Exegesis of the Disjointed Letters at the Beginning of Surat al-Baqarah

The Shaykh:
May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
This questioner says: In the beginning of Surat al-Baqarah, in the words of the Blessed and Exalted is He: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. That is the Book, in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the righteous. He wants an explanation of the verse and its beginning, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Allah the Exalted said at the beginning of Surat al-Baqarah: Alif, Lam, Mim. These are disjointed letters, and many surahs begin with disjointed letters. Some begin with a single letter, such as Qaf or Sad, and some begin with two letters, such as Ya Sin, and some begin with more than that. The majority of scholars hold that their meaning is not interpreted, because only Allah knows their ta'wil (figurative interpretation). Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah has an opinion on this matter; he says that these disjointed letters at the beginnings of surahs, or at the beginnings of some surahs, are a reference to the inimitability (i'jaz) of the Qur'an. This is because this Qur'an is composed of such letters as you pronounce and use to communicate with one another, and yet you are unable to produce a single verse like the Qur'an. Thus, there is evidence of its inimitability in them. Therefore, after these letters, the Qur'an is mentioned: Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad from it, and so on. The mention of the Qur'an follows these disjointed letters as a reference to its inimitability. Yes.