Rashad Khalifa : December 2015

THE QUR’AN’S

NUMERICAL

MIRACLE

Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface		5
Foreword		11
Introduction		13
1	Interpretation out of Context	19
2	Letter Count: Totals	25
3	Letter Count: Inconsistency	27
4	Letter Count: Manipulation	35
5	Letter Count: Data Falsification	41
6	Word Count: Grammatical Inconsistencies	47
7	Word Count: Data Falsification	50
8	Soorah Qaf: False Claims	69
9	Why Nineteen?	74
10	Number 19: A Platform for Deviation	80
11	The Prefixed Letters (al-Muqatt‘at)	85
12	The Miracle of the Qur’aan	91
Conclusion		98
Bibliography		101

INTRODUCTION

istory amply demonstrates that deviants desiring to found their own cults among Muslims usually begin their quest by presenting themselves as firm defenders of the faith. This deception is perpetrated in order to attract followers and gain popularity among the ignorant masses.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that even the novel ideas and controversial issues of the cults will often contain some truth, otherwise the errors of the cults would be too obvious to people from the outset. For example, deviant Shi’ism’s call has always been for the protection of the rights of Ahl al-Bait (the Prophet’s (r) family) as a guise for excommunicating most of the Prophet’s companions, defaming his wives and consequently denying the prophetic traditions which they conveyed.

Ghulam Ahmed, founder of Qadianism/Ahmadism, initially wrote articles in Indian newspapers in defense of Islaam against Hindu and Christian missionary claims [13] before declaring his own prophethood. In America, Elijah Muhammad openly called black Americans to Islaam and the Qur’aan, but what he actually gave them was a concoction of racist fantasies and fables in which black men became gods and white man were portrayed as devils created by the black gods.

Similarly, Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s stated aim from the time he initially presented the Miraculous 19 Theory in the early 1970s until the mid 1980s was to physically prove two things: 1. that the Qur’aan is God’s final message to the world, and 2. that the Qur’aan was perfectly protected from the slightest distortion, addition or loss.[14]

However, in 1985 he has cancelled the second aim by claiming that the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah (the ninth chapter) were fabricated,[15] and he has interpreted the first aim to mean that only the Qur’aan alone should be followed and anyone who follows the Sunnah [the compiled sayings and actions of the Prophet (r)] he has labeled a pagan, idol worshipper.[16]

The initial presentation of Rashad Khalifa’s seemingly amazing findings in his book entitled, The Computer Speaks: God’s Message to the World,’[17]took the Muslim world by storm. Most Muslims readily and unquestioningly accepted Khalifa’s claims as they had the aura of “scientific fact” about them. Furthermore, his stated aims, to prove the divine origin of the Qur’aan and the purity of its text, were both among the basic tenets of Islaam.

However, many religious scholars who initially heard his claims had serious reservations about accepting them. For example, prior to 1981, a Pakistani scholar by the name of Maulana ‘Abdul-Quddoos Haashimi wrote an article in which he rightly pointed that the pseudo-science of numerology, on which some of Khalifa’s arguments were based, was a product of ancient mythology and as such had no place in Islaam. He also condemned the widespread use of the number 786 to represent the Qur’aanic phrase Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem (In the Name of Allaah, The Beneficent, The Merciful) as well as the use of numerical equivalents of Qur’aanic verses and chapters in the preparation of amulets commonly known as Taweez.

After referring to ancient reverence of 19 and its appearance among deviant Shi’ite sects like the 9th century C.E. Karamatians, he concentrated on the 19th century Shi’ite off-shoot, Bahaisim, in which 19 is glorified as the central core of the universe since the founder of Bahaisim, Ali Muhammad Bab, was born in 1819 (1+8+1+9=19). He concluded his article by stating that if 19 has any religious significance, it belongs to Bahai thinking as the Bahai religious calendar has 19 months consisting of 19 days each and the number 19 can found written on walls and even embossed on chairs in all Bahai premises.[18]

On the other hand, the vast majority of common Muslims who heard or read about the theory eagerly and blindly accepted Khalifa’s “discovery”. Foremost among them was the internationally known Islamic debater, Ahmed Deedat, who enthusiastically began spreading Rashad Khalifa’s findings to all corners of the world. In 1979, Mr. Deedat published a 75 page booklet entitled, Al-Qur’an the Ultimate Miracle,[19] in which he presented an emotion-packed summary of Rashad Khalifa’s data and arguments. One of Mr. Ahmad Deedat’s public lectures on this topic was also video taped and distributed worldwide under the title, “Al-Qur’aan: A Visual Miracle.”[20]

However, Khalifa later began to publicly make heretical statements beginning with his claim that he had calculated the exact date of the Day of Judgment.[21] Consequently, most of his admirers in the Muslim world, including Mr. Deedat, were forced to denounce him and disassociate themselves from him. Doubts about the correctness of his initial premise of 19 being the mathematical key to the Qur’aan were then raised and a number of emotional articles were written against both him and his theory. In fact, one of the leading scholars of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz ibn Baz, wrote a fatwaa (religious ruling) concerning Khalifa’s heretical claims in which he declared him an apostate.[22]

During this period, Rashad Khalifa became firmly entrenched in the U.S.A. He married an American and gave up his Egyptian nationality to become an American citizen. From his base in Tucson, Arizona, he freely distributed copies of his monthly newsletter to all Islamic centers throughout the U.S.A. and Canada. He also built a following among the new Muslim converts, whose Islamic knowledge was limited. Female converts who feel restricted by the Islamic dress code and rules against free-mixing with males were particularly attracted to his ideas by his rulings canceling Islamic dress codes and allowing women to pray beside men in congregational prayer, etc.

However, there still remains the question of whether the basis on which Rashad Khalifa’s theory is built is valid or not, as it continues to attract the unsuspecting and the ignorant. Hence, it is not sufficient to merely discredit Rashad Khalifa based on his many heretical statements, any one of which is sufficient to remove him from the fold of Islam. This controversy has to be laid to rest by a factual dismantling of its foundations.

The following chapters of this book systematically and methodically challenge and disprove the vast majority of the so-called fundamental ‘facts’ of Rashad Khalifa’s theory. Furthermore, they clearly expose his deliberate falsification of data and alteration of the Qur’aanic text in order to bolster his theory of 19 as the miraculous numerical code of the Qur’aan. This work will demonstrate, without a shadow of a doubt – God willing, that the Theory of 19 is a shoddily concocted hoax unable to withstand serious scientific scrutiny. However, before proceeding with the refutation of Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s claims, the following summary of his theory has been prepared for readers unfamiliar with its core issues.

1. According to Khalifa, there is a miraculous numerical code to the Qur’aan based on its “first” verse (Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem) which consists of 19 letters.

2. This miraculous code is supposedly referred to in verse 30 of Chapter 74 (al-Muddaththir) which states “Over it are 19.”

3. Based on these two premises, Khalifa claimed to have discovered an intricate mathematical pattern involving 19 and its multiples throughout the Qur’aan and especially in what he calls the Quranic initials which precede 29 chapters (i.e., Alif, Laam, Meem, etc.).

4. From this discovery, Khalifa concluded that the complexity of this mathematical code’s pattern in a literary work of the Qur’aan’s size is far beyond human capabilities, and that it alone constitutes the only real miracle of the Qur’aan which proves its divine origin.[23]

5. He further concludes that 19 and its multiples represent the key to the correct interpretation of the Qur’aan and Islaam and the reason why 19 was chosen is that 19, according to him, means “God is One” which is the message of the Qur’aan (19 = واحِد = one).[24]

In the book, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Rashad Khalifa overwhelms the reader with 247 pages of data proving 52 so-called “physical facts”. Each “fact” is supported with pages of tables containing additions, multiplications and divisions of letters, words and verses from the Qur’aan. This book, due to its size alone, is enough to convince the casual reader of its authenticity, as even a few errors would not be enough to counter the apparently extensive body of data to support the theory.

However, under closer examination, it becomes evident that the 52 “facts” are in fact based on a relatively small number of principles that may be grouped together and refuted under the few general headings that I have chosen as chapter titles.

1. INTERPRETATIONS OUT OF CONTEXT

he Qur’an, like any other text, may be misinterpreted if verses are taken out of their context or out of the context of the text as a whole. While compiling his so-called “facts”, Rashad Khalifa freely took verses out of their context in order to interpret them in an unorthodox manner and to create multiples of 19 where they do not exist.

For example, when Khalifa presented his interpretation of verse 30 (“Over it are nineteen.”) of Soorah al-Muddaththir (74) in his book, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, he mentioned before it some other verses taken at random from various parts of the Qur’aan. Then he deliberately misinterpreted them in order to build his case. He made the statement: “A great Secret will prove the authenticity and divine source of the Quran,” then he quoted verses 4-6 of Soorah al-Furqaan (25):

“The disbelievers said, “This is a fabrication by him (Muhammad) done with the help of others.’ Indeed, they have produced a blasphemy and a lie. They also said, ‘Tales of the men of old which he has written down and are dictated to him morning and evening.’ Say, ‘He who knows the Secret of the heavens and the earth has revealed it. Surely, He is forgiving and merciful.’ ”[25]

Following that, he made the statement: “This great Quranic secret is to be unveiled at a time subsequent to the era of the prophet Muhammad,” and then he quoted verse 20 from Soorah Yoonus (10):

“They will say, ‘If only a miracle were sent down to him from his Lord! They say, ‘The future belongs to Allaah. So wait! Indeed, I am waiting with you.”[26]

Khalifa then turns to Soorah al-Muddaththir and claims; “THE SECRET REMAINED HIDDEN FOR 1400 YEARS described in Chapter 74, entitled “AL-MUDDATH-THIR” which means “THE HIDDEN (SECRET).”[27]

Following that misinterpretation of the word muddaththir[28], Rashad Khalifa then translated the first seven verses of Soorah al-Muddaththir. However, despite his mistranslation of a number of words,[29] it is obvious that the verses are referring to a human being [30] and not an inanimate object like the number 19. His mistranslation is as follows:

“O you hidden secret. Get up and warn. And glorify your Lord. Shed your covers. Avoid falsehood. Do not exceed the limits. And persevere in serving your Lord.”[31]

He then does a verse-by-verse translation of verses 18-30. Following that, he summarizes what he claims to be the five objectives of verse 31, without translating it, and then continues to translate verses 32-35. Khalifa purposely avoids the translation of verse 31 because it provides the contextual meaning for verse 30, proving, without a shadow of a doubt, that number nineteen mentioned in verse 30 refers to none other than the angels guarding the Hellfire and not the miraculous mathematical code, as he claims. Verses 24-30 are as follows:

“Then he[32] said, ‘This is only magic from of old; This is nothing but the word of a mortal!’ Soon I will cast him into Hellfire![33] And what will explain to you what Hellfire is? It leaves nothing and spares nothing. It burns man up. Over it are nineteen.”

And verse 31:

“And We have only appointed angels as guardians of the Fire; and We have only set their number as a stumbling-block for the disbelievers, in order that those who received a Scripture may gain certainty and the believers may increase in faith; and that those given the Scripture and the believers may not doubt; and that those with diseased hearts and disbelievers may say, ‘What does Allaah mean by this symbol?’ In this way Allaah cause whomsoever He wishes to go astray and guides whomsoever He wishes. No one knows the soldiers of your Lord besides Him and this is nothing but a reminder to mankind.”

Khalifa interprets the meaning of verse-30 as:

“…anyone who claims that that Qur’an is man-made (verse 25), will be proven wrong by means of the number 19 in verse 30).”[34]

However, the verse says; “Over it are nineteen” and not “Over Him are nineteen,” as he claims. The Qur’aan uses the attached feminine pronoun ها haa and thus could not possibly refer back to verse 25 which along with verse 24 says; “Then he said, ‘This is only magic from of old; This is nothing but the word of a mortal!’ ”

Even if Khalifa tried to claim that “it” refers to the Qur’aan which is described in verse 24 by the disbeliever as manmade, it would not work because the word Qur’aan is masculine and the demonstrative pronoun “this” used to refer to the Qur’aan is هذا haathaa which is also masculine. The feminine pronoun haa, in fact, refers to the closest preceding feminine noun saqar (Hellfire) mentioned in verses 26-7 and described by two feminine verbs in verse 28 تَذَر tathar and تُبْقِي tubqee and a feminine adjective in verse 29 لَوَّاحَة lawwaahah.[35]

Another example of misinterpretation can be found in the Qur’aanic quotes used by Rashad Khalifa to back his claim that the Qur’aan is the only source of guidance and that seeking guidance from the Prophet’s (r) sunnah constitutes idol-worship. Khalifa quoted the following portion of verse 38 of Soorah al-An‘aam (6) in Arabic and English in his book Quran, Hadith and Islam,[36]

مّاَفَرَّطْناَ فيِ اْلكِتَابِ مِنْ شَىءٍ “We left nothing out of this Book (Qur’an)”

Then he stated the following:

“The Arabic text of this verse consists of 19 letters. The number of this verse is 38 or 19x2.” However, the complete text of the verse is as follows:

) وَماَمِن دَآبّةٍ في ارَْض وَلاَ طَائرٍ يَطيٌر بجَنَاحَيهِ إِلأَ أٌمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم مّاَ فَرَّطْنَا فيِ الكِتبِ مِنْ شَىءٍ ثُمَّ إلَى رَبِحمْ مُحْيشَرُونَ (

“All animals crawling the earth or flying on wings or communities like you. We have omitted nothing from the Book, and they shall all be gathered to their Lord in the end.”

The complete Arabic text contains much more than 19 letters! It should also be noted that the Arabic text does not use the demonstrative pronoun “this” but merely the definite article “the.” Hence, from the context of the verse, “the Book” referred to here is not the Qur’aan, but the heavenly Book, al-Lawh al-Mahfooz, in which all things are written.[37]

On the following page Khalifa repeats the same trick by quoting, in both Arabic and English, a piece of verse 114 of the same soorah as “God revealed this Book fully detailed,” and deceptively states: “The Arabic text of this verse consists of 19 letters. The number of this verse is 114; or 19X6.”[38] However, as in the previous case, the complete Arabic text of the verse contains much more than 19 letters as is obvious from the following quote of the complete verse and its translation:

) أَفَغَيْرَ اللهِ أَبْتَغِي حُكْمًا وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكِتَابَ مُفَصَّلاً وَالَّذِيْنَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ مُنَزَّلٌ مِنْ رَّبِكَ بِالْحَقِّ فَلاَ تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ (

“Say, ‘Shall I seek another judge besides Allaah when it is He who revealed to you the Book explained in detail?’ Those to whom We have given the Book know full well that it has been sent down from your Lord with truth. So, do not be doubtful.”[39]

2. LETTER COUNT: TOTALS

number of Dr. Khalifa’s “physical facts” are based on the total number of letters in a verse, group of verses or a soorah (chapter) being a total of 19 or a multiple of nineteen. For example, he claims that:

i) the opening statement[40] of the Qur’aan consists of 19 letters

ii) the first five verses of revelation consisted of 76 letters (19x4)

iii) the first chapter revealed consists of 304 letters (19x16)

iv) the first of the last revelation consists of 19 letters[41]

Such counts would only be valid if the Qur’aan were divinely revealed in the written form, which is not the case. The Qur’aan is essentially an oral revelation written down according to the Arabic script known to the Prophet’s (r) companions.[42] Even the peculiarities of the scribes responsible for transcribing copies of the Qur’aan made during Caliph ‘Uthmaan’s reign (644-56 C.E.) have been preserved to this day since Muslim scholars, down through the ages, have unanimously agreed to follow the basic structure of the ‘Uthmaanic transcription when making new copies of the Qur’aan.[43]

Consequently, among the peculiarities of the Qur’aanic script existing to this day are Alifs (ا), Yaas (ي) and Waaws (و) written but not read as well as some which are read but not written.[44] For example, the pronounced Alif in the word Kitaab is sometimes written (كتاب) and at other times not (كتب).[45] Similarly the unpronounced Alif” in the phrase “Bismi” is written in some cases (باسم) and not in others (بسم).

Thus, in the opening statement of the Qur’aan, بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Bismilaahi-Rahmaani-Raheem (In the name of Allaah, the Beneficient, The Merciful), there are 3 deleted Alifs, one which is unpronounced in the phrase (بسم) and the other two pronounced in the words (الله) and (الرحمن), which make the actual total of letters 22 and not 19. The same may be said of most of the other “facts” resulting from letter counts, all of whose totals would become indivisible by 19 if their deleted Alifs were counted.

3. LETTER COUNT: INCONSISTENCY

he largest group of Dr. Khalifa’s physical facts is based on total letter counts with regards to what he calls the “Quranic Initials”, the letters of the alphabet which appear singly or in groups before 29 soorahs of the Qur’aan, for example الَم Alif Lam Mim, يسYaa Seen, ص Saad, etc. In Arabic these letters are referred to as Fawaatih as-Suwar or al-Muqatta‘aat.

In Fact Number 18 on his flyer entitled, Let The World Know God’s Message To The World, Dr. Khalifa states:

“It was discovered that the letters of All Quranic initials, without any exceptions, exist in their suras in multiples of 19. Any reader can easily verify this physical fact by counting the letter “Qaf” in the sura entitled “Qaf” (Sura 50).

He will find that the letter “Qaf” occurs in this sura exactly 57 times (19 x 3). The only other sura initiated “Qaf”, namely, Sura 42, also contains the same number of “Qaf”, 57.”

Mr. Ahmed Deedat echoed this claim in his representation of the theory as follows:

“Count the number of times the initials occur in the Suras and divide them by 19, and without exception, the answer is always an exact multiple of 19!”[46]

This statement sounds very impressive, however, based on Rashad Khalifa’s own data, it is far from being the case. It is merely a sensational claim in which the facts have been grossly exaggerated to impress the reader in a style reminiscent of the news media. A quick review of Dr. Khalifa’s so-called “Intricate Facts”[47], assuming that the totals are correct - which is a big assumption, indicates that out of the total 29 soorahs beginning with the Arabic letters, the totals of 12 of them are not multiples of 19 and have to be combined with the totals of up to six other soorahs in order for their grand totals to become multiples of 19.

For example, in the figures for the 7Haa Meem (حمَ) initialed soorahs,[48] not a single soorah’s individual total of Haas (هـ) and Meems (م) adds up to a multiple of 19! In order to get his multiple, Dr. Rashad has to total all 7 soorah’s totals for a grand total of 2147 (19 x 113)

Details from the visual counting of the letters “HH ح” and “M م” in the “HH.M.حم” - initialed chapters

CHAPTER		HH ح	M م	TOTAL
40.Ghaafir	غافر	64	380	444
41.Fussilat	فصلت	48	276	324
42.Al-Shooraa	الشورى	53	300	353
43.Al-Zukhruf	الزخرف	44	324	368
44.Al-Dukhaan	الدخان	16	150	166
45.Al-Jaathiyah	الجاثية	31	200	231
46.Al-Ahhqaaf	الأحقاف	36	225	261
Totals		292	1855	2147

2147

113

[49]

But, even this figure is suspect as it includes the total from Soorah ash-Shooraa (42) whose initials are not simply Haa Meem (حم), but Haa Meem ‘Ayn Seen Qaaf (حم عسقَ), and if its total were removed, the grand total of the 6 soorahs which only begin with Haa Meem is then 1794 which is indivisible by 19!

This fact also falsifies another of Dr. Khalifa’s “facts” namely “Chapter 42 is prefixed with the three initials “‘Ain”, “Sin”, and “Qaf”, and the total occurrence of these three leters in this chapter is 209 or 19 x 11.”[50]

Chapter 42 is in fact prefixed by five letters, as previously mentioned, and not three letters as he falsely claims. Furthermore, if Dr. Khalifa’s Haa Meem total of 353 for this Surah, is added to his ‘Ayn Seen Qaaf total of 209 it makes a grand total of 562 which is also not divisible by 19!

Similarly, Dr. Rashad’s individual totals for Soorah (20) prefixed by the letters Taa Haa (طه), Soorah ash-Shu‘araa (26) prefixed by the letters Taa Seen Meem (طسم), Soorah al-Qasas (28) also prefixed by the letters Taa Seen Meem and Soorah an-Naml (27) prefixed by the letters Taa Seen (طس), are all indivisible by 19![51] To achieve his illusive multiple, Dr. Rashad not only arbitrarily adds up all four totals of these soorahs whose only uniformly shared characteristic is their contradiction of his sensational claim, but he also includes Haa (هـ) from Soorah Maryam (19) which is prefixed by five letter Kaaf Haa Yaa ‘Ayn Saad (كَهيعص)!

Chapter		Hهـ	TT ط	S س	M م
19. Mary	مريم	175	-	-	-
20.TT.H.	طـه	251	28	-	-
26.Al-Shu‘araa	الشعراء	-	33	94	484
27.Al-Naml	النمــل	-	27	94	-
28.Al-Qassass	القصص	-	19	102	460
Total		426	107	290	944

GRAND TOTAL[52] = 426 + 107 + 290 + 944 = 1,767

1,767

He cleverly hides the obvious implications of this juggling of figures which he calls Physical Fact Number (37) by presenting it as follows; “An interlocking relationship covers the Quranic initials “Haهـ ”, “Ta Haطه ”, “Ta Sin طس”, Ta Sin Mimطسم ”, in chapters 19,20,26,27 and 28. The total occurance of these letters in the five chapters is 1767; 19x93.”[53]

But, Haa (هـ) by itself is not really a Qur’aanic initial; it is a part of the five-letter initial Kaaf Haa Yaa ‘Ayn Saad. In fact, when Dr. Khalifa’s total of 798 for the five letters of Soorah Maryam[54] is added to his total of 1592 for the four soorahs, Taa Haa, ash-Shu‘araa, al-Qasas and an-Naml, it produces a grand total of 2390 which is not divisible by 19.

There actually is no logic in his the addition of Haa (هـ) to the four-soorah total except to produce the magical multiple by any means necessary. In fact, the Meem (م) from the letters Alif Laam Meem (الَم) preceding Soorah al-‘Ankaboot (29) has more right to be added to the four-soorah total as it has more in common with the four soorahs than the Haa (هـ).

Both Soorah al-Qasas (28) and Soorah ash-Shu‘araa (26) have Meems in their initials while only Soorah Taa Haa has a Haa (هـ) in its initials. However, the “interlocking relationship” was not made with Soorah 29 because its total of 344 Meems as counted by Dr. Khalifa [55] added to his total of 1592 for the initials of the four soorahs in question make a grand total of 1936, which is not divisible by 19.

The total number of Saads (صَ) in Soorah Saad (38) which has the single Qur’aanic initial Saad at its beginning is, according to Dr. Khalifa’s own figures, 29 which is not a multiple of 19. To produce his multiple, Rashad Khalifa adds to it 97 Saads from Soorah al-A‘raaf (7) which is prefixed by the four letters, Alif Laam Meem Saad المص) and 26 Saads from Soorah Maryam (19) which is prefixed by five letters Kaaf Haa Yaa ‘Ayn Saad ( كَهيعص). Dr. Khalifa presents this contradiction to his premise as follows:

“The letter “Sad ص” as a Quranic Initial is found in 3 chapters, namely, “Al-A‘raaf الأعراف purgatory” (Chapter 7), “Maryمريم ”, (Chapter 19), and “Sad ص” (Chapter 38). The total occurrence of the letter “Sad” in the three chapters is 152; 19 x 8.”[56]

Even if such juggling of figures were to be justified by claiming that the miraculous numerical code is based on the individual letters of the Qur’aanic Initials and not necessarily the groups, such an argument would also not hold up under close study. For example, the letter Haa as a “Qur’aanic Initial” is found only in 2 chapters, namely Soorah Taa Haa (20) and Soorah Maryam (19), and the total occurrence of the letter in the two chapters, according to Dr. Khalifa’s figures,[57] is 426 which is not a multiple of 19.

The same can be said for the letter Kaaf (ك) which, as a Qur’aanic initial, is only found in Soorah Maryam (19) and its total occurrence in the soorah according to Dr. Khalifa’s own calculations [58] is 137 which is also not a multiple of 19. The “Qur’aanic Initial” ‘Ayn (ع) is found only in two soorahs, namely, Soorah Maryam (19) in which it occurs 117 times [59] and Soorah ash-Shooraa (42) in which it occurs 98 times making a grand total of 215 which again is not a multiple of 19. In fact, according to Dr. Khalifa’s totals, more than half of the 14 letters do not make multiples of 19 when added in this fashion.

4. LETTER COUNT: MANIPULATION

f the remaining 17 chapters which have Arabic letters, 13 of them have the letter Alif (ا) in the beginning of their “Quranic Initials” and Dr. Khalifa claims that in every case their “Initials” occur a multiple of 19 times within their own chapters. For example, he claims that

Chapter 2 is initialed with the letter “A.L.M.” and contains 9899 of these letters (19 x 521).

ii)Chapters 3,29,30,31 and 32 are also initialed with the letters “A.L.M.” and the total frequency of occurrence of these letters is 5662 (19 x298), 1672 (19x88), 1254 (19x66), 817 (19x43), and 570 (19x30), respectively.

He makes similar claims for the five chapters prefixed by the letters Alif Laam Raa (الَر), the chapter prefixed by Alif Laam Meem Raa (الَمر) and for the remaining chapter prefixed by the letters Alif Laam Meem Saad (الَمص). Why do these 13 chapters fit so nicely into the theory and the previous 12 discussed in chapter three do not by Khalifa’s own admission?

Actually none of these 13 chapters fit the theory, but Dr. Khalifa has managed to make them fit by doctoring the count of the Alifs in every case. He does this by selectively counting the letter Alif which is sometimes written above letters and read in ancient Arabic script as in the case of the Alif above the Laam in the word Allaah. If any are to be counted as Alifs, then all of them should be counted. By counting them where it is convenient, Dr. Khalifa is able to manipulate the totals in these 13 chapters and thereby produce multiples in every case.

For example, in verse 8 of Soorah as-Sajdah (32)

) ثُمَّ جَعَلَ نَسْلَهُ مِنْ سُلَلَةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ مَهِينٍ (

Dr. Khalifa records a total of 2 Alifs[60] by counting the raised Alif in the word (سُلالَة) which is not written in the Qur’aanic script. While in verse 7 of the same soorah (32)

) اَلّذِي أَحَسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ اْلإِنْسَنِ مِنْ طِيْنٍ (

he records only 5 Alifs[61] thereby excluding the raised Alif in the word (الإْنْسَان) which is not written in the Qur’aanic script.

Another example can be seen in verse 158 of Soorah Aal-‘Imraan (3)

) وَلَئِنْ مُتُّمْ أَوْ قُتِلْتُمْ َلإِلَى اللهِ تُحْشَرُونَ (

Dr. Khalifa finds 4 Alifs[62] in it by including the raised Alif in the word (إلى) while excluding the raised Alif in the word (الله). While in verse 41 of Soorah ar-Ra‘d (13), he has counted 16 Alifs,[63] by including the Alif in the word (الله).

) أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا نَأْتِي اْلأَرْضَ نَنْقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَا وَاللهُ يَحْكُمُ لاَ مُعَقِّبَ لِحُكْمِهِ وَهُوَ سَرِيْعُ الْحِسَابِ (

The Remaining Four

Based on the refutation in chapter three and what has preceded in this chapter, there remains only four (4) chapters out of the original 29 in which the total occurrence of the prefixed letters could actually add up to multiple of 19 as claimed by Khalifa in Fact Number 18 on his flyer entitled, Let The World Know God’s Message To The World:

“It was discovered that the letters of All Quranic initials, without any exceptions, exist in their suras in multiples of 19. Any reader can easily verify this physical fact by counting the letter “Qaf” in the sura entitled “Qaf” (Sura 50). He will find that the letter “Qaf” occurs in this sura exactly 57 times (19 x 3). The only other sura initiated “Qaf”, namely, Sura 42, also contains the same number of “Qaf”, 57.”

The remaining four chapters are: Soorah Qaaf (50), prefixed by the letter Qaaf (ق), Soorah al-Qalam (68), prefixed by the letter Noon (ن), Soorah Yaa Seen (36), prefixed by the two letters Yaa and Seen (يس), and Soorah Maryam (19), prefixed by the five letters Kaaf, Haa, Yaa, ‘Ayn and Saad (كَهيعص). At this point, it should be noted that even if all the remaining four totals were multiples of 19 - which they are not, such a limited amount of data would not suffice to establish a miraculous numerical code for the whole Qur’aan and as such could only be considered a minor coincidence.

In the presentations of his theory, Dr. Khalifa always held up Soorah Qaaf (50) as practical evidence supporting his claim because it represents one of the few drops of truth within his ocean of lies. Readers and listeners were urged to count the Qaafs for themselves.[64] Once they did so and found the total to be 57 (19 x 3) as Khalifa claimed, they would then assume that all of his other totals were correct, as who had the time to count the total number of Alifs in Soorah al-Baqarah?

The total number of Noons in Soorah al-Qalam (50) is 132 which is not a multiple of 19. His claim that the total is 133 is dealt with conclusively in chapter five [65] of this book where it is exposed as a blatant lie. The total for the letters of Soorah Yaa Seen is 271 which is not a multiple of 19.

Soorah Yaa Seen (36)	ي	س	Total
	224	47	271

The total for the five letters of Soorah Maryam is not 798 or (19 x 42)[66] as Khalifa claims but 670 which is not a multiple of 19.

Soorah Maryam (19)	ص	ع	ي	هـ	ك	Total
	26	104	307	141	122	670

New Totals New Miracles

It should be further noted that there is a vast difference between the figures for the eight soorahs prefixed by Alif, Laam, Meem claimed by Dr. Khalifa in his booklet The Perpetual Miracle of Muhammad (pub. 1976)[67] and those found in his mistranslation of the Qur’aan entitled, Quran: The Final Scripture (pub. 1981)[68] and repeated in his compendium, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, (pub. 1982)[69]. His 1976 totals for the soorahs was 26,676, a convenient multiple of 19 (19 x 1404), whereas his later figures were not combined to make any claims.

1976-79 Figures					1981-82 Figures
Soorahs	م	ل		ا	م	ل	ا
Al-Baqarah (2)	2195	3204		4592	2195	3202	4502
Aal ‘Imraan (3)	1251	1885		2578	1249	1892	2521
Al-A‘raaf (7)	1165	1523		2572	-	-	-
Ar-Ra‘d (13)	260	479		625	-	-	-
Al-Ankaboot (29)	347	554		784	349	554	774
Ar-Room (30)	318	396		545	317	393	544
Luqmaan (31)	177	298		348	173	297	347
As-Sajdah (32)	158	154		268	158	155	257
Totals:	5871	8493	12312
Grand Total:	26,969 (19 x 1404)

When his followers and well-wishers helpfully pointed out obvious mistakes in his totals, which could not be explained away (like those for Meem and Laam), Rashad was obliged to make modifications to retain his credibility. However, he cleverly used it to his advantage.

1976-79 Figures				1981-82 Figures
Soorahs	م	ل	ا	م	ل	ا
Al-Baqarah (2)	2195	3204	4592	same	-2	-90
Aal ‘Imraan (3)	1251	1885	2578	-2	+7	-57
Al-Ankaboot (29)	347	554	784	+2	same	-10
Ar-Room (30)	318	396	545	-1	-3	-1
Luqmaan (31)	177	298	348	-4	-1	-1
As-Sajdah (32)	158	154	268	same	+1	-11

However, the greatest differences were in the totals of the Alifs. How does Rashad Khalifa account for a difference of 90 Alifs in Soorah al-Baqarah, 57 Alifs in Soorah Aal‘Imraan, 11 Alifs in Soorah as-Sajdah and 10 in Soorah al-‘Ankaboot? He does not.

Most of these differences were made by Khalifa, himself in order to set up more imaginary multiples. The differences in Alif totals are nothing but the result of arbitrary juggling, as previously demonstrated, in order to produce more miracles. In the early figures, the miraculous multiple of 19 did not show up in the individual totals for these soorahs. It only appeared in the grand total of all the letters for all seven soorahs. However, in the new figures, the totals for each individual soorah become a multiple of 19!!! Thus, seven new “miracles” replaced one previous “miracle”.

1981-82 Figures[70]
Soorahs	الم
Al-Baqarah (2)	9,899 (19 x 521)
Aal ‘Imraan (3)	5662 (19 x 298)
Al-Ankaboot (29)	1672 (19 x 88)
Ar-Room (30)	1254 (19 x 66)
Luqmaan (31)	817 (19 x 43)
As-Sajdah (32)	570 (19 x 30)

The figures for both Soorahs 7 and 13 are deliberately not given in either Quran: The Final Scripture or Quran:Visual Presentation of the Miracle. Why? God alone knows what other miracles he had planned.

5. LETTER COUNT: DATA FALSIFICATION

n a number of instances, Dr. Rashad Khalifa has actually fabricated data in order to artificially create letter totals which are multiples of 19. The falsification of letter count data may be grouped under two main headings;

a) Not counting existing letters and

b) Changing the Text of the Qur’aan

The first category is an extension of his letter manipulation, mentioned in the previous chapter, which could be considered errors in calculation and not deliberate doctoring of data except that Khalifa’s record of figure-juggling and arbitrary letter identification would tend to indicate otherwise. However, the second category in which he actually changes the Qur’aanic text leaves no room for doubt about the deliberate nature of these errors in the tabulation of his data.

A. Existing Letters Ignored

Verse 21 of Soorah ar-Room (30) - prefixed with the letters Alif Laam Meem, contains an example of this type of data falsification. In Dr. Rashad’s table he calculates the number of Laams as only 7,[71] however, there are actually 8 Laams in the verse.

) وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ َلآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ (

NO.	ARABIC TEXT	TRANSLITERATION	ENGLISH MEANING
1	خَلَقَ	*khalaka*	He created
2	لَكُمْ	*lakaum*	For you
3	لِتَسْكُنُوا	*litaskunoo*	So you can live
4	إِلَيْهَا	*ilayhaa*	With her
5	َجَعَلَ	*Ja‘ala*	He made
6	ذَلِكَ	thaalika	that
7	َلآيَاتٍ	*La’aayaatin*	Indeed signs
8	لِقَوْمٍ	*liqawmin*	For a people

B. Textual Changes

Instances in which the Rashad Khalifa has actually modified the text of the Qur’aan in order to make the soorah’s letter-count conform to his theory are of two basic types:

i) changes to increase the letter count and

ii) changes to decrease the letter count.

Both of these methods contradict the very aim which Dr. Khalifa claimed that the theory of 19 proved; “That the Qur’aan was perfectly protected from the slightest distortion, addition or loss.” For, as will be shown, he takes it upon himself to distort the Qur’aanic text by adding and deleting from its preserved text in order to conjure up his “miraculous” number 19.

i) Additions to The Qur’aan’s Text

Of the remaining four chapters in which the total occurrence of prefixed letters could add up to a multiple of 19 is Soorah al-Qalam (68), prefixed by the letter Noon (ن). According to Dr. Khalifa, “Chapter 68 is initialed with the letter “Nun” and contains 133 Nuns; 133 = 19 x 7,”[72]

However, the actual number, with the inclusion of a Noon from the Basmalah[73] (ie., the phrase Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem which precedes most chapters) is 132. Faced with this dilemma of being agonizingly one Noon short of his desired total, Dr. Rashad resorted to the heretical act of rewriting the Qur’aanic text by actually changing the letter Noon (ن), which prefixes the soorah, to the word (نون), which is the name of the Arabic letter, thereby introducing another Noon into the text to achieve the desired total of 133 Noons. He did this in spite of writing in the beginning of the Soorah:

“Chapter 68 is initialed with the letter “N”, and contains 133 “N’s.” 133 = 19 x 7” Dr. Khalifa’s Arabic script is given below:

The correct mushaf

Khalifa justified this change on pages 480-1 of the appendix to his mistranslation of the Qur’aan, Quran: The Final Scripture, as follows:

“It should be noted that all counts are based on the original Quranic Arabic, as found in Quranic printing strictly adhering to the original. The reader, by now appreciates the fact that the slightest alteration in one word, indeed one letter, utterly destroys this miraculous system. For example, point number 9 of the simple facts listed above states that the first Quranic revelation (19 words) consisted of 76 letters (19 x 4).

This first revelation contains two words of الإِنسن, which means “the human being.” Some printings of the Qur’an use the conventional Arabic الإِنسان, rather than the Quranic Arabic الإِنسن. The reader who consults a printing that does not conform to the original Quranic Arabic will find that the first revelation consists of 78 letters, which is wrong.

Another example is noteworthy. The letter “Noon” (N) of Surah 68, verse 1, is spelled out into three alphabet letters نون. The printings of Qur’an have dropped this spelling and usually write down the single letter “N”. Thus, if the reader consults a Quranic printing that does not spell out the letter “N” into “Noon”, (he) will have a deficiency of 1 in the total frequency on “Noon” in Surahh 68. It should be noted that this is the only letter that is spelled out in the original.”

This method of argumentation is a classical example of the deceptive method used by heretics in which truth is mixed with falsehood. The first part of the statement is correct; the word Insaan الإِنسانis written as الإِنسن, without the Alif, in the oldest manuscripts of the Qur’aan and also in Qur’aans printed in the Arab world, while Qur’aans printed in India and Pakistan include this particular Alif based on their oldest manuscripts.

This can easily be verified where prints of the Qur’aan from both regions are available. However, the second point is an outright lie whose veracity cannot be checked by most people, but, since the first point is verifiably true, people would tend to accept the second as also being true. Ancient manuscripts do not support this false claim in the least nor are there any reputable Qur’aanic printings that agree with him.

In fact the 15^th century C.E. Egyptian Qur’aanic scholar, Muhammad az-Zarkashee stated the following concerning the prefixed letters, “Fourthly, they are all written in the Qur’aan in the form of letters and not in the form of their names.” [1] Such an aberration can only be found in Dr. Rashad’s clumsily doctored photocopy of the Qur’aan’s text. He was also careful to point out that this “peculiarity” is limited to Soorah al-Qalam because its uniform application throughout the Qur’aan would upset most of his other concocted multiples.

ii) Deletion From The Qur’aan’s Text

As was pointed out earlier, in the case of Soorah Saad (38) which is prefixed by the letter Saad (ص) and which contains only 29 Saads (10 more than 19, and 9 less than 38), Dr. Rashad achieved his multiple of 19 by adding to it 26 Saads from Soorah Maryam and 98 from Soorah al-A‘raaf since both of these soorahs have the letter Saad in their “initials”. However, the resulting grand total was 153; agonizingly one more than was necessary to achieve his miraculous multiple of 19. Faced with this problem, Dr. Khalifa simply gave a false total of 28 Saads for Soorah Saad.

He then proceeded to point out that the divine wisdom behind writing the word Bastatan بَسْطَةً as بَصْطَةً with a Saad instead of a Seen (س), in verse 69 of Soorah al-A‘raaf was to maintain the intricate mathematical relationship necessary to produce a multiple of 19 in the total number of Saads from the three soorahs. This line of argument was also repeated by Ahmed Deedat in his summary of Dr. Khalifa’s early presentation of the theory and its supportive data.[2]

However, it was later pointed out to Dr. Khalifa that his total for Soorah Saad was incorrect which created a new problem for him. He solved this problem in the 1982 edition of his book, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, by presenting a grand total of 152 Saads (19 x 8) for the three soorahs without indicating their individual totals.

Instead, he included in his book a photocopy of the three chapters with stars indicating the letters to be counted in order to camouflage the changes he had made to the text. However, when his running count was closely scrutinized, it became clear that he had corrected the total for Soorah Saad while simultaneously reducing the total in Soorah al-A‘raaf from 98 Saads to 97.

This was achieved by taking the heretical step of actually deleting a Saad from the Soorah Saad. Dr. Rashad Khalifa rewrote the same word which he had previously held up as evidence of divine intervention in maintaining the miraculous code of 19! He removed the Saad from the word بَصْطَةً and replaced it with a Seen بَسْطَةً !

6. WORD COUNT: GRAMMATICAL INCONSISTENCIES

number of the “facts” used by Rashad Khalifa to establish 19 as the Qur’aan’s code are based on passage or chapters from the Qur’aan wherein the total number of words are claimed to be 19 or multiples of 19. For example, Dr. Khalifa claims in his books, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle and Quran: The Final Scripture, that:

i) the first Quranic revelation (96:1-5) was exactly 19 words[3]

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PHYSICAL FACT NUMBER (3)

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The first Quranic revelation consisted of 19 words

*******************************************************

These famous words are found in the first 5 verses of Chapter 96.

الانسن	خلق	خلق	الذي	ربك	باسم	اقرأ
7	6	5	4	3	2	1
علم	الذي	الأكرم	وربك	اقرأ	علق	من
14	13	12	11	10	9	8

		يعلم	مالم	الإنسن	علم	بالقلم
		19	18	17	16	15

ii) The last chapter revealed (ch. 110) consists of 19 words

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PHYSICAL FACT NUMBER (8)

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The last Quranic revelation consisted of 19 words

*******************************************************

الناس	ورأيت	والفتح	الله	نصر	جاء	اذا
7	6	5	4	3	2	1
بحمد	فسبح	أفواجا	الله	دين	في	يدخلون
14	13	12	11	10	9	8

		توّابا	كان	انه	واستغفره	ربنك
		19	18	17	16	15

i) The second revelation (68: 1-9) was 38 words; 19 x 2

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PHYSICAL FACT NUMBER (10)

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Second revelation (the first 9 verses of Chapter 68) consisted of 38 words, and 38 = 19 x 2

*******************************************************

NO.	ARABIC TEXT	ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION	ENGLISH MEANING
1	نون	NOON	ALPHABET (N)
2	والقلم	WAL-QALAMI	& THE PEN
3	وما يسطرون	WAMA-YASTTUROON	& WHAT THEY WRITE
4	ما انت	MAA-ANTA	YOU ARE NOT
5	بنعمة	BINI’MATI	BECAUSE OF THE MESSAGE
6	ربك	RABBIKA	OF YOUR LORD
7	بمجنون	BIMAJNOON	A MAD MAN
8	وان	WA-INNA	& SURELY
9	ليك	LAKA	YOU WILL RECEIVE
10	لاجرا	LA’AJRAN	A RECOMPENSE
11	فير	GHAYRA	NOT
12	ممنون	MAMNOON	UNDESERVED
13	وانك	WA-INNAKA	& SURELY YOU ARE
14	لعلي	LA’ALAA	ENDOWED WITH
15	خلق	KHULUQIN	CHARACTER
16	عجيم	‘AZZEEM	THAT IS HONORABLE
17	فستبصر	FASATUBSSIRU	YOU WILL FIND OUT
18	وبصرون	WAYUBSSIROON	& THEY WILL FIND OUT
19	ياييكم	BI-AYYEEKUM	WHICH OF YOU
20	المفتون	AL-MAFTOON	IS THE WRONG ONE
21	ان	INNA	SURELY
22	ربك	RABBAKA	YOUR LORD
23	هـــو	HUWA	IS THE ONE
24	علم	A’LAMU	FULLY AWARE
25	بمن	BIMAN	OF THOSE
26	ضل	DDALLA	WHO STRAY
27	عن	‘AN	FROM
28	سبيله	SABEELIHI	HIS PATH
29	وهو	WA-HUWA	& HE IS THE ONE
30	اعلم	A’LAMU	FULLY AWARE
31	بالمهتدين	BIL-MUHTADEEN	OF THE GUIDED ONES
32	فلا	FALAA	DO NOT
33	تطع	TUTTI	OBEY
34	المكذبين	AL-MUKADHIBEEN	THE DISBELIEVERS
35	ودوا	WADDOO	THEY WISH
36	لو	LAWW	THAT
37	تدهن	TUD-HINU	YOU COMPROMISE
38	فيدهنون	FAYUD-HINOON	SO THEY CAN COMPROMISE[4]

iv) the third revelation (73:1-10) was 57 words; 19 x 3[5]

v) the number of words between the two “Basmalas”. of Surah 27 is 342; 19 x 18.[6]

However, to obtain these multiples, Rashad Khalifa has followed a haphazard system of word identification that totally contradicts both classical and modern rules of Arabic grammar and lexography. For example, he counts the relative pronoun “الذي allathee: which” as a single word in example (i) word 13 and the negative particle “لم lam: not” as a single word[7] while elsewhere counting maa lam together as one word in example (i) “word” 18 when “maa ما” is also a relative pronoun equivalent to allathee.

He also counts the conjunction “و wa: and” as a part of the word following it even though it is a separate word. In example (iii), according to Dr. Khalifa, “word” 3 is made up of the conjunction wa, the relative pronoun “maa” and the verb “yasturoon”.

Prepositions like “في fee: in” in example (ii) word 9, “على ‘alaa: on”[8] and “ من min: from” in example (i) word 8 are all counted as separate words, while the preposition “bi بِ” meaning “in, on, at, and with” is not counted as a separate word. Instead it is counted as a part of the word to which it is joined as in example (i) “word” 2. The same can be said of possessive pronouns like “ka ك” meaning “your”.

Dr. Khalifa does not count them as words. For example, “word” 11 in example (i) is actually composed of the conjunction “wa”, the noun “rabb” and the possessive pronoun “ka” (i.e., wa rabbuka means “and your Lord”). Hence, when the correct method of identifying words is employed, not a single one of Dr. Khalifa’s five major “facts” mentioned above remains a multiple 19.

7. WORD COUNT: DATA FALSIFICATION

he last major group of facts used by Rashad Khalifa to prove his miraculous numerical code is the four words which compose the phrase, Bismillahi-Rahmaani-Raheem[9] بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم (In the Name of Allaah, the Beneficient, the Merciful) which precedes most chapters of the Qur’aan. Dr. Rashad considers the 19-letter Basmalah the basis of the Qur’aan’s numerical code. The fact that the Basmalah is composed of 19 written letters was not first discovered by Dr. Rashad, but has been spoken about by various individuals belonging to secret societies and sects from the early era of Islaam until today.[10] From this basic “fact”, which has no great significance since the Basmalah is actually composed of 22 spoken letters,[11] Khalifa has attempted to create an aura of numerical mysticism by claiming for the Basmalah a battery of amazing “facts.” Foremost among these so-called facts are the following:

“Taking only one “Basmala” to represent the 114 Basmalas of the Qur’an (only the first one, in the first Surah, is given a number[12]), we find that every word in the Basmala is repeated in the whole Qur’an a number of times that is always a multiple of 19.

i. the word “Ism” is found in Qur’an 19 times

ii. the second word “Allaah” is mentioned 2698 times ( 19 x 142)

iii. the third word “Alrahman” is mentioned 57 times (19 x 3)

iv. the last word “Alraheem” is mentioned 114 times (19 x 6)

(Based on this single fact, the respected scientific journal Scientific American proclaimed that this is “an ingenuous study of the Koran.” See Scientific American, September 1980, pp. 22-24). This fact alone is sufficient to prove the divine source of Qur’an...)”[13]

Although Khalifa’s claim sounds spectacular and impressive, it is no nearer to reality than any of his earlier sensational claims. However, before examining the “facts” of Khalifa’s word count claim, let us examine his claim of scientific verification.

In the above-mentioned quote, Khalifa gave the impression that this aspect of his theory was published in the prestigious scientific journal, Scientific American, as “an ingenious study of the Koran” which is not the case at all.

In fact, its mention appeared in a humorous 4-page article called “Mathematical Games” in which the columnist, Martin Gardner, presents some mathematical curiosities and riddles in story form, replete with fictional characters. In the September 1980 episode, the story is about the author’s fictitious encounter in Istanbul with a C.I.A. agent, Dr. Matrix, who has adopted the ludicrous name of Abdul Abulbul Amir, and his half-Japanese daughter Iva who takes the name Fatima.

The story is filled with satirical comments and snide remarks about Islam. In a short paragraph on page 22 of the fictitious story, Dr. Matrix gives the author a copy of a 60-page booklet entitled “Number 19: A Numerical Miracle in the Koran”, mentions the four points about the Basmalah, and says, “It’s an ingenious study of the Koran... but it would have been more impressive if Khalifa had consulted me before he wrote it.” Dr. Matrix then proceeds to discuss some peculiarities of integers and prime numbers. Thus, the “scientific establishment’s recognition” of Rashad Khalifa’s theory is a lie and deliberate deception.

The Facts

The initial condition of not considering the other 112 Basmalahs when calculating the frequency of occurrence of the words of the Basmalah[14] is illogical since Dr. Khalifa includes the Basmalah in his entire letter counts for individual soorahs. The fact that it is a verse only in the first soorah as well as in Soorah al-Naml, (27): 30 did not stop him from depending on its letters in the totals for the “Qur’aanic Initials.” Hence, if he were consistent in his calculations by including the 112 Basmalahs in his totals for the four words of the Basmalah, not a single one of them would remain a multiple of 19. However, even if the exclusion of the Basmalahs were allowed, only one of the totals for the four words of the Basmalah is actually a multiple of 19 while the remaining three are a result of rigged data.

I. Ism اسم

The claim that the first word “Ismاسم ” is found exactly 19 times in the Qur’aan is incorrect from at least three points of view.

a) It is illogical for Khalifa to consider the first word of the Basmalah to be “Ismاسم ”, because he earlier considered “Bism باسم” in Soorah al-‘Alaq (96) to be one word.[15] Hence, he should consider the first word to be “Bism بسم”, which occurs not 19, but only 7 times; 3 times in the shortened form بسم and 4 times with the Alif included باسم .

b) If the first word is considered to be “Ism اسم” and the phrase “Bism بسم” is excluded from the count, the form “Bism باسم” with the Alif should also be excluded. If both forms of “Bism” are excluded, the total occurrence of the word “Ismاسم ” becomes 15 times, which is not a multiple of 19. In order to get his multiple, Khalifa has included the four instances of “Bism باسم” with the Alif in Soorah 96, and twice in Soorah 56.[16]

c) Even if the first word were accepted as “Ism” including the phrase “Bism باسم” with the Alif and excluding the form without the Alif, the count could not be considered to be 19 because it would include الاسم in verse 11 of Soorah al-Hujuraat (49) which does not refer to Allaah. This was his rule used to make the total number of Raheems a multiple of 19. Khalifa excluded one instance in which the word was mentioned claiming that it did not refer to Allaah.[17]

Thus, it may be concluded that the first word “Ism اسم” or “Bism بسم” does not occur 19 times or a multiple of 19 in the Qur’an by any logical system of counting.

II. Allaah الله

In his book, Quran: Visual Presentation of The Miracle, Rashad Khalifa included 34 pages of data tabulating the 2,698 (19 x 142) places in the Qur’aan in which the word “Allaahالله ” occurs.[18] This total has been held up as dramatic evidence of how deeply the numerical code of 19 is interwoven in the fabric of the Qur’aan. The total can be found in his flyers, books and monthly newsletters. However, in the March 1985 issue of his monthly newsletter, Rashad Khalifa admitted that after a revision of his data, his figures for the frequency of occurrence of the word Allaah الله were off by one! According to the Doctor, the word actually occurs, 2,699 times, which is not a multiple of 19.

III. Ar-Rahmaan الرحمن

This is the only one of the four words composing the Basmalah which actually occurs a multiple of 19 times (57 = 19 x 3) in the Qur’aan. However, it should be remembered that the only way in which even this multiple could be arrived at was by including only the Basmalah preceding the first soorah and excluding the 112 Basmalahs preceding the others soorahs all of which the Doctor conveniently includes in his letter counts. In any case, one word out of four occurring a multiple of 19 times could hardly be considered as proof for a miraculous numerical code intricately interwoven throughout the Qur’aan.

IV. Ar-Raheem الرحيم

Dr. Rashad Khalifa boldly states in his book, Quran: Visual Presentation of The Miracle[19] that the fourth word in the opening statement is mentioned in the Qur’aan 114 times (19 x 6) without making any stipulations. However, in appendix I of his mistranslation of the Qur’aan which he calls, Quran:The Final Scripture, he writes:

“The fourth word, “Al-Raheem = most merciful,” is found in the Qur’an 115 times. This number is not a multiple of 19. But, we note that there is one “Al-Raheem” word in Qur’an that refers specifically to the Prophet Muhammad and not to God (verse 128 of Surah 9). Since the verse is in the name of God, we must exclude the word referring specifically to the Prophet. Thus the frequency of occurrence of “Al-Raheem” as an attribute of God is 114. 19 x 6.”[20]

This reasoning sounds logical except that in the case of the first word “Ismأسم ” he included in his contrived total of 19 an instance which does not refer to God: entry no. 10, Chapter 49, the 11^th verse.[21]

) بِئْسَ‏ ‏الاِسْمُ‏ ‏الْفُسُوقُ‏ ‏بَعْدَ‏ ‏الإِيمَانِ (

“.... The worst name is one implying sinfulness after he has believed.”

Hence, this qualification, if applied consistently, would only further invalidate the total for the first word as well as the other 8 supposed word-count violations.

Dr. Khalifa has also included in his total a mixture of definite forms of the word “Ar-Raheem الرحيم” and indefinite forms (رحيم),[22] both of which were excluded in one or another of the totals for the other 8 words found in the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah which supposedly violate the code of 19. Thus, in arriving at his desired total, the Doctor follows another incoherent pattern not used in the other 8 supposed violations of the code.

8. REJECTION OF A PART OF THE QUR’AAN

n order to cover up the errors in his original calculations for the word Allah الله, Dr. Khalifa went on the offensive by denying the authenticity of some verses from the Qur’aan. Khalifa had to remove a whole word from the Qur’aan in order to keep his code intact. That major feat of tampering was accomplished by yet another heretical claim.

He announced in his newsletter that this contradiction to his theory was clear proof that the Qur’aan had been tampered with in earlier times! It had not been perfectly preserved and protected from any addition or loss as he had previously claimed that his code proved. He wrote the following in his newsletter:

“It is the result of this vast review of the computer data that unveiled the shocking crime of tampering with the Quran. Nine violations of the Qur’an’s mathematical code were discovered by the time the review of data was completed. ALL NINE VIOLATIONS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE LAST TWO VERSES OF SURAH 9.”

VIOLATIONS OF THE QUR’AN’S MATHEMATICAL MIRACLE
VIOLATED WORD		Frequency in Qur’an Without Removal of 9: 128 and 129		Frequency in Qur’an After Removal of 9: 128 and 129
Messenger	رسول		115	114	(19 x 6)
(your) selves	أنفس		153	152	(19 x 8)
Merciful	رحيم		115	114	(19 x 6)
Turn away	تولوا		20	19	(19 x 1)
God	الله		2699	2698	(19 x 142)
God	اله		96	95	(19 x 5)
Trust	توكلت		58	57	(19 x 3)
Lord	رب		970	969	(19 x 51)
Throne	العرش		20	19	(19 x 1)[23]

His justification for this bold statement of disbelief is based on two main arguments, both of which are false.

a) There existed and still exists doubt about the authenticity of these verses among early and modern scholars of the Qur’aan.

b) The only nine violations of the code can all be found in the two verses.

Concerning the first argument, Khalifa stated:

“Before presenting the physical evidence, it should be pointed out that the last two verses of Surah 9 have always been suspect. ALL classic and modern references dealing with the collection and recording of the original Qur’an have UNANIMOUSLY agreed that these two verses ARE THE ONLY VERSES IN QUR’AN THAT FAILED TO MEET THE CRITERIA SET BY ABU BAKR, OMAR AND ZEID IBN THABET (the original collectors of Qur’an). According to these references, the last two verses of Surah 9 were never confirmed by the criterion of SOURCE MULTIPLICITY.”[24]

As proof for this line of argument, Khalifa mentioned the names of five references without quoting anything from any of them, thus the reader is obliged to take his word that they confirm what he claims.

Saheeh al-Bukhaaree

The first of the references listed by Rashad Khalifa is the famous hadeeth collection of the 9th century C.E. known as Saheeh al-Bukhaaree. Although Dr. Khalifa had denied the validity of hadeeths much earlier, claiming them all to be forgeries, here he stated that:

“Sahih Bukhari gives three different accounts regarding this subject.”[25]

The following is the longest and most complete of the three accounts mentioned in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree:

Zayd ibn Thaabit said, “Aboo Bakr as-Siddeeq sent for me just after the Battle of Yamaamah in which many of the Prophet’s companions were killed. When I came to him, I found ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab sitting with him. Aboo Bakr then said to me, ‘Umar has come and told me that there were many casualties among the Qur’aan memorizers during the Battle of Yamaamah and he fears that many more of them will die on other battlefields. As a result, much of the Qur’aan may be lost.

So, he has suggested to me that I order that the Qur’aan be collected in one book. I asked him how he could do something that Allaah’s messenger did not do. ‘Umar said that it was good and he kept on urging me to do it until Allaah made me realize the good in it. You (Zaid) are a wise and trustworthy young man, and you are among those who wrote down the revelation of the Qur’aan for the Messenger of Allaah (r), so go and search for the Qur’aan and collect it.’

By Allaah! If they had ordered me to shift a mountain, it would not have been a heavier task than ordering me to collect the Qur’aan. When I asked Aboo Bakr how he could do what the Messenger of Allaah (r) had not done, he told me there was good in it and persisted until Allaah made me recognize the benefit in it which he had shown Aboo Bakr and ‘Umar.

So I searched for the Qur’aan and collected it from what was written on the stalks of palm leaves, stone tablets and also from those who had memorized it, until I found the last verse of Soorah at-Tawbah with Aboo Khuzaymah al-Ansaaree and I did not find them with anyone else:

“Verily a Prophet from among yourselves has come to you. It grieves him that you should be injured or face difficulty... (until the end of the Soorah al-Baraa’a[26]. The complete manuscript remained with Aboo Bakr until he died, then with ‘Umar until the end of his life, and then with ‘Umar’s daughter, Hafsah.”[27]

As is obvious from the text of above-mentioned hadeeth, there was no suspicion about the authenticity of the two verses nor is there any mention that they did not conform to any set criteria. The hadeeth only indicates the reason why the Qur’aan was collected in one book and the efforts made by the Prophet’s companion, Zayd ibn Thaabit, to gather it from all available sources.

Khalifa’s claim of unanimous Agreement of Scholars!?

The other four references, which were mentioned by Dr. Khalifa as support for his claim, all quote or rely on one or more of the hadeeth narrations from Saheeh al-Bukhaaree and other hadeeth works, and comment on them. For example, Khalifa includes in his list the 16th century classic on Qur’aanic disciplines, al-Itqaan fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan.

Its author, ‘Abdur-Rahmaan as-Suyootee, included in his commentary on the previously mentioned hadeeth collected by Imaam al-Bukhaaree a quote from another great scholar of his time, “(Aboo Shaamah) said that their intention was to insure that only that which was written in the Prophet’s (r) presence was collected and not only that which was memorized.

Because of that, he (Zayd) said the following concerning the end of Soorah at-Tawbah, ‘I did not find it with anyone else.’ That is, he did not find it written with anyone else, because memory alone was not considered sufficient without written support.”[28]

In a more recent work, the Lebanese hadeeth scholar, Dr. Subhee as-Saalih, made the following comment on the account in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree, “… Zayd’s statement that he only found the end of Soorah at-Tawbah with Aboo Khuzaymah al-Ansaaree might present a problem for the reader.

However, the problem is quickly resolved when the reader learns that Zayd meant that he only found it written with Aboo Khuzaymah, which was sufficient for it to be accepted, as many Companions of the Prophet (r) had memorized it and so had Zayd. He only wanted to confirm what was memorized by what was written as a precautionary measure. That was also the method that he followed in collecting the rest of the Qur’aan as requested by Aboo Bakr.

There had to be two confirming sources for a verse or group of verses to be accepted: a memorized source and a written source... Zayd’s statement, ‘I only found it with Aboo Khuzaymah’ does not in any way imply that a portion of the Qur’aan was recorded on the basis of a single source, because Zayd had heard it before and knew its location...”[29]

Hence, Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s claim that both early and modern scholars who wrote on the collection of the Qur’aan are unanimously agreed that the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah (9) are the only verses in the Qur’aan that failed to meet the criterion of source multiplicity is totally false. Not only is it not unanimous, but also it is non-existent among authoritative works, past or present, written by Muslim scholars.

Violations of the Code?

As for the second part of his argument concerning the so-called nine violations to his numerical code, it has already been clearly demonstrated in the previous chapters that the so-called miraculous code is no more than a coincidence occurring only in a few rare instance.

It is not only violated and contradicted nine times, but innumerable times throughout the Qur’aan; it is violated not merely in one soorah but in most of the soorahs of the Qur’aan. However, just for the sake of demonstrating the consistency with which Khalifa has falsified and manipulated his data, the following five examples from his so-called nine violations will be systematically refuted: رسول messenger, أنفس selves, اله god, رب Lord, العرش throne.

a) رسول Messenger

The total occurrence of the word رسول rasool is actually 140 and not 115 as claimed by Dr. Khalifa. The 140 locations can easily be found in any Arabic Qur’aanic concordance.[30] The total of 140 includes a mixture of definite forms: ar-rasool (الرسول) in all three cases; nominative ar-rasoolu (الرسولُُ), genitive ar-rasooli (الرسولِ) and accusative ar-rasoola (الرسولَ) adding up too 60, and 56 indefinite forms in both the nominative rasoolun (رسولٌ) and genitive cases rasoolin (رسولٍ) and 23 indefinite forms in the accusative case rasoolan (رسولاً) and one unusual definite form in the accusative case with an Alif added (الرسولا).[31] The total of 140 does not include an additional 95 forms of rasool to which personal pronouns have been added.[32]

These forms include one mention of rasoolee “my messengerرسولي”; 4 mentions of rasoolunaa “our messengerرسولنا”; 2 of rasoolukum “your (pl.) messengerرسولكم”; 84 of rasooluhu “his messenger رسوله”; one of rasooluhaa “her messengerرسولها ”; and 3 of rasooluhum “their messengerرسولهم ”, [33]making a grand total of 235 which, like 140, cannot be made divisible by 19 by the removal of the single mention in the last two verses of Soorah 9. Where Khalifa got his total of 115 from, God alone knows. Consequently, the number of occurrences of the word رسول rasool only became a violation by outright data falsification.

b) أنفس Selves

The total occurrence of the “word”, “(your) selvesأنفس ” i.e. anfus as written by Dr. Khalifa cannot be determined, because the term “your selves” in Arabic is anfusukum[34] أنفسكم and not just anfus أنفس , which simply means “selves.” The word “selvesأنفس ” occurs only in the definite form al-anfus (الأنفس) and its frequency is only 6 times![35]

When the personal pronouns are added, the totals are as follows; “your selves أنفسكم” occurs 49 times; “our selves anfusunaaأنفسنا ” occurs 3 times; “their selves (mas.) anfusuhumأنفسهم ” occurs 91 times; and “their selves (fem.) anfusuhunnaأنقسهن ” occurs 4 times[36]. The grand total of all forms is 153 which is the total given by Rashad Khalifa for “(your) selvesأنفس”. It is neither the total for “your selves أنفسكم” nor for “selvesأنفس ”. And it also includes the forms with attached pronouns that are all excluded in the case of “messengerرسول ”, “godإله ” and “Throneالعرش ”.

c) إله God

The total occurrence of the word “إله ilaah god” in the nominative (ilaahun) and genitive (ilaahin) forms is 80 and in the accusative form ilaahan (إلها) is 16, giving Dr. Khalifa’s total of 96.

However, here he has also excluded the forms in which the personal pronouns have been added; the same forms which he included in his previous total for the word “(your) selvesأنفس ” and in the following total for “Lord rabbرب ”. Their totals are as follows: “your god ilaahukaإلهك ” occurs twice; “your (pl.) god ilaahukum إلهكم ” occurs 10 times; “our god ilaahunaaإلهنا ” occurs once, and “his god ilaahuhuإلهه ” occurs twice[37]. If these forms are included, the grand total of 111 is not a multiple of 19 when the last two verses of Soorah 9 are deleted.

d) رب Lord

In the case of the word “Lord rabbرب ”, Dr. Khalifa has included all of the forms with attached personal pronouns (eg. rabbee, rabbunaa, rabbuka, rabbukum ربي، ربنا، ربك، ربكم، etc.) as well as the accusative form rabban (ربًّا) to get his total of 970. But, if the total was limited to the nominative, genitive and accusative forms of the word “Lord رب” as was done in the case of the words “god إله” and “throneالعرش , the resulting total would be 85, which would not become a multiple of 19 with the removal of the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah.[38]

e) العرش Throne

In the last example, the word “throne al-‘arshالعرش ”, Rashad Khalifa records only 20 occurrences. By doing so, he not only excluded all of the forms with attached personal pronouns which he included in the case of “Lordرب ” and “(your) selvesأنفس ”, but he has also excluded the indefinite form ‘arsh عرش.

The indefinite form arsh (عرش) occurs twice; and the three forms with attached pronouns (‘arshuka, ‘arshuhu, arshuhaaعرشك، عرشه، عرشها) occur 4 times, making a grand total of 26 times, which would not be a multiple of 19 with the deletion of the last two verses of Soorah 9. Hence, Dr. Khalifa had to exclude the indefinite forms that he had counted in all previous totals. From these five examples, the following four points are clear:

1) Rashad Khalifa has used a different basis for calculating each total,

2) None of bases used follows a logical pattern,

3) If any one base was used consistently, all of the other totals would be incorrect, and

4) Data has been falsified when the above methods failed to produce the desired figure.

Thus, it may be concluded that the so-called nine violations are in fact concocted figures used to disguise the error in Dr. Khalifa’s total for the word “الله Allah” and that the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah are as authentic as any other verse in the Qur’aan.

Doctored Data

Considering Dr. Khalifa’s previous record of data manipulation, there is no reason to expect that no tampering has taken place in his 34 pages of data tabulating the occurrence of the word “Allah الله” in the Qur’aan. A careful analysis of the Khalifa’s data for the 2,698 locations in which the word “Allah الله” are supposed to occur, revealed the following five irreconcilable discrepancies among many:

(i) Soorah at-Tawbah (9), verse 15 has 2 occurrences and not one as recorded by Dr. Khalifa.[39]

List of Chapters & Verses

containing the word “Allahاللـه”

NO.

1118

1119

1120

1121

1122

1123

1124

CHAPTER

VERSE

) وَيُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَيَتُوبُ اللهُ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ (

ii) Soorah al-Hajj (22), verse 60 has 2 occurrences and not 3 as recorded by Khalifa.[40]

NO.

1668

1669

1670

1671

1672

1673

1674

1675

CHAPTER

VERSE

) ذَلِكَ وَمَنْ عَاقَبَ بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبَ بِهِ ثُمَّ بُغِيَ عَلَيْهِ لَيَنْصُرَنَّهُ اللهُ إِنَّ اللهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌ (

iii) Soorah al-Furqaan (25), verse 68, he recorded only one mention of the word “Allaah” when, in fact, there are 2 mentions.[41]

NO.

1790

1791

1792

1793

1794

1795

CHAPTER

VERSE

) وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ وَلاَ يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ َاللهُ إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ وَلاَ يَزْنُونَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًاٌ (

iv) Soorah Ghaafir (40), verse 74, he also recorded only one entry instead of the actual total of two.[42]

NO.

2217

2218

2219

2220

2221

2222

2223

CHAPTER

VERSE

) مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ قَالُوا ضَلُّوا عَنَّا بَلْ لَمْ نَكُنْ نَدْعُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ شَيْئًا كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللهُ الْكَافِرِينَ (

v) Soorah al-Ahqaaf (46), he did not record any mention of the word “Allaah” in verse 33, although it is mentioned once.[43]

NO.

2307

2308

2309

2310

2311

2312

CHAPTER

VERSE

) أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ اللهَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَاْلأَرْضَ وَلَمْ يَعْيَ بِخَلْقْهِنَّ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَى أَنْ يُحْيِيَ الْمَوْتَى بَلَى إِنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (

It should be noted that these discrepancies are not a result of printing errors, but are tabulation errors. Seven other errors were discovered besides these five that are a result of printing errors (e.g., chapter 63 has one entry for verse 6 and 3 entries for verse 7, when in fact there are 2 mentions in each verse).[44]

Thus, the whole issue of there being an extra mention of the word “Allaah الله” in the last two verses of Soorah at-Tawbah (9) becomes meaningless except as a mask to hide Dr. Khalifa’s doctored totals.
9. SOORAH QAAF: FALSE CLAIMS

n the presentations of his theory, Dr. Khalifa always began his claims concerning the prefixed Arabic letters (“Quranic Initials” as he call them) with the totals for Soorah Qaaf (50). The reason being that this soorah represents one of the few incontrovertible truths. Readers of his books and listeners to his lectures were urged to count the Qaafs for themselves.[45] Once they did so and found the total to be 57 (19 x 3), they would assume all of his other totals to be correct.

In order to greatly magnify Soorah Qaaf’s importance and thereby increase the overall impact of the theory of 19, the Khalifa made two additional dramatic claims for the soorah: (i) Qaaf means Qur’aan and (ii) there exists clear evidence that the number of Qaafs in Soorah Qaaf was specially protected.

i) Dr. Rashad explains why Qaf means Qur’aan as follows:

“Since the total occurrence of the letter Qaf in the two Qaf-initialed chapters equals the number of chapters in the Qur’an, 114: Qaf total = 57 + 57 = 114 = 19 x 6, the letter Qaf stands for “Qur’an.”[46]

This “fact” is further supported by the fact that the “Qur’an is described in the first verse of Chapter Qaf as “مجيد = Majeed = Glorious,” and the numerical value of this word is exactly 57 which is the number of Qafs in each of the two Qaf-initialed chapters; د= 4, ي = 10, ج = 3, م = 40.”[47]

The practice of translating letters into numbers and numbers into words in order to deduce “hidden” meanings is known as numerology that will be dealt with in more detail in the following chapter. It is sufficient to point out here that according to this un-Islamic system of letter translation, the numerical value of the word “Qur’an القرآن” is 382:

ا	=	1
ل	=	30
ق	=	100
ر	=	200
آ	=	1
ن	=	50
Total		382

which is neither a multiple of 57 nor 19. Hence, if the letter Qaaf meant Qur’aan, as claimed, this most direct “translation” should show it, which it does not.

It should also be noted that the word “nahbنهب ”, which means “pillage and plunder”, also has a numerical value of 57!

ن	=	50
هـ	=	5
ب	=	2
Total		57

and the word “danas دنس” which means filth, has a numerical value of 114:

د	=	4
ن	=	50
س	=	60
Total		114

Thus, using the system of numerology one could just as well erroneously argue that the Qur’aan promotes filth and Soorah Qaaf invites humans to pillage and plunder. The fact that it may be used in this fashion clearly shows its falsehood.

ii) Dr. Khalifa also claims that Allaah used the term “Qawm قوم (people)” when referring to Prophet Lot’s people everywhere in the Qur’aan except in Soorah Qaaf in order to avoid upsetting the total of Qaafs in the soorah. Khalifa expressed this claim as follows:

“An illustration of the miraculous intricacy of this Quranic mathematical system is in order. Looking at Surah Qaf, verse 13, for example, we find it a short verse which is usually recited without any special attention.

But, it contains a most profound demon-stration of how every word, indeed every letter in Quran is divinely designed, calculated and carefully placed. This short verse says, “ ‘Aad, Pharaoh, and the brethren of Lot.’ The people of Lot are mentioned in Quran 12 times (7:80; 11:70, 74, 89; 22:43; 26:160; 27:54, 56; 29:28; 38:13; 50:13; and 54:33) and they are consistently referred to as “Qawm Lot”, with only one exception; in Surah Qaf they are called “Ikhwan.” It is readily obvious that the use of the word “Qawm” or “Ikhwan” determines the number of occurences of the letter “Qaf”(Q).

Thus, had the word “Qawm” been used in Surah Qaf instead of the word “Ikhwan”, the number of occurences of the letter “Qaf” (Q) would have been 58, a number which is not a multiple of 19; and a number that will not match the number of “Qaf” (Q’s) in the sister Surah where the initial Qaf occurs; and the total number of “Qafs” will not match the total number of Surahs in the Quran. In other words, the whole system collapses as a result of altering one letter.”[48]

This claim is simply not true at all. Dr. Khalifa has deliberately ignored four places in the Qur’aan where the people of Prophet Lot are not referred to as “Qawm قوم”.

Soorah al-Hijr, (15): 59

) إِلاَّ آلَ لُوطٍ إِنَّا لَمُنَجُّوهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ (

Soorah al-Hijr, 15:61

) فَلَمَّا جَاءَ آلَ لُوطٍ الْمُرْسَلُونَ (

Soorah an-Naml, (27): 56

) ... قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوا آلَ لُوطٍ مِنْ قَرْيَتِكُمْ ... (

Soorah al-Qamar, (54): 34

) إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حَاصِبًا إِلاَّ آلَ لُوطٍ نَجَّيْنَاهُمْ بِسَحَرٍ (

In all of these instances Allaah refers to Prophet Lot’s people as “Aal Lootآل لوط ” and not “Qawm Lootقوم لوط ”. Thus, Soorah Qaaf is not the only soorah in which the word “Qawm قوم” was not used when referring to Prophet Lot’s people.

Consequently, it may be concluded that the total of 57 Qaafs in Soorah Qaaf and Soorah ash-Shooraa is no more than a co-incidence and cannot in any way be considered proof for a “miraculously intricate mathematical system” in the Qur’aan.

10. WHY NINETEEN?

any of those who hear or read about Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s numerical code of 19 usually ask why he chose the number 19 when there are so many other numbers mentioned in the Qur’aan. Dr. Khalifa’s initial reply to this question is:

“While the Quranic numbers are defined (forty nights, seven heavens, six days, etc.), the number NINETEEN is not defined. This indicates the purely mathematical function of this number.”[49]

However, there is another unqualified number mentioned in the Qur’aan, the number eight in verse 17 of Soorah al-Haaqqah, (69):

) وَالْمَلَكُ‏ ‏عَلَى‏ ‏أَرْجَائِهَا‏ ‏وَيَحْمِلُ‏ ‏عَرْشَ‏ ‏رَبِّكَ‏ ‏فَوْقَهُمْ‏ ‏يَوْمَئِذٍ‏ ‏ثَمَانِيَةٌ (

“The angels will be on its sides, and on that day eight will carry above them your Lord’s throne.”

By Using Dr. Khalifa’s inconsistent method of concocting multiples, it is also possible to establish 8 as the axis of the Qur’an’s miraculous numerical code. For example;

i) The opening statement of the Qur’an consists of 8-2 words.

ii) The number of Surahhs with Basmalahs revealed before their first verse is 112 (8 x 14).

iii) The first complete chapter of the Qur’an to be revealed (no.1) consists of 32 words (8 x 4)

iv) The first complete chapter to be revealed consists of 136 letters (8 x17)

v) Between the verse in which the “numerical code” of 8 was revealed and the Basmalah preceding the Surahh are 16 verses (8 x2)

vi) The verse in which the number 8 was revealed is composed of 14 words and 42 letters which make a total of 56 ( 8 x 7)

vii) The first Quranic revelation (the first 5 verses of Surahh al-‘Alaq (no.96) consists of 24 words (8 x 3)

viii) The last Quranic revelation (chapter 110) consists of 24 words (8 x 3) and 80 letters (8 x 10) which make a total of 104 (8 x 13)[50]

At this point, Dr. Khalifa turns to the occult pseudo-science of numerology wherein numbers are turned into words and vice versa by assigning numerical valuesto the letters of the alphabet. He explains the choice of nineteen as follows;

“Why 19? Because 19 means GOD IS ONE and this is the message of the Qur’an. At the time of revelation of Qur’an, the numerals as we know them today were not in existence. Instead, the alphabet letters were used as numerals,...”[51] “The Arabic word for ONE is “Waahid واحد”, consisting of و = 6, ا = 1, ح= 8 and د adding the numerical value of these four letters (6 + 1 + 8 + 4), we find the total 19. Therefore 19 = واحد = ONE.”[52]

As was mentioned in the introduction, numerology has no place in Islam. It was neither sanctioned by the Qur’an nor by the Prophet Muhammad (r) and was opposed by the Companions of the Prophet (r) as well as the early scholars.

The great 14th century C.E. scholar Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani said, “(Numerology) is completely false and should not be relied on, for it has been accurately reported that (the companion of the Prophet (r) Ibn ‘Abbas used to forbid the Abjad and consider it a form of Magic, which is quite reasonable, as it has no basis in the Shari‘ah (Islamic Law).”[53]

The origins of numerology can be found in the pagan beliefs of the ancient Babylonaians and Greeks. Among the Assyrians and Babylonians, heavenly bodies were at the same time both deities and personified numbers. The star which they called Ishtar was at the same time both the goddess Ishtar and the deified number 15.

The moon was not only earth’s satellite but also the lunar deity Sin and the deified number 30.[54] In Greece the base can be found in the Pythagorean idea that all things can be expressed in numerical terms because they are ultimately reducible to numbers. Hence, in the Greek alphabet, each letter represented a number.[55] These ideas became incorporated in Judaism’s esoteric branch known as the Cabala (literally “tradition or hidden wisdom”) which is believed to date back at least to the time of Christ.

Its most important texts are the Book of Creation, written sometime between the 2nd and 6th centuries C.E. and the Book of Splendor, by the 13th century Spaniard, Moses De Leon. The Cabala includes a number science called gematria in which each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is given a numerical value and through which all kinds of mystic interpretations of the Scriptures can be made.[56]

From Jewish mysticism, Greek philosophy and pagan Babylonian beliefs, Christian numerology evolved in the centers of learning in Alexandria and Syria. It later came into Arabia from Iraq and Syria along with the skill of writing. It is worth nothing that the Abjad is in the order of the old Hebrew alphabet as far as 400, the six remaining letters being added by the Arabs.[57]

However, the mathematical arrangement of the alphabet (the Abjad) was not used as numerals, as claimed by Dr. Khalifa, but was used by fortunetellers to interpret their clients’ characters and to divine the future. Which explains why the companion, Ibn ‘Abbas, considered it a branch of magic. According to Islamic law, fortunetelling is included under the general heading of magic which is itself classified as Haram (forbidden).

The Abjad is only one of the tools of trade used by the fortuneteller as Dr. Khalifa himself has amply demonstrated in his prediction of the Day of Judgment based on the 14 sets of Quranic “Initials” being in reality 14 sets of numbers which add up to 1709, the supposed number of years that the Prophet Muhammad’s message would last. That is, from the time of this discovery in 1400 A.H. to the end of the world there remains 309 years.[58] Actually, Dr. Khalifa borrowed this calculation from a quote in a 15th century C.E. text on Quranic sciences, al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an. The author of the text, as-Suyuti, quoted in volume 2, page 14, a variety of opinions concerning the meaning and significance of the Arabic letters prefixed to the Surahhs. among the more extreme opinions quoted was that of a 12th century grammarian, as-Suhaili, who said, “Perhaps the number of prefixed letters, when the repetitions are removed, are there to indicate how long this (Muslim) world will last.” The author then quoted one of the leading scholars of his day’s total rejection of as-Suhaili’s statement.

In the end of the Arabic edition of his presentation of the 19 theory, Mu‘jizah al-Qur’an al-Karim, pages 215-17, Dr.Kalifa actually attempts to attribute numerology and the calculation of the world’s end from the Quranic initials to the Prophet Mohammad (r) himself! Although he openly denies the authenticity of Hadith in most of his writings, his whole argument here is based on what he calls “a famous historic event” narrated in the form of a Hadith in Tafsir al-Baydawi.

Concerning the Hadith and such claims, the famous classical commentator of the Qur’an, Ibn Kathir (d. 1365 C.E.) said the following: “As for those who assume that they (the prefixed Arabic letters) indicate time periods from which the dates of events, calamities and Armageddon may be deduced, they have claimed knowledge of what they are ignorant of, and speculated where they have no right to speculate.

There is however, an unauthentic (Da‘if) Hadith related to this subject which actually indicates the falsity of this line of thought. It is narrated by Muhammad ibn Is-haq on the authority of al-Kalabi from Jabir ibn Abdullah who said, “Once Abu Yasir ibn Akhtab passed by the Prophet as he was reciting the openings words of Surahh al-Baqarah: ‘Alif, Lam, Mim, this is the book wherein there is no doubt.’

Then he went to his brother Huyayy who was with some other Jews and said: ‘Do you know by God that I have heard Muhammad recite “Alif, Lam, Mim this is the book wherein there is no doubt” among what was revealed to him? After expressing surprise, Huyayy and these men went to the Prophet and told him what had been reported to them and asked if Gabriel had brought the message from God.

When he said that he had they said: God sent prophets before you but we do not know of anyone of them being told how long his kingdom would last and how long his community would last. Huyayy went back to his men and said to them: ‘Alif is 1; Lam is 30; and Mim is 40 that is 71 years. Are you going to adopt a religion whose kingdom and community will last for only 71 years?”

Then he went to the Prophet and said, ‘Have you anything else, Muhammad?’ He replied ‘Yes, Alif Lam Mim Sad.’ Huyayy said, ‘This by God is more weighty and longer: Alif is 1: Lam is 30; Mim is 40, Sad is 90, that is 161 years.’ Similar questions were asked and answered in respect of Alif Lam Ra 231; Alif Lam Mim Ra 271; then he said, ‘Your situation seems obscure to us, Muhammad, so that we do not know whether you will have a short or long duration.’ When they left him, Abu Yasir said to his brother Huyayy and the others, ‘How do you know that all these totals should not be added together to make a grand total of 734 years?’ They answered, ‘His affair is obscure to us.’” Ibn Kathir said “This Hadith revolves around Muhammad ibn as-Sa’ib al-Kalabi whose solitary narrations are considered unreliable.”[59]

Besides being un-Islamic, numerology also does not provide an ironclad case for the choice of 19 because, according to the Abjad, 19 also translates as “Haajiz حاجز” consisting of ز = 7, ج =3, ا =1, and ح= 8, meaning an obstacle or a screen, which the Qur’an certainly is not.

And for the case of 8, one could just as well argue that since the Qur’an is the beginning and basis for all true religious knowledge, the number eight was chosen as the axis for the Qur’an, because 8 = بدء = beginning ( ء =1, د = 5 and ب = 2).

In any case, since the vast majority of the evidence used by Dr. Khalifa to build his case for 19 as the miraculous numerical code of the Qur’an has been thoroughly refuted in the previous chapters, the numerological claim can not be considered as being any more than hollow and meaningless.

Saturday, 19 December 2015

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