Each of these joined letters, that are found at the beginning of various verses, is to be pronounced separately, unlike the general rule of pronunciation of other words of the Holy Quran. If we to connect the last word of one verse with the beginning of the verse after it then we pronounce the inflectional endings of the last word in the first verse. For example:

 لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ

(they may be guided.) (Al-Baqara: 186)

The Arabic word (be guided) ends with the diacritical mark (fat-ha), which is a short A vowel-sound. If we read this word together with the first word of the following verse, then the (fat-ha) should be pronounced. But if we stop our reading at the last word of the verse then we read it with (Sukoon); that is a silent letter. This way of reading is consistent for all verses and endings of the Surahs in the Quran. When we stop reading at a certain word, we use (Sukoon) with it instead of pronouncing its diacritical mark.

All the words of the Holy Quran are read by joining letters together, except for the (disjointed letters) which are read separately. We read each letter of: (Alif, Lam, Meem, Sad) on its own so that we are all reminded that by reading the Holy Quran, we are, in a way, talking to Allah (swt) and hearing from Him (swt) and reading a Book which is unlike other books. Thus, there are specific rules that people must follow before reading it, such as having a pure, clean body, doing the Ablution before it, and covering private parts… etc. It is also very important to prepare oneself very well before reading Allah’s (swt) Book because His (swt) words are one of His Attributes (swt), and the Holy Quran is a Book of Guidance for all humanity. Allah (swt) says:

  نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الْأَمِينُ (193) عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنذِرِينَ (194)

((193) The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down (194) Upon your heart, [O Muhammad] – that you may be of the warners -) (Ash-Shu’araa)

Although in another Surah (al-‘Alaq), Allah (swt) says (Read..), so we expect to read: (The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down upon your ear), but we find that the verse says: (upon your heart) because the Quranic words address the hearts. This means that if we want the Holy Quran to touch upon our hearts, then we should read it as if we are hearing it directly from Allah (swt). We read the Holy Quran with the hidden secrets embedded in it by Allah (swt), in addition to what we think of Allah’s intentions behind these verses might be. We should read The Holy Quran with consideration to both of these aspects, especially because there are verses that are unspecific, and others that are precise, which are fundamentals in this Holy Book. We should not ask about the reason behind these unspecific verses while we do not understand their meanings; for even if we do not fully comprehend their meanings, we still profit from their contents and from reciting them. It is as if Allah (swt) is telling us to read the Holy Quran with what it contains of Allah’s secrets, for they are the keys to unlock our hearts.

Scholars spent tremendous efforts at their attempts to explain the meaning behind disjoined letters, and although all their opinions are true, but they do not encompass the whole truth. Some said, the Holy Quran is coined out of these letters, thus they represent a challenge to the masters of rhetoric. Others said, these letters are used as a warning, while another said, they are names of verses. All these opinions may be correct but what we do know for sure is that they are one of Allah’s (swt) Secrets. When we read the Holy Quran, we need to pure our hearts, minds, and souls, because the Holy Quran is like a spirit which was revealed to the leader of the Messengers (PBUT) through The Trustworthy Spirit (Angel Gibril). Not only it heals our souls, rather it heals our minds too through its verses. According to some of the scholars, disjointed letters at the beginning of some verses carry within them Allah’s Secrets (swt). To give an example, some groups of people use codes to communicate with each other by using a word that does not necessarily have a linguistic meaning, such as using (Sa’) or (‘Iss) as a code for (open the door). The meaning of these codes is known only to those who coined it, and they do not require linguistic meaning per se. Let us suppose that the disjointed letters are secrets, and there are verses that begin with one disjointed letter like: (Qaf), (Noon), or with two letters: (Ha, Meem), or with three: (Alif, Lam, Ra), or with four: (Alif, Lam, Meem, Sad), or with five: (Kaf, Ha, Ya’Ayen, Sad). When these Arabic letters are put together, they make a sentence in the Arabic language which translates into: (A wise text that has a definitive secret).

These letters of the Arabic language are chosen with astonishing sequence. If we take the first nine letters of the Arabic Alphabet, we will find two of them, (Alif) and (Ha). When we take the next ten letters, we will find that one letter was taken and the one behind it was left out. We will also find letters that do not have dots in the Arabic language: (Ra, Seen, Sad, T’aa, ‘Ayen), while letters with dots are left out, and those are: (Zay, Sheen, Dhad, ‘Za, G’ayen). From the third group, seven letters were taken while two were left out. (Qaf, Kaf, Lam, Meem, Noon, Ha, Ya) are taken, while (Fa, Waaw) were left out. Surely, these letters are not chosen randomly, nor arbitrarily. Two letters were taken from the first group of nine letters while seven were left out. The last group of nine letters had seven taken from it while two were left out. From the group of ten letters in the middle, the undotted letters were taken from it while the dotted ones were left out. Thus, it is not a matter of calculations, numbers, nor geometry, it is related to the Arabic language and the secret of the wise quotation: (A wise text that has a definitive secret).