Appearance
The Whole Qur’an in the Bāʾ of Bismillāh?
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate (1:1)
The question
Can the teachings of the whole Qur’an be contained in Sūrat al-Ḥamd, in bismillāh, and in its letter bāʾ, as the narration “I am the dot under the bāʾ” suggests?
Views answered: al-Manār · al-Kāshif · a critic of the narration
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Some exegetes hold that the Qur’an’s teachings are condensed, stage by stage, into al-Ḥamd, bismillāh and its bāʾ, and that the Commander of the Faithful is the dot of the bāʾ. Al-Manār calls this unreasonable exaggeration; al-Kāshif likens it to fitting the world into an eggshell. Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī answers that the Qur’an does encompass all the truths of the universe, but these are not drawn from its outward meaning: they come from the properties of its letters and its inner dimensions, open only to the Prophet and his pure family, for the Qur’an is also “in a hidden book” (56:77–79). Those not given to understand such things should leave them to their people rather than deny them. On the world in an egg, he explains that the Imams’ answers suited their questioners, and that the impossible is not a thing for God’s power to cover. And the objection that the script of the time had no dots does not defeat the narration.
Views compared
The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them, with the works it cites. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
All the Qur’an in the bāʾ Read →
Bayān al-Saʿādah; Imam Khomeini, Tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd
Al-Ḥamd holds all the teachings of the Qur’an, bismillāh holds those of al-Ḥamd, the bāʾ holds those of bismillāh, and the Commander of the Faithful is the dot of the bāʾ.Jawādī Āmulī
He answers its critics.An exaggeration? Read →
al-Manār
The statement is unreasonable, a kind of exaggeration (ghuluww).Jawādī Āmulī
The Qur’an does contain all the truths of the universe, but not in its outward meaning: they are drawn from the properties of its letters and its many inner dimensions, open only to the Prophet and his pure family. The Commander of the Faithful said: the knowledge of what is to come is in the Qur’an, and “I am the speaker of the Qur’an”.Like the world in an eggshell? Read →
al-Kāshif
Holding the Qur’an’s teachings in the bāʾ is like fitting the heavens and the earth into an eggshell without the egg growing or the world shrinking.Jawādī Āmulī
He explains the narrations about the world in an egg: the answers differed with the questioner. Imam al-Riḍā said God has placed it in the eye; the Commander of the Faithful said God is not incapable, but what was asked is impossible. God’s power covers all things, but the impossible is not a thing for it to cover.The undotted Kufic script Read →
A critic of the narration
The script of the time had no dots, so “I am the dot under the bāʾ” cannot be right.Jawādī Āmulī
Even without dots there had to be signs telling letters apart; that sign of the bāʾ is what the narration means, if it is authentic.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.