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LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE TERMS OF THE OPENING IN THE QURÂN

accommodating manner. This gradation in the intensification is the
first element that grants Al-Raḥmân (نامحرلا) and Al-Raḥîm (ميحرلا)
distinct meanings, which creates two different words. The second
element of the difference of meaning originates from the fact that
each of these two terms expresses, with intensification, a different
aspect / function of the matrix (raḥim, محر):

- the matrix, al-raḥim, is the place from where life originates: the
origin of all life. The very situation of the matrix, and therefore the
origin, leads to a feeling of mercy, such as the one a mother has for
the child she carried in her matrix. God, Al-Raḥmân, Himself, Is
The Origin in absolute terms, The Prime Essence, The Origin of the
matrix, which is itself a secondary essence.

- the matrix is the protected place where beings are formed,
modelled, arranged. This notion of arrangement and protection is
found, at an intensified level, in the term Al-Raḥîm: God Is The
Arranging, He who, step by step, protects the being under
formation, with clemency and mercy. As an Attribute of God, this
is not instinctive or impulsive clemency, the result of emotion. On
the contrary, this is a mercy stemming from wisdom and
knowledge. Its English equivalent is indeed, therefore, "The
Arranging," which combines the fact of being accommodating and
that of putting things in order, arranging them in an established
order.

Traditional linguistic analysis

Traditionally, these two Attributes were analysed as two
expressions of the same term. In this way, the Attribute Al-Raḥmân
(نامحرلا) is stronger, more intense and more general than the
Attribute Al-Raḥîm (ميحرلا). The latter, when used after the term Al-
Raḥmân, would have a restrictive, more particular, more specific
meaning (صيصختلا).

an exaggerated state or behaviour (ةغلابملا و زييمتلا). The walker is characterised by
walking.

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