Pattern of Even and Odd Numbers in the Quran

nsabah Numerical Miraculousness, Supplements

Nassir H. Sabah

The only mention of even and odd numbers in the Quran is as an oath by God Almighty in Verse 3, Chapter 89: “By the even and the odd” وَٱلشَّفْعِ وَٱلْوَتْرِ. The conventional interpretation is that it’s a reference to the daily prayers, which have an even number of cycles except for the sunset prayer which has an odd number. A mystical interpretation is that even refers to all creation, which was created in pairs (Q51:49), and odd refers to God as The One and Only.

Some amazing numerical patterns on odd and even numbers have been reported in the relevant literature, such as the following:

  1. Concatenating the chapter and verse numbers of Verse 3, Chapter 89, with the verse number, representing the smaller unit, the verse, on the right, gives 893 = 47×19 = (28 + 19)x19, where 19 is a mystical number and 28 = 4×7 is a multiple of the mystical number 7 and is also a perfect number that is equal to the sum of its proper divisors: 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28.
  2. 60 chapters in the Quran have an even number of verses and 54 have an odd number of verses. Referring to a list of prime numbers, such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_numbers, the 54th prime number is 251 and the 60th is 281. The sum of these two numbers is 532 = 28×19, where 28 and 19 have the significance mentioned in item (1) above.
  3. The first counted verse of the Quran, the basmalah, is traditionally inserted at the beginning of every chapter except Chapter 9 but is not counted in the 6236 numbered verses. If these 112 additional basmalahs are counted, the numbers of chapters having even and odd number of verses become 52 and 62 , respectively. The corresponding 52nd and 62nd prime numbers are 239 and 293, which again sum to 532 = 28×19, the same as in item (2) above. It seems that the tradition of not counting the 112 basmalahs at the beginning of chapters is inherent to the divine Quranic revelation.
  4. If the numerals of the first set of two primal numbers formed in item (2) above are added, the sum is: 2 + 5 +1 + 2 + 8 + 1 = 19, and if the numerals of the second set of two primal numbers formed in item (3) above are added, the sum is: 2 + 3 + 9 + 2 + 9 + 3 = 28, where 19 and 28 are the two non-trivial divisor of 532 in items (2) and (3) above, which is amazing!
  5. Another amazing numerical pattern of even and odd numbers is provided by the number of chapters and verses of the Quran, as indicated in the table below in which the numbers of chapters of the Quran from 1 to 114 are listed in the first column. The sum of these numbers is 6555, which is a multiple of 19, just like 114, the number of chapters. The second column is the count of the numbered verses in each chapter, which add up to 6236, the count of the numbered verses of the Quran. The numbers in the first two columns are added, row by row. If the sum is even, it is entered in the same row in the third column. If the sum is odd, it is entered in the same row in the fourth column. It’s interesting that the third and fourth columns have 57 entries each. 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.

Is all this pure coincidence or is it a verification of the counts of the number of chapters and numbered verses in the Quran? If the latter, can it be of human design with any reasonable degree of certainty?

Number of chapters Number of verses Sum of first two columns
Even sum Odd sum
1 7 8  
2 286 288  
3 200   203
4 176 180  
5 120   125
6 165   171
7 206   213
8 75   83
9 129 138  
10 109   119
11 123 134  
12 111   123
13 43 56  
14 52 66  
15 99 114  
16 128 144  
17 111 128  
18 110 128  
19 98   117
20 135   155
21 112   133
22 78 100  
23 118   141
24 64 88  
25 77 102  
26 227   253
27 93 120  
28 88 116  
29 69 98  
30 60 90  
31 34   65
32 30 62  
33 73 106  
34 54 88  
35 45 80  
36 83   119
37 182   219
38 88 126  
39 75 114  
40 85   125
41 54   95
42 53   97
43 89 132  
44 59   103
45 37 82  
46 35   81
47 38   85
48 29   77
49 18   67
50 45   95
51 60   111
52 49   101
53 62   115
54 55   109
55 78   133
56 96 152  
57 29 86  
58 22 80  
59 24   83
60 13   73
61 14   75
62 11   73
63 11 74  
64 18 82  
65 12   77
66 12 78  
67 30   97
68 52 120  
69 52   121
70 44 114  
71 28   99
72 28 100  
73 20   93
74 56 130  
75 40   115
76 31   107
77 50   127
78 40 118  
79 46   125
80 42 122  
81 29 110  
82 19   101
83 36   119
84 25   109
85 22   107
86 17   103
87 19 106  
88 26 114  
89 30   119
90 20 110  
91 15 106  
92 21   113
93 11 104  
94 8 102  
95 8   103
96 19   115
97 5 102  
98 8 106  
99 8   107
100 11   111
101 11 112  
102 8 110  
103 3 106  
104 9   113
105 5 110  
106 4 110  
107 7 114  
108 3   111
109 6   115
110 3   113
111 5 116  
112 4 116  
113 5 118  
114 6 120  
6555 6236 6236 6555