The Numerical Miracle of Surat Al-Fatiha.
In describing the Holy Qur’an, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once explained that this is a Book whose wonders shall not cease, and whose marvels shall never be old.
It is every Muslim’s belief that this Holy Book is one for all people and all ages, and one that will forever stand the test of time and never become obsolete. And in today’s age of technology and numbers, we are confronted with a new and profound Qur’anic miracle that speaks the language of this age; a mesmerising indication of the truth of the Holy Qur’an, and a proof that its words could not have been altered.
The First Chapter of the Qur’an
One of our guides to this new type of miracle – the numerical miracle of the Qur’an – is none other than the very first Chapter of the Qur’an, namely “Surat Al-Fatiha” (Chapter: The Opening), where we discover numerous examples of numerical phenomena centred around the number 7.
And this is not strange, for in the Qur’an, God Almighty has in fact called this Chapter “The Seven Mathani” i.e. The Seven Oft Repeated Verses: (We have given thee seven of the oft repeated (Verses) (i.e. Surat Al-Fatiha) and the Grand Qur’an) [Al-Hijr, 15:87] (Stone Land, 15:87).
Therefore, we shall demonstrate that the numerical truths inherent in this opening Chapter are all consistently multiples of this central number of 7, to declare that God Almighty, the Creator of the seven heavens and the universe, is also the One who authored the divine words of the Holy Qur’an.
Please note that various explanations of the abovementioned Verse, as well as sayings of the Prophet Muhammad have come to show that the 'Seven Oft Repeated Verses' is a reference to Surat Al-Fatiha. Surat Al-Fatiha is indeed an oft-repeated Chapter, because Muslims repeat this Chapter in all of their daily prayers and it is the one Chapter which every Muslim has most certainly memorised by heart. In the context of Fact 6, we shall refer to Surat Al-Fatiha as the 'Seven Mathani' Chapter, and to the abovementioned Verse as the 'Seven Mathani' Verse. To put it briefly, 'Mathani' is Arabic for 'Oft-Repeated'.
So why was the number 7 attributed to this Chapter?
The following 20 facts represent a modest effort at proving the existence of a numerical miracle in Surat Al-Fatiha, which no human can possibly manufacture. The foundation of this miracle will always be the number 7.
Fact 1
The first Chapter in the Qur’an, Surat Al-Fatiha, which is considered “Umm Al-Kitab” (The Mother of the Book), consists of 7 Verses.
Similarly, the number 7 has a significant presence in the life of every person and every believer in particular. There are 7 heavens, the Earth’s crust has 7 layers, the Earth has 7 atmospheric layers, the days of the week are 7 and there are 7 continents. Specifically for Muslims, when performing “Hajj” in Mecca, they complete 7 laps around the Ka’aba. In addition, a Muslim in prayer prostrates on 7 body parts (face, 2 hands, 2 knees, 2 feet), and the importance of this number is often noted in the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Please note that the number 7, as discussed in other research articles, has many wonderful implications throughout the Qur’an, and is the basis for all research relating to the Qur’an’s numerical miracle. Indeed, God Almighty has organised the letters, words, Verses and Chapters of his Book based upon this number, as proof that the author of the Holy Qur’an is in fact the Creator of the seven heavens and the universe.
Furthermore, according to Muslims, God Almighty has created 7 doors to Hellfire, and the word “Hellfire” (جهنم) happens to be repeated in the Qur’an exactly 77 times; this number is our first example of a multiple of 7:
“Hellfire” is mentioned in the Qur’an 77 times, or 11 x 7
Fact 2
We don’t expect people to be convinced yet; this is only the start.
The Arabic language is the language of the Qur’an, and the number of letters in the Arabic alphabet is 28. This number, of course, is divisible by 7:
There are 28 Arabic letters in the Qur’an, or 4 x 7
In addition, out of these 28 letters, only 7 letters are not used in Surat Al-Fatiha
(ث- ج- خ- ز- ش- ظ- ف). This means that 21 Arabic letters are used in this Chapter, and again, this number is a multiple of 7:
Conclusion
It is crucial to note that the various numerical methods explored above, from arranging numbers to finding sequences and patterns linking words to numbers, are all very recently discovered techniques. This is only one way in which the Holy Qur’an exceeds modern science and technology in wisdom and knowledge.
Also, the accuracy of the above calculations must be appreciated. The wonders of Surat Al-Fatiha have been presented in light of absolute numerical precision; the numbers we arrived at, no matter how large, were always multiples of 7; this means that they were always whole numbers with no decimals!
The numerical consistencies and arrangements successfully prevailed in all our examples. This accuracy was maintained everywhere from the Chapter numbers, numbers of Verses, numbers of words, and even the numbers of letters. It must be stated that the meticulous care for detail is unparalleled in any other book, and is something that humans are unable to fully comprehend, let alone produce.
We must also stop and admire the Arabic language, and particularly the Arabic of the Qur’an. This is because the Qur’an, in its textual form is written in classical Arabic, and the way in which some words are written in classical Arabic differs from modern Arabic as we know it today. For example, in Surat Al-Fatiha, the word صرط)) is found in the seventh Verse. In modern Arabic, this word is written with an additional letter “Alif” (أ), making it صراط)). Had this been the way this small word was written in the Chapter, many of the facts discussed above would simply have become incorrect, and the numerical arrangement would have been completely falsified. This tells us that the exact wording of the Qur’an has been preserved, and that the divine precision of the Holy Qur’an stretches to the very minute of details.
We appreciate the fact that people who don’t know Arabic may find some difficulty in easily following every detailed fact, and have therefore attempted to explain things as simply as possible. However, the beauty of the numerical miracle, of course, is that it speaks the language of numbers, a universal language that people of all tongues can relate to with relative ease.
We found that some of the numbers that were derived were significantly large, which means that a normal calculator does not usually suffice, and even a scientific one may not necessarily provide the intended result. We therefore provided a useful link to an online calculator that performs such large calculations, and gives answers up to one million digits, meaning that readers can clearly see whether a number contains decimals or not. That is, if our normal calculators at home are not sufficient enough to perform such calculations, what calculator could the Prophet Muhammad have used 1400 years ago, if he indeed was the one who designed the numerical miracle?
The Qur’an defends itself in the following Verse:
(Or do they say, "He (Muhammad pbuh) forged it"? say: "Bring then a Surah (Chapter) like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides God, if it be ye speak the truth!") (Yunus, 10:38) [Jonah, 10:38].
Indeed, for anyone doubting the miracle of the Qur’an, we simply present to them the Qur’an’s challenge, and say that regardless the author of the Qur’an, this challenge has not yet been matched, even in this day and age. Also, can anyone realistically come up with a Chapter like Surat Al-Fatiha, which contains a similarly unique numerical arrangement, whilst preserving meaning, context, wisdom and profound language throughout the Chapter? This is simply beyond the scope of human competence, which is why the divine challenges of the Qur’an have persisted more than 14 centuries after the Qur’an was revealed.
Indeed, it is but a never-ending miracle. Allah says: (Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and rending asunder by the fear of Allah. Such are the parables which We put forward to mankind, that they may reflect) (Al-Hashr, 59:21) [Exile, 59:21].
--------------------
By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel
www.kaheel7.com/eng