Praised be Allah, The Lord of all human kinds, The One who said in His Holy Book: ‘ And We have sent down on thee the book to be a demonstration for everything and a guidance and a mercy and a good news for those who submit’, and peace and prayers may be upon His prophet (saas), the mercy and the interceder for the believers, and on his family and companions.
A lot of doubts have been raised around the numeric miracles of the Koran. Some considers it a useless matter to study the numbers of the Koran because (as they see it) Koran is a book of guidance, orders and rules and not a book of maths and numbers!
Some believes that the miracles of the Koran are in its eloquence, language and fluency, not in its numbers! Therefore, some readers will question about the accuracy of the books that deal with the numeric miracles of Koran, and how much exacts are the results these books give? Nevertheless, what is astonishing is that some people completely deny the numeric miracle of Koran.
But why do scholars put away maths from Koran? And are there any misconceptions built around this science only because some errors were made by Rashad Khalifa ( the first to deal with this subject for the passing 25 years) and others?
Concerning these confusions, we are going to stop at the answering of the many questions and critics the numeric miracles face nowadays. Moreover, we have to make it clear and understandable how important this new field is, and what are the things any researcher should respect and the others they should avoid.
We are going to expose objectively all the critics and answer them frankly; therefore, the motive behind this paper is our love and fear for the protection of Koran and the demonstration of the truth and the reality. Then we have to pray the Lord for sincerity and knowledge.
Now, we have to start with this question:
Who is Rashad Khalifa?
Since hundreds of years, Muslim scholars have looked for the numeric miracles of the Koran. They counted its verses, its chapters, its letters and its words. Yet, their calculations often faced some inaccuracies because of the difficulty of the matter.
If we follow the writings, which deal with this subject, produced since Ibn Araby and the counting of the ‘ letters for numbers’ ( djummal), up to the era of Rashad Khalifa and his hypothesis concerning the number 19, we ultimately find a lot of errors and misinterpretations that are far from being logically scientific.
This man has taken some numeric realties found in the Koran as a favour, that of the number 19, and he has considered that Koran is built all in all on this number. However, what he has claimed has been wronged and his results have been denied. Thus, the numbers he has chosen for his book The Miracle of the Koran are not exact at all.
Some of the most important examples he has mentioned in his research is about the first verse: ‘ in the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful’ ( the Bassmalah) being repeated in the Koran 19 times. This saying is not accurate.
He says the first word ‘ bism’ ( in the name of), instead of ‘ism’ ( name), was mentioned 19 times, yet it was mentioned 22 times ( it is not a multiple of 19).
He says that the word ‘Allah’ was repeated 2698 (19*142), but this number is not exact too! ‘Allah’ was repeated 2699 (not a multiple of 19). However, what he has mentioned about the word ‘ arrahmane’ (the Gracious), being repeated 57 times, is true.
‘Arrahim’ (the Merciful), he said, is repeated 114. It is not true! It was mentioned 115. Therefore, Khalifa has given only one number out of four. This is how he deals with the other numbers he exposes. What he does is only mingling one true number with many wrong ones to give the idea of the truthfulness of his saying. Thus his hypothesis can be considered as a wrong theory.
What about the others?
Most of the researchers who consider 19 as a basis of their researches have fallen in a big trap even if it is unintentionally, either because of the wrong counting of the letters or in the way they counted them. Yet, we have not to deny the existance of some agreements based on the number 19. Truly, this number represents another numeric miracle Koran contains, and this has to do with the 30th verse of ‘ Almudathir’ chapter ((30)Over it are Nineteen), and we are to see some of the wonders this verse represents in the Koran.:
The number of chapters is 114 ( a multiple of 19)
The number of the letters of the first verse in the Koran ( basmalah) is 19
The number of /q/ letter in ‘Qaf’ chapter is 57 (3*19)
The number of /q/ letter in ‘ Ashuraa’ chapter is 57, and both chapters start with this letter.
The number of ‘yaâ’ and ‘sine’ in ‘Yassine’ chapter is 285 ( a multiple of 19)
In addition to these agreements, we have many numbers, which make alike agreements as the number 7 ( the most frequent number in the Koran after n° 1). Allah has created 7 havens and this expression: “seven heavens, seven earths) has been mentioned exactly 7 times. Likewise, the word ‘qiblah’ ( the orientation or direction of prayer) has been repeated 77 times, and we know that the turning around the Kaâbah in Hadj and Omra is about seven times. Then we know that Allah has created seven doors to the hell-fire and the mentioning of the latter is about seven.
Another numeric miracle is the one concerning months; the word ‘month’ is repeated 12 times ! it is the number of months of the year. The word ‘day’ is also mentioned 365 times which equals the number of days in the year. ‘Dunia’ or the world of this life and ‘alakhirah’ ( the hereafter), both are mentioned 115 exactly.
However, we can say that most of the researchers, nowadays, are sincere, inchaâllah, even if they are wronged from time to time ( either for some errors or for some false counting) because of the difficulty of the researches in the numeric miracles, and because of the absence of references concerning this field. So, we hope they will try their best to look for the most reliable and logic way in their researches together with the strong proofs (and numeric results) to strengthen their hypothesis.
What about the ‘counting of letters’ (hissab aljumal)?
A lot of researchers have worked hard to use this counting while looking for the numeric miracles in Koran, so what is it about?
It is a very old way people have used to find some numeric miracles in Koran. It is based on the substitution of each letter by a corresponding number: ‘alif’ for 1, ‘baâ’ for 2, ‘jim’ for 3…according to the ABC of Arabic.
Consequently, I would like to ask this question for all those who have used this method: is it a scientific method? And I do not think I will have a logic answer for which I understand why ‘alif’ has been given the number 1 and ‘baâ’ for 2 and why wouldn’t it be for 4 for example?
This method has given no miraculous result, even if it sometimes gives some agreements. Yet, using this method to look for the Koran’s miracles is something illegal and may not please God. This is why it is better to avoid such method and all that concerns numeric symbols for Koranic letters, which may not be logic nor scientific, and may even be banned, till we prove its accuracy.
What are the benefits behind the numeric miracles of the Koran?
May some people say: “what is good about the study of the language of numbers of the Koran mainly if we do have other fields of study as ‘fiqh’, science of worships, rules, interpretations…which are more important.
First of all we have to look for what makes people ( among which we have scholars) tend to disdain the study of numeric miracles though we know how important the language of numbers is nowadays as long as this language has taken over everything around us. And because Koran is the book of all times and all places, it is necessary to find such a relationship with which we challenge the world with in this day and age.
Then those who think it useless to study numbers in the Koran, are only far away from the evolutions of this era, and almost are not specialised in maths, but what is confusing is that how come that a man who knows nothing about maths would criticize a mathematic miracle found in the Koran?
The numeric miracle is a new way through which we have to deal with the book of Allah nowadays, and the aim of it is to increase our faith (‘and the Believers may increase in Faith’ 31 al mudathir chapter).
This miracle is also a means the believers use to strengthen their belief with and increase their certainty in the book of their Lord with; this is how they would never doubt or be disturbed about this last divine message: ‘that no doubts may be left for the People of the Book and the Believers’ 31 al mudathir chapter. So, the one who does not believe in this Koran and does not respect its numeric miracles, what do you think his reaction would be? Allah has informed us about his reaction: ‘and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the Unbelievers may say "What symbol doth Allah intend by this?" Thus doth Allah leave to stray whom He pleaseth and guide whom He pleaseth 31 al mudathir.’ This is the state of being of the disbelievers; they are astray till they meet their Lord.
Some exaggerations we need to get away from:
It is noticed that most of the researchers in this field do base their intention in their researches on the numbers, and so they greaten their the results they have reached; then they ignore other miracles, linguistic ones, ruling ones… so don’t you think that this is a serious exaggeration we need to avoid?
This remark does really exist, and it has its reasons! The looking for a numeric miracle in the book of Allah, the Koran which does contain no single equation or number only those of the verses and chapters, is about a very difficult procedure. It requires that the researcher has to spend all his time and effort searching and inquiring. Moreover, no sources or references are available.
Yet, I am so sure that the miracles of the Koran are all interrelated. The numeric miracle is originated in the linguistic miracle Koran contains, and both are based on the letters and the numbers. May the meaning of some verses leads us to discover some numeric miracles. This is, for instance, what the story of ‘the people of the cave’ contains. The verse gives us how many years the young men have stayed in the cave: 309 years. The story starts by Allah’s saying: “(10) Behold the youths betook themselves to the Cave: they said "Our Lord! Bestow on us Mercy from Thyself and dispose of our affair for us in the right way!” and finishes with His saying: “(25) So they stayed in their Cave three hundred years and (some) add nine (more)”, and if we count the words from the first word to the last one, we find exactly 309 word (=the number of the years they stayed in the cave).
Anyway! Any researcher, who is trying to look for the numeric miracles, needs to be interested in other koranic miracles, and he has to be sure that the numeric miracles are only one drop of the great ocean of the koranic miracles.
Do the numeric miracles lead the believer away from the meaning and the significance of the verses?
Some Muslim scholars see that being interested in counting the letters and the words of the Koran may lead the believer away from the meaning and the significance of the verses, which guides him to the path of His God!
This is also a wrong understanding! How come that the Omnipotent, the Great Creator would put in His book something that can lead the people away from the understanding of its verses?!!
Every single letter of the Koran contains a linguistic and a numeric miracle that needs a great comprehension and thinking. And because this book comes from Allah (swt), everything it contains is from God. Therefore, the true believer needs not to reject this miracle claiming that he is a righteous believer; on the contrary, he has to have a strong faith and believe in everything that is divine: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord" (Al Imrane, 7).
To meditate on the words of the Koran, its verses and its letters from the numeric side, gives the believer more chance to learn by heart the verses and remember them easily, and this is out of a long experience of ten years of looking after the koranic numeric miracles. Nevertheless, though I spend a long time searching and studying the numeric miracles of the Koran, I have never been astray from the significance of its verses; quite the reverse, I acquired something new, that of the good reciting of the verses, and the conserving of each letter, then never to add or cut another.
Then, the true believer, who loves Allah and His prophet (saas) and who has chosen the Koran ‘a prospectus’ for his life, should not be away from the new scientces and technological innovations. Thus, the believer is always running to look after everything new about his sacred book, the Koran, and everything that would strengthen the word of Allah and His religion. As for the errors and some of the misinterpretations many researchers have made ( unintentionally) would never stop us from studying this new field, yet they might be a motivation for us to know more errors to be avoided.
Can humankinds bring similar miracles?
May some people, those who know nothing about nothing about the counting of the Koranic words, say: “isn’t it easy for a human being to construct sentences in which the repetition of words is calculated? So what is miraculous about what you are talking about?
When dealing with the book of Allah, we are in front of two parameters: linguistic and numeric. Then we cannot find any difference or disturbance in the language of the Koran and its eloquence from A to Z ; the same is true for the numeric feature. It is a perfect numerically and linguistically. The temptation of limiting the Koran within numbers would perturb its linguistic side; this is how none of us can ever produce similar book eloquent and balanced, then at the same time numerically arranged. There will be always something missing in people’s saying, and this is a divine law no person can break.”Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah they would surely have found therein much discrepancy “ (Annissaâ, 82); this verse proves that what we have said is true. You see! This calls us to think about the beautiful arrangements the word of Allah contains, and which makes it different from people’s sayings. Isn’t it an indirect sign to look for the numeric arrangements and the linguistic ones?
Are the numeric miracles reliable for the ten readings?
Numbers in the Koran constitute a point of disagreement between scholars and researchers because there are ten readings of the Koran; the latter can differ in the number of verses of some chapters, so how can we claim that these verse contain an assured reality as long as they can differ from one book (Mushaf) to another?
The answer of this question is found in the saying of Allah: ”Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah they would surely have found therein much discrepancy “ (Annissaâ, 82). Then, there is no difference in the book of Allah; it is only about some differences in the way the Koran is read, and others that concern numbers. Yet this variation represents in itself a variation of miracles, and gives more miracles. Thus I can say that the numeric miracles concern all the readings, all the verses, all the chapters, all the letters and all the numbers of the Koran; even a punctuation has a miraculous system in the Koran.
Nevertheless, the researchers about the numeric miracles limit their research on the reading of ‘Hafs for Assam’ which is the most spread in the Islamic world, and that we have in hands nowadays. Then, if we look for another numeric miracle for the other readings, we have to make a comparative study concerning numbers, but what is certain is that for each reading there is a miracle, and the wisdom behind this variation is to add more miracles and challenges that no human being can bring. Allah says: “Say: "If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur'an they could not produce the like thereof even if they backed up each other with help and support” (Alissraâ, 88).
However, these readings, we have to know it, are similar apart from some letters and some ways of spelling that change from one reading to another to make it easy for the people. Accordingly, we can say that these numeric miracles are reliable for all readings. Then, every believer be certain about how arranged this book is, in its meaning and significance, in its numbers of words and letters… may this variation of readings hide a great linguistic or numeric miracle, yet being unable to catch it does not mean it exists not, but it means that perception and understanding as human beings are very limited.
Is there a numeric miracle in the spelling the Koranic words?
There is an important question we can raise: ‘to what extent do the researchers in the numeric miracles consider the spelling of the Koranic words as long as we know that Koran has been sent down read and not written?
I have been interested in this question long time ago, and after a long thinking and searching I came to know that there is something in the Koran hides behind it a great miracle. Any one who reads the Koran notices that the number of the written letters is not equal to the one of the spelled letters, which means a variation in the numbers. Moreover, this variation can increase if we read continuously the verse or word by word, and there are some letters, which are read and not written; others are written and not read.
Accordingly, I have made a research on ‘ The Opening’ chapter (Seven Oft-Repeated verses) and I found that there is a numeric construction based on n°7, to write these words the way they are written in Koran, and another construction based on 7 but concerning the spelling of words. Thus, we can conclude that the miracle includes tha written form as well as the spoken (spelled) form! This is what gives more miracles and it is enough to know that the Opening chapter contains 14 geminated letters (7*2) letters are written once but read twice.
Can we know the unseen by the means of the numeric miracles?
There is some people who exaggerate in their researches about the numeric miracle; they link Koranic numbers with political events and historical ones as the collapse of Israel’s government and the 11th of September events, and the prediction of the coming of ‘Last Day’, don’t you think it’s a deviation?
Such exaggerations are found in all sciences, even in the interpretations of Koran. We may have in scholars’ opinions some disagreements about interpretations, and we may have some contrast in others as well as wrong interpretations.
The numeric language is the language we use to express the past and the future. We express dates by numbers; we express some of our deeds by numbers ( as travelling, Hadj, Ramadhan…) “We have made the Night and the Day as two (of Our) Signs: the Sign of the Night have We obscured while the Sign of the day We have made to enlighten you; that ye may seek Bounty from your Lord and that ye may know the number and count of the years: all things have We explained in detail” (Israa 12).
Nowadays, astronomers can predicate the exact time of the sun’s and moon’s eclipses, and this is not forbidden. It is true that the unseen is in the hands of God, but there are things we can know through calculations like the black holes which can’t be seen but can be calculated by the means of their distance, gravity and how fast the are moving.
Then, the problem is not in numbers, but the use of them in a scientific way. Any one who claims that he has got from Koran some futuristic dates or events, has to bring a scientific proof. Yet, we better avoid talking about the unseen without proofs and just remember: (59)With Him are the keys of the Unseen the treasures that none knoweth but He. He knoweth whatever there is on the earth and in the sea. Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge: there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered) but is (inscribed) in a Record Clear (to those who can read) Alanaâm.
What are the conditions the researcher in this field should respect?
Scientific research is about three elements: data, plan of studying and results. Moreover, it should be within the boundaries of religion and its rules, for it can be accepted logically and religiously.
The data: it must be from Koran itself, and we have to be careful not to include things Allah will not be pleased with. This is what can make many researches lose their accuracy. If we substitute Allah’s name with n°66 ( ABC for 123…) where ‘alif’ is for 1 and the first lam is for 30 as the second and the haâ for 5, to get 1+30+30+5=66, who ever said that this number represents Allah’s name?!!
This is why it is necessary to get all numbers from Koran, as the number of verses, chapters, letters…in a way that convinces both the believer and the disbeliever. For instance, saying that the number of verses of the Opening is 7 is true and exact because it exists in Koran and you can count it.
The way we have to deal with this data: it must be based on a scientific and a religious pillar. It is forbidden to use non-scientific methods because Koran, as Allah has perfectly created and sustained this universe, is also perfectly arranged: (1)Alif Lam Ra. (This is) a Book with verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning) further explained in detail from One Who is Wise and Well-Acquainted (with all things) Hud. Some researchers follow non-scientific methods; sometimes they add number of verses; others they subtract numbers of letters or add or divide …for they can have a previous result they thought about. Some others try to convince the readers with a hypothesis they have already put in their brains. This is not scientific at all only if they would prove it.
The results: they must represent a true miracle; any researcher needs to find an accurate, not by hazardous, result using the law of probabilities. Moreover, he has to be aware that numeric miracles is a means to perceive the numeric construction of Koran and not an aim!
He has to stay away from predictions which are in the hands of God, and never relates events and dates with numbers. We do not deny that Koran contains all sciences and all times but we need to be ware and patient before claiming any result, if not we are going to help our enemies to deny the miracles of this book.
Words have to be said…
Any new science would face errors at the beginning till it reaches exact knowledge. And this is absolutely normal for numeric miracles because the latter are hard to discover, and need thousands of researchers to work on though some have fallen in errors. However, true believers who fear for their religion should correct these errors to have Allah’s reward.
Even if some see it useless to study numbers of the Koran, it has no scientific proof or raison to avoid that. Yet all technological evolutions nowadays have proved how important the numeric language is and challenge the ones who deny the truthfulness of this book with it. Because the numeric language is the language of modern sciences, what makes it impossible to find it in the Koran? And what is bad about the publications that may give more importance to the word of Allah and challenge the materialists with the language they master?
This is how the true believer should not reject this miracle; he needs to think over Koran and look after its miracles; Koran will be his interceder on the day of judgement when being alone. So look for what you have done for the book of Allah and His religion?
O Lord! Make us see the right every where and follow it… And make us see the false and avoid it !!!
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