Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
And on his authority>'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak>'Ali Ibn Ishaq al-Samarqandi>Muhammad Ibn Marwan>al-Kalbi>Abu Salih that Ibn 'Abbas said, concerning Allah's saying, Exalted is He, (Alif. Lam. Mim): 'Alif stands for Allah, Lam for the Archangel Gabriel (Jibril) and Mim for Muhammad. It is also said Alif stands for Allah's blessings (ala'uh), Lam for His kindness (lutfuh) and Mim for His dominion (mulkuh). It is also said that Alif stands for the beginning of the Name Allah, Lam for the beginning of His Name the Kind (al-Latif) and Mim for the beginning of His Name the Glorious (al-Majid). It is also said that only Allah knows the meaning of these disjointed letters; while some maintain that it is an oath that He made.
Tafsir Ibn 'Abbas, trans. Mokrane Guezzou
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