Surah 7. Al-A'raf, Ayah 1

See Appendix II.

This is a combination of four Abbreviated Letters. For Abbreviated Letters generally, see Appendix I (at the end of Sura II). The combination here includes the three letters A.L.M., which occurred at the beginning of Sura II, and are discussed in n. 25 to ii. 1. The additional letter Sad occurs in combination here and in Sura xix, and by itself at the beginning of S. xxxviii, and nowhere else. The factor common to S. vii. S. xix, and S. xxxviii, is that in each case the core of the Sura consists in the stories (qisas) of the Prophets. In this Sura we have the Stories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Lot, Shu'aib, and Moses, leading up to Muhammad, and in S. xxxviii, the stories of David, Solomon, and Job similarly lead up to Muhammad, occupying three out of the five sections. Sura xix consists almost entirely of such stories. In this Sura vii, we have the religious history of mankind traced-the Beginning the Middle, and the End.