Nassir H. Sabah
The word “Allāh” الله, the proper name of God in Arabic, occurs in various forms in the Quran 2699 times. This is a prime number divisible only by itself and by the number 1, which signifies the oneness of Allāh, which is a major theme of the Quran.
The oneness of is also signified in the Quran by the number 11. Thus, the phrase “one God” إله واحد is repeated in the Quran 11 times. One of its occurrences is in Verse 22 (2×11), Chapter 16, which states: “Your God is one God. And those who believe not in the Hereafter, their hearts deny and they wax arrogant.” إِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ ۚ فَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ قُلُوبُهُم مُّنكِرَةٌ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ. The opening sentence, “Your God is one God” إِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ consists of 11 Arabic letters, and the whole verse consists of 11 words.
The oneness of Allāh is also expressly emphasized by a most hallowed phrase of the Quran: “There is no god but Allāh” لا إله إلا الله. Significantly, both this phase and the word Allāh consist of repetitions of just three different Arabic letters: alef, lam, and ha’. Interestingly, all six, three-letter combinations of these letters are meaningful words in Arabic.
If the number of letters in each of the four words of the Arabic phrase, “There is no god but Allāh”, are laid side by side, starting with the first word on the right, the resulting number is 4332 = 19×19×12 = (19×4)×(19×3), which is the mystical number 19(1) multiplied by 12, the number of letters in the phrase, and is also the number 19 multiplied by the number of words in the phrase and by the number of different letters used in the phrase.
Moreover, if the three numbers 19, 19, and 12 are combined in any of the three possible orders, the resulting numbers are multiples of the mystical number 7 when read from left to right or from right to left. Thus: 191912 = 27,416×7, 219191 = 31,313×7, 191219 = 27,317×7, 912191 = 130,313×7, 121919 = 17,417×7, and 919121 = 131,303×7! Note that the digital sums of 31,313, 130,313, and 131,303 are all 11, whereas the digital sums of 27,416, 27,317, and 17,417 are all 20 = 2×10. The digital sum of 10 is 1, which symbolizes the Oneness of Allāh. It can also be written as 010, which symbolizes He is The One and Only, nothing (zero) is before Him and nothing is after Him.
Can all this be coincidental?
It should be noted that the phrase, “There is no god but Allāh”, has three profound meanings: First is the evident meaning that there is only one God, the creator of the universe and guide and sustainer of everything in it. Second is that only Allāh should be worshipped, that is, idolized and made the center of our devotion and attention. Nowadays, many people do in fact worship, in this sense of the word, other gods, such as money, power and status, our own egos and self-interests, or other worldly and materialistic pursuits. Third is that only Allāh and not anything or anyone should be feared in opposing all forms of evil such as injustice, oppression, exploitation, and corruption.
(1) See the article “Mystical and Perfect Numbers in the Quran” under Insights/Supplements/Numerical Miraculousness on this website.
