THE PRIMACY OF 'ALIF' AND 'ALLAH': EXPLORING THE DIVINE AND LINGUISTIC FOUNDATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

This conceptual paper explores the profound symbolic meaning of the letter “A” or Alif in most languages like English, French, Greek, Hindi and especially Arabic-script languages and hypothesizes on its central position as the starting point of knowledge. It assumes that the name of Allah, the personal name of God in the Arabic language, starts with, “Alif” or “A”, which points to a divine source of all knowledge. The paper also points out that the first man, Adam and the first word in the revelation of the Holy Quran, Iqra (Recite/Read) also start with Alif. The ever-present existence of the foundational junctures of existence, language, and revelation, Alif, is examined with examples of English, Greek, French, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto, and Parsi. This paper contends that the word Alif represents the totality of knowledge, which is inherently connected to the omnipotent and omnipresent Allah whose name opens every chapter of the Holy Quran, which places stress on unity and the sovereignty of Allah. So here we find that the first letter of the world is Alif and the first word is Allah.