“therein” (fīhi), so that the meaning in that case would be: Alif Lām Mīm, that wherein there is no doubt is a guide.

It may also allow for being in the accusative case according to these two aspects—meaning by way of severance from the hāʾ [pronoun] in “therein” (fīhi), and from “the Book” (al-kitāb)—on the premise that Alif Lām Mīm is a complete statement, as Ibn ʿAbbās said that its meaning is: “I am God, I know.” Then “that Book” (dhālika l-kitāb) would be a fresh predicate; “the Book” would then be in the nominative case by “that”, and “that” by “the Book”, and “a guidance” (hudan) would be severed from “the Book”; or on the premise that “that” is raised to the nominative by the hāʾ returning to it in “therein”, and “the Book” is an attribute for it, with “guidance” being severed from the hāʾ in “therein”. And if “guidance” is placed in the nominative position, it would not be permissible for “that Book” to be anything other than a fresh predicate, and Alif Lām Mīm a complete, self-sufficient statement, except from one angle: that “a guidance” is then in the nominative in the sense of praise, as God, Majestic and Exalted is He, said: {Alif Lām Mīm. These are the verses of the Wise Book, a guidance and a mercy for the doers of good} [Sūrat Luqmān: 1-3], in the recitation of whoever recited “a mercy” (raḥmatun) in the nominative case, by way of praising the verses.

And the nominative case in “a guidance” (hudan) in that situation is permissible from three aspects: One of them is what we have mentioned, that it is a fresh statement of praise. Another is that it is made the predicate of “that”, with “the Book” being an attribute to “that”. And the third is that it is made subordinate to the grammatical place of “there is no doubt therein”, while “that Book” is in the nominative case due to the pronoun returning to it in “therein”. Thus it would be as He, exalted is His mention, said: {And this is a blessed Book We have sent down} [Sūrat al-Anʿām: 92].

And some of the early scholars of the Arabic language among the Kufans claimed that Alif Lām Mīm forms a subject-predicate relation with “that Book”, in the sense of: These letters from the alphabet are that Book which I promised you that I would reveal to you. (1) Then he invalidated that statement of his, swiftly invalidating it, and demolished what he had built, swiftly demolishing it, claiming that the nominative case in “a guidance” (hudan) can be from two aspects, and the accusative from two aspects. And that one of the two aspects of the nominative is that “the Book” is an attribute to “that”, and “a guidance” is in the nominative position as the predicate for “that”,