New PDFs re Quran Structure Based on Allah’s Name

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You can download it here: first is an updated explanation in text, and the one below it is a brief one-page summary + a Quranic Architecture chart for illustration:

This is a shortened version of the original that may help assimilate the idea (which can get very complex the more details you include). Photo of Al-Fatiha’s structure is below.

Is the Quran’s Structure Based on Allah’s Name?

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This is a very real possibility, which I began to examine while thinking that possibly all numbers somehow relate to or are reflective of Allah’s name. That seems way beyond my limited mathematical abilities – yet after studying the Quran in details, I ran into a simple pattern expressed in two ayat, 4:3 (itself a {3,4} set) and 35:1, as “two and three and four,” essentially a {2,3,4} set, which in turn reflects the {3,4} set, as expressed in Allah’s name. I’ve discussed this {3,4} set previously as well as how Allah “wrote mercy upon Himself” (6:12 and 6:54). Here finally is a post that covers this topic.

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Death and Resurrection in Every Heartbeat

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A previous post speaks in details about how with every heartbeat there is a death — when dead (de-oxygenated) blood enters the right atrium (yin receptive chamber) to be pumped at low pressure (an essential yinmercy) into the lungs (by the right balanced yin/yang ventricle/pump) — and resurrection oxygenation in the lungs, the organ that recycles the element of air (O2 in, CO2 out) — received by the left atrium (receiving chamber), to be pumped by the powerful left ventricle (the power yang pump) at high pressure (full might/power) alive into the whole body, which is thus resurrected. And how this relates to Allah’s name. 

THIS HAPPENS WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT. And this heartbeat is dhikr Allah! 

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

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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.

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Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem: The Dynamic Pair of Names

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At the very beginning of the Quran, in Surat Al-Fatiha “The Opening”, we are introduced to three great Names for God/ Allah in the Bismallah or Invocation which states “In the Name of Allah, Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem”. The meaning and significance of these two Divine names Al-Rahman — The Almighty — and Al-Raheem — The All-Merciful, reflect the polarity of Yang (might and majesty) and Yin (receptivity and mercy), dynamically interrelated in the context of the One who alone encompasses these names altogether in one Singularity, Indivisible and Eternal, Allah the Exalted.

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Allah’s Magnificent Name: Heartbeat of the Cosmos

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One might imagine that God would choose for Himself a significant and meaningful name, but most names for God in various languages don’t have particularly meaningful qualities. But the name “Allah” in Arabic does.  Written using 3 unique letters to form a 4-letter Name, that number 4 by design matches the number of chambers in the human heart. We shall show how these letters combine visual, sonic, and functional connections to the human heart, while also exemplifying Yang/Yin attributes whose perfection is categorically unique to Allah the Exalted.

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A Closer Look at “lā ilāha illā Allāh”

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lā ilāha illā Allāh
This statement of tawheed or “oneness” of Allah (monotheism) is the heart of Islam, a complete system of values, laws for their implementation, and worship/ devotion (faith) that does not claim to be a separate “religion” that came with the prophet Mohammad, but rather the very same such system (with some changes in the details but not the basic principles) sent to “al-aalameen,” “the worlds,” all people with minds, free will, and language since such people began to exist.

Jews and Christians can recognize in it the First Commandment, the basis for sacred law and faith. Other seemingly more divergent but major such systems, for example Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, also reveal common ground if viewed more closely and in greater depth.

The statement is simple:

لا أله إلا الله
lā ilāha illā allāh
“There is no god (one to be worshipped/ higher authority) but God.”

Simple, but profound. And in the original Arabic, full of signs and wonders for those who care to see…and hear.

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The Structural Magnificence of Allah’s Name Detailed

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When we think of the name Allah (glory to His name above all), we may think of it as sacred, and look no further. But looking closer at the actual letters of His name, we discover that the Arabic name has properties and meaningful relationships beyond being a name: when analyzed, it is a name deeply imbued with meaning. Allah (glory to Him in the highest) wants us to understand as much as we are able and thus filled all creation with His signs, signs of His majesty and power, as well as Presence in our lives.
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What Does “Islam” Mean?

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It’s a common statement, used to counter non-Muslims’ erroneous idea that Islam is a warlike religion, that “Islam Means Peace.” Others, including many scholars and translators, assert that “Islam means submission——to submit to Allah.” But do either of these words convey the meaning of Islam in Arabic as used in the Quran? An examination of the possible translations for a Quranic word can often lead to a better understanding of Islam and/or the Quran and its message. And so I will introduce what I believe to be another possible interpretation/ translation of the word “Islam” in English, which is the word “surrender.”
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Thikr Allah and the Human Soul

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The word thikr ذكر in Arabic encompasses layers of meaning, as do many Quranic words — no single English word can replace it in all instances, thus translations use various English words in different contexts. However, knowing that this is the same word helps in grasping the depth of the Quran.

It basically refers to “remembrance” or “bringing to mind” by means of words, and indeed thikr ذكر means also “to invoke” (powerful words/ names) or “say/ mention.” Thus when we say “ithkur Allah” (“ithkur” being a verb form of thikr), we mean to mention or invoke Allah and thus bring Him to mind. It has been translated “remind/ reminder.” But it also can mean simply “remember” or “bear in mind” or even “memorize,” as indicated by the context of its usage. The Quran itself is referred to as “thikr al-hakeem:” thikr (in this case, a book) which is wise, just, and balanced (hakeem), whose purpose is to bring the deeper truths about Allah and our purpose in life to our understanding.

“Remembrance” in English often implies recalling or commemorating something from the past, whereas thikr implies a “reminder” of something of which one was oblivious; something like a wake-up call from an oblivious state.

The Quran tells us that thikr Allah, both invoking His name(s) and remembering Him, is the greatest form of worship and also the most effective way to stay on the straight path:

Surat Al-ankabut 29:45
اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ

“Recite what is inspired/ revealed to you of the Book, and maintain the salat (“contact prayer”—the formalized physical worship which has geo-astronomically determined time of day/ direction perimeters to maintain “contact” with Allah), for the salat prevents (or inhibits) immorality and vice; but certainly the remembrance of Allah (thikr Allah) is the greatest. And Allah knows everything you do.”

Why is thikr Allah the most important, even though salat (formal Islamic “prayer”) is one of the most crucial requirements for a Muslim? Is there some greater “power” in Allah’s name or the thought of Him?
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The Magnificent Name Allah: What’s in a Name?

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One of the controversial points regarding Islam these days is the name Allah. People come to the idea of God with many different preconceptions, one of them being that a different name refers to a different God, which of course is true only of polytheism. But the name Allah reveals deeper meaning on closer examination than the word ”God.” Yet it also refers to what all monotheists mean when they say “God” with a capital G: the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

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