should research as far back as possible in history and reclaim it. Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) should have changed his name to an African name instead of an Arabic one to which he is not related. The promotion of Muslim names is all about trying to turn Submission (al-Islaam) into Arabism. It is a repugnant practice of Arabic cultural imperialism which is rejected by Muslim Turks, Persians, and Indonesians who aren’t asked about their Muslim identity when turning up to the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Submission is a universal principle not bound to any specific people, time, or place.

..And blood relations are closer to each other in the decree of God than the believers and the emigrants, except that you treat your allies with kindness. That is in the inscribed decree [33:6].

This is a further clarification of what was said above. Maintaining the ancestoral name from blood relations doesn’t disallow the treating of allies with kindness.

And those who believe in God and His messengers and don’t make a distinction between any one of them..[4:152].

The Muslim names theory is another manifestation of making distinctions between the messengers. Why does Muhammad get singled out above the non-Arab prophets and messengers? To not make a distinction between the messengers we should be adopting names from all of the languages that messengers have used throughout history. For every community there is a messenger..[10:47]. Messengers we have told you about before, and messengers we have not told you about [4:164].

And when his Lord said to him, Submit! He said, I submit to the Lord of the worlds [2:131].