Authenticity of the Quran: Numbers of Chapters and Verses

Nassir H. Sabah

The Arabic Quran, as originally revealed, has some amazing numerical relations and patterns that attest its authenticity and divine origin, purely objectively and irrefutably.

Since about 2015, the digitized Quranic text was subjected to intensive computerized search, which revealed some truly amazing numerical relations and patterns of varied nature that cannot possibly all be coincidental or of human origin, thereby affirming the authenticity of the Quran and its divine origin. Hundreds of these numerical relations and patterns have been discovered so far and continue to be discovered – a recurring miracle that keeps on giving.

Such numerical relations and patterns have the following distinguishing features: (i) they are completely objective, as they do not depend on any philosophical or linguistic interpretations of verses or words, just counting and simple arithmetic, and (ii) they prove beyond any doubt that the Arabic Quran that is officially adopted today by at least 98% of Muslims is the original, authentic Quran that has been preserved in accordance with God’s promise: “Truly it is We Who have sent down the Reminder (the Quran), and surely We are its Preserver.” (Q15:9) إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَـٰفِظُونَ. Alterations to the Quran and translations would largely destroy these numerical relations and patterns.

Many of these numerical relations and patterns involve the mystical numbers 7 and 19, which are specifically mentioned in the Quran in a manner suggestive of their special significance, as in Verse 30, Chapter 74: “Over it are nineteen” عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ, and in Verse 87, Chapter 15: “And We have indeed given thee the seven oft-repeated, and the great Quran” وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَـٰكَ سَبْعًا مِّنَ ٱلْمَثَانِى وَٱلْقُرْءَانَ ٱلْعَظِيمَ.

The following presents examples of some numerical relations and patterns discovered so far that involve just the number of chapters of the Quran and its numbered verses.

Number of chapters

The Quran has 114 chapters. This is not a random number; it is the mystical 19 multiplied by 6, which is mathematically the first perfect number, that is, a number that equals the sum of its proper divisors (1, 2, and 3). If 19 and 6 are concatenated, with 6 on the right, the resulting number 196 is the mystical 7 multiplied by 28, which is a multiple of 7 and is the second perfect number, as it is the sum of its proper divisors (1, 2, 4, 7, and 14). It is also the number of letters in the Arabic alphabet. If 19 and 6 are concatenated, with 6 on the left, the resulting number 619 is the 114th prime number!

If the number 1 of the first chapter is concatenated with the number of the last chapter, 114, with the number of the first chapter on the right, the resulting number 1141 is a multiple of 7. The 4 numerals of 1141 also add to 7!

The number 114 is embedded in several places in the Quran. The first verse of the Quran, Verse 1, Chapter 1, has 4 words. If these numbers are concatenated, with the number of the smallest unit, the word, on the right, the result is 114!

Only Verse 9, Chapter 17, and Verse 76, Chapter 27, begin with “Truly, this Quran…”إنَّ هَذَا الْقُرْءَانَ…  . There are 69 Arabic letters in the first verse and 45 in the second, which sum to 114!

The word Quran begins with the Arabic letter qaf, whose only occurrence in the disjointed letters is at the beginning of chapters 42 and 50. The total number of qafs in the two chapters, including the disjointed letters, is also 114!

Verse 17, Chapter 75, affirms about the Quran: “Surely on us rests the collection of it and the recitation of it” إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُۥ وَقُرْءَانَهُ. The Arabic verse consists of 5 words, counting the conjunctive letter “waw”, and 17 letters. The sum of the numbers of chapter, verse, words, and letters is: 75+17+5+17 = 114! If the numbers of letters in each word of the verse are concatenated, starting with the first word on the right, the result 51,452 = 2,708×19 is a multiple of the mystical 19!

A verse referring to the complete Quran is: “…Be not in haste with the Quran before its revelation is completed for thee…”…وَلَا تَعْجَلْ بِٱلْقُرْءَانِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يُقْضَىٰٓ إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُ… This verse is in Chapter 20, Verse number 114! The number of this verse in the Quran 41,154 = 114x19x19!

Number of verses

The Quran has 6236 numbered verses. This is also not a random number. It starts and ends with 6, the first perfect number, as mentioned previously. The 2 and 3 in the middle are the non-trivial divisors of 6, so that the product of the individual numerals of the number 6236 is 6x6x6. Moreover, 23 is the number of years over which the Quran was revealed!

In 32 chapters of the Quran the count of the numbered verses is a prime number. A table can be constructed in which the numbers of these chapters are listed in the first column and the corresponding prime number of verses in each of these chapters is listed in the second column. Referring to a list of prime numbers, such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_numbers, the prime number whose index is the number in the second column is entered in the third column. For example, Chapter 1 has 7 numbered verses, which is a prime number, so that the first row of the table has 1 in the first column and 7 in the second column. The 7th prime number is 17, so this number is entered in the third column of the first row, and so on. When the numbers in each column are added, it is found that: (i) the sum of the chapter numbers having prime-numbered verses is 2239, which is itself a prime number, and (ii) adding the sums of the numbers in the second and third columns gives 6236, which is the count of the numbered verses in the Quran! The table is shown in full in: Pattern of Prime Numbers in the Quran – Spirituality Rekindled (nassirsabah.com).

Combinations of the numbers of chapters and verses

If the numbers 114 and 6236 are concatenated, with the smaller unit (verse) on the right and the larger unit (chapter) on the left, bearing in mind that Arabic is written and read from right to left, the resulting number 1146236 is a multiple of the mystical 7. If the order of the numerals is reversed, the number 6326411 is also a multiple of 7!

If the individual numerals in the numbers 114 and 6236 are added, the sum is 23, the number of years over which the Quran was revealed. If this number is concatenated with the number of verses, the result 236236 is a multiple of 7. If the order of the numerals is reversed, the number 632632 is also a multiple of 7!

If the number 23 is concatenated with the number of chapters replacing the number of verses, the resulting number 23114 is a multiple of 7. If the order of the numerals is reversed, the number 41132 is also a multiple of 7!

The number of digits of the first number formed (1146236) is 7, the number of digits of the second number formed (236236) is 6, and the number of digits of the third number formed (23114) is 5. If these numbers of digits are concatenated, with the number of digits of the first number on the right, the resulting number 567 is a multiple of 7!

A table can be constructed in which the numbers of chapters from 1 to 114 are entered in the first column. The sum of these column entries is 6555, which is a multiple of 19, just like 114, the number of chapters. The corresponding count of the numbered verses in each chapter is entered in the second column. The sum of the entries in the second column is of course 6236, the total of the numbered verses in the Quran. Next, the chapter number is added to the count of the numbered verses in each chapter. If this sum is even, it is entered in the corresponding row in the third column and, if odd, it is entered in the corresponding row in the fourth column. Interestingly, there are 57 entries in each of these two columns, the total being of course 114, the number of chapters in the Quran. But what is truly amazing is that the sum of all entries in the third column is again 6236, and the sum of all the entries in the fourth column is again 6555, as in the second and first columns, respectively! The table is shown in full in: Pattern of Even and Odd Numbers in the Quran – Spirituality Rekindled (nassirsabah.com).

Can all this be coincidental, and hundreds of other examples? Evidently not. Moreover, such numerical relations and patterns cannot possibly be of human origin. So how can the Quran be of other than divine origin?