What do the separated letters at the opening of suras mean?

ما معنى الحروف المقطعة في أوائل السور؟

In Zad al-Masir Ibn al-Jawzi gathers six views on the separated letters: that they are among the ambiguous known only to God; letters of God's names; letters by which God swears; a pointer that the Qur'an is made of the very letters of the Arabs' speech, to show its inimitability; names of the suras; or the shorthand the Arabs used in speech — all Sunni views, each attributed to those who held it.

Summary

On the opening of al-Baqara, Ibn al-Jawzi says in Zad al-Masir that scholars differed over 'Alif Lam Mim' and the other separated letters at the start of suras in six views, and then gives five views on 'Alif Lam Mim' in particular. ¹ ² ³

Views on 'Alif Lam Mim' in particular

Ibn al-Jawzi gives five views on 'Alif Lam Mim': that it is among the ambiguous; that it means 'I am God, I know best', reported by Abu al-Duha from Ibn Abbas and held by Ibn Mas'ud and Sa'id ibn Jubayr; that it is an oath, reported by Abu Salih from Ibn Abbas and by Khalid al-Hadhdha' from Ikrima; and that it is letters of names — among them that alif is from 'Allah', lam from 'Jibril' and mim from 'Muhammad', from Ibn Abbas. ³

The editor's note

The editor of the Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi edition cites Ibn Kathir: without repetition the letters are fourteen; they were repeated to sharpen the challenge; whoever claims they encode numbers from which the times of events can be extracted claims what is not his, and the hadith cited for it is weak. ²

Disagreement and views

Notes for researchers

The Abu Bakr of the first view is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may God be pleased with him); he is not linked here because his record id was not verified in this batch.
The lines of poetry cited for the sixth view are not reproduced.

Opinions on the question

The question: Interpreting the letter-openings of the suras

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: al-Sha'bi and those who agreed, and al-BaghawiMain reference

their knowledge is left to God ² ⁴.

More opinions (5)

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu al-Aliya and al-Rabi'Main reference

letters of God's names ².

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: Ibn Abbas, Ikrima and Ibn QutaybaMain reference

letters God swears by ².

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: al-Farra and QutrubMain reference

a pointer to inimitability: the Qur'an is made of their letters ² ⁵.

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: Zayd ibn Aslam and his sonMain reference

names of the suras ³.

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: al-Akhfash, al-Zajjaj and Ibn al-AnbariMain reference

Arab shorthand, one letter for a word ³.

Sources

Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir — Ibn al-Jawzi, ed. Abd al-Razzaq al-Mahdi, vol. 1 (Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Beirut, 1st ed., 2001) , p.24

Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir — Ibn al-Jawzi, ed. Abd al-Razzaq al-Mahdi, vol. 1 (Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Beirut, 1st ed., 2001) , p.25

Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir — Ibn al-Jawzi, ed. Abd al-Razzaq al-Mahdi, vol. 1 (Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Beirut, 1st ed., 2001) , p.26

Tahdhib Tafsir al-Baghawi (Ma'alim al-Tanzil), ed. Sulayman Muslim al-Harsh, Uthman Jum'a Dumayriyya and Muhammad Abd Allah al-Nimr (Dar Tayba, Riyadh, 1st ed., 2009) , p.11

al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an — Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, ed. Abu al-Fadl al-Dimyati Ahmad ibn Ali (Dar al-Hadith, Cairo, 2006) , p.119