May God forgive me and guide me regarding any sign that would have been misinterpreted in this study and elsewhere. May He always guide us to a better understanding of His profound scripture so we can purify ourselves and increase our guidance and knowledge.
We are going to prove, God willing, that the total number of words in the Quran is protected with the miracle of number “nineteen” (74:30).
The currently accepted 1924 Cairo Sunni version of the Quran unfortunately contains orthographic issues. We will mention a few obvious examples to relate to the substance of this article which is to demonstrate that four words in the 1924 Sunni version are incorrectly written in one single word when they should be divided into two separate words and one word is written as two words but should be written as one single word. We will rely on the Sunni version as well as the earliest copies of the Quran as well as Arabic rules regarding words to prove our point. We will then demonstrate mathematically as well as historically that the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are indeed part of the Quran and that they must as a result be included in the total count of words. This is a contentious point in Sunni Islam because many Sunnis believe that they are not part of the Quran, which constitutes no less than a conspiracy against the purity and integrity of the book revealed to our holy prophet. We will also explain that Quranic initials have always been written in one single word in all Qurans throughout history, which is an important point to underline in order to establish a correct Quranic word database. We will finally conclude that all 6236 numbered verses of the Quran added to all 112 unnumbered Bismillahs represent a grand total of words that is multiple of 19, number which protects the Holy Quran from any alteration in accordance with 74:30 which is a multiple meaning verse.
Table of contents:
1.Word count: The issue of the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs
1.1 There are 77430 words in the 6236 numbered verses in the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran
1.2 Should we include in the count of words the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs?
1.3 The 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are marked as verses in some of the oldest copies of the Quran
2. Is the currently accepted 1924 Sunni version of the Quran flawless?
2.1 Orthographic irregularities
2.2 Several words of the 1924 Sunni Quran are incorrectly written
2.2.1 “Ba’da mâ”
2.2.2 The word “Ilyâseen”
2.2.3 20:94: “Son of my mother”
3. Quranic initials: Each set of initials is counted as one word
Conclusion: How many words are there in the entire Quran?
1.Word count: The issue of the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs
1.1 There are 77430 words in the 6236 numbered verses of the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran
While restoring the purity of the Quran down to each and every letter is an extraordinarily daunting task at this point given many orthographic issues a few of which we will point at later, calculate the number of words and identify if they are protected with the miracle 19 or other mathematical system is an easier task.
“If you analyze the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran, according to Wikipedia, “the Quran consists of 77,430 words” (2×3×5×29×89).”
Source: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran
I verified the count myself using Microsoft Word which contains a 100% accurate “word count” feature, and it is indisputable that the 6236 numbered verses of the generally accepted Sunni Quran contain exactly 77430 words. You can for instance download the Tanzil Quran (http://tanzil.net/docs/download) and verify for yourself: It will confirm such a count.
1.2 Should we include in the count of words the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs?
In addition to 6236 numbered verses, there are also 112 unnumbered “Bismillahs” which preface 112 suras. The fact that they are not numbered is a consensus in Sunni Islam and turns out to be proven mathematically, for instance thanks to the “even and odd miracle”:
The addition of all 114 sura numbers of the Quran is 6555 and there are 6236 numbered verses. If we add every sura number to its total number of verses (for example sura 1 + 7 verses = 8, sura 2 + 286 verses = 288, sura 3 + 200 verses = 203, etc… and separate all even and odd totals, we realize that the addition of odd totals generates 6555, while the addition of even totals generates 6236:
The famous “even and odd miracle” is alluded to in verse 89:3 (“By the even and the odd”) and confirms symbolically that all 114 sura numbers (which addition is 6555) include 6236 numbered verses.
Another way to authenticate the numbering system of the Quran, this time thanks to the miracle of 19, from 1:1 (the first Bismillah which is numbered) up to 74:30 which mentions the miracle of number “nineteen” is that there are 5525 numbered verses = 1105 (gematrical value of “nineteen”) × 5. Furthermore, adding all sura and numbered verses from 1:1 to 74:30, we get 2775 (addition of the first 74 sura numbers) + 322771 (addition of the first 5525 verse numbers) = 325,546 = 19 × 17134.
Finally, one simple way to prove through the miracle of 19 that the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are indeed part of the Quran is the well-known fact that there is a total of 114 Bismillahs (19×6) in total, that is to say 112 unnumbered Bismillahs + two “Bismillahs” that are numbered in 1:1 and 27:30 = 114 Bismillahs = 19×6.
We will also mention the fact that if we include unnumbered Bismillahs which preface 112 suras, there are 6221 verses from 2:3 (first word “salât” = “ritual prayer”) to 98:5 (last word “salât” of the Quran) and 6221 = 810th prime number = 5 × 162 (gematrical value of the word “al salât”. “Al salât” (the ritual prayer = GV 162) is famously performed 5 times a day in Islam, and the fact that the calculation of verses includes unnumbered Bismillahs symbolizes that they shall be recited at the beginning of suras during the prayer, contrary to the opinion of some Sunnis scholars who omit them because they are under the influence of “hadiths other than God and His verses” (45:6).
These simple, yet profound mathematical properties demonstrate the authenticity of the numbering system of the Quran as well as of the 112 Bismillahs which represent “blessings” at the beginning of 112 suras and are proven to be unnumbered verses.
When it comes to the total number of words in the Sunni Quran (1924 version), if you add the 112 unnumbered “Bismillahs”, expression which contains four words, there are 77430 + (112 × 4) = 77878 words (2×23×1693). Obviously, neither this total nor the 77430 words (2×3×5×29×89) in 6236 numbered verses are multiple of 19, but we are going to see that an adjustment to the word count must be made.
1.3 The 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are marked as verses in some of the oldest copies of the Quran
We have just explained mathematically why we have to include words of the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs to get a full picture of the entire Quranic database.
Some Sunni scholars do not consider the 112 “Bismillahs” as Quranic “verses” (there is no consensus in Sunni Islam on this particular point) and some even claim that they are simply not part of the Quran and that only the one at the beginning of sura 1 (1:1) and in 27:30 are part of it. This explains the claim that there are only 77430 words in the Quran, number which does not include the 112 × 4 = 448 words of the unnumbered Bismillahs which preface 112 suras. In the earliest as well as later copies of the Quran, Bismillahs are always present at the beginning of 113 suras (except sura 9) and for good reason: They are indeed part of the Holy Quran. Claiming otherwise is a profound sin and amounts to conspire against the integrity of the book of Allah in the very same way as Rashad Khalifa who famously and wrongly declared that 9:128-129 were not part of the Quran.
The above is a picture of the beginning of sura 22 in the codex Parisino Petropolitanus [BNF Arabe 328(c)] which was carbon dated between 568 and 645 with a 97.2% accuracy which makes it the oldest Quranic manuscript known to date. The prophet passed away in 632, which implies that the above manuscript was written either during his lifetime or shortly after. We evidently see that the “Bismillah” is present (underlined above in red), and particularly note that it is followed by a group of dots (circled in red) which are used at the end of a verse to separate verses in the Codex Parisino Petropolitanus and other early copies of the Quran. In other words, unnumbered Bismillahs are authentic Quranic verses, and their words must imperatively be taken into account in order to establish a complete Quranic database.
2. Is the currently accepted 1924 Sunni version of the Quran flawless?
2.1 Orthographic irregularities
Despite the fact that the current official Sunni version of the Quran which was reviewed by a committee of Sunni imams in Cairo in 1924 is considered by many in the Sunni and Shia world as the perfect, unaltered Quran, there are unfortunately many orthographic issues. The purpose of this article is not to deal with them in an extensive manner (which is impossible anyway at this point) but to open the mind of the reader that they are very real. Let us consider for instance the following issues:
– Why would the word “kitab” (book) be written “كِتَب” without an “alif” (ا = letter A) almost everywhere in the Sunni Quran (256 times out of 260 times), while there is an alif (كِتَاب) in 13:38, 15:4, 18:27 and 27:1 (4 times)? It is either one or the other, but it can’t be both.
– Why is the word “wâheed” (وَاحِد = “one and only”) written without an alif in the Sunni Quran (it is written “وَحِد”) while there are numerous examples of “wâheed” (وَاحِد) with an alif in the oldest copies from the first century AH (After Hijra) and Arabs are the first to admit that it is pronounced with a long “A”, which implies that it should be written with an “alif” because the Arabic language is written as pronounced?
– Why is the word “bastatan” (بَسْطَةً = “abundantly”) from the root “basata” (بَسَطَ) correctly written with the letter “sin” (س) in 2:247 while it is most obviously misspelled with the letter “sad” (ص) as “bastatan” (بَصْۜطَةً) in 7:69?
There is an undetermined number of similar issues and likely well over a thousand words in total (including repetitions) that are misspelled all over the 1924 Sunni Quran. The bottom line is simple: The Quran was not revealed in 1924 to a committee of Sunni imams, but directly to Muhammad during his lifetime and there is no objective reason why they wouldn’t have made any mistake, especially given the fact that there are discrepancies even between the oldest copies of the Quran.
The Quran is coded mathematically (15:9, 56:78) and it is what will eventually allow the human race to purify the Quran 100%, God willing. We are drawing here the attention on examples of orthographic issues in the Sunni Quran to tie into the fact that a small number of words are also corrupted regarding the way they are written in the 1924 Sunni version:
2.2 Several words of the 1924 Sunni Quran are incorrectly written
2.2.1 “Ba’da mâ”
It is shocking to see that the word “ba’damâ” (بَعْدَمَا = “after what”) is incorrectly written in 2:181, 8:6 and 13:37 in the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran. It is incorrectly written in one single word instead of two separate words (مَا +بَعْدَ = ba’da + mâ).
Below, here is the example of online Sunni Qurans which follow the Sunni committee of 1924 and write “بَعْدَمَا” (ba’damâ) in one single word:
You are welcome to check for instance the following links for physical evidence:
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=181#(2:181:1)
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=8&verse=6#(8:6:1)
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=13&verse=37#(13:37:1)
https://read.quranexplorer.com/2/1/181/Usmani/Mishari-Rashid/Hide/Tajweed-OFF
On Quran.com, “Ba’da mâ” is correctly written as two words in 2:181 and 8:6, but not in 13:37 where it is written as one single word:
Incredibly, the very same words “ba’di mâ” (بَعْدِ مَا = “after what”), pronounced “ba’di” (بَعْدِ) instead of “ba’da” (بَعْدَ) because of the genitive following the preposition “min” (مِن = from) in “min ba’di mâ” (مِن بَعْدِ مَا, literally “from after what”), is correctly written as two separate words no less than 30 (thirty) times (!) in all Sunni Qurans, for instance in 2:75, 2:109, 2:145, 2:159, 2:181, 2:209, 2:211, 2:213, 2:253, 3:19 and so on…
How come would “ba’damâ” (بَعْدَ مَا = “after what”) be written in single one word while the very same words “ba’di mâ” (بَعْدِ مَا = “after what”) are written as two separate words? There is no valid reason whatsoever, and we are going to provide solid proof in this regard.
Firstly, several Qurans in print such as Yusuf Ali’s translation do not fall in the same trap and write “ba’da” and “mâ” correctly as two separate words in 2:181, 8:6 and 13:37. Furthermore, and most importantly, “ba’da ma” (بَعْدِ مَا = “after what”) is written as two separate words in all three verses in the oldest copies of the Quran. Below, we present nine examples of early manuscripts (most from the 1st century AH) for verses 2:181, 8:6 and 13:37 (3 different manuscripts for each verse) which unanimously confirm that “ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) shall be written exactly like it is elsewhere in the Quran, that is to say as two separate words:
Verse 2:181: BNF: Arabe 331, Hijazi script: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 2:181: Sanaa Dar al-mahtutat: DAM 01-29.1, Hijazi script: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 2:181: Codex Weinstein II 1913: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 8:6: Codex Weinstein 1913: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 8:6: Codex Parisino Petropolitanus: BNF 328 (a), Hijazi script: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 8:6: Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi: M1: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 13:37: BNF: Arabe 325 (a) “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 13:37: Codex Parisino Petropolitanus: BNF 328 (a), Hijazi script: “Ba’da mâ” (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
Verse 13:37: Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi: M1: « Ba’da mâ » (مَا بَعْدَ) is written as two separate words, not one.
We could easily provide much more physical evidence that “Ba’da mâ” (بَعْدِ مَا) is indeed written as two separate words in virtually all early copies of the Quran. Therefore, the fact that it is written in one single word in the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran in verses 2:181, 8:6 and 13:37 is a blatant corruption of the structure of the text and must therefore be corrected.
2.2.2 The word “Ilyâseen”
Another word which is incorrectly written is the name “Ilyâseen” (إِليَاسِينَ) in the following verse:
سَلَٰمٌ عَلَىٰٓ إِلْ يَاسِينَ
(37:130) May peace be upon Elias, and those like him.
First of all, Elias is unusually written in the plural form “Ilyâseen” (إِليَاسِين), which is why the above translation translates “May peace be upon Elias, and those like him”. But, more importantly, we see that the name “Ilyaseen” (إِليَاسِين) is most obviously incorrectly written in two words with “Il” (إِلْ) being separated from “Yâseen” (يَاسِين). We have Quranic evidence that it is incorrectly written because the same name Elias is correctly written “إِلْيَاسَ” (Ilyâs) in one word in verses 6:85 and 37:123. Therefore, verse 37:130 shall be written in the following manner:
سَلَٰمٌ عَلَىٰٓ إِليَاسِينَ
(37:130) May peace be upon Elias, and those like him.
2.2.3 20:94: Son of my mother
قَالَ يَبْنَؤُمَّ لَا تَأْخُذْ بِلِحْيَتِى وَلَا بِرَأْسِىٓ إِنِّى خَشِيتُ
أَن تَقُولَ فَرَّقْتَ بَيْنَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَلَمْ تَرْقُبْ قَوْلِى
(20:94) He said, “O son of my mother; do not pull me by my beard and my head. Indeed, I was afraid that you would say, `You caused division between the Children of Israel and disobeyed my command.’”
“يَبْنَؤُمَّ” (Ya’ibna Umma = O son of my mother) in 20:94 is misspelled without an alif in “إِبْن” (“Ibn” = son) as demonstrated in all verses of the Quran which use the same word and has to be changed to “يَابْنَ أُمَّ” (Ya’ibna Umma = O son of my mother) in two words because it is a universal rule that two different words (son + mother) are consistently separated in the Quran:
قَالَ يَابْنَ أُمَّ لَا تَأْخُذْ بِلِحْيَتِى وَلَا بِرَأْسِىٓ إِنِّى خَشِيتُ
أَن تَقُولَ فَرَّقْتَ بَيْنَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَلَمْ تَرْقُبْ قَوْلِى
Furthermore, the correct separation in two words “ٱبْنَ أُمَّ” (Ibna umma = son of my mother) is acknowledged in 7:150, which further confirms the mistake found in Sunni Qurans:
7:150:
وَلَمَّا رَجَعَ مُوسَىٰٓ إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ غَضْبَانَ أَسِفًا قَالَ بِئْسَمَا خَلَفْتُمُونِى
مِنۢ بَعْدِىٓ أَعَجِلْتُمْ أَمْرَ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَلْقَى ٱلْأَلْوَاحَ وَأَخَذَ بِرَأْسِ
أَخِيهِ يَجُرُّهُۥٓ إِلَيْهِ قَالَ ٱبْنَ أُمَّ إِنَّ ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱسْتَضْعَفُونِى وَكَادُوا۟
يَقْتُلُونَنِى فَلَا تُشْمِتْ بِىَ ٱلْأَعْدَآءَ وَلَا تَجْعَلْنِى مَعَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
The earliest Qurans do not acknowledge the separation of “O son of my mother” in two words (the two words are incorrectly written in one word) in 20:94, but we have to resort to sound logic and common sense in the light of 7:150 and the rules of Arabic and understand that a human mistake was originally made in a very early Quran and repeated afterwards in later copies.
There are therefore four words in the 1924 Sunni version of the Quran are incorrectly written in one single word [three words “b’ada mâ” and “Ya’ibna Umma” (O son of my mother”)] when they should be divided into two separate words and the name “Ilyaseen” that is incorrectly written as two words (Il yâseen) but should be written as one single word (“Ilyâseen”).
3. Quranic initials: Each set of initials is counted as one word
Another aspect which needs to be clarified before we prove that the grand total of words in the Quran is multiple of 19 are Quranic initials. There are 30 sets of Quranic initials ranging from one to five letters that are found at the beginning of 29 suras. Should each initial letter be considered a word, or each set of initials instead? Oldest copies of the Quran provide a unanimous answer because sets of several initials are always written in one single word:
The above pictures are respectively the beginning of sura 11 (sura Hud) and 20 (sura TaHa) in the codex Parisino Petropolitanus BNF Arabe 328(c) (carbon dated between 568 and 645 CE) and the third image is the beginning of sura 19 from the Codex M a VI 165, also a Quranic manuscript from the 1st century After Hijra (Tübingen University, Germany).
We can see that the Quranic initials “Alif, Lam, Ra” (الر), “Ta Ha” (طه), as well as “KHY’AS” (كهيعص) – underlined in red – are written in all cases in one single word. The fact that the letters “Lam” and “Ra” are attached in the Quranic initial set “Alif-Lam-Ra” (first picture above) obviously demonstrates that the three Quranic initials form one single word, in accordance with the rule to join letters in Arabic.
We could provide hordes of similar examples of Quranic initial sets written in one single word: It is the universal norm. Sunni Muslims logically calculate words exactly the same way regarding Quranic initials and we are merely providing here historical, physical evidence as to why a single initial (like in 50:1) or a group of initials (from two to five initials like in 19:1) are always counted as one single word.
Conclusion: How many words are there in the entire Quran?
We irrefutably proved that the count of words in the 1924 version of the Sunni Quran is incorrect:
There are, God willing, 77433 words (not 77430) in the numbered section of the Quran (6236 numbered verses) once you correct the following mistakes:
– Three words “Ba’damâ” (بَعْدَمَا) are incorrectly written in one single word instead of two separate words “ba’da” + “mâ” (بَعْدَ مَا) in 2:181, 8:6 and 13:37.
– The name “Ilyaseen” (إِليَاسِين) is incorrectly written in two words instead of one with “Il” being separated from “Yâseen” in Sunni Qurans. We know for certain that it is incorrect because the same name “Elias” is correctly written “إِلْيَاس” (Ilyâs) in one word in verses 6:85 and 37:123.
– “يَبْنَؤُمَّ” (Ya’ibna umma = O son of my mother) in 20:94 is misspelled without an alif (letter “A”) regarding the word “إِبْن” (“Ibn” = son) and has to be changed to “يَابْنَ أُمَّ” in two words as it is the case in 7:150 because it is a universal rule that two different words (son + mother) are consistently separated in the Quran.
– The 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are also part of the Quran as evidenced in the oldest manuscripts, for instance in the codex Parisino Petropolitanus in sura 22 and the Codex M a VI 165 from the Tübingen University (late 1st century After Hijra) where Bismillahs are marked as a Quranic verse with a group of dots right after the four word expression. The codex Parisino Petropolitanus was carbon dated between 568 and 645 with a 97.2% accuracy, which makes it likely the oldest known copy of the Quran in the world to date. Furthermore, several mathematical systems confirm that the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are part of the final revelation, for example the well-known fact that there are a grand total of 114 Bismillahs in the Quran (112 unnumbered + 2 in numbered verses), and 114 = 19 × 6. Therefore, the four words of the Bismillahs which preface 112 suras (4 × 112 = 448 words) must be included in the total count of words.
Let us now add the two key numbers of words related to numbered and unnumbered verses:
77433 words (from 1:1 to 114:6) in 6236 numbered verses of the Quran + 448 words in the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs (112 unnumbered Bismillahs × 4 words) = 77881 = 19 × 4099.
The role of the miracle of 19 is to protect the Quran from any alteration:
عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ
(74:30) Over it is nineteen.
Given this impressive fact, it is noteworthy that the gematrical value of the singular word “kalimat” (كَلِمَة = “word”) is also multiple of 19:
Gematrical value of “kalimat” (كَلِمَة = “word”)
= 95 = 19 × 5
Furthermore, the plural “kalimat” (كَلِمَٰت = “words”) occurs exactly 19 times in all its forms:
2:37 (1) كلمت, 2:124 (1) كلمت, 6:34 (1) كلمت, 6:115 (2) كلمت + كلمته, 7:137 (1) كلمت, 7:158 (1) كلمته, 8:7 (1) كلمته, 10:33 (1) كلمت, 10:64 (1) كلمت, 10:82 (1) كلمته, 10:96 (1) كلمت, 18:27 (1) كلمته, 18:109 (2) كلمت + كلمت, 31:27 (1) كلمت, 40:6 (1) كلمت, 42:24 (1) كلمته, 66:12 (1) كلمت =
19 occurrences of the plural “kalimat” (words).
It is to be noted that all 19 occurrences consistently refer to the “words” of God, that is to say His revelation.
This is in my view a strong indication which corroborates the fact that the total frequency of “words” in the entire Quran is coded with number 19.
Unless it can be conclusively proven that there are additional issues with other words, this result will, God willing, stand as the new reference.
Needless to say, this result exposes not just the corruption in the 1924 version of the Quran and all the Sunnis who claim that the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs are not part of the final revelation, but also Rashad Khalifa who conspired against the book of Allah by claiming that 9:298-129 are false verses. Verses 9:128-129 are composed of 29 words, and 77881 (19 × 4099) – 29 = 77852 = 2 × 2 × 19463, NOT A MULTIPLE OF 19. Even if you discard the 112 unnumbered Bismillahs, 77433 (word count in the 6236 numbered verses) – 29 = 77404 = 2 × 2 × 37 × 523, NOT A MULTIPLE OF 19.
I strongly urge people who still follow Rashad Khalifa’s interpretation of the miracle of 19 to quit his movement immediately, because his interpretation of the miracle is dead on arrival and will be exponentially exposed in the years to come.
سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْءَافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ
لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
(41:53) We will show them our proofs in the horizons, and within themselves, until they realize that this is the truth. Is your Lord not sufficient as a witness of all things?
Article published on 10/25/2020, updated on 4/27/2022.