Why the First Numbered Verse of Al-Fatiha Must Be the Basmalah

Despite the Basmalah (pictured above) being the first aya of Surat Al-Fatiha in most printed copies of the Quran including those printed in Saudi Arabia (a copy of the Quran in writing being called a mus’haf not a Quran), there are Muslims, especially of the Hanafi and Hanbali schools of the Sunnis, who believe the first numbered verse of Al-Fatiha to be not the Basmalah but instead what is aya 2 in its most commonly printed text meaning “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all worlds!” (Pictured below.) We shall discuss the differences of opinion and examine the implications of each.

Seven Floating Letters: Meaning in the Quran’s Details

Here is an aya/verse in the Quran regarding “celestial objects” orbiting around a center:

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلَّيۡلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمۡسَ وَٱلۡقَمَرَۖ كُلٌّ فِى فَلَكٍ يَسۡبَحُونَ

And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] are swimming in an orbit. (Al-Anbiya 21:33) 

The Arabic original letters in bold above (both the Arabic and English) form a mirror pattern that graphically illustrates the verse itself as shown in this screenshot from the TikTok video below the image regarding how this fits a general scientific observation about how celestial objects orbit around other celestial objects in specific orbits. 

7 letters form orbital system graphic in words describing same meaning

This image shows how the letters graphically illustrate the concept being conveyed, very much a “signature” Quranic detail. Allah the Exalted is far more communicative on many levels than we realize. 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR6HeWT2/?k=1

And as we shall show, these are not any ordinary or randomly-chosen letters, and this same 3-word, 4-unique-letter phrase (7 letters total) phrase also appears (in bold) in one other aya below. 

Eid Mubarak!

For this Eid, newly-revised post on the story of prophet Ibrahim’s test of sacrificing his son Isma’il (Ishmael). We examine the amazing equality between father and son, reflected in word and letter counts, as well as a more complete answer to the question of why did Allah ask Ibrahim to sacrifice his son.

The Quranic Story of Abraham’s Sacrifice – Its Surprising Message and Precision

Hajj 2022

Prophet Mohammad Was the First Anti-Racist

This is the title of the video below, asking what is the difference between an anti-racist and a non-racist? As this video explains, a non-racist is someone who believes it is wrong to discriminate against others based on the color of their skin or their ethnicity, but does nothing to fight against systemic racism. An anti-racist is one who does something about it. This video examines how prophet Mohammad was the first anti-racist as defined this way. 

This article covers the same topic in writing for those who may also wish to read it. The author of the article who speaks on the video is Dr. Craig Considine, a practicing Catholic with a surprisingly open mind regarding Islam, and Christianity (he accepts the prophethood of Mohammad as well as Jesus).  

Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and Allah’s Message in the Quran

Most people are familiar with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony’s epic conclusion in the choral piece “Ode to Joy.” The words being sung in German are from a poem of the same name by Friederich Schiller, one of the greatest German poets. Their meaning is below:

Examining the words of this poem, and the story of how Beethoven was driven obsessively to compose the music to most effectively present those words to a world suffering from war and conflict — the same problems we find in the world today — I found to my surprise these words express what in essence is the message of the Quran: all people are brothers on equal terms before God, and we are to act accordingly in justice. And it goes farther than that.