What is the meaning of the words of Allah the Exalted {Alif Lam Meem} and {Ka Ha Ya 'Ain Sad}?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : One of you might ask: What is the meaning of Allah the Exalted saying "Alif Lam Meem"? What is the meaning of "Ka Ha Ya 'Ain Sad"? A pause. Allah knows best. The suffering in the Qur'an is something that is not known. Quickly.
Answer : The answer to this is that we say these are letters that have no meaning. We are certain that they have no meaning. We do not say "Allah knows their meaning," because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said of His Book that it is in a clear Arabic language. The Arabic language does not assign a meaning to these letters: Alif, Ba, Ta, Tha. They have no meaning. They are alphabetic letters from which people's speech is composed. So, these letters in themselves have no meaning, and we are certain of that.
Because Allah the Exalted revealed the Qur'an in the Arabic language, and these alphabetic letters have no meaning in the Arabic language. However, the scholars of knowledge, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, said that they have a purport. The purport is that this speech is about the Qur'an which has baffled you, O Arabs, and you are the eloquent and the orators. It was composed from these very letters from which you construct your speech, and yet you were unable to construct anything like the Qur'an. Thus, they have a purport.
Shaykh al-Islam said, and therefore you hardly find a Surah that begins with these letters without the mention of the Qur'an following it. This is the established view. But if we say "Allah knows best about that," and the second one said "Allah knows best about that," then there would be in the Qur'an something whose meaning is not understood.
And this is impossible, for there is no benefit for us in things whose meaning we do not know. Then, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to His Prophet:[Al-Qiyamah 75:18-19] This includes the clarification of the wording and the meaning. And He said to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): [An-Nahl 16:44] or [An-Nahl 16:44].
Answer : The answer to this is that we say these are letters that have no meaning. We are certain that they have no meaning. We do not say "Allah knows their meaning," because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said of His Book that it is in a clear Arabic language. The Arabic language does not assign a meaning to these letters: Alif, Ba, Ta, Tha. They have no meaning. They are alphabetic letters from which people's speech is composed. So, these letters in themselves have no meaning, and we are certain of that.
Because Allah the Exalted revealed the Qur'an in the Arabic language, and these alphabetic letters have no meaning in the Arabic language. However, the scholars of knowledge, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, said that they have a purport. The purport is that this speech is about the Qur'an which has baffled you, O Arabs, and you are the eloquent and the orators. It was composed from these very letters from which you construct your speech, and yet you were unable to construct anything like the Qur'an. Thus, they have a purport.
Shaykh al-Islam said, and therefore you hardly find a Surah that begins with these letters without the mention of the Qur'an following it. This is the established view. But if we say "Allah knows best about that," and the second one said "Allah knows best about that," then there would be in the Qur'an something whose meaning is not understood.
And this is impossible, for there is no benefit for us in things whose meaning we do not know. Then, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to His Prophet:
(18) So when We have recited it [through Gabriel], then follow its recitation. (19) Then upon Us is its clarification [to you].
فَإِذَا قَرَأْنَاهُ فَاتَّبِعْ قُرْآنَهُ ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا بَيَانَهُAnd We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people
وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِAnd We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them
وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 338 - ما معنى قوله تعالى { ألم } و { كهيعص }؟ شرح تقريب التدمرية - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.