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Many opinions have been put forward about the meaning and signification of the seventy-eight "muqattaa letters" mentioned at the beginning of the sūrahs in the Qur'ān. Fifteen of these views are evaluated in this study. One of the views considers the letters muqattaa in the context of "absolute mutashabih" and claims that their meaning cannot be known. Three views are based on the "abbreviation theory". These argue that the letters of the muqattaa are letters chosen from the names of "Allaah, Prophets or beings" and that they refer to these names. Six of the opinions are based on the letters themselves. These argue that the letters at the beginning of the sūrah are the names of "beings, the Qur'ān, and the sūrahs" or that they are letters of "admonition, oath, and prologue". Three views examine the issue in the context of "miraculousness". According to the first view, which is based on Tehaddī, by mentioning the muqattaa letters at the beginning of the sūrah, the message was given that "although the Qur'ān is composed of these letters used by human beings, no one has been able to create a book similar to this book; this is proof that it was revealed from Allah". According to the second view, since the Prophet was an illiterate, he did not know the names of the letters of the alphabet; nevertheless, the fact that he correctly recited the names of the muqattaa letters is evidence that he learned this knowledge through revelation. According to the third view, which centers on the linguistic iʿjāz, the twenty-eight letters of the Arabic alphabet are divided into various classes according to their rhizomes, and the "fourteen muqattaa letters" were regularly selected from half of these letter groups. The letters at the beginning of the sūrah were chosen from half of the letter types, taking into account their rhizomes and adjectives, as well as from the half of the letters that make up the alphabet that are more commonly used in language. This perfect selection proves that the Qur'an was revealed from Allah. In this study, the view that the letters of the muqattaa are related to the numerical values of the Arabic alphabet in the order of ebjad has been investigated. In this context, the narration that "a group of Jews came to the Prophet and told him that the letters 'Elif, Lâm, Mîm' signify the lifespan of the ummah according to the calculation of al-abjad, whereupon the Prophet laughed and recited the other muqattaa letters" was analyzed. Al-Bukhārī has recorded three senadīn of this narration in al-Tārīhu al-Kabīr, and it has been determined that the weakness of the narration has decreased due to the fact that two of these senadīn support and explain each other. Bayzāwī, Shihāb al-Dīn Hafājī, and Ibn 'Ashūr argued that the Prophet's smile and recitation of the other letters in this narration did not mean "approval". Muhyiddīn al-Shaykhzāda, on the other hand, stated that the possibility of "approval" is superior since "the Messenger of Allah's (continued) recitation and indirect approval occurred at the same time". At the end of this chapter, Abū al-ʿAlī, Rabi' b. Anas, al-Tabari, al-Māturīdī, and al-Suhaylī, based on the relevant merfū narration, considered it plausible that the letters of the muqattaa could refer to the death of societies or important events through the calculation of abjad; some scholars such as Ibn al-'Arabī and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Kamāl inferred some conquests to be realized from the Qur'ān through the calculation of abjad; however, it was pointed out that this area was open to misuse. It is emphasized that the scholars who consider this permissible should comply with the conditions for the acceptance of al-Ishārī exegesis as stated in the methodology of tafsīr and should not assert that the essential signification of the letters is numerical values. In the last section, Avicenna's view associating these letters with the "levels of existence" is evaluated, and it is stated that there is no evidence for the relations between the letters muqattaa and the levels of existence in relation to the theory of the active intellect.

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