ters (Qāf, Ṭā, Dāl, Jīm, Bā). Taking more than half from the light letters and less than half from the heavy letters, neither of which are divisible, it has halved every category. Although the human mind would be capable of it, halving all those categories overlapping one within the other, hesitant among two hundred possibilities, in the only way possible, which was hidden to the human mind and unknown to it, and organizing all the letters in that way, over that broad distance, was not the work of the human mind. And chance could not have interfered in it.

Thus, in addition to the fact that these letters at the beginning of the suras – divine ciphers – display five or six similar flashes of miraculousness, scholars versed in the mysteries of the science of letters and the authorities from among the saints deduced many secrets from these disjointed letters. They discovered such truths that they declared that on their own these letters form a brilliant miracle. Since we are not party to their secrets and also we cannot provide proofs that are clear to everyone, we cannot open that door. We shall therefore suffice with referring readers to the explanation in Isharat al-I‘jaz, which deals with five or six flashes of miraculousness related to them.

Now we shall point out the Qur’anic styles with regard to sura, aim, verse, phrase, and word.

For example, if the sura “About what are they disputing?”(78:1) is studied carefully, it shows the events of the hereafter, the resurrection of the dead, and Paradise and Hell in a style so unique and wonderful that it proves the divine acts and dominical works in this world as though looking at each of those events of the next world, and convinces the heart. To expound the style of this sura fully would be lengthy, so we shall merely indicate one or two points, as follows:

At the start of the sura, to prove the resurrection, it says: “We have made the earth a beautifully decked-out cradle for you, and the mountains masts and poles full of treasure for your house and your lives. We have made you as couples, loving and close to one another. We have made the night a coverlet for your sleep of comfort, the daytime the arena in which you earn your livelihood, the sun a light-giving, heat-supplying lamp, and from the clouds We pour down water as though they were a spring producing the water of life. And We create easily and quickly from the simple water the various flower-bearing and fruit-bearing things which bear all your sustenance. Since this is so, the Day of Resurrection, the day when good and evil shall be separated out, awaits you. It is not difficult for Us to bring about that Day.” In a veiled way it points to proofs that after this at the resurrection, the mountains will be scattered, the skies shattered, Hell