The Mathematical Marvels of the Holy Quran: The Divine signature of Number 19
We read in the Holy Quran: “Everything we created is precisely measured” (54:49).
Mathematics n.pl. the abstract science of number, quantity, and space: Oxford Concise English Dictionary
‘If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behoves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics’: ROGER BACON (1214- 94)
In this short piece, I am going to share with the reader a number that is an everyday number but with a significant position in the Holy Quran as a divine protective code.
The number in question is number 19. This number consists of two digits 1 and 9, the former is the beginning, whereas the latter is the end of single-digit numbers.
These two numbers offer a wide range of interests to scholars as well as students of numerology. However, this piece is not a numerologist exercise, but one that is deeper and based exclusively on the Holy Quran.
Let us look at number 19 in the context of the Holy Quran.
The significance of number 19 in the Quran as a coded miracle starts with the first revealed five verses in the Holy Quran:
“Recite in the name of your Lord who created — Created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the Most Generous — Who taught by the pen — Taught man that which he knew not.” [Quran, 96: 1–5].
These five verses consist of 19 words. These words, in turn, consists of 76 letters, which is a multiple of 19, I.e. 19x4. The chapter itself consists of 19 verses in total, and it sits atop the last 19 Sarah of the Holy Quran.
The chapters in the Quran.
The Holy Quran consists of 114 chapters in total. This number is a multiple of nineteen, i.e. 19x6= 114. When you divide the entire chapters of the Holy Quran by two (i.e. 114/2), you get 57, which is 19x 3.
Every chapter of the Holy Quran except for chapter 9, starts with Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem “In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful”. This consists of 19 letters.
From Chapter 9, which is the only chapter without Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem to chapter 27, which is the single chapter with two Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheems, there are precisely 19 Chapters (inclusive of 9 and 27).
Quranic Initials and the significance of number 19.
Out of the 114 chapters of the Holy Quran, 29 chapters have initial letters in their first verse- for example, Chapter 2:1 has A.L.M.
While the meaning of these letters remains a mystery, and are only known to the Almighty God, they have some unusual mathematical coding vis-a-vis number 19.
The initialled 29 chapters in the Holy Quran have 14 different sets of initials formed from 14 different Arabic letters. This means 14+14+29= 57. This number (i.e. 57) is a multiple of 19, i.e. 19x3= 57.
Even more impressive, the total of the 29 chapters where Quranic initials appear, i.e. Chapter 2+ Chapter 3+ Chapter 7 to Chapter 50 and Chapter 68 add up to 822, if you add this to the 14 sets of initials of all these Chapters, i.e. 822+14 you get 836, which is 19x 44.
Between the first initialled Chapter (i.e. Chapter 2) and the last initialled Chapter (i.e. Chapter 68), there are 38 un- initialled chapters, and this means 19x2= 38.
One more interesting Divine code with these initialled 29 Chapters of the Holy Quran is the individual letters that form the initials of each these Chapters, when counted in every verse and added together total a number that is a multiple of 19.
An example of this will be Chapter 13(Thunder) initials are A.L.M.R. ( Alef Laam Mim Ra). If you count the occurrence of these letters from verse zero Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem to verse 43, which is the last verse of the chapter, their total will be 1482, and this means 19x78.
Same is right with the rest of the 28 initialled chapters in the Holy Quran.
A final point with regards to number 19 and its signature in the Holy Quran. We read in Chapter 74 verse 30–31 the following- (the underline is mine for emphasis)
“Over it is nineteen [angels](74:30)” “And We have not made the keepers of the Fire except angels. And We have not made their number except as a trial for those who disbelieve — that those who were given the Scripture will be convinced and those who have believed will increase in faith and those who were given the Scripture and the believers will not doubt and that those in whose hearts is hypocrisy and the disbelievers will say, “What does Allah intend by this as an example?” Thus does Allah leave astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him. And mention of the Fire is not but a reminder to humanity” (74: 31)
Although the first verse, centres on the number of angels that Almighty God has assigned as the keepers of Hellfire).
The second verse teaches us deeper meaning about faith and belief connected with the number of angels that Almighty God assigned as keepers.
Similarly, it is the view of many scholars of Quran that the presence of 19 in the Holy Quran is one of the Divine signatures protecting the revelation against omissions, additions and corruption. We read in that Almighty God guarantees the protection of the Holy Quran.
“Surely, We have revealed the ‘Zhikr’ (Quran), and surely, We will preserve it” (15:9) “No falsehood will come to it, in the present or the future; a revelation from One who is Wise and Praiseworthy.” (41:42)
Conclusion
In this short piece, I have looked at one of the physical miracles of the Holy Quran- number 19.
This number, of course, does not have a miracle of its own. Still, it is a number nevertheless that has been uniquely applied as a code in the Holy Quran, of which owing to its mathematical complexity makes the Holy Quran the final book of the Being that created the universe- Almighty God.
