الٓمٓ · تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ · هُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِّلْمُحْسِنِينَ · ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُم بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ · أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
"Alif-lām-mīm. These are the verses of the Book full of wisdom: a guidance and a mercy for those who do good. They keep up the prayer, they give the alms, and they are certain of the hereafter. Those are upon a guidance from their Lord, and those are the ones who prosper."
The note on the disconnected letters (ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿa) has been entered at many places in this series (al-Baqara, Qāf, al-Aḥqāf): there is no certain knowledge, the classical explanations are transmitted, and no calculation of letters and numbers is entered into. I do not repeat it.
The fifth verse is word for word identical with 2/5 in al-Baqara: ulāʾika ʿalā hudan min rabbihim wa ulāʾika humu'l-mufliḥūn.
| al-Baqara 2/2-5 | Luqmān 31/2-5 | |
|---|---|---|
| To whom | Hudan li'l-muttaqīn — to those who guard themselves | Hudan wa raḥmatan li'l-muḥsinīn — to those who do good |
| Attributes | Faith, prayer, spending, faith in the books, certainty of the hereafter | Prayer, alms, certainty of the hereafter |
| Closing | Ulāʾika ʿalā hudan min rabbihim… | The same sentence |
The two sūras begin with different attributes and end with the same sentence. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
And the attribute here is al-muḥsinīn (those who do good) — that is, an attribute of deed. I record this as an observation: the sūra is a sūra built upon wisdom, and already in its first verse it defines the one it addresses not by knowledge but by conduct.
ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْحَكِيم — that the Book is qualified as ḥakīm must be recorded: what is given to Luqmān in the twelfth verse will likewise be ḥikma. The same root, in one place the attribute of a book, in the other something given to a man.