- I said to my atheist interlocutor.
You
must have been startled the first time you read those separate
letters at the opening of some Qur'anic suras (chapters
of the Holy Qur'an). I mean such clusters as: H.M., T.S.M.,
K.H.Y.'A.S., K., S., and so on. I wonder what did you say to
yourself then.
He
just pouted his lips indifferently muttering indistinctly:
-
Well!
-
Well. what ?
-
Well, I thought that your prophet was merely impressing you with
such trick.
-
Very well, let us examine that 'nonsensical talk' with which you
think our prophet tricked us.
Take,
for example, a rather short sura like , Qaf'. If we count
the occurrences of the letter K (Qaf) in it, we will find that
are fifty seven. Consider the sura which follows it,
Counsel, which is twice its length and opens also with the
letter K. You will find that this letter occurs fifty seven
times also. Is this a mere coincidence ?
If
we add up those occurrences of the letter K, we will have a
hundred and fourteen: the number of the suras which the
Qur'an contains. Do you remember how the sura of Qaf
opens and how it ends? It begins: 'K. By the glorious Qur'an and
ends with the verse: 'Admonish with this Qur'an whoever fears My
warning'. These are more like hints indicating that K (Qaf)
symbolizes the Qur'an. Remember that the letter K occurs a
hundred and fourteen times in both suras which, as 1
said, is the number of the Qur'an's suras :
-
My friend said nonchalantly:
These
are just coincidences.
-
I continued calmly.
Let
us continue our probing. Feed all the Qur'an's suras into
a computer and instruct it to give us some statistics on the
average occurrence of the K letter in them.
-
He became totally alert and tensely attentive saying:
Has
this been already done?
-
I replied quietly: Yes, it has.
-
What was the result?
-
The computer informed us that the highest averages and rates
occur in the Qaf sura. This sura is mathematically
"superior" to all others in the Qur'an with regard to
this particular letter. Is this another coincidence?
-
How strange!
-
The 'Thunder' sura opens with the letters A.L.M.R.; we
fed this into the computer and it gave us an account of the
occurrence frequency of these letters in the sura :
A.
occurs 625 times.
L. occurs 476 times.
M. occurs 260 times.
R. occurs 127 times.
Thus
the letters' frequency of occurance is in the same descending
order in which they are ranged at the sura's beginning:
A.L.M.R.
The
computer, then, worked on the averages of these letters'
occurrences in the Qur'an as a whole. It fed back to us the
following bombshell: the highest rates or averages for these
letters are in the Thunder sura which, with regard to
them, is mathematically superior or preponderant to any other sura
of the Qur'an.
The
same thing happened in the statistics concerning the opening A.L.
M. of the Cow sura :
A.
occurs 4592 times.
L. occurs 3204 times.
M. occurs 2195 times.
The
frequency of occurrence is in the same descending order found at
the opening of the sura: A.L.M. The computer further
revealed that these letters have mathematical preponderance over
others within the Cow sura. A similar ratio is found in
'The Imrans' which also opens with A.L.M.:
A.
occurs 2578 times.
L. occurs 1885 times.
M. occurs 1251 times.
The
same correspondence is observed between the descending order of
frequency and that of occurrence at the opening of the sura.
Likewise, these letters are found in sura in a higher
rate than the other letters of the alphabet.
The
Spider sura opens with A.L.M. These letters are
distributed in it in the following manner :
A.
occurs 784 times
L. occurs 554 times
M. occurs 344 times
This
is the same descending order of their occurrence at the opening
of the sura. They are also found in it in a higher ratio
than the other letters of the alphabet. The 'Romans' begins also
with A. L. M. and these occur in the following frequency ratios:
A.
is found 547 times.
L. is found 496 times.
M. is found 318 times.
Again,
this is the same descending order of their occurrence at the
start. These letters have, as in the previous cases, a higher
ratio of occurrence than any others of the alphabet in the same sura.
Among
all the suras opening with A.L.M., we find that those
revealed in Mecca are mathematically preponderant, with regard
to the average frequency of occurrence of these letters, over
the other Meccan suras. We also find that those suras
revealed in Medina and beginning with the letters A.L.M. are
similarly mathematically preponderant, with regard to the
average frequency of these letters, over the other Medina suras.
The
same phenomenon is observed in connection with the cluster
A.L.M.S. which opens the 'Heights'. The computer informs us that
the average occurrence frequency of these letters is highest in
that sura which is mathematically preponderant in this
regard over other Meccan suras.
In
'Ta Ha' it is found that 't' and 'h' occur in frequencies higher
than in all Meccan suras. The same happens with the
opening K.H.Y.'A.S. of 'Mary' where their average occurrence
frequency is higher than in all Meccan suras.
The
same results hold in the case of all the suras opening
with the letters H.M. If these suras are put together,
the occurrence frequency of the H.M. letters is found to be
higher in them than in all Meccan suras. This fact
applies also to the two suras beginning with S: Sad and
The Heights (the last actually opens with A.L.M.S.). These two suras
were revealed successively in this order. If they are taken
together, they will be found to preponderate mathematically over
all other suras of the Qur'an with regard to the average
occurrence frequency of these letters with which they open.
A
similar phenomenon is noted in all suras starting with
A.L.R.; namely, Abraham, Jonah, Hud, Joseph, and AI-Hijr. Four
of these were revealed in succession and if taken as a unit,
computer read-outs on them will show the highest average of
occurrence frequency for the letters A.L.R. among all Meccan suras.
In 'Ya Sin' the same thing obtains but in reverse, as it were,
with regard to the letter sequence Y.S. because the y., the last
letter in the Arabic alphabet or 'ya', comes before the S (sin).
That is why we note that the frequency of occurrence for these
two letters in this sura is, in fact, lower than in all
other suras of the Qur'an whether revealed in Mecca or
Medina.
My
friend fell silent and 1 went on to reassure him by saying that
I was not making up all these figures. As a matter of fact, I
was quoting from a study by an Egyptian scientist, Dr. Rashad
Khalifa, who lives in America. His book, Miracle of the Qur'an,
(published in English by Islamic Productions International, St.
Louis, Missouri), contains the details of his research. I
presented that book to my friend. He leafed through it in
silence and I continued my talk to him:
You
see, it is no longer a question of chance. We are before precise
laws and carefully calculated placing of letters each of which
is weighed as if with an exacting scale. I read to you the
appropriate verse from the Qur'an.
"It
is Allah who has revealed the Book with truth and justice."
[Holy Qur'an (Counsel- 42), 17]
And
what a sort of justice have we here! We are before such a finely
just scale that it can weigh a hair or a letter. With findings
like these the idea that the Prophet was the author of the
Qur'an is no longer tenable. It is inconceivable to imagine him
saying to himself in advance of composing the Qur'an, "1
will fashion the Thunder sura on the letters A.L.M.R. and
put in it the highest average of occurrence frequency for these
letters in the entire book."
It
is to be asked where could he have found anyone to undertake
providing him with these statistical averages. Such a task can
only be accomplished by an electronic computer. If the Prophet
had attempted it himself, he would have undoubtedly spent
several years just to calculate the letter dispositions for only
one sura - adding and subtracting at the level of
knowledge available in his age. He was not even acquainted with
the knowledge of his age. It is to be further enquired whether
he occupied himself with composing or with the calculation of
the letter placements. We confront here an impossibility .
Moreover,
if we take into consideration that the Qur'an was revealed in
small, separate parts along a time span of twenty three years,
we will certainly conclude that formulating advance statistical
averages for its letters is another impossibility. It is a task
of which the All-Knowing alone is capable. It is He who knows
everything before it occurs and calculates swifter and more
accurately than all imaginable computers combined. God alone,
whose Knowledge has comprehended everything, can do this. The
individual letters with which the suras open are only
symbols of His Knowledge imparted by Him in His Book and left
for us to discover as time goes by.
"We
will show them Our signs in all the regions of the earth and in
themselves, until they clearly see that it is the truth."
[Holy Qur'an (Fussilat- 41), 53]
I
am not saying that what has so far been uncovered contains all
the secrets of these letters. It is just a beginning that has
been made; no one yet knows to what horizon will it lead us.
With
the new significance now seen in such letters, the idea that the
Qur'an had been composed can be completely and finally refuted.
This significance puts us before accurate calculations and
profound meanings for every letter so that no one dare allege
that this is just mere scribbling. Can't you see, my friend,
that you face here a species of language that cannot be
described as just a string of letters?
My
friend did not answer, but kept browsing through that book 1
gave him without uttering a sound.
Clearly this suggests that the Holy
Qur'an cannot be the work of a man, but of the All-Knowing and
the Wise Allah. This is why Allah challenges mankind in the Holy
Qur'an, again and again, to produce 'a'
sura like it if you are truthful:
Say:
"If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together
to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the
like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and
support. [Holy Qur'an 17:88]
Source:
This was a short chapter taken
from the book titled "Dialogue with an atheist" written
by Dr Mostafa Mahmoud.
e-mail: prince_zedz@hotmail.com
© 2001 (Zed).
All rights reserved.
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