Thou hast asked about the blessed Quranic verse “We have given thee the twice-repeated seven.” [Qur’an 15:87] The Muslim divines have interpreted the term “twice-repeated seven” to refer either to the seven chapters of the Qur’án that begin with the disconnected letters Ḥá’ and Mím or to the opening chapter of the Qur’án. They say it is “twice repeated” because the opening chapter, consisting of seven verses, was revealed twice—once in Mecca and again in Medina—and, as such, it is twice repeated. Furthermore, they say that as this opening chapter is recited twice in the daily prayer, it is thus described as the “twice-repeated seven”.
But the true meaning is the mystery of Divine Unity and the outpourings of heavenly grace, and that is the glad-tidings of the advent of the subsequent Revelation, in which the Bearer of the seven letters hath appeared twice. The first seven letters correspond to “‘Alí-Muhammad”, and the second seven to “Husayn-Alí”. [1] This is the meaning of the “twice-repeated seven”. Yet another meaning is that Muhammad, the universal Manifestation of the Quranic Dispensation, together with thirteen distinguished souls, [2] make fourteen, which is seven twice repeated. There is no time for further elaboration. This is a brief but beneficial explanation.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; ‘Light of the World’)
[1] In Persian and Arabic, as vowels are not written, these names each consist of seven letters.
[2] By “thirteen distinguished souls” is intended Fáṭimih, the daughter of
Muhammad, and the twelve Imáms.
