Why Obsessing Over Quran Numbers Misses the Point

Alhamdulillah. Continuing in the opening verses of Surah Musl is either 19 or 20 verses. Now a person may ask 19 or 20. How does that work? This is an important point for us to contemplate and that is that the way that the verses are numbered mostly is based on how the prophet sallall.aii wasallam used to recite the Quran to the companions. and most of it is agreed upon. However, distinguishing which verse ends where and which verse begins where, this is an issue that is not completely agreed upon amongst the scholars of the scholars of the Quran. So we don't have a problem with our book problems that plague the other books because their scholarship was not trustworthy. You look at the Torah that was given to Misam the given to the Zab that was given to Benu. They did not follow through with their entrustment. Benu Israel's scholars were no not much better and no better largely than the rest of the ignorant among them amongst them and as a result they dropped the ball with their book. Some of them deliberately altered it, but general general lack of passion and dutifulness is what plagued their books. So you see now that after all these hundreds of years that these books are not agreed upon not just the number of verses but the number of books themselves we don't have versions of the Quran we have one Quran there are versions of understanding that one Quran but even that has been preserved by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But we don't have printed multiple versions of the Quran. There is one Quran. It has 114 chapters in it. And every single letter of that book is exactly how it was when it was revealed to our prophet sallallah.aii wasallam 1500 years ago. But the previous books, the Torah, the Injil, the Zabur, they were not protected and preserved by their scholars. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blames them largely in the Quran for their lack of dutifulness in preserving those books. So now you have versions of the Bible, versions where some they have extra books in it, entire books, up to 15 or even 20 books difference between the different versions. more than 40 versions of the Bible which is an amalgamation of parts of the Tawra parts of the Zabur and parts of Aljid which is what we have today called the modern Bible we don't have this issue in the Quran in the Quran every letter is agreed upon amongst the scholars however the exact numbers of verses where this verse ends and where this one begins. That's an issue that has been differed upon. So the actual text itself is not differed upon. However, the division of that text into verses there is a difference in the chains of narration and in the ite. So for instance, we'll take a good example of this is at the beginning of fat a verse of fat or is it not a verse? And if it's a a verse is the last verse is that one verse or is that part of the last verse? This is an issue differed upon. This is what's called as the science of counting and determining the verses of the Quran. Is this all one verse or is one verse and the second verse etc. The differences are in this way. And so we know for certain if is part of the Quran is part of the Quran. But is it all part of the same verse or is that two verses is part of the Quran? But is it the first verse of Fat or is it an independent verse on its own or is it just something that is a marking? And so the companions, they did not worry themselves with numbers. They wrote the Quran and they all agreed in those original mah that they distributed in the time of man not to include a single pen stroke that is not part of the Quran. Not a single pen stroke that is not part of the words of Allah. And so everything in those mah is is part of the Quran. How we divide it up that is an issue that is is differed upon. But even that differing is very very slight. You won't find a scholar that says this chapter is 20 verses and another who says this is actually 50 verses. It's not that dramatic. It is merely an issue of where one sentence ends and where the next begins and picks up because as we know there is no punctuation in the Arabic language as it originally was punctuation period commas exclamation po point or mark question mark colons semicolons etc. these things. This is punctuation. This is for English, not in Arabic. Arabic the the language of the actual words themselves carry their punctuation. It's unnecessary. It's redundant and it's unneeded. And so this is why there would be a difference. But it doesn't mean that there is a difference in the actual words of the Quran or in the actual verses. But now this brings us to a very interesting issue. If we understand that the numbers of verses and where one starts and the other ends is something which there is an issue an element of it had an element of opinion to it and it is something that is not agreed upon amongst the scholars nor is it agreed upon with respect to the chains of narration. This now brings into question the whole numerical quote unquote numerical miracles of the Quran, right? You read some books or some interesting fun facts about the Quran. They say look at this verse number in this chapter in this place. It says this and you look at for instance and everyone wants to find their numbers and think that it's there's some kind of connection there. Entire books have been written on this and it's very fun to imagine. We can understand the allure, the attraction people have to it. However, this is not a science of Islam. This never was a science of Islam. This was never something that was that was you know something that was written on or explored in the time of the major scholars of this and the this is something that when was it introduced? It was largely introduced in the last hundred years or so. And it was largely introduced because of people's obsession with numbers in this new materialistic way of seeing the world. And it was largely introduced because the Muslim started to overlook the point of the Quran and start to look at the aspects of it that were not intended to be looked at in that way. is when Allah would say to them something like threw down his staff and it turned into a snake. Benu is would say, "What kind of snake? What kind of stick was it? What was the wood made out of? What was he wearing when he did that? Did the snake could it bite someone? What how how long was it? How tall was it?" No. am built the ark and then when Allah opened the gates of the heavens and the earth and all of this waves of water came in to destroy people instead of them thinking of that they say well how big was the ark exactly did it have windows in it how big were those windows this is how benel used to think why because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that many of them largely took their religion as a source of entertainment. It was something to entertain them and we need those details in order to be entertained. And that is why when you read in the modern Bible today, what do you read? The most dry details on things, right? There were fish. How many fish exactly did he catch? And what type of fish were they? And what they said and what he said and what he said back. Why? Because they asked their prophets all of these unnecessary questions and their prophets could not withhold knowledge from them. So every time they asked something like this, they would get a response. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught our companions not to do that. our ancestors. He said,.

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"So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said to the companions, "Do not ask about things that if they were shown to you, they would end up being bad for you. But if you insist on asking anyways, they will be to told to you. You will receive the answers to those questions. And some men even in the time of the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam came and asked him questions men ebbi who's my real father because they didn't know who their father was my real father what came out because of these questions entire family structures fell apart because of the answers to these questions and so the prophet sallallahu alaii wasallam received this verse and the companions would not ask about anything unless it was absolely absolutely critical to upholding a an already established command or prohibition. This is how our companions were. And that is why the Quran is concise and dense in its knowledge. Every letter has benefit to us and is of consequence. There's no fluff there. Why is there no fluff? Because largely because of how great our ancestors were, our self, the companions of our prophet sallall.aii wasallam, how they were. And this is why when they ask about something, we follow their lead and ask and research it. And when they would not ask about something, we leave that door. We don't ask about it because they were more they were far more passionate about this religion than we will ever be. And they did not leave a single stone unturned. Not a single curtain unopened. not a single door that they didn't knock on if it was something that would be of consequence for them or their their lineage or the Muslim that would come after them. So a lot of these and this is why and we'll end with this point. Do you notice that this kind of phenomenon that came out in the last say hundred years or so about the quote unquote alleged scientific miracles of the Quran or the numerical miracles of the Quran etc. There is you know the religion of Allah is always in the middle between the two extremes. There are groups that say no, there are no scientific or numerical miracles in the Quran at all. That is incorrect. And then there are those who all they see when they hear the Quran or read it is as if the the Quran is a book on geography, as if the Quran is a book a book on metallurgy or a book on physics or a book on space exploration. That is not the point of the Quran. And that is not what it was revealed for. It may have elements of that in it, but those are never the center thrust of the Quran. The Quran is our technology to establish a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is an instruction manual. It is a map to guide us to Allah's pleasure and away from his hellfire. And so are there some numerical some striking numerical elements of the Quran? Sure. Right. The word day and night are mentioned 360 times each in the Quran. Is that amazing? Very amazing. Incredible. Right. the word devil and and and angel are mentioned an equal amount of times throughout the Quran. Amazing. Incredible. Are those intentional? Everything in the Quran is intentional. But is 911 mentioned in the Quran? Did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala place that little bread breadcrumb in there for us to learn about Bush and Cheney and the What is this? This is not a people who take their book seriously who treat it in this way. Is the Quran talking about when we're going to go to space? how we got to go to space. Well, the Quran didn't come to teach us how to go to space. And so there may be elements of this mentioned, but it is mentioned in passing and it is never the center thrust. And it is something that cannot be reached for. It's not something that we're supposed to twist the Quran in order to make it mean that. It's something that makes itself apparent if you were to look at whether the earth is flat or round in the Quran. You know what's interesting about that? The same evidences used to prove that it is round are the exact same evidences used by earlier scholars to prove that it is flat. Exact same evidences. Why is that? Because that doesn't matter to our relationship with Allah. If the earth is round or flat or or or discshaped or a triangle, it doesn't make any difference with respect to our relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is not definitive for a purpose. And for this reason, you'll find that the people that most obsess about these elements of the Quran often times are most weak in their upholding of the prophet's sunnah sallall.aii wasallam. You will find very few signs of the sunnah on their po person and in their lives. They are very usually often rather ignorant with regards to the meanings of the Quran and Sunnah that the Quran and Sunnah were intended for. Why? because their focus is not on what the Quran was revealed for. They are focusing on what the same thing Benel was focused on before. What type of wood was the staff made of and what type of snake did it become? And exactly what color use of clothing was that the blood was put on and what type of blood was it? And when Adam and How ate from the tree, what type of tree was it? And they completely missed the point of the actual story and metaphors or or parables that the Quran holds. There is nothing on this earth that has ever been here of knowledge that is grander or greater than the Quran. Ever. Ever. This is the pinnacle of human potential. However, a shaitan will try to always stop a person on their path. And if he can do that by making a person hyperfocus on the wrong things, then that is a method that he will use to great extent.

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