Haroof-e-Muqataat
Haroof-e-Muqataat, or a disjointed letter combination of a few letters or alphabets that appears at the start of 29 surahs of the Noble Quran. Muqataat means shortened or abbreviated but is explained as disjoined Arabic letters. So read them separately not together although they are written together. For example, الم is Harrof-e-Muqataat but it will be read separately as 3 Arabic alphabets, “Alif, Laam, Meem.” This unique combination is also called Fawatih (فواتح) or opener. Here we will also see that Madd will come on some of these letters. So, the student must understand the Madd. There will be two types of Madds:
- Short Madd: It’s a thin wavy line over a letter that prolongs the letter for 2-3 seconds.
- Long Madd: It’s a thick wavy line over a letter that prolongs the letter for 4 seconds.
There are 14 Alphabets which appear as Muqataat in different surahs of the Quran. Those letters are as below:
| Alif | Haa | Raa | Seen | Saud | Tau | Ayn | Qauf | Kaaf | Laam | Meem | Noon | Haah | Yaa |
| أ | ح | ر | س | ص | ط | ع | ق | ك | ل | م | ن | ه | ي |
These letters sometimes come in a groups of 2,3,4, or 5 but sometimes come alone like Surah Qauf (ق)and Surah Saud (ص). Fourteen disjoint letters are half of the total 29 Arabic Alphabets. This is an interesting numerical miracle of the noble Quran.
Haroof-e-Muqataat meanings are still unclear and are thought by most Muslims scalars to be Divine secrets. The secret, the meaning of these letters is unknown to everyone but Allah. There has been extensive research and discussion by the Islamic scalar. There have been many opinions but no consensus on those opinions. Moreover! There must be some purpose for these Arabic alphabets. Prophet of Allah Muhammad PBUH also did not explain them in any detail because Allah Almighty decided not to disclose them to anyone including His Prophet PBUH.
Huroof-e-Muqataat Significance
Narrated from Abdullah bin Masud that Prophet Muhammad PBUH said:
Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah, then he receives the reward from it, and the reward of ten the like of it. I do not say that Alif Lam Mim is a letter, but Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter and Mim is a letter.
Tirmidhi
