al-Ḥijr 15:1 commentary

15/1

الٓر ۚ تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَقُرْءَانٍ مُّبِينٍ

Alif-lām-rā · Tilka āyātu'l-kitābi wa qurʾānin mubīn

"Alif-lām-rā. These are the verses of the Book and of a clear Qurʾān."

الٓر

The general note about the disconnected letters was entered in the index and repeated at Ibrāhīm 14/1. I do not repeat it here.

ٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَقُرْءَانٍ — one definite, the other indefinite

A point of word order must be recorded: al-kitāb is definite, qurʾānin is indefinite.

The lexicographers explain this difference in two ways:

#	Explanation	Sense
1	Two separate things are spoken of: the known Book and a recitation	The conjunction separates
2	The same thing is named twice; the indefiniteness conveys magnification (taʿẓīm)	The conjunction explains

Both are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

The sense of the two names is worth recording: kitāb means what is written, qurʾān what is recited (the roots ك-ت-ب and ق-ر-أ were treated in al-ʿAlaq and at al-Qiyāma 75/17-18; I do not repeat it here).

I record this as an observation: the text names itself with two separate verbs — one belonging to writing, the other to sound. And in the ninth verse it will be named with a third name: al-dhikr — what is mentioned, what is brought to mind.

The two-way readability of the attribute mubīn (clear in itself / making clear) was set out in a table at al-Zukhruf 43/2. I rely on that treatment.