A. Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a sufficient background material about the Quran, relevant to our discussion regarding the role of its opening statement in the mathematical code, and to state the goal of this article. The Quranic mathematical code, based on the number 19, has emerged as a result of several studies carried out by the late Dr. Rashad Khalifa. These studies indicate that the Quran contains a profound mathematical structure, and, hence suggests a conclusion about its origin and authorship. A detailed discussion regarding the Quranic mathematical code and other related articles can be seen at the following address: http://submission.org/d/miracle.html

The Quran consists of 114 chapters with varying lengths; the shortest chapter contains only three numbered verses while the longest contains 286 numbered verses. Each chapter, except chapter 9, starts with the following opening verse:

Bism Allah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim, which means “In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”. This verse is only numbered in the first chapter. The total number of the Quranic verses is 6346. 6234 are numbered verses and 112 un-numbered opening verses.

I will explore the role of the Quranic opening verse in the mathematical code and present further evidence of the Quranic mathematical structure, give a partial answer why chapter’s one opening verse is numbered, and examine what role the word Bism plays in that code. This study confirms and complements Dr. Khalifa‘s findings found in the above Internet address.

Previous studies, see reference 1, showed that the opening statement of the Quran consists of 19 Arabic letters and the occurrence of each word in that statement is found to be a multiple of 19 in the numbered verses[1] of the Quran:

Ism (Name) occurs 19 (19x1) times.

Allah (GOD) occurs 2698 times (19x142).

Rahman (Gracious) occurs 57 times (19x3).

Rahim (Merciful) occurs 114 times (19x6).

However, the sum of the occurrence of the words of the Quranic opening statement (Ism+ Allah+ Rahman+ Rahim) is 19+2698+57+114=2888=19´19´8.

B. The role of Bism

Bism (In the Name) is the first word of the Quran and its root is Ism (Name). The role of this word in the mathematical code has not been examined. The word Bism occurs in the Quran with its peculiar spelling in the numbered verses three times: 1:1, 11:41, and 27:30. I found out that this word divides the Book into three parts and the number of verses in each part is a multiple of 19:

1. The number of verses from the first Bism (1:1) to verse (11:40), verses 1:1 and 11:40 are counted, is 1520 =19×80.
2. The number of verses from the second Bism (11:41) to verse (27:29), verses 11:41 and 27:29 are counted, is 1691 =19×89.
3. The number of verses from the third Bism (27:30) to the end of the Quran, verse 27:30 and the last verse of the Book are counted, is 3135 =19×165.

This means the following:

1. The order of the chapters and verses of the Quran has not been tampered with, i.e., it is preserved. This is significant considering the fact that the current format and order of the chapters and verses are different from the chronological revelation of the chapters and verses. Hence, the arrangement of the Quran’s chapters and verses preserves the mathematical code.
2. Points to why the opening statement (Bismillah) of the first chapter (1:1) is numbered.
3. It confirms Dr. Khalifa‘s findings that verses 9:128 & 129 were falsely injected into the Quran after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

C. The Role of the opening verses as numbered verses

The opening statement (Basmalla) as a numbered verse occurs in the Quran twice, in verse 1:1 and in verse 27:30. This statement divides the Quran into two segments. Segment one contains the verses 1:1 to 27:29 and segment two consists of verses 27:30 to the end of the Book. It is clear from the previous discussion that the number of verses in each segment is a multiple of 19. I constructed Table 1 to show the occurrence of the words of the opening statement of the numbered verses of the first segment. The reader can verify my counts of the word Allah by consulting reference 1, and the words Ism, Rahman, and Rahim by consulting the second reference listed at the end of the article.

References

Rashad Khalifa, Authorized English translation of the Quran.

Abdul Baqy, Index of the words of the Quran, in Arabic.