الَر كِتَابٌ أُحْكِمَتْ آيَاتُهُ ثُمَّ فُصِّلَتْ مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ خَبِيرٍ
11:1 Alif. Lam. Ra. A Book with firm Signs (writings) then partitioned (in great details) Ladun (from, with) Hakim (All-Wise) Khabir (All-Aware)
وَإِنَّكَ لَتُلَقَّى الْقُرْآنَ مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ
27:6 And Inna (Indeed) you are instructed or encountered the Al-Qur’an(The Reading) Ladun (from, with) Hakim (All-Wise) Alim(All-Knowing)
Mufradat
Isfahani
Ladun is more specific than ‘Inda (with), indeed it deals with duration or range of beginning-to-end notion, as boundaries of some region (of time or space). For example: Stayed with him Ladun(From) sunrise until the sunset, and the Ladun is situated between the boundaries of the action. (in this case the boundaries of time or events)
مفردات ألفاظ القرآن — الراغب الأصفهاني (٥٠٢ هـ)
لَدُنْ أخصّ من «عند» ، لأنه يدلّ على ابتداء نهاية. نحو: أقمت عنده من لدن طلوع الشمس إلى غروبها، فيوضع لدن موضع نهاية الفعل.
Lisan Al-Arab
Ibn Mazur
More generally phrased, connecting two boundaries which mark the beginning and end of some entity.
لسان العرب — ابن منظور (٧١١ هـ)
وَقَالَ اللَّيْثُ: لَدُنْ فِي مَعْنَى مِنْ عِنْدِ، تَقُولُ: وَقَفَ الناسُ لَهُ مِنْ لَدُنْ كَذَا إِلى الْمَسْجِدِ وَنَحْوُ ذَلِكَ إِذا اتَّصَلَ مَا بَيْنَ الشَّيْئَيْنِ، وَكَذَلِكَ فِي الزَّمَانِ مِنْ لَدُنْ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ إِلى غُرُوبِهَا أَي مِنْ حِينِ.
Indeed very specific usage of Ladun for Allah‘s Divine Attributes in Qur’an as referenced above. However often the mention of Ladun omitted but the concept of connectivity between two entities remains.
Umda Al-Huffaz
Samin Al-Halabi
Contrary to ‘Inda (with, possessing), when Ladun used the subject matter is present. In usage of ‘Inda subject matter could be conceptual and not present e.g. I have money means (‘Inda usage) I have money but not here it is deposited in the bank somewhere else and yet if you say I have money (using Ladun) then the money is right here in my pocket!
عمدة الحفاظ — السمين الحلبي (٧٥٦ هـ)
بخلاف عند، والفرق بينهما أيضًا أن عند لا يستدعي حضورًا ولدن يستدعيه؛ تقول: عندي مال وإن كان غائبًا من مجلسك، ولا تقول لدي إلا وهو بمجلسك
Therefore when Allah uses the term Ladun the subject matter of discussion, usually being a gift to human being, is directly offered from the Divine Presence to the human being without any intermediary.
For example in the verse below, the reading material called Qur’an is directly from Allah free of any intermediary i.e. Allah did not delegate the wording of Qur’an to someone else on ITs/His behalf rather it was issued intact from Allah to the Prophet:
وَإِنَّكَ لَتُلَقَّى الْقُرْآنَ مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ
27:6 And Inna (Indeed) you are instructed or encountered the Al-Qur’an(The Reading) Ladun (from, with) Hakim (All-Wise) Alim (All-Knowing)
Equipped with this knowledge of the verbiage of Qur’an, now we are finally ready to investigate this question:
What do the oft-repeated paired Divine Attributes indicate and share in common? e.g. حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ or حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ or الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ
Imagine the visual landscape of one of your days: sunrise to sunset while you are viewing the landscape between the two events.
Re-image the landscape of your life apropos of Allah‘s Power and Mercy: let sunrise indicate Allah’s power over all things as the beginning boundary, and as you travel through this landscape you end up at the other boundary i.e. Allah’s Mercy.
At all times and places you are between these boundaries of Divine Attributes, swinging from one to the other. While Allah has power over all things you feel safe that at no moment Allah might cause you harm and yet you are at awe and fearful of such Divine Power then immediately your heart assured by the Divine Mercy! Now view this verse accordingly:
الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ
67:2 Al-Ladhi (That Which) who created death and life, so that He/IT might put you to a test [and thus show] which of you is best in conduct, and IT/He is The Almighty, The Forgiver
Imagine the landscape of life on this planet: sunrise being The Almighty Allah (Al-‘Aziz) making death and making life in vast quantities in every moment of time and sunset being the Forgiver (Al-Ghafour) who forgives the living and forgives the dead.
But we cannot see Allah giving life and Allah taking life, we cannot see Allah’s power directly and we cannot see Allah’s Forgiveness directly.
Ma’rifa (Fragrance): Re-imagine the same landscape but this time you have no eyes! Merely can rely on your sense of smell and imagine the sunrise be a Rose garden and sunset a Hyacinth meadow, you sense this landscape by the distinctive scent of Rose yet you have never seen any Roses, you start with the Rose garden as the beginning boundary and then attracted by this other familiar fragrance of Hyacinth though you have never actually seen one.
These boundaries are quite real to you, and no one taught you about smelling and loving these scents, and yet you know them as unlearnt knowledge of real entities. You walk from one to the other in this landscape.
Now let the Rose be Al-‘Aziz the Almighty and Al-Ghafour the Hyacinth.
The very essence of this aromatic landscape with fragrant boundaries is Ma’rifa or Irfan! You do not learn how to smell the Rose nor how to enjoy the scent you just know them from birth and that is called the Unlearnt knowledge.
The human life on this planet is nothing but plethora of deaths and births and the fleeting life in between, ‘Ibad (Servants) promenade their beasts within to forsake, between the fragrant meadows of Divine Attributes which beyond their boundaries this world ends.
© 2020-2002, Dara O Shayda