What is the First Sentence of the Quran?
The first page of the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
The Quran is the Divine Book of Islam, and Muslims believe that it is the Word of God, unaltered. And Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said it will remain “his greatest miracle until the end of time.”
Clearly, these are bold claims, and a non-Muslim has every right to be skeptical about their truth. I will discuss these claims and the evidence put forward in detail in future posts.
For now though, what matters is that regardless of whether you believe this or not, these statements reflect how Muslims view the Quran. So, if you want to know what Islam is — as understood by Muslims — you start with the Quran.
First: A unique feature of the Quran is its hierarchical structure: that all the (600-page!) Quran is summarized in its first Chapter (1/3-page long!), and that the first chapter is summarized in the first Sentence.
(You may notice that this is precisely the format of modern scientific articles: “Article summarized in Introduction summarized in Abstract”, which I find pretty remarkable for a book that goes back 1500 years.)
So, what does that first sentence say? Here it is:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
Remember: This sentence is meant to be the summary of the Entire Quran!
And it includes two divine names of God, which mean almost the same thing!!
In fact, they are from same root, and they share 3 of their 4 letters:
Important fact: In Islam, God has 99 Divine Names:
The Creator, The Sovereign, The King, The Eternal One, The All Mighty, The Ever Living, The All Sustainer, The Truth, The All Wise, The Omniscient, the Subtle, The First, The Last, the Knower or Unseen, and many others.
Yet, in this first sentence He chose to include two names with very similar meanings — about Compassion and Mercy.
Not the King, nor the Almighty, nor the Omniscient, nor the All Wise, and so on.
Another important fact: The Quran has 114 Chapters. With one exception, every single one starts with this exact same sentence!
One more important fact: Recall that the first chapter of the Quran is a slightly more expanded summary of the entire Quran. That chapter is the topic of the next post, but for now let me mention one relevant point: that chapter is only 7 short sentences that fits in the middle of the page — see the photo at the top. Now, here is the surprise: Do you know what is the 3rd sentence of this very short chapter? Here it is:
“He is the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.”
It repeats the same two names, verbatim, from the first sentence!
If you think that this repetition is redundant — it’s not! The Quran is an extremely carefully crafted text, which I hope will become clear as we see more examples in future posts. When it repeats something, it is always intentional — like here, in two of the seven sentences — and it is to leave absolutely no doubt that these two names were chosen over a long list of other beautiful divine names.
To Sum Up:
These simple facts tells you more than what reading entire books about Islam will. It tells us that God, or Allah, wants us to know Him first and foremost with His Compassion and Mercy and Love.
When Sufis (spiritual tradition of Islam, represented by Rumi, among others) say that “God created the Universe out of His Love”, they are not exaggerating. That statement is soundly rooted in the essence of Islam.
Compassion and Mercy are at the core of Islam. It permeates the entire Quran, as well as the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, whom Allah named “The Prophet of Mercy to the Entire Universe.”
A follow-up lesson: If anyone who purports to be a Muslim acts otherwise, they are betraying the soul and spirit of Islam.
Salam (meaning Peace)
For the curious reader: The meanings of Compassion and Mercy are so similar in English that you might rightly be wondering: what is the difference between Rahman and Rahim in Arabic that are translated as the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful? They cannot be the same, can they? No, they are not. In fact, there are many crucial differences, some obvious and many subtle, that I plan to write about in the future.
For now, one useful way to think about the difference is that Rahman operates in macro scales, whereas Rahim operates in micro scales. Rahman is more general. Rahim is more personal. For example, Rahman blesses every single creature with life on earth, whether they are saints or murderers, whereas Rahim rewards those who are grateful to Rahman’s blessings with Heaven. You could also see Rahman in the Sun, energizing the entire solar system; Rahim in the Moon, serving as our personal night lamp. Rahman in the rain; Rahim in the soil. Rahman in the creation and expansion of the Universe, Rahim in the sustenance and bounties in our lives. Rahman in men; Rahim in women. In fact, the word for womb in Arabic is Rahim (as well as in Hebrew). Some things to ponder.