Salam aleykoum,
Al-'âlamîn: This is a word that everyone believes they understand through the well-known phrase "
Rabb al-'âlamîn", generally translated as "Lord of the Worlds."
- 1 - But what does it really mean in the Quran?At first glance, the meaning doesn't seem to pose a problem since the word
al-'âlam means "the world" in modern Arabic. We naturally think that
al-'âlamîn is the plural of this singular in the direct case with the ending
-in.
In fact, while these words do contain the root that begins with the letter
Ayn, followed by the letters
Lam and
Mim, it is a root present in most Semitic languages, and the form
'âlam is a borrowing term from Hebrew
'ôlam. This term originally means in Hebrew the long time in the past or future, in other words, eternity. When the word passes into Aramaic and then Syriac, it can also mean the earthly world. Thus, we find expressions that designate the king of the world or the lord of all times, which resemble the Quranic expression "
Rabb al-'âlamîn."
However, examining the Quranic text, we find about fifteen passages where the word
al-'âlamîn is used alone without being associated with the word
Rabb.
For example, in [
68:51-52]:
"And indeed, those who have rejected almost attack you with their eyes when they hear the Reminder,
and they say: "He is crazy!",
But it is not except a reminder to
al-'âlamîn."
We can also find this other passage in [
45:16]:
"And We had given the Children of Israel the Book, and the judgment, and the prophethood, and We provided
them with good provisions; and We preferred them over
al-'âlamîn."
Another passage can be found in [
3:42]:
"And the angels said: "O Mary, God has selected you and cleansed you, and He has selected you over all the
women of
l-'âlamîn."
From these Quranic usages, we realize that the term cannot mean worlds or universes as some understand it, but rather fits into the vision of the time that sees the world to which divine revelation is
addressed as a set of tribes/folk or Humans, to whom the creator god addresses or does not address a revelation. This is how the people of Moses had been chosen at the time of Pharaoh as the recipient of such a revelation.
These observations lead us to conclude that the well-known formula Rabb al-'âlamîn should be understood not as the lord of the worlds, and even less of the universes, but as the
Master of Humans. In the Quran, it is indeed always Humans who takes precedence over the cosmos, and he is the one who is the beneficiary of divine benevolence.
- 2 - Rule of the language :
The regular/normal plural (
jamε sâlim) "
ɛâlamîn" applies to animate beings,
especially human beings or personified/realities things. It should not be confused with the broken plural:
εawâlîm which concerns other beings, such as worlds or the Universe.
- 3 - Semitic rhetoric:
3.1 -
Surah 81:
At the end of Surah 81, the word
al-'âlamîn is used twice, once in accordance with the word
Rabb (Master).
The entire passage :
The second part of Surah 81 is connected to the first, grammatically by the initial conjunction fa, and semantically by the fact that the first part details the content of the mystery mentioned in the second part ("And he is not one to begrudge others the knowledge out of the mystery"), etc.
But What it interests us here is that th
e final term of the second part, understood as "Master of Humans" (verse 29), echoes the end of the first part: "[Every] soul" (verse 14). 3.2 -
Correspondance between surah 1 and surah 114 :
There is a correspondence between Al-Fatiha and Surah 114, "People," at the two extremities of the Quran. By understanding the word
'âlamîn [1:2] as "Mankind," we would then have a synonymic inclusion at the ends of the Holy Scripture:
Rabb al-'âlamîn / Rabb al-nâs. The choice of these two different words would be dictated by the rhyme, ending in
-în for Al-Fatiha, and in
-nâs for Surah 114
