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سورة االعاشوراء Sūrat al-`Āshūrā' The Surah of Āshūrā' (The 10th of Muḥarram) on Qur'ān 12:11
Part XII of the provisional translation of the Qayyūm al-asmā’ (= QA) of the Bāb (mid. 1844/1260) with brief introduction and selective notes consists of a full versified English translation of the Sūrat al-Āshūrā' (The Surah of Āshūrā'). This translation was done in the early 1980s though not from any critical edition. I simply consulted several good mss. FILL IN TEMPLATE QA11 opens with the basmalah followed by the citation of Q.12:9 upon which it briefly comments in rewritten fashion in the course of the Sūrat al-`amā' , the Surah of the Divine Cloud. Four isolated letters (Ḥurufāt al-muqaṭṭa`āt) open the Surah proper, the letters ﻟﻤﻊĨ = A-L-M-` (Alif - Lām - Mīm- `Ayn = abjad 141). This succession does not occur in the Q. though A-L-M is found in six qur’anic surahs (= 2+3+29+30+31+32) and there are occurrences of isolated letters which seem expansions of A-L-M, such as A-L-M- Ṣ (Q.7) and A-L-M-R (Q. 13). The fourfold isolated letters A-L-M-` occur eight or nine times in the QA., prefixing surahs 5+10+30+43+72+82+103 and also perhaps QA107. The isolated letter ﻉ (`ayn) only occurs as an isolated letter in the qur’anic quintuple group of isolated letters K-H-Y-`-S* which letters prefix Q. 19 (Mary). The addition of this `ayn to the A-L-M in various surahs of the QA., might be seen to extend them with this letter `ayn in that this is the first component of the Bāb’s parentally bestowed name, `Alī (also that of the first Shī`ī Imam ) – not that this the “correct” or the only possible explanation of these isolated letters. Aside from being creatively neo-qur’anic the exact significance of A-L-M-` in QA10 is unclear. For further details see my (unpublished) MESA., 2000 paper `Some Aspects of the Bābī-Bahā’ī interpretation of the Isolated letters (al-ḥurūfāt al-muqat*t*a`a) of the Qur’ān’ which deals in detail with the isolated letters of the QA and other writings of the Bāb (forthcoming, Lambden website). QA10:1-3 opens the Surah of the Divine Cloud by declaring that the messianic “Most Great Remembrance of God” (dhikr Allāh al-akbar) is praised through the ”Remembrance of Our Lord”. Devotionalistic dhikr ultimately revolves around the glorification of the quasi-messianic “Most Great Remembrance”. QA 10:4 states that the divine Bounty was bestowed upon Joseph and his brothers through manifest signs which are expressive of the mystery (sirr) of that Mighty Gate (al-bāb). This perhaps indicates that the quasi-qabbalistic relationships and permutations of the various letters of the alphabet enshrined in the kalimat al-tawhīd (= the 12 sons of Jacob) indicate the messianic secret of the Bāb and perhaps also allude to the eschatological “return” of Imam Ḥusayn.
THE QAYYŪM AL-ASMĀ' Part XII
سورة االعاشوراء (The Surah of the Line) on Qur'ān 12:11
[ 1-2]بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate قَالُوا يَاأَبَانَا مَا لَكَ لاَ تَأْمَنَّا عَلَى يُوسُفَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَنَاصِحُونَ
[1] The
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