—such as that which we mentioned from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas—they directed that to the likes of what was intended by him who said: Its interpretation is "I am Allah, I know" (Anā Allāhu aʿlam), in that each letter of it is part of the letters of a complete word whose indication of its completion rendered the mention of its completion unnecessary—even if they differed with him regarding every letter of that: Is it from the word that the proponents of the first view claimed it to be from, or from another? They said: Rather, the alif of "Alif-Lām-Mīm" is from various words, indicating the meanings of all of them and their completion. They said: Each letter of that was singled out and truncated from the full letters of the word only because if all the letters of the word were made explicit, the word that is made explicit—of which some of these disjointed letters are a part—would not indicate except a single meaning, not two or more meanings. They said: Since there would be no indication in that—if all of them were made explicit—except of its meaning which is a single meaning, and Allah, Glorified be His Praise, had intended to indicate by each letter of them many meanings for a single thing, it was not permissible except that the letter indicating those meanings be singled out, so that those addressed by it would know that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not intend a single meaning or an indication of a single thing by what He addressed them with, and that He only intended thereby to indicate many things. They said: Thus the alif of "Alif-Lām-Mīm" entails many meanings, among them the completion of the name of the Lord, which is "Allah", and the completion of the name of Allah's favors, which are the blessings (ālāʾ) of Allah, and the indication of the appointed term of a people being one year, since the alif in abjad (numerical) calculation (ḥisāb al-jummal) stands for one. The lām entails the completion of the name of Allah, which is Laṭīf (Subtle/Benevolent), and the completion of the name of His grace, which is luṭf (benevolence), and the indication of the appointed term of a people being thirty years. The mīm entails the completion of the name of Allah, which is Majīd (Glorious), and the completion of the name of His greatness, which is majd (glory), and the indication of the appointed term of a people being forty years. So the meaning of the speech—according to the interpretation of the proponent of the first view—was that Allah, Glorified be His Praise, opened His speech by describing Himself as the All-Knowing from Whom nothing is hidden, and He made that a path for His servants to follow at the opening of their speeches, letters, and important affairs, and a trial from Him for them so that they might deserve thereby the grand reward in the Abode of Recompense, just as He opened with {Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds} and {Praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth} [Sūrat al-Anʿām: 1], and similar Sūras whose openings He made praise of Himself, and just as He made the openings of some of them the exalting and glorification of Himself through , as He, Glorified be His Praise, said: {Glory be to Him Who took His servant by night} [Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: 1], and similar verses from the rest of the Sūras of the Qurʾān, some of whose openings He made praising Himself, some glorifying Him, and some exalting and hallowing Him. Likewise, He made the openings of other Sūras whose beginnings are some of the letters of the alphabet praises of Himself, sometimes by knowledge, sometimes by justice and fairness, and sometimes by grace and beneficence, with brevity and conciseness, followed by the narration of matters after that.