Encyclopedia of Islam

alphabet

  

39  J

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letters written separately, and some suras even 

take their names from these letters, like suras 

Ta Ha (Q 20) and Ya Sin (Q 36). There has been 

much disagreement about what the letters mean, 

but some Muslims explain that their meaning is a 

mystery known only to God. Muslims also have 

assigned numerical value to individual letters. For 

example, many Muslims living in Asia have signs 

in their businesses and vehicles bearing the num-

ber 786, which is the numerical sum of the letters 

in the phrase bismillah al-rahman al-rahim (In the 

name of God, the most compassionate and most 

merciful), known as the 

basmala

. It is believed to 

bring good fortune and divert the 

evil

 

eye

. Shii 

and Sufi Muslims have a long tradition of inter-

preting the secret meanings of Arabic letters. This 

can be seen in the interpretation of the the three 

letters alif-lam-mim that begin the second chapter 

of the Quran. Sufis believed the alif represented 

Allah, that the mim represented Muhammad, and 

that the lam represented Gabriel, the angel who 

acted as the emissary between God and Muham-

mad in delivering the Quran. In some contexts, 

the calculation of the numerical values of letters 

has been used in numerology to foretell the future 

and write magic spells. This was known as jafr.

See also a

rabic

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

; 

cal

-

ligraphy

; p

ersian

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

; t

Urk

-

ish

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

.