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Apart from the miraculous characteristics of the Qur'an which we have looked into so far, it also contains
what we can term "mathematical miracles." There are many examples of this fascinating Qur'anic aspect.
One example of this is the number of repetitions of certain words in the Qur'an. Some related words are
surprisingly repeated the same number of times. Below is a list of such words and the number of repetitions
in the Qur'an.
The statement of "seven heavens" is repeated seven times. "The creation of the heavens (khalq as-
samawat)" is also repeated seven times.
"Day (yawm)" is repeated 365 times in singular form, while its plural and dual forms "days (ayyam and
yawmayn)" together are repeated 30 times. The number of repetitions of the word "month" (shahar) is 12.
The number of repetitions of the words "plant" and "tree" is the same: 26
The word "payment or reward" is repeated 117 times, while the expression "forgiveness" (mughfirah),
which is one of the basic morals of the Qur'an, is repeated exactly twice that amount, 234 times.
When we count the word "Say," we find it appears 332 times. We arrive at the same figure when we
count the phrase "they said."
The number of times the words, "world" (dunya) and "hereafter" (akhira) are repeated is also the same:
115
The word "satan" (shaitan) is used in the Qur'an 88 times, as is the word "angels" (malaika).
The word faith (iman) (without genitive) is repeated 25 times throughout the Qur'an as is also the word
infidelity (kufr).
The word "zakah" is repeated in the Qur'an 32 times and the number of repetitions of the word "blessing"
(barakah) is also 32.
The expression "the righteous" (al-abraar) is used 6 times but "the wicked" (al-fujjaar) is used half as
much, i.e., 3 times.
The number of times the words "Summer-hot" and "winter-cold" are repeated is the same: 5.
The words "wine" (khamr) and "intoxication" (saqara) are repeated in the Qur'an the same number of
times: 6
The number of appearances of the words "mind" and "light" is the same: 49.
"Reward" (ajr) and "action" (fail) are both repeated 107 times.
"Love" (al-mahabbah) and "obedience" (al-ta'ah) also appear the same number of times: 83
The words "refuge" (maseer) and "for ever" (abadan) appear the same number of times in the Qur'an:
28.
The words "disaster" (al-musibah) and "thanks" (al-shukr) appear the same number of times in the
Qur'an: 75.
"Sun" (shams) and "light" (nur) both appear 33 times in the Qur'an.
• In counting the word "light" only the simple forms of the word were included.
The number of appearances of "right guidance" (al-huda) and "mercy" (al-rahma) is the same: 79
The words "trouble" and "peace" are both repeated 13 times in the Qur'an.
The words "man" and "woman" are also employed equally: 23 times.
Will they not ponder the Qur’an? If it had been from other than Allah,
they would have found many inconsistencies in it.
(Qur’an, 4:82)
The
number of times the words "man" and "woman" are repeated in the Qur'an, 23, is at the same time that of
the chromosomes from the egg and sperm in the formation of the human embryo. The total number of
human chromosomes is 46; 23 each from the mother and father.
"Treachery" (khiyanah) is repeated 16 times, while the number of repetitions of the word "foul" (khabith)
is 16.
"Human being" is used 65 times: the sum of the number of references to the stages of man's creation is
the same: i.e.
Human being 65
Soil (turab) 17
Embryo ('alaq) 6
Bone ('idham) 15
Flesh (lahm) 12
TOTAL 65
The word "salawat" appear five times in the Qur'an, and Allah has commanded man to perform the
prayer (salat) five times a day.
The word "land" appears 13 times in the Qur'an and the word "sea" 32 times, giving a total of 45 references.
If we divide that number by that of the number of references to the land we arrive at the figure
28.888888888889%. The number of total references to land and sea, 45, divided by the number of
references to the sea in the Qur'an, 32, is 71.111111111111%. Extraordinarily, these figures represent the
exact proportions of land and sea on the Earth today.238
Every letter in the Arabic alphabet has a numerical (gematrical) value. In other words, in Arabic every letter
stands for a number. A number of calculations can be made from this basis. These are referred to as
numerological (abjad) calculations or "hisab al-jumal."239 Muslims who took advantage of the fact that every
letter of the alphabet represents a number have used this in a number of fields. Ilm'ul Jafr is one of these.
Jafr is the science of foretelling what is likely to happen in the future. One of the methods employed by
people who engage in this is to compare symbolic forms and letters' numerological values. The main
difference between "abjad" and "jafr" methods is that the former refers to what has already taken place and
the latter to what is likely to take place in the future.240
This method of calculation is a form of writing which goes back several centuries and which was widely used
before the revelation of the Qur'an. Everything which happened in Arab history was written down by
attributing numerical values to letters thus the date of every event was recorded. These dates were obtained
by adding up the particular numerical values of every letter employed.
When certain verses of the Qur'an are examined in the light of the "abjad" method, we see that a number of
dates emerge which are fully in accordance with the meanings of those verses. When we see that things
referred to in these verses actually happened on the dates obtained by this method, we understand that
there is a secret indication regarding those events in the verses. (Allah knows best.)
The Hour has drawn near and the moon has split. (Qur'an, 54:1)
The Arabic word "inshaqqa" (split) used in the above verse is derived from the word "shaqqa,"
which can also be used to mean "causing something to rise, ploughing or digging the soil":
One important point which needs to be stressed in this method of calculation is the likelihood of producing
very large or irrelevant numbers. Despite the probability of a relevant number emerging being exceedingly
small, it is striking that such a clear figure should result.
The Hour [has drawn near] and the moon has split.
Hijri: 1390, Gregorian: 1969
In 1969, American astronauts carried out research on the Moon, dug the soil up with various pieces of
equipment, split it and carried specimens back to Earth.
We must, however, make it clear that the splitting of the Moon is of course one of the miracles given to our
Prophet (saas) by Allah. This miracle is revealed thus in a hadith:
The people of Mecca asked Allah's Apostle to show them a miracle. So he showed them the moon split in
two halves between which they saw the Hiram' mountain. (Sahih Bukhari)
The above miracle is the splitting of the Moon revealed in the verse. However, since the Qur'an is a Book
that addresses all times, one may think of this verse as referring to the exploration of the Moon in our own
day. (Allah knows best.)
Another mathematical miracle of the Qur'an is the manner in which the number 19 is numerologically
encoded in verses. This number is stressed in the words of the Qur'an: "There are nineteen in charge of
it." (Qur'an, 74:30), and is encoded in various places in the Book. Some examples of this can be listed as
follows:
The first Sura to be revealed (Sura 96) is the 19th from the end.
The first verses of the Qur'an to be revealed are the first five verses of Sura 96 and the total number of
words in these verses is 19.
5th word 4th word 3rd word 2nd word 1st word
The first Sura to be revealed, Surat al-'Alaq, consists of 19 verses and 285 (19 x 15) letters.
Surat an-Nasr, the final Sura to be revealed, consists of a total of 19 words.
5th word 4th word 3rd word 2nd word 1st word
10th word 9th word 8th word 7th word 6th word
A total of 113 Suras in the Qur'an start with the formula. The only Sura not to start with one is the ninth,
Surat at-Tawba. Surat an-Naml is the only Sura to have two formulas. One of these is at the beginning and
the other in verse 30. Counting from Surat at-Tawba, which does not begin with the formula, Surat an-Naml
follows 19 Suras on.
There is a formula at the beginning of the 27th Sura, Surat an-Naml, and in verse 30. There are thus two
formulas in the 27th Sura. It is the formula in the 30th verse of the 27th Sura which completes the total of
114 formulas in the Qur'an. When we add together the number of the verse and the number of the Sura, 30
and 27, we find the number 57 (19 x 3).
The total number of Suras from Surat at-Tawba (9) to Surat an-Naml (27) is 342 (9 + 10 + 11 +12 +13 +14
+15 +16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27). That figure is 19 multiplied by 18.
The sum of all the occurrences of the name "Allah" in all the verses whose numbers are multiples of 19
(i.e., verses 19, 38, 57, 76, etc.) is 133, or 19 x 7.
The "abjad" value of the word "wahd" meaning "one" is 19. This word is used with various other words in
the Qur'an, such as one door, one variety of food. It is used 19 times together with the name "Allah."
(The Arabic letters are shown here without Letters of the word Numerical Values of the
the accent marks) "wahd" Letters
V 6
A 1
H 8
D 4
The Arabic word "wahdahu," meaning "worship only Allah," appears in the verses 7:70, 39:45, 40:12,
40:84 and 60:4. When these figures are added up without numbers being repeated, the resulting total is 361
(19 x 19).
The number of verses between the first initial letters (Alif, Lam, Mim; Surat al-Baqara 1) and the final
initial letters (Nun; Surat al-Qalam 1) is 5,263 (19 x 277).
There are 38 (19 x 2) Suras without initial letters between the first Sura which has initial letters and the
last to have them.
1 7 19 70 1.000
2 8 20 80 2.000
3 9 30 90 3.000
4 10 40 100 5.000
5 11 50 200 50.000
6 12 60 300 100.000
The total of these
numbers (again without taking repetitions into account) is 162,146. This is 19 x 8,534:
In addition to these thirty numbers, the Qur'an also refers to eight fractions: 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3,
1/2 and 2/3. The Qur'an thus contains a total of 38 (19 x 2) different numbers.
The Sura from the beginning to possess 19 verses is Surat al-Infitar. Another feature of this Sura is that
its final word is "Allah." At the same time, this is the 19th appearance of the name "Allah" from the end.
The 50th Sura, which begins with the letter Qaf, contains a total of 57 (19 x 3) letters Qaf. There are also
57 letters Qaf in the 42nd Sura with a letter Qaf at the beginning. The 50th Sura contains 45 verses. Added
together, these total 95 (19 x 5). There are 53 verses in the 42nd Sura. These again total 95 (42 + 53).
When we add together the number of times that the letter Qaf appears in the Qur'an, we reach a total of
798 (19 x 42). Forty-two is the number of another Sura with Qaf among its initial letters.
The letter Nun appears at the beginning of only the 68th Sura. The total number of times it appears in
that Sura is 133 (19 x 7).
When we add together the number of verses (including the formulas) in Suras the number of which are
multiples of 19, the following is noteworthy:
Only one Sura, the seventh, begins with the initial letters "Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad." The letter Alif appears in
this Sura 2,529 times, the letter Lam 1,530 times, the letter Mim 1,164 times and the letter Sad 97 times.
These four letters thus appear a total of 2,529 + 1,530 + 1,164 + 97 times, or 5,320 (19 x 280) times.
The letters Alif, Lam and Mim are the most frequently used letters in Arabic. They appear together at the
beginning of six Suras: numbers 2, 3, 29, 30, 31 and 32. The number of times these three letters appear in
each of these six Suras is a multiple of 19. In order: 9,899 (19 x 521), 5,662 (19 x 298), 1,672 (19 x 88),
1,254 (19 x 66) and 817 (19 x 43). The total number of times all these three letters appear in the six Suras is
19,874 (19 x 1,046).
The initial letters Alif, Lam and Ra appear in Suras 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15. The total number of times
these letters appear in these Suras is 2,489 (19 x 131), 2,489 (19 x 131), 2,375 (19 x 125), 1,197 (19 x 63)
and 912 (19 x 48).
The frequency with which the initial letters Alif, Lam, Mim and Ra appear is 1,482 (19 x 78) in total. The
letter Alif appears 605 times, Lam 480 times, Mim 260 times and Ra 137 times.
The initial letters Qaf, Ha, Ya, 'Ayn and Sad appear in only one Sura, the 19th. The letter Qaf appears
137 times in this Sura, Ha 175 times, Ya 343 times, 'Ayn 117 times and Sad 26 times. The total number of
appearances of these five letters is 137 + 175 + 343 + 117 + 26 = 798 (19 x 42).
- the words "Abd" (servant), "abid" (a person who serves) and "abudu" (worship) appear a total of 152 (19 x
8) times,
The numerical abjad values of some of the names of Allah given below are also multiples of 19:
The number 19 is the total of the numbers 9 and 10 to the power of 1. The difference between the
numbers 9 and 10 to the power of 2 is again 19.
101 10+9 19
2
10 100 - 81 19
The Sun, Moon and Earth line up in the same
relative positions once every 19 years.241
Halley's Comet passes through the Solar System once every 76 years (19 x 4).242
There are 209 (19 x 11) bones in the human body.243 The number of bones in the human hand is 19.244
The total of the first 19 figures in the Pascal triangle is 38 (19 x 2).
Pascal’s triangle is an arithmetical one used in algebra and probability calculations.
The connection between the number 19 and the Pascal triangle with regard to the
revelation sequence of the Qur'anic verses
The 96th Sura, the first revealed, comes 19 before the end. It consists of 19 verses and contains a total
of 285 letters (19 x 15). The first five verses of the revelation contain 76 (19 x 4) letters.
The first verses of the 68th Sura, the second to be revealed, consist of 38 (19 x 2) words.
The third revelation, the 73rd Sura, contains 57 (19 x 3) words.