The Difference that Waw Makes – 2 Views of Surat Al-Kawthar 108

A few years ago I published this analysis of Surat Al-Kawthar 108. Surprisingly, I just ran into the same sura analyzed on YouTube in an entirely different way with amazing results!

This video is by Binimad Al-‘Ateeki, who’s done some pretty impressive numerical miracle videos on the Quran, among other things. What’s interesting here is that his video shows us the same sura with some amazing results involving the number ten. Whereas I got what I thought were pretty fascinating results involving the number nine! So how did this happen?

Isa/Jesus and Maryam in the Quran – their Names and Message

The name of Isa/Jesus is frequently mentioned in the Quran as the son of Maryam/Mary, and so their mentions are linked. This aspect is not often discussed, so I will do it here, as well as analyzing how and where their names are expressed and placed in Quranic architecture. Jesus is referred as “Word” in the Quran, as well as in the Bible, for example in this significant aya, which also mentions the name of prophet Jesus in full:

˹Remember˺ when the angels proclaimed, “O Mary! Allah gives you good news of a Word from Him, his name will be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; honored in this world and the Hereafter, and he will be one of those nearest ˹to Allah˺. (3:45)

Mentions of Ships in the Quran Reveal Connection to Quranic Initials and Amazing Ship Graphic

The Quran mentions ships rather frequently, considering the subject matter, and some have wondered why. These mentions refer to how the use of ships for trade and more is a gift from Allah the Exalted, and a few mentions refer to Noah’s ark/ship, and fewer to the boat in the story of Moses and Al-Khidr. There’s an interesting correspondence between these mentions and the Quranic Initials (QIs) or muqatta’at, which in turn points us to the clear and also metaphorical connection between ships and the Quran as a message, especially emphasized in the story of Noah and his ship. Allah protects and elevates the lives of those who follow His guidance, saving them from the greater catastrophe of the Last Day, as He saved prophet Noah and the faithful believers who boarded the ark with him from the flood. In fact, the very nautilus design of the Quran correlates with that symbolic message. The placements of ship mentions in our spiral chart also reveals, using the classical elements symbolized in the chart, a graphic illustration of ship design and how it utilizes the Divine gift of buoyancy.

Light and Darknesses in the Quran

This is a huge and meaningful subject, so we will touch on some basic ideas as well the locations of these mentions in the Quran, whose binary theme it graphically illustrates.

LIGHT نور is associated with: day, illumination, truth, eternity, wholeness, healing, goodness, the Quran, guidance, opening, peace, straight path (note that light rays follow a straight path), love, hope, trust, faith, sincerity, guarding the sacred, eternal values vision بصير (inner light which is a separate word).

DARKNESSES ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ is associated with ignorance, concealment, hiding, closure, sickness of the soul, evil, tearing apart, falsehood, crooked path, crime, loss and misleading, oppression and injustice, misery, hopelessness, despair, hate, hypocrisy, betrayal, violence, violating what is sacred, worldly values.

Why is light mentioned as singular but darknesses plural? Because light, as used in the Quran, is One and Whole, but darknesses are scattered and plural, dispersing and separating.

Al-Raheem and Raheem in the Quran – Structural Interpretation

The name Al-Raheem – The All-Merciful – is commonly counted and “combined” with the adjective raheem – merciful, without the al- prefix. But considering the two separately has yielded interesting results. The name Al-Raheem “The All-Merciful” is mentioned 34 times, whereas the adjective raheem “merciful” is mentioned 81 times, or 3⁴, and thus these two different ways of mentioning raheem are themselves “paired” as a {3,4} set. A unique characteristic of both expressions of Allah’s mercy is that they are almost always paired: the name Al-Raheem is always paired with another name, and the adjective raheem is usually paired with another adjective – plus in the case of raheem, this pair (or simply raheem in a few cases) is almost always preceded by either the name Allah, Lord, “I,” or Him (referring to Allah or Lord), the one exception being in 9:128 referring to prophet Mohammad as “kind, merciful” to the believers. This shows that kindness/caring is the form of mercy we are encouraged and indeed enabled to exemplify. And these unique stylistic traits teach us about what mercy itself means, in our relationship to Allah, each other, and to all life.

Placements of the Name Al-Rahman and Their Meaning

Here we shall examine the placements of this exalted name in the Quran using the architectural “nautilus” chart, the possible meanings inherent in these placements, as well as some fascinating patterns. This also gives a sense of how the “nautilus chart” can indicate possible interpretations to increase our understanding of the Quran. Previously we examined the significance of the name Al-Rahman, as well as the name’s stunning relationship to perfect numbers. Here we show a surprising connection between this name and the sacred months, elucidating their sacred nature.

Surat Al-Fīl 105, Then and Now

This sura is usually presented as a straight-up story about how Allah the Almighty protected the Kaaba and also the Quraish tribe (of prophet Mohammad) in a mighty victory over Abraha’s powerful army, famous for using an elephant or elephants as mounts in battle, and known to be capable of causing destruction wherever they went. The traditional story is that Allah sent flocks of birds to attack Abraha’s army, pelting them with stones “of baked-hard clay”, rendering the army “like chewed-up hay.” It is said this event occurred in the year when prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was born, considered a very good omen, due to the amazing victory that Allah produced alone with no human input (except the du’a of prophet Ibrahim untold ages earlier). We will examine the range of meaning in the sura’s Arabic words shown in various interpretations of the details, also noting its is pairing with the sura that follows it, Surat Al-Quraish discussed here, and more, including 2 Nouman Ali Khan videos on the subject.

What are “Houses” in Quranic Architecture?

Since I use this term more often as the study of Quranic architecture develops, it’s important to discuss it separately. It simply refers to the “pie sections” in the spiral/circle of the Quranic architecture, and each of these pie sections or houses represents the same month of the symbolic “year” in its calendar design. Each sura within that House is like a return to the same month, but in a different year, just like one returns to January or July each year. So for example, Al-Fatiha (the Opening) is in the First House representing Muharram (Prohibition) in the Hijri calendar, which is also the New Year. All the suras in the First House are also in Muharram, the same “month:” such as Al-R’ad (Thunder) sura 13, and Al-Furqan (The Criterion), sura 25; these suras also carry some of the same relevant meanings for that House/month. Thunder is like an initiating force, thundering us into awareness of something new, electrifying (“new year”); the word furqan actually means to “break open/apart” and thus distinguish (“criterion”) between the dichotomies, such as good/bad and heaven/hell (“opening”). The final sura in the First House is Al-Kafiroon “The Disbelievers” – a fitting end for “Prohibition,” as these are the people who will be prohibited from the celestial realm of Allah in paradise.

The Miraculously Integrated Surah 95 “The Fig”

 Surat At-Teen (“The Fig”) 95 brings us more than meets the eye. Often not much attention is paid to the oaths that headline some surahs, but they do indeed have meaning as we shall see here. This is also a highly integrated and “celestial” surah that brings us a wealth of clarity to the idea that Islam is specifically designed by Allah as a system which, if we follow its beautiful and enlightened path, will enable us to become the enlightened and even “celestial” beings we were created to be. (Below is a YouTube reading of the surah in Arabic with the text as a visual.)

Fascinating Connections between Worldly Pursuit and the Hereafter in Surah 100 Al-‘Adiyat

The color-coding connects these lines, not in the mirror pattern of a ring composition, but rather connects the upper and lower halves in order as shown by matching the colors: the upper referring to this world from the our human point of view, and the lower being from Allah the Exalted’s point of view. Here almost every element lends to an intense convergence of two very different worlds.

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. 

Sura 92 Word and Letter Counts Bring Surprising Revelations

This represents Ulam’s Number Spiral , where a doodle (this image) revealed unexpected previously-unknown diagonal patterns in prime numbers. The name ”Ulam” is similar to the Arabic root for ”knowledge” or “scholar.”

This study of Sura 92’s word and letter counts brought entirely unexpected results on closer examination. The Quran expresses its message, its truth, in powerful and eloquent words, and also within these words, numerical relationships of precision and beauty, using the language of math like a true language, complete with nuance, even rhyme and reason, certainly complexity that is beyond the scope of my knowledge. To interpret them requires viewing numbers as more than mere quantitative bits of data. No, they have qualities and are symbolic as well, which doesn’t occur in a vacuum but rather in their context — in the world around us, in life and everything else. Here are numbers that give precision to this sura’s beauty, and reveal how much Allah has put into simply guiding us. Imagine then this is from Allah the Almighty All-Merciful, and imagine Who then is Allah and what does He give us in this Quran — nothing less than a lifeline to His love. 

Sura 92 Al-Layl’s Beautiful Structure and Meaning

Surat Al-Layl 92 is the gift that keeps on giving unexpected insights, tightly integrated on many levels. Its 21 ayat/verses can be divided into 3 parts of 7 ayat each, a striking symmetry, and this within a separate ring arrangement based on the division between this world and the Hereafter. The sura’s emphasis on the primacy of charitable acts as proof of faith and other meaningful details are powerfully reflected in its structure as well. 

The Scales of Justice in the Quran, with Stunning Precision

Surat Al-Rahman 55:7 introduces the concept of the Scales of Justice in the Quran as follows:

And He raised the heaven and He established the balance.

The scales of justice are mentioned in a number of places, and in the process of analyzing suras that contain them, I noticed a distinct pattern regarding the scales, indicative of Allah’s justice and mercy enacted on Judgment Day, when the “balance” will be a measure of how people’s deeds will be judged. Here I’ve used word and letter counts, where the words represent Allah the Exalted’s “input” which would be decrees or commands, such as the word “Kun” in Arabic or “Be!” is a word-command mentioned in the Quran for creation. His “words” are then commands or decrees unlimited as per this aya from 31:27: “And if all the trees on earth were pens, and all the oceans were ink (with seven more such oceans to help), the Words of Allah would not be exhausted.” Letters, then, could represent our input, in this case the human deeds that are being weighed. And throughout the entire Quran, mentions of the Justice Scales used on Judgment Day to weigh good and bad deeds follow a precise pattern.

The One Quranic Aya that Mentions Ramadan

This well-known aya, translated below (Saheeh International), is the only aya where Ramadan is mentioned by name as the time when the Quran was sent, and therefore is very significant and worth analyzing. Surat Al-Qadr 97 is a shorter sura entirely about the night the Quran was sent, called laylat Al-Qadr 97 or the “night of decree,” which we thus know is in Ramadan. But the whole month is named in this single aya in Surat Al-Baqara, with its significance declared in two basic ways: as the month in which the historically important event of sending the Quran to humankind occurred, and as a month of fasting and repentance. 

Salat in the Heart of the Quran

Salat is more than ”prayer,” but in its root term means ”connection” or ”to connect.” The Quran speaks of it as to be ”established,” to build or establish being the common translation of iqama, thus one establishes or erects a ”connection” to Allah within one’s heart by doing this daily. This could even be thought of in the modern sense of establishing a “connection” in a phone or with the internet, in a real sense to ”keep in touch” in this case with our Creator and Sustainer. The Quran has “built-in” such a connection in its very architecture, connecting the last 3 suras with the first sura, Al-Fatiha. This forms a visual dhikr Allah you can see, showing in the Quran a kind of circulatory system that brings us back to connect with Allah and His words. The chart with explanation in PDF form is downloadable below.

salatintheheartofthequran1649072725

Adam/Eve in the Middle: 2nd Creation of Adam Story in Surah 7

In this surah, Adam’s first test, Allah’s command not to “approach” a specific tree, is presented in the center, placing Adam in the central focus of this narrative, ”surrounded” in the ring composition, by Satan’s rebellion and expulsion from paradise in the upper section, and his successful deception of Adam/Eve leading to their awareness of shame/ nakedness and their private parts, and expulsion from Paradise in the lower section. But Satan failed in his ultimate goal, to make Adam/Eve ungrateful,” associated with kufr or denial, thus they repented and were forgiven whereas Satan was not.

Analyzing Surah 108 Al-Kawthar: Can You Produce a Surah like it?

In response to a question as to why Allah the Exalted challenged us to produce a surah like those in the Quran, giving the shortest surah 108 as an example of a simple surah anyone could write, I offer the following analysis of that surah showing a closer look at its inimitable presentation:

Surat Al-Kawthar Analysis

إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ

Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], al-Kawthar. (Al-Kawthar 108:1)

فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ

So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. (108:2)

إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ

Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off. (108:3)

This surah consists of 3 ayat, but as we shall show, packs much power and meaning into its 11 words and 43 letters.

The sum of the digits of its number, 108, is 9, which is a significant number in itself and represents, in the “infinitive” form of a number, both giving and cutting off, the very dynamic theme of this surah. This number 9 is represented by, in terms of months in the Hijri calendar, the 9th month of Ramadan, the number of repentance and returning to Allah. And returning to Allah can be represented as a circle, whose number is 360, the number of degrees in a circle, and of course this too is divisible by 9. 

A Pilgrimage of the Mind and Heart

Great Blue Heron (photo by author)

The Hajj pilgrimage is described in Surat Al-Baqara 2:196-203, as well as in Surat Al-Hajj (22:25-38) and elsewhere. This blog discussed it here in reference to animal sacrifice and the narrative of Prophet Abraham’s sacrifice; and here regarding the essential rites of equality, focusing on the current regime that exerts control over and provides services such as provisions for the Hajj. Here we shall show how the Hajj is a pilgrimage of the mind and heart, taking a different approach.