The term Quran code (also known as Code 19) refers to the claim that the Quran contains a hidden mathematically complex code. Advocates believe that the code represents a mathematics proof of the God authorship of the Quran, however this claim has not been validated by any independent mathematical or scientific institute. Proponents of the Quran code claim that the code is based on statistics procedures. The most notable proponent is Rashad Khalifa who, in 1969, described the Quranic initials through enumerations and distributions, and in 1974, claimed to have discovered a mathematical code hidden in the Quran, a code based around the number 19.
In 1974, Khalifa claimed to have discovered a mathematical code hidden in the Quran, a code based around the number 19. He wrote the book The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World, in which he thematizes this Quran code. He relies on Al-Muddaththir, verse 30 to prove the significance of the number: "Over it is nineteen,".
Proponents of the code include United Submitters International (an association initiated by Rashad Khalifa) as well as some Quranism and traditional Muslims.
Edip Yüksel, a Turkish Quranism author and colleague of Rashad Khalifa, makes the following claims in his book Nineteen: God's Signature in Nature and Scripture:
Alif ا 1 | ||||||||
Yā' 10 ي | Ṭā' 9 ط | Ḥā' 8 ح | Zāy 7 ز | Wāw 6 و | Hā' 5 ه | Dāl 4 د | Jīm 3 ج | Bā' 2 ب |
Qāf 100 ق | Sād 90 ص | Fā' 80 ف | ʿAin 70 ع | Sīn 60 س | Nūn 50 ن | Mīm 40 م | Lām 30 ل | Kāf 20 ك |
Ghain 1000 غ | Zā' 900 ظ | Dād 800 ض | Dhāl 700 ذ | Chā' 600 خ | Thā' 500 ث | Tā' 400 ت | Shīn 300 ش | Rā' 200 ر |
Abdullah Arik, a Quranism author, uses this method in his book Beyond Probability: God's Message in Mathematics to analyze the Basmala gematrically. He gives various numerological arguments relying on these values to bolster his arguments.
Additionally, since early Quran manuscripts can contain orthographic differences in certain passages, the precise number of letters in those sections can be unclear. For example, since the frequency of the letter Alif is subject to debate, there is not an universally agreed letter count in the Alif initialized Surahs. However, to prove his theory Khalifa chose those versions of the text that included letter frequencies divisible by 19. Additionally, Khalifa claimed that the initial "Nūn" in Surah 68 should be spelled as to include an additional Nūn: "Nūn Wāw Nūn" in place of the orthodox spelling, "Nūn". This allowed Khalifa to claim that there are 133 (19×7) Nūns in Surah 68, instead of 132, which is not a multiple of 19. However, Khalifa's spelling does not appear in any Quranic manuscripts. He also assumed that the correct spelling or reading of the word "basṭatan", which occurs in Surah 7, verse 69, contains the Arabic letter Sīn instead of the letter Suād, which is the conventional spelling. He based this assertion on the Samarkand Codex, a 9th century Quranic manuscript which includes a spelling with the letter Sīn in place of Suād.
Khalifa also claimed that two verses in the Quran, specifically At-Tawbah, verses 128 and 129, were humanly added, and should not be included. He supports this claim by the hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 7425, according to which Zaid ibn Thābit, tasked by Abu Bakr with compiling the Quran, found only one witness to attest to the validity of verses 9:128–129, Khuzaima al-Ansari. listed at sunnah.com Thus, Khalifa claimed that the Quran has only 6346 verses instead of the traditional count of 6348. The omission of these verses is integral to his theory; if these two verses are taken into account, there are 2699 occurrences of the word "Allah" and 115 occurrences of the word "Rahim", neither of which are multiples of 19.
Furthermore, the version of the Quran code is questioned, as it is only used for certain aspects or Quranic initials. Surahs that are not initiated are not fully examined in this context. Since early Quran manuscripts differ orthographically in certain passages, it makes it difficult to reconstruct an "urtext" – or in another expression a "primordial text" – for the Quran, which in turn is used for letter enumerations as well as gematria.
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