al-Raḥmān

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الرَّحْمَنُ

عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

1. The Most Gracious [Allah]!

2. He taught the Qur’an.

His Messenger (S) is a Mercy;

("And We have sent you not but as a Mercy for the worlds [jinn and mankind],").

His Qur’an is also a Mercy;

("And We send down the Qur’an that which is a healing and a Mercy to those who believe," ⁴ ).

The Divine Attribute;

"the Most Gracious"

(al-Rahman) is attested 169 times 114 instances of which are to found in the opening of Chapters

("In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful").

As mentioned above, the blessed Chapter reflects different Divine Blessings, opening with the Divine Attribute;

"the Most Gracious"

(al-Rahman), a secret of His All-Encompassing Graciousness, since were it not owing to this Attribute of His, such Blessings would not have fallen into the shares of His friends and enemies. The blessed Verses are saying that the Most Gracious Allah taught the Holy Qur’an. Thus, the first and the most significant Blessing is mentioned as teaching the Holy Qur’an. What an appealing and significant expression. If we reflect correctly, the Glorious Qur'an is the source of all Divine Blessings and the means to attain to any Blessing and benefiting from all material and spiritual Blessings.

It is worthy of note that treating of the Divine Blessing of:

"teaching the Qur'an"

is mentioned prior to the creation of man and teaching him, but the natural order would be to first make mention of the reverse order, namely creation of man, the Blessing of teaching man speech, and then teaching him the Holy Qur’an. However, the majesty and glory of the Glorious Qur’an necessitates the order in question. The other point is that the blessed Verse is a response to Arab polytheists who upon hearing the Noble Prophet (S) calling them to prostrate before the Most Gracious Allah asked:

"What is Graciousness?"

("And when it is said unto them: 'Prostrate yourselves to the Most Gracious Allah!' They say: 'And what is the Most Gracious? Shall we fall down in prostration to that which you command us?' And it increases in them only aversion." ⁵ ).

The Holy Qur’an is saying that the Most Gracious Allah is One Who taught the Qur’an, created man, and taught him speech. It is worthy of note that second to "Allah" the Divine Attribute;

"the Most Gracious"

is the most encompassing concept from amongst the Most Beautiful Attributes and Names of Allah, since we know that God Almighty possesses two kinds of Graciousness, general and specific. The Attribute;

"the Most Gracious"

reflects His All-Encompassing Graciousness. The Divine Attribute;

"the Most Merciful"

(Rahim) designates His specific Graciousness bestowed upon the faithful and the obedient. It is seemingly owing to this reason that the Attribute;

"the Most Gracious"

is never applied to anyone other than God Almighty, unless it is accompanied by the word

"servant"

(‘abd), but

"merciful"

may be applied to others, since All-Encompassing Graciousness only belongs to God Almighty. In other words, specific mercy in its feeble form may be found among mankind and other creatures. According to a tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as),

"the Most Gracious"

(Rahman) is All-Encompassing and is solely a Divine Attribute, but

"merciful"

(rahim) is specific. In other words, the former is a specific name but is all-encompassing, namely, it is a Divine Attribute reflecting that His Mercy is All-Encompassing. But,

"merciful"

is a general name with specific application, namely it may be applied to anyone, but

"merciful"

is general name with specific application, i.e., it is applied to God Almighty and His Creatures. Likewise, the Noble Prophet (S) is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an as:

"kind and merciful" ⁶

(ra’uf al-rahim), but they designate limited and specific mercy. Qur’an exegetes are not unanimous regarding the issue as to who received the teaching of the Holy Qur’an. Some maintain that Gabriel, angels, the Noble Prophet (S), and all mankind and even jinn received it. Since the blessed Chapter in question treats of Divine Blessings bestowed upon jinn and mankind, and the question:

"Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both [jinn and men] deny?"

is attested thirty one times following an enumeration of Divine Blessings, the last interpretation sounds to be more appropriate, namely God Almighty taught jinn and mankind the Holy Qur’an through His Messenger, the Noble Prophet of Islam (S).

Footnotes

1. 4. 17:82
2. 5. 25:60
3. 6. 9:128