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MUSLIM PERSPECTIVE

Bulletin of the UNITED ISLAMIC NATION

Published Monthly by Masjid Tucson

JUNE 1985 RAMADAN 1405

Editor: Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D.


AFTER 4 YEARS OF SILENCE

WORLD STANDS UP & TAKES NOTICE

MATHEMATICAL MIRACLE

OF QURAN RECOGNIZED

In spite of the importance of this book. I have not read a single review of it. But in a sense, it is to be expected. This book is so wondrous in its revelations, so sharp in its understanding and so blunt in its criticisms that even those who call themselves Muslims are skeptical and afraid of it. But, I am thoroughly convinced that it is a book of major significance for the proper understanding of the Quran and the teachings of Islam.

Kassim Ahmad

Adding to Quranic exegesis

The Computer Speaks:

God’s Message to the World

by Rashad Khalifa.

Published by Renaissance Productions International,

Tucson, Arizona, USA 525

The renewed interest in the West in Islam is due to both the resurgence of the faith in recent times, manifested most dramatically in the Iranian Islamic revolution, and to the failure of western secular philosophies of liberal capitalism and Marxist communism.

This Islamic resurgence, definitely begun by the reform movement of Jamaluddin al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh at the end of the last century, propagated a return to essential Islam, a rejection of taqlid (blind following of the teachings of the various schools) and an opening of independent rational thought and assimilation of western science, technology and rationalism that are not contradictory to the Islamic worldview.

Having its roots in earlier 18th century reformers, the movement was carried forward through the writings of various thinkers, including Rashid Riyha, Syed Ameer Ali and Muhammad iqbal. Unfortunately, midway, the movement was captured by traditionalist thinkers like Maulana Maud Udi who stressed tradition rather than new creative thinking. Still, the modern Islamic trend of Muhammad Ahduh’s creative thinking persists as a strong undercurrent. I would place Dr Rashad Khalifa’s book as a major contribution to this creative reform movement.

The book makes one of the most amazing discoveries about the Quran. After several years of painstaking research, Rashad has come out with the extraordinary announcement that the Quranic literary composition is based on a precise mathematical structure based on the figure 19. it is so precise that if a Quranic word like "Allah" or "al-Rahman" or "al-Rahim" is added to or subtracted from the Quran, this mathematical structure collapses! Indeed the arrangement of the Quranic chapters and the frequency of certain crucial words and letters in the Quran consistently conform to this structure. Rashad gives such overwhelming proof of this thesis that any reasonable, objective reader cannot hut accept it.

He obtains the clue to this amazing Quranic code from verse 30 of surah 74, appropriately titled "The Hidden Secret", the last verse of the fourth revelation to the Prophet. The verse reads literally:

"Over it are nineteen." The classical commentators explained the figure "nineteen" as referring to angels of hell or to man’s external and internal faculties. However, verse 35 of the same surah which was revealed later) states that this 19-based Quranic code is one of the greatest miracles. Going on this clue, the author calculated (with the help of the computer in the case of intricate calculations), found and enumerated in detail 31 amazing facts about this code, some of which 1 give below:

• The opening statement of the Quran ("Bismillah") consists of 19 Arabic alphabetic letters;

• The famous words that constituted the first Quranic revelation (first five verses of surah 96) consists of 19 words;

• The last Quranic revelation (surah 110) consists of 19 words;

• The Quran consists of 114 surahs (114 is a multiple of’ 19);

• The first surah in the order of revelation (surah 96) is placed in position number 19 from the end of the Quran;

• The first chapter in the order of revelation (surah 96) consists of 19 verses;

• The first Quranic revelation (the famous 19 words) consists of 76 letters, and 76 isa multiple of 19;

• The first word in the Quran’s famous opening statement ("ism") occurs in the Ouran exactly 19 times;

• All the words in the opening statement o the Quran ("ism", "Allah", "al-Rahman" and "al-Rahim") individually occur either 19 times or multiples of 19 times in the Quran;

• The 19-letter opening statement of the fifth Quranic revelation (Al-Fatihah) and the first surah of the Quran came immediately after the code 19 was given in the last verse of the fourth revelation (74) and that this opening statement consists of individual words occurring 19 times or multiples of 19 times in the Quran, strongly indicating that the number 19 is central to the Quranic structure.

Although these facts are amazing enough, the reader must read the hook itself to appreciate the full significance of the author’s revelations of this mysterious 19-based Quranic code. The author explained that the figure I’) is chosen by God to he the numerical basis of His Quran. because oneness of God is the theme of the Ouran. The numerical value of the Arabic word "one" (wahid) in the traditional "letter arithmetic" is also 19. It is a reasonable and logical explanation.

Reading this hook, an objective reader cannot doubt the soundness of the author’s conclusion - that the Quranic composition is based on the numerical code of 19 and that this code represents one of the greatest miracles of the Quran, as the Quran itself states (73:35).

Although non-believers have said that the Quran is the work of Muhammad (whom they call a man of the greatest genius), with this astounding discovery, they can no longer say so with reason, although they may continue to disbelieve in it. No man can write a book whose linguistic structure is based on such mathematical precision! Only an All-Knowing God can execute such intricate and exquisite planning. The code therefore proves conclusively that the Quran is God’s message to the world and that it has been perfectly preserved through these 14 centuries.

Apart from this great discovery, this hook opens the minds of Muslims to one very important fact: that the Quran. The unaltered work of God to mankind and the last of God’s books, is a comprehensive, perfect and self-explanatory book of guidance to man, requiring no other book to supplement or supersede it.

The Muslims themselves over the last thousand years have set up and taken other books (the books of jurisprudence) to rival the Quran as their guidance in their everyday life. The learned author rightly points to the warning given by the Quran over this possibility: "And the Messenger will say: ‘My Lord, surely my people treat this Quran as a forsaken thing’. And thus have We made for every prophet an enemy from among the guilty, and sufficient is thy Lord as a Guide and a Helper". (25:30-31).

This strong criticism, nay condemnation, of the false Muslims will not endear the author to the formalist leaders of the Muslim community, but this is perhaps necessary to fully reawaken the Muslim community to the truth of their great religion. It also opens the way for the re-establishment of the link and unity between Islam and the other bearers of the Heavenly Message, like Judaism and Christianity, that is necessary for the coming unity, peace and justice among mankind. This book continues and carries forward the basic rationalist teachings of the great reformer Muhammad Abduh and his teacher Jamaluddin al-Afghani.

It will interest readers greatly to know that Dr Rashad Khalifa has also ventured a thesis, based on Quranic evidence, in an attempt to solve the great riddle of the end of the world and the Day of Resurrection. This intriguing question has, of course, given rise to many erroneous predictions in the past.

The mystery of this date, the author claims, lies hidden in a Quranic code representing the age of Islam. The end of the age of Muhammad, who is the last in the series of God’s prophets to mankind, is logically the end of the world and the Day of Resurrection. The intriguing question is therefore the length of the period of Muhammad. By a series of "deductions" from Quranic statements, he arrives at 1709 lunar years as the period from 14(X) Hijrah, the year of Dr Khalifa’s discovery. Amazingly enough, this figure of 309 lunar years or 300 solar years is mentioned in the Quran in a separate context.

However, by venturing into this area, the author has embarked on a hazardous enterprise, which seriously detracts from his credibility. The Quran is categorical about the inaccessibility of the knowledge concerning the date of the Day of Judgment. Speculation about this remains an idle exercise. But this diversion need not deter us from examining positively the point the author so diligently tries to make.

In spite of the importance of this book, I have not read a single review of it. But, in a sense, it is to be expected. This book is so wondrous in its revelations, so sharp in its understanding and so blunt in its criticisms that even those who call themselves Muslims are skeptical and afraid of it. But I am thoroughly convinced that it is a book of major significance for the proper, understanding of the Quran and the teachings of Islam.

Kassim Ahmad

 

The Editor

"Arabia"

The Islamic World Review

Crown I House, Crown Lane

East Burnham, nr. Slough

Bucks. SW 3SG

United Kinqdom

 

 

Dear Br Editor,

Assalamu ’alaikum!

I am pleased and grateful that you have published my review of Dr Rashad Khalifa’s epoch-making book, The Computer Speaks: God’s Massage to the World in the April issue of your esteemed magazine. However, you have changed my favorable comment on the author’s discovery of the mystery of the day of resurrection into skepticism and rejection. I think this is not fair for me or to the author. To be fair to you, I must admit that I have not explained the difficult matter as clearly as I should have in the article.

This letter is to correct the error. Dr Khalifa unveils the first step in the discovery of the secret by pointing to the Quranic verse, stating the possibility of such a discovery. Verse 15 of chapter 20 literally reads: "The hour is sure to cane; I keep it almost hidden, to repay each soul for whatever it did." Many previous translations have obscured the meaning of this important verse. Dr Khalifa’s translation above seams to me the clearest and the most accurate. To illustrate, compare it with: -

(1) "Verify the Hour is caning — My design is to keep it hidden - for every soul to receive its reward by the measure of its endeavor." (Yusof Ali).

(2) "Lo! the Hour is surely caming. But I will to keep it hidden, that every soul may be rewarded for that which it striveth (to achieve) . " (Marmaduke Pickthall).

  1. "Behold (although) I have willed to keep it hidden, the Last Hour is bound to cane, so that every human being may be recompensed in accordance with what he strove for (in life)." (Muhammad Asad).

Dr Khalifa then went to chapter 15 and found the following verses on the subject of the end of the world: "We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between then except for a specific purpose, and their end is inevitable. Therefore, treat then with benign neglect. Your Lord is the omniscient creator. We have give you (Muhammad) seven pairs and the great Quran." (Verses 85-87). Note that the last verse contains the answer to this secret. Dr Khalifa’s interpretation that the term "seven pairs" or "14" (original Arabic:

refers to Mohammed’s interim is not only more logical than all previous interpretations ("seven of the oft-repeated (verses)", allegedly the Fatihah), but brilliant. What is more logical than God saying to Muhammad in that verse that He gave him a certain period of time and the Quran?

The key is therefore the number "14" which Dr Khalifa deduces to be the fourteen sets of Quranic initials (muqatta’at) which prefix certain (Quranic chapters. This interpretation seems to me entirely reasonable, since these Quranic initials are intricately connected with the code 19. Adding the numerical equivalents of the fourteen sets of Quranic initials, the author gets 1709 lunar years as the period of Mohammed’s interim, thus giving 309 lunar years remaining to Muhammad from A.H. 1400, the year of the author’s discovery. Renumbering the Quranic prediction that Islam will prevail over other religions before the world canes to an end (48:28), a three hundred year period from new before that happens is a definite possibility.

Therefore, it is not true to say that Dr Khalifa is indulging in speculation when he announces in the book that he has discovered the secret of the date of the end of the world. The announcement is made only as the conclusion of a long scientific, thorough and brilliant research into the Quran itself.

Thank you.

 

 

Your brother-in-Islam

(KASSIM AHMAD)

ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FOR AN

HISTORICAL CRIME AGAINST QUR’AN

LAST TWO VERSES OF SURA 9 ARE FALSE

INJECTIONS

Brother Feiniz Karmally of Vancouver, BC, is a well-known mathematics and computer wizard. He recently added up all the numbered and un-numbered verses of Qur’an, according to the authorized Uthmani version. The Grand Total came to 6,348. This total includes the last two verses of Sura 9. When these two verses are removed, the Total becomes 6,346, A MULTIPLE OF 19. This conforms to the miraculous mathematical system of Qur’an, where 19 is the common denominator.

Brother Ismail Barakat, also of Vancouver, further noticed that the digits that make up 6,346 odd up to exactly 19.

COULD THERE BE ANY QUESTION NOW

THAT THE LAST TWO VERSES OF SURA

9 ARE FALSE INJECTIONS?

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