What is the meaning of Arabic letters in the begining of some suras?

Question

For example, Al-Baqara begins like this:

الٓمٓ ﴿١﴾ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ

And also, Ya-Sin begins like this:

يسٓ ﴿١﴾ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ

What are different opinions about these letters among scholars? What are they called?

Answer 1

Asalamu wa alaikum,

These letters the real knowledge of them is with Allah.

Allah says in Surah Al Imraan, Ayah 7:

هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ مِنۡهُ ءَايَـٰتٌ۬ مُّحۡكَمَـٰتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَـٰبِهَـٰتٌ۬‌ۖ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمۡ زَيۡغٌ۬ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَـٰبَهَ مِنۡهُ ٱبۡتِغَآءَ ٱلۡفِتۡنَةِ وَٱبۡتِغَآءَ تَأۡوِيلِهِۦ‌ۗ وَمَا يَعۡلَمُ تَأۡوِيلَهُ ۥۤ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ‌ۗ وَٱلرَّٲسِخُونَ فِى ٱلۡعِلۡمِ يَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِهِۦ كُلٌّ۬ مِّنۡ عِندِ رَبِّنَا‌ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُوْلُواْ ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ (٧)

He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: in it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are not of well-established meaning. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is not of well-established meaning. Seeking discord, and searching for its interpretation, but no one knows its true meanings except Allah, and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in it; the whole of it is from our Lord"; and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.

Regarding similar letters in Surah Yaseen:

[ Ya Seen – Disjointed Letters – each letter is said separately - occurs 28 times in the Quran – if you‟re saying them separately, what does it mean? It has a meaning but we were not taught themeaning and don‟t know – that knowledge belongs with Allah SWT – so if we don‟t know themeaning how does that benefit us? Isn‟t the whole point of th e Quran for us to reflect andbenefit?1 st benefit of these letters – catches the attention of the listener – whenever these letters are used,the Quran is immediately or almost immediately mentioned – catches the attention of the listenerand immediately hits them with the mentioning of the Quran2 nd benefit of these letters – Arabs during Prophet PBUH prided themselves on complete andtotal mastery of their language and knowing all the ins and outs of classical Arabic – the use of the disjointed letters was a way that the Arabs had never heard the letters of their language usedin such a way with such versatility and in itself was a proof that this Quran wasn't a normal book or poetry]

Source: Qur'an for Family: Surah YaSeen, by Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda

Answer 2

they are secrets of God and few know them. prophet said some of them. and the infallible Imams said some of them in their Hadithes.

for example about کهیعص most of shia scholars believe it is related to Karbala happening. and it is: ک is for کربلا Karbala ه is for هلاک Killing of family of prophet (Ahl Bayt) ی is for يزيد Yazid who was cruel on Hussain S.A ع is for عطش his thirsty ص is for صبر his patience

this is said by Imam Mahdi the 12th Imam of shia. and this Hadith of Imam Mahdi S.A can be seen in many shia Hadith books like:

1. کمال‌الدین وتمام النعمة، شیخ صدوق
2. احتجاج، طبرسی
3. تفسیر البرهان، سیدهاشم بحرانى
4. بحار الانوار، علامه مجلسی

the Hadith says: I was with Imam Askari S.A (the 11th Imam and father of Imam Mahdi S.A) and some one asked about کهیعص . Imam said ask my child Mahdi. then Imam Mahdi S.A said: these letters are from unseen secrets. and God said them to his slave Zakariya (Zechariah) and then God told its story to prophet Muhammad PBUH and it is Zechariah asked God to teach him the holey five names. so gabreil came to him and taught them to him. when Zechariah recited names of Muhammad and Ali and Hasan his sadness disappeared but when recited Hussain name sob came to him and so he wondered. so asked God the reason of this. tehn God said to him the story of Karbala and then said کهیعص and said ک is for کربلا Karbala ه is for هلاک Killing of amily of prophet (Ahl Bayt) ی is for يزيد Yazid who was cruel on Hussain S.A ع is for عطش is thirsty ص is for صبر his patience

ref:

shia Hadith Books:

1. کمال‌الدین وتمام النعمة، شیخ صدوق
2. احتجاج، طبرسی
3. تفسیر البرهان، سیدهاشم بحرانى
4. بحار الانوار، علامه مجلسی

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala

http://www.al-islam.org/karbala-ashura/

Answer 3

Those letters in the beginning of some suras are called Muqatta'at (Arabic مقطعات‎):

They are unique letter combinations that appear in the beginning of 29 suras (chapters) of the Qur'an. Muqatta'at literally means abbreviated or shortened. Their meanings remain unclear and are considered by most Muslims to be divine secrets. They are also known as fawātih (فواتح) or "openers" as they form the opening verse of their respective suras. Other names include the broken, dis-joined, initial, or isolated letters of the Qur'an.

For more information, the Wikipedia article is quite interesting.

Answer 4

I found a website by a guy who uses this theory of Hamidudin Farahi, that the Huruf al-Muqattat are actually a sort of table of contents for the entire Sura they precede. He bases it on the fact that Arabic letters eventually lost their individual meaning. For example, Ya in Arabic means nothing. Arabic word Yadd means hand. Interestingly, the Hebrew letter Yodd means the same thing. This Semitic similarity is the basis for his interpretative. Check it out.

http://thequranisclear.blogspot.com/2012/12/huroof-al-muqattaat.html

It's very intriguing. Every single letter in each relative Sura is discussed using background knowledge of the ancient Hebrew alphabet.