The Miracle of the Order of the Suras in the Holy
Qur’an
Since the early centuries Muslims have
paid attention to numbers in the Qur’an. Dr Ghanem Al-Hamad, the verifier of
the book Al-Bayan fi ‘Ad Ayel-Qur’an (‘The Inventory of the Qur’anic Verse
Count’) by Abu Amru Al-Dani mentions 36 books on the science of Qur’anic
numbers, from Kitab Al-‘Adad (‘The Book of Numbers’) by Ata’ Ibn
Yasaar (103 AH) to Zahr Al-Ghurar fi ‘Adad Ayat Al-Suwar (‘The First
Blossoms of Verse Count’) by the Andalusian scholar Ahmad A-Salami (747
AH). This interest has not flourished sufficiently through the ages to yield
definitive results but as the Qur’an is the word of God Almighty who created
and perfected the universe taken account of everything, it is to be expected
that the book will be different from conventional books written by fallible
humans. However, with the ascent of human consciousness, people today are more
capable of criticism and evaluation through modern sciences and other means.
Scholars have
differed in their understanding of the order of Qur’anic Suras. The majority
have maintained that the order of Suras is Tawqifi, that is by command
of the Apostle (pbuh) on the instruction of the Angel Jibreel. Sayuuti believed
that the order was an act of revelation except Suras 8 (‘Anfal’) and 9
(‘Tauba’). Some believe that it was the independent judgement of the Prophet’s
companions, though the evidence for this is insubstantial and this matter is
not for elaboration in this context. We merely observe that the opinion that
regards the order of the Suras as not being a revelation is based on implicit
evidence, while belief in the order inspired by revelation rests on direct
evidence. In any case, our intention is to present mathematical evidence to
support the revelation viewpoint and, in fact, we may even go beyond that to
assert that the order of verses is an act of revelation that is in itself
evidence for Prophethood and an aspect of miracle.
There are many
publications in contemporary intellectual scholarship related to Qur’anic
miracles. These include the rhetorical, the scientific, the legal, etc.
However, what we today call the “numerical miracle” is still controversial,
which is why it has been out of favor with scholars and researchers. This is
despite the fact that there have been partly successful attempts to study the
subject, such as the one by Abdul Razaq Nawfal and the Jordanian researcher
Abdullah Jalghoom in his book ‘The Secrets of the Order of the Qur’an: A
Contemporary Reading’. Here we will acquaint the reader with the most
important points made in his book and with what we have done by way of
development and follow up:
Point 1
The Holy Qur'an
has 114 Suras or chapters. If we add up the serial numbers of these Suras in
this way: (1+2+3+…. +114) the sum total will be 6555. (Alternatively you can
use the following mathematical formula: (N+1) N / 2. i.e.: (114+1) 114 /
2=6555.)
The question
here is: Is there a relationship between this sum and the total number of
Qur'anic verses, which is 6236?
By
investigation the researcher Jalghoom has found that there are 60 Suras with an
even number of verses. For example, the second Sura (Al Baqara) has 286 verses;
the fourth Sura (Al Nisa) has 176, and so on. The number of Suras with an odd
number of verses is 54. The first Sura (Al Fatihah) has seven verses; the ninth
Sura has 129, and so on.
Comment
We looked into
Jalghoom’s results and found them to be correct. Now, why 60 and 54? This has
been found to relate to the number 19 which is discussed further in this book
and in our book ‘The Miracle of the Number 19 in the Holy Qur’an: Premises
awaiting Outcomes’.
Point 2
Consider the
following facts: 114 = 6×19, or 6×(10+9)
where 6×10=60 and 6× 9=54. Jalghoom found the 60 Suras with
an even number of verses fall into two categories: 30 have an even serial
number, while 30 have an odd one. As for the 54 Suras with an odd number of
verses, there are 27 with an even serial number and 27 with an odd one.
Comment
By
investigation we found the result to be correct. Here is an illustrative
figure:
| 114 Suras | |||
| 60 | 54 | ||
| 30 | 30 | 27 | 27 |
Suppose that
the 60 Suras with an even number of verses were placed first in the Mus’haf,
you would have 30 Suras with odd serial numbers Suras and the rest would be
even serial-numbered.
Similarly, if
the 54 Suras with an odd number of verses were placed last in the Mus’haf,
there would be 27 even serial-numbered Suras and 27 odd serial-numbered ones.
We would get the same result by reversing the previous order, i.e. by placing
the 54 Suras with an odd number of verses at the beginning of the Mus’haf, and
putting 60 Suras with even-numbered verses at the end. With any other order, it
would be difficult to get the results shown in the figure above. Although the
even-numbered and odd-numbered Suras are not arranged in the Mus’haf according
to this hypothetical order, yet the result – an even distribution of odd and
even Suras - surprisingly and unexpectedly is the same in the actual order as
with the hypothetical case discussed above.
Consequently
there are 57 homogenous Suras, that is, even numbered in the number of verses
they contain, and even numbered in their serial number; and odd numbered in the
number of verses they contain, and odd numbered in their serial number. This
means that there are 57 heterogeneous Suras (30+27).
Examples of
Homogenous Suras:
The first Sura,
‘Al-Fatiha’: Serial Number (1) Number of verses (7) – odd-odd
The second
Sura, ‘Al-Baqara’: Serial Number (2) Number of verses (286) – even-even
The fourth
Sura, ‘Al-Nisa’: Serial Number (4) Number of verses (176) – even-even
Examples of
Heterogeneous Suras:
The third Sura,
‘Aal-I-Imran’: Serial Number (3) Number of verses (200) – odd-even
The fifth Sura,
‘Al-Ma’ida’: Serial Number (5) Number of verses (120) – odd-even
The sixth Sura,
‘Al-An’aam’: Serial Number (6) Number of verses (165) – even-odd
Point 3
Now, if we add
up the serial numbers of the 57 homogenous Suras and add this to the number of
verses each contains, we find that the total is 6236. In other words, the
number of verses in the Qur’an.
By the same
token, if we add up the serial numbers of the 57 heterogeneous Suras and add
this to the number of verses each contains, we find that the total is 6555. In
other words, the total of the individual serial numbers added together.
Comment
We investigated
the matter and found the results to be correct. Putting the result in
mathematical form we find:
Serial numbers
of homogenous group + number of ayat in same group = total number of
Qur’anic verses = 6236
Serial numbers
of heterogeneous group + number of ayat in same group = total of serial
numbers of Qur’anic Suras = 6555
Thus we can see
that there is a relationship between the serial number of each Sura and the
number of verses it contains in such a way that we will have co-ordinates
suggesting a correlation between the serial number of the Sura and the number
of verses it contains. This is the same for all Suras of the Qur’an.
To perceive the
depth of this issue consider that if there had been just one verse less in one
Sura the whole numerical system then falls apart. For example, if the second
Sura had one less verse (making it 285 verses long instead of 286) this would
mean that the number of Suras with an odd numbers of verses would be 55 and the
number of Suras with even numbers of verses would be 59.
Similarly, if
the second Sura had been placed third and vice versa, then the second Sura
would be heterogeneous and the third would be homogenous. The total for Sura 2,
‘Al-Baqara’, (286+3) would fall in the heterogeneous group and the total for
Sura 3, ‘Aal-I-Imran’, (200+2) would fall in the homogenous group. The total of
the 57 homogenous Suras would no longer be 6236 and the total of the 57 heterogeneous
Suras would no longer be 6555. This, of course, applies to any of the 114 Suras
in the Qur’an. In the light of this if we calculate the chances of this
happening according to probability theory, we find ourselves facing one of the
miracles of the Qur’an which proves that the order of the Suras and the number
of verses is a revelation from Allah the Wise, the Almighty.
Point 4
Jalghoom broke
down the above law of addition as follows:
(114+1) 60÷ 2=3450
(114+1) 54÷ 2=3105
Total=6555
One of the
amazing things we find is that the total of the numbers of the 60 even-numbered
Suras in the Holy Qur’an is 3450. Thus, the total of the order of the 54
odd-numbered Suras is 3105 because the sum total has to be 6555 since (1+114)
114÷ 2 is in fact (1+114) (60+54) ÷ 2.
Comment
After
verification we found the result to be correct. In order to see that this tight
mathematical structure correlates with the order of Suras and the number of
verses each contains according to the order in the Mus’haf, we tried to
transpose Suras 3 and 17. Since we exchanged two odd-numbered Suras, much of
what we said did not change. However, we found that the total of the serial
numbers of the 60 Suras with an even number of verses including Sura 3 was
3464. The total of the serial numbers of the 54 Suras with an odd number of
verses was 3091. Thus, after this transposition, the total of the serial
numbers of the 60 Suras with an even number of verses did not conform to the
mathematical law (1+114) 60÷ 2=3450. The same applied to Suras with an odd number of verses.
This applies to each of the 114 Suras.
Point 5
Jalghoom divides the Qur’anic
Suras with regard to numbers into two equal halves: 1-57 and 58-114. There are
29 odd serial-numbered Suras in the first half of the Holy Qur’an and thus 28
even serial-numbered ones. In the second half there are 28 odd serial-numbered
Suras and thus 29 even serial-numbered ones. He found that there are 28
homogenous Suras in the first half and 29 heterogeneous ones, and that there
are 29 homogenous Suras in the second half and 28 heterogeneous ones.
Comment
We verified this and found the
results to be correct. There does appear to be a balance between the homogenous
and the heterogeneous in the two halves of the Holy Qur’an.
Point 6
Jalghoom also observed that
there are 27 Suras with an even number of verses in the first half of the Holy
Qur’an and therefore there are 33 Suras with an even number of verses in the
second half. He noted that the total number of ayat in the 27 Suras with
an even number of verses in the first half is 2690, which is the total of the
serial numbers of the 33 Suras with an even number of verses in the second
half.
Comment
We verified this research and
found it to be correct. The first half of the Holy Qur’an has 57 Suras, i.e. 19×3. If we
multiply 10×3 the result is 30 and 9×3=27. Hence we find that
there are 27 Suras with an even number of verses and 30 Suras with an odd
number of verses. This is when we deal with the first half, but when we deal
with the Qur’an as a whole as above, there are 60 Suras with an even number of
verses, 10×6, and 54 Suras with an odd number of verses, i.e. 9×6.
Expressed in mathematical form we thus have:
54+60 =
(6×9) + (6×10) = 114
27+30 = (3×9) + (3×10) = 57
After surveying the important
issues of Jalghoom’s findings, we now present some of our observations which
can rightly be called both complementary and extensions of this accurate
mathematical line of research:
A. Sura 57 is Al-Hadid (Iron), which marks the end of the first
half of the Qur’anic Suras. It has 29 verses. If we multiply the serial number
of the Sura by the number of verses it contains, the result is 29×57=1653,
which is the total number of the serial number of Suras 1-57, i.e. (1+57) 57/2=1653.
B. On the basis of Jum’mal, a system that is used in
Semitic languages (including both Arabic and Hebrew) where each letter of the
alphabet has a numerical value, we find that the Jum’mal of the word Al-Hadid
is 1+30+8+4+10+4=57, the serial number of ‘Al-Hadid’. As for the word Hadid,
its total Jum’mal is 8+4+10+4=26, the atomic number of iron. The atomic
weight of iron is 57. Reflect on this!!
C. Iron has 5 isotopes, the atomic weights of which are: 55,
56, 57, 58 and 59. The isotope 57 occurs in the middle as shown and the total
weight of these is 285.
D. Related to this we find
that in a book called ‘The Numerical Miracle of the Qur’an’, Syrian
author Sudqi Al-Beik calculated that the total frequency of integers (whole
numbers) in the Qur’an is 285. The number 1, for example, occurs 145 times;
number 2, 15 times; number 3, 17 times, and so on, adding up to 285. (See Table
in Chapter 6). This calculation includes the numbers 309 and 950, which are
stated implicitly in the Qur’an. If we ask what the final number is in the
sequence of consecutive numbers that, if added together, equal 285, we find
that the nearest integer is 23. (i.e. 1+2+3+…+23=276). If we multiply the
number of integers (285) by this number (23), the result will be 6555, which is
the total of the serial numbers of the Qur’anic Suras. This effectively proves
that there is a relationship between the order of the Mus’haf and
numbers in the Qur’an. So reflect on this!!
E. The only Sura ending with the word ÚÏÏÇ (‘Adad
- number) is Surat Al-Jinn: “And takes account of every single thing.”
(78:28) The word count of Surat Al-Jinn is 285 so, in other words, the word
‘Adad is the 285th word.
Finally, from this line of
research we come to the following conclusions:
1. The order of the
Suras must be by revelation because it is not plausible for this mathematical
configuration to occur by chance. This is the view of
the majority of the people of the Sunna and the Jum’a.
2. The number of
verses in each Sura is also a revelation (although this does not necessarily
mean that other opinions about number are invalid due to the possibility of,
for example, different scripts).
3. The issues under
discussion are contemporary discoveries and thus the Qur’anic miracle appears
in a new form. We should note that the world of numbers is the world of facts
and that its language is of greater clarity and decisiveness.
4. These findings
destroy the attempts of the orientalists to doubt the serial order of the Mus’haf.
5. Such research might
serve as a key to studies that deal with Qur’anic text far from merely its
historical aspect, which is utilized by people of falsehood for distortion and
disturbance. Of course, we do not intend to overlook the historical aspect, but
we add it as a separate proof.
6. The reader will note
that the matter is based on investigation rather than independent
judgement. Therefore, there is no
room for rejecting or denying it unless more accurate calculation proves the
error of the results.
Extract from “First Signs of
Numerical Miracles in the Holy Qur’an ” By Bassam Jarrar
Noon
Center For Qur’anic Studies & Research, Al-Bireh
Back to Main Page.
Back to www.answering-christianity.com
