The final format of the Quran and its math confirmation

Although the revelation of the Quran took 23 years to complete (609 – 632), God tells us in the Quran that the entire Quran was placed into Muhammad’s soul in the month of Ramadan (2:185), on the Night of Destiny (97:1-5, 17:1, 44:1-4, 53:4-18). Thereafter, the angel Gabriel helped Muhammad release a few verses of the Quran at a time, from the soul of Muhammad to his heart (memory) (2:97, 17:106, 26:193). Muhammad then wrote down and memorized the verses just released into his mind (25:5). When he died, he left the complete Quran written down with his own hand in the chronological order of revelation not in one book but rather on pieces of woods, papers, palm leaves, bones…etc., along with specific instructions as to where to place every verse including sura names. In addition, the Quran has always been completely memorized and kept in its oral transmission. It was the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr who collected the Quran into one book. The manuscript on which the Qur’an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr and then with Umar (the second Khalifa), and after him, it remained with Hafsa, ‘Umar’s daughter and one of the Prophet’s wives. The divine instructions recorded by Muhammad were designed to put the Quran together into the final format that we have today (75:17).

During the 1400 plus years since the revelation of the Quran, the human interference has not only altered the word of God by adding 2 verses to the end of sura 9 (128-129) that are needed to remove from the Quran to purify it being false injections (74:4-5) but also the names of some suras have affected. God has protected and reconfirmed all the aspects of the Quran through His system of Divine Preservation and Universal Acceptance (15:9 and 41:42) and of course, the great Mathematical Miracle of the Quran (74:30 and 74:35).

There are no disputes regarding the Order of Revelation of the Quran as well as the arrangement of suras in the Mus-haf. The Mus-haf is the Arabic name for the book in which the Quran is collected. Many Muslims refer to the Mus-haf as the Quran for short and both words have been used interchangeably. Moreover, we have the mathematical confirmation that the order of revelation and the arrangement of suras in the composition of the Quran is divine. If the corresponding revelation order # preceded to the sura # are placed side by side for every sura, the resulting 468-digit number is a multiple of 19:

Dividend (468-digit number)

518728939241125556397888113951105211531296137214541570165017691844194520732110322742310224422547264827492885298430573175329033583443354136563738385939604061416242634364446545664695471114810649345067517652235337549755465694571055810159916010961110621046310864996510766776726878697970717140723734743175987633778078817924807818282868383842785368688768881089359026919921193129428951962597100989399141003010116102131033210419105291061710715108181091141106111221122011321114

Result (467-digit number)

19x
27301523117953976652520427050058169027962954590239030008685141676010237933268964354858432864344592885657520278864767009227843872812808112450723072944189687442960138650760344508668182690253192070793027244854491449987129773398476621587364000576900559002437413947184777198775098878840564060038091302272420401777793621996042516751729914939093966773093099004703106679995852269969944840136689525757849526474216636954264905811531857424300563953062162691637163748480105859006.

But there is a minor dispute in the names of couple of suras that we find in the names of sura 9 and sura 17 which have more than one name. Sura 9 was known during the Prophet’s time, and for centuries after him as “Sura Bara’ah” (Ultimatum). This name was changed by some Mufassir (Interpreter) to “Al-Tawbah” (The Repentance). Sura 17 had the name “Bani Israel” until relatively recently. It was only in this century that the name was changed for obvious political reasons into “Al-Isra’’ (The Night Journey). But the following mathematical proof confirms that the names of sura 9 and sura 17 should be “Bara’ah” and “Bani Israel” instead of “Al-Tawbah” and “Al-Isra’’ respectively:

The Quran is composed of 114 (19x6) suras. The suras whose names do not begin with the letter “Alef” are counted and their number turned out to be 19 => 19x1. These suras are 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 20, 31, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 47, 50, 71, 80, & 106. The names of these 19 suras are Bara’ah, Younus, Hud, Yousuf, Bani Israel, Maryam, Ta Ha, Luqman, Saba’, Fater, Ya Sin, Saad, Ghafer, Fussilat, Muhammad, Qaf, Noah, ‘Abasa, and Quraish. Now, the number of suras, of course, whose names begin with the letter “Alef” is 114-19 = 95 = 19x5. Thus, this mathematical interpretation confirms the name of sura 9 is “Sura Bara’ah” (Ultimatum) instead of “Sura Al-Tawbah” (The Repentance) and the name of sura 17 is “Sura Bani Israel” (The Children of Israel) instead of Sura Al-Isra (The Night Journey).

Faith is to believe in what we do not see which does not mean that we have to go through life blindly following something that we don’t understand. Traditional Muslim leaders are always saying that you have to accept this or that on faith. Accepting things on faith can be used as an excuse, when the leader or scholar doesn’t have the answer.

We are blessed to witness numerous physical proofs that every element of the content of Quran is from God. We may think that the dispute in the names of couple of suras is minor and we may overlook it to be insignificant. But what matters is that God will not give us two options because His original message to prophet Muhammad has to be one complete set. Hence, we have proofs that other elements of the Quran including order of revelation as well as sura numbers and names besides its content are divine as well, and the original names of these two suras are restored. The proofs are there to make our faith solid and real, if we’re open to the proofs.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal.(3/20/2015)