the other, which is the ʿayn of the noun, so in pronunciation they became a single doubled lām, as we described regarding the statement of Allāh: {But as for me, He is Allāh, my Lord}.

The discourse on the interpretation of His statement, majestic is His praise: {The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful}.

Abū Jaʿfar said: As for "al-Raḥmān", it is of the pattern faʿlān from raḥima (to have mercy), and "al-Raḥīm" is of the pattern faʿīl from it. The Arabs frequently construct nouns from faʿila yafʿalu upon faʿlān, such as their saying from ghaḍiba: ghaḍbān, and from sakira: sakrān, and from ʿaṭisha: ʿaṭshān. Likewise is their saying "raḥmān" from raḥima, because its past-present pattern is raḥima yarḥamu. And it was said "raḥīm", even though the middle root letter (ʿayn) of faʿila from it has a kasra, because it is praise. It is the custom of the Arabs to construct the patterns of nouns—when there is praise or blame in them—upon faʿīl, even if the middle root letter (ʿayn) of its verb has a kasra or a fatḥa, just as they said from ʿalima: ʿālim and ʿalīm, and from qadara: qādir and qadīr. This is not built directly upon their verbs, because the derivative active participle from faʿila yafʿalu and faʿala yafʿilu is fāʿil. If "al-Raḥmān" and "al-Raḥīm" were outside the structure of their verbs, their form would be "al-Rāḥim".

If a questioner says: Since al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm are two names derived from mercy, what is the reason for repeating that when one of them conveys the meaning of the other?

It is said to him: The matter is not as you thought; rather, each word of the two has a meaning that the other does not convey.

If he says: What is the meaning that each one of them uniquely possesses, such that one of them does not convey the meaning of the other?

It is said: As for from the perspective of the Arabic language, there is no disagreement (1) among those knowledgeable about the languages of the Arabs that the statement of the speaker "al-Raḥmān"—from the patterns of nouns