Word Count Miracles in the Qur'an: Difference between revisions

This article takes a look at alleged word count "miracles" in the Qur'an.

Apologetic Claim

In an attempt to prove the divine origins of Islam, there are many Islamic websites promoting "word count miracles" in the Qur'an. The basic claim here is that certain words in the Qur'an are repeated a specific number of times, and for some reasons, that number is meaningful or rather miraculous. Hence Muslim apologists assert that the Qur'an is the word of God.

Some apologist websites, when listing the numerical miracles, also show this verse ^[1]:

• 4:82 "Will they not ponder the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah, they would have found many inconsistencies in it."

Although the Qur'an itself admits being inconsistent by adopting an abrogation principle, to get rid of inconsistencies, we can also see the inconsistencies in these word count "miracles". This article includes what can be termed as "non-miracles". For example, the Muslim claim is that the word "day" appears 365 times in the Quran and there are 365 days in a year, so this is a miracle by Allah. But besides the fact that apologists used a questionable counting method, when we calculate the number of occurrences of the word "night" in the Qur'an, we find that it is only 92 though there are 365 nights in a year.

These kinds of inconsistencies show how apologists list only the cases where the word counts "fit" their claims and don't show the cases where they don't. By this cherry-picking tactic, they create a false impression that the Qur'an is full of word count miracles.

The Deceptive Tactics

There are many tactics for manipulating data and doctoring a "miracle".

Selective Choice of Words Used

The first one is the selective choice of words to interpret as miracles. If for a certain word there exists a nice number of repetitions, then it is mentioned and included as a miracle. If no nice number of repetitions exist, it is not mentioned and discarded. By only mentioning the instances where there are "nice repetitions" one gets the impression that there is something special about it, while statistically the same probability of finding similar "miracles" exists in all texts.

Adding word counts of similar words

Sometimes they even add more word counts together to get an interesting word count.

• One example of this is the "Mind and light both appear 49 times" claim, where they counted both the words noor and muneer as "light" (although the word muneer is rather translated as "illuminating").
• Sometimes they even count verbs together with nouns, when the nouns don't have a nice number of repetitions. For example, in the "Life and death mentioned 145 times miracle" they count "death" as well as "die", "dead" and other forms. And of course they don't mention this in the miracle claim. They just dishonestly claim: "The words 'death' and 'life' appear 145 times".

Using Phrase Count Instead of Word Count

When the word itself doesn't have a nice number of repetitions, apologists try counting the word in a phrase, like "seven heavens", instead of counting just "heaven". Counting phrases as well makes the probability of finding coincidences higher and therefore the miraculous-ness smaller.

Selective Choice of Grammatical Forms Counted

The second way of manipulating data is the selective choice of which Arabic grammatical forms are to be counted. Are just singular forms counted? Or also plural forms? Duals? Forms with or without prefix? And so on. By choosing different ways of counting, you get a lot of different results. Of course, those who claim there are "word repetition miracles in the Qur'an" will not tell you that they have chosen a specific way of counting words to get the desired result.

The Arabic language has conjunctions as prefixes and possessive pronouns as suffixes.

• For example the word "their day" (yawmihim) is expressed by a single word in Arabic. And although it is just a simple word "day", apologists don't count this occurrence, only because in Arabic, the word "their" is suffixed.
• In the same way, the word "and a day" (wayawma) has the "and" prefixed to the word day (yawm) and is not counted.

Calling the Selected Grammatical Form "the simple form"

Apologists often say, that the miracle works only when counting the "simple form" of the word, but their definition of a simple form changes from miracle to miracle.

Ignoring the Meanings of some Arabic Words

Including words with other meanings

Some Arabic words have more than one meaning. For example the word الجنة means "paradise", but it can also mean "jinn" (like in the last verse of the Qur'an ^[2]). But apologists just search for the word الجنة and they don't worry at all that this word has other meanings as well.

Or in other cases, when the word count is not interesting, they start excluding the words with other meanings to get a more interesting number.

Presenting the list only in Arabic

When the word has other meanings, then it is misleading to show the list just in Arabic and let people who don't understand Arabic think that this word has always the same meaning.

Mistranslations

When apologists find two words which occur the same number of time but they are not very related, then they translate them a little differently.

• In the "tongue"-"sermon" word count they actually counted the word "admonition", not "sermon". But "sermon" sounded better with the word "tongue"
• In the "hardship"-"patience" they ignored the word "hardship" and counted the word "severe" instead, because they couldn't get equal word count with the word "hardship".

Selective Choice of the Form of the Miracle

There are many forms of "miracles" in word counts. When the word count itself for some word is not interesting, then apologists try comparing this word count with others. When there is not some equal word count found, they try finding a double word count. They are changing the form of the miracle, until they find some form in which the word count fits.

Some of the forms of miracles are these:

• The meaning of the word occurs in the real world the same number of times as the word count
  • Like in the "The 365 days miracle"
• The ratio between two word counts is the same as the ratio of occurrences of the meanings of the words in the real world
  • The land/water ratio miracle
• Two words are related and they have the same word count
  • Like the "wine and intoxication both mentioned 6 times"
• Two words are opposite to each other and they have the same word count
  • "Paradise and hell both mentioned 77 times"
• Two words are opposite to each other and the "good" one has a double word count
  • "Righteous mentioned 6 times and wicked 3 times"

Also for every form of a miracle there might be a lot of ways for the word count to be "interesting". For example, when counting the word "day":

• 6 occurrences would be interesting, because god created the world in 6 days
• 7 occurrences would be interesting, because 7 days make a week
• 29/30 occurrences would be interesting, because they make a month
• 100 occurrences would be interesting because it is a nice number
• 354 occurrences would be interesting, because that is the number of days in the lunar year
• 365 occurrences would be interesting, because that is the number of days in a year

Reliance on the Gullibility of the Audience

These counts are manipulated, generally in unstated ways, to produce the desired totals, but most individuals will not take the time needed to count and verify the claim themselves, so they may assume on good faith that it is true.

Not presenting the actual list

Most people don't know the Arabic language and it is hard for them to check the number of occurrences, even if they wanted to. Even when they use a search software, they can't tell whether it is a singular form.. or whether it is the genitive form, which they are supposed to count. Also when the miracle claim is completely in English, people who don't know Arabic, don't even know which Arabic word they are supposed to search for.

Calling coincidence "a miracle"

Finding an interesting word count is not a miracle.

• Would apologists accept interesting word counts in other texts as "a miracle"? For example in texts critical of Islam? Would they believe that Allah wants us to criticize Islam and the word count is a proof?

The 365 days Miracle

One of the most popular claims is that the word yawm (singular of day) is repeated 365 times in the Qur'an, its plural and dual forms "days" (ayyam and yawmayn) together are repeated 30 times, while the number of repetitions of the word "month" (shahr) is 12.

Islamic Miracle Using Christian Calendar

The first flaw with this claim is the fact that the Islamic calendar consists of 354 or 355 days a year,^[3] so these apologists are effectively favoring Christianity by their use of the Gregorian calendar, which consists of 365 or 366 days.

Manipulated Data

When you check with word count software, the total "yawm" concordance finds 475 mentions, not 365. However, this includes the dual and plural forms. Of all the different forms of "yawm," 3 are in the dual and 27 are in the plural.^[4] If you have a database program with easy formats you can easily counter this lie too and find out that all forms with suffixes are discarded on Islamic websites.

Furthermore, the word yawm in most of its occurrences in the Qur'an does not mean a 24 hour day. For example, the Day of Judgment is mentioned a very large number of times in different ways.

Also, there is not a single website that lists all the occurrences of the word "day" in the Qur'an showing it to be 365 times. While there is a list on WikiIslam showing it to be much more than 365.

But let's say for a moment the 365 occurrences of the word "yawm" is a mathematically sound citation. If this was discovered at a time when people did not know how many days there were in a year then it may be considered a miracle, but calendars have existed since 3000 BC, and the Julian calendar (which consisted of 365 or 366 days) began in 45 BC.^[5]

Conclusion

There is no miracle to be found here. Apologists have manipulated data and used an un-Islamic method of counting days within a year to make the numbers "fit".

The 92 nights non-miracle

The word "night" (ٱلَّيْل, al-layl) is not mentioned 365 times in the Qur'an, although there are 365 nights in a year. If we count all the forms of this word, then it appears 92 times ^[6]. So the Qur'an is not very consistent with its "miracles".

"Prayer" mentioned 5 times

One of the supposed "numerical miracles" is that the word salawat (صلوات), which supposedly means "prayer", is mentioned 5 times - which is exactly the number of prayers Muslims are supposed to do every day.

This word is plural and it means, besides other meanings, "prayers". The singular form for the word "prayer" is salat (not salawat). In Arabic the singular form is written as ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ in the Uthmani script and الصَّلَاةِ in the Simple Script. In the Uthmani script the و (waw), with the dagger alif above it (وٰ), is pronounced as a regular alif, without the wa sound. The singular form ends on ة (ta marbuta) and the plural form ends on a regular ت (ta). Since the singular form ends on ta marbuta, the "t" doesn't have to be pronounced and the singular form might be pronounced as salah (instead of salat).

The problem in this word count is, that "prayers" is not the only meaning of the word salawat:

• 1) Verse 2:157 "Those are they on whom are blessings (صَلَوَاتٌ, salawatun) and mercy from their Lord, and those are the followers of the right course."
  • So this verse is not talking about prayers Muslims do. If salawat means "prayers", then "salawat min rabbihim" (صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ) in this verse would be "prayers from their lord". Is Allah praying? Who is he praying to?

• 2) Verse 2:238 "Attend constantly to prayers (الصَّلَوَاتِ, as-salawati) and to the middle prayer and stand up truly obedient to Allah."
  • 1st valid occurence.

• 3) Verse 9:99 "And of the dwellers of the desert are those who believe in Allah and the latter day and take what they spend to be (means of) the nearness of Allah and the Messenger´s prayers (وَصَلَوَاتِ, wasalawat); surely it shall be means of nearness for them; Allah will make them enter into His mercy; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
  • Why do we suddenly count the form "wasalawat" with the wa- (و) prefix? In the 365 days miracle, the word day with this prefix was not counted. But it means prayers so let's count it as 2nd valid occurence.

• 4) Verse 22:40 "Those who have been expelled from their homes without a just cause except that they say: Our Lord is Allah. And had there not been Allah´s repelling some people by others, certainly there would have been pulled down cloisters and churches and synagogues (وَصَلَوَاتٌ, wasalawat) and mosques in which Allah´s name is much remembered; and surely Allah will help him who helps His cause; most surely Allah is Strong, Mighty."
  • Here the word salawat refers to jewish synagogues. What do jewish synagogues have to do with the 5 daily muslim prayers?

• 5) Verse 23:9 "And those who keep a guard on their prayers (صَلَوَاتِهِمْ, salawatihim);"
  • If we count the word with -ihim (هِمْ) suffix, meaning "their", then this is the 3rd valid occurrence. However these forms were often excluded in other apologetic word counts.

In conclusion:

• If we count all forms of the Arabic word salawat, we get 5 occurrences, but only 3 of them refer to the plural "prayers". The other 2 mean "blessings" and "synagogues".
• The claim that the word "prayer" or "prayers" is mentioned 5 times in the Qur'an, is a lie.
• The claim that the Arabic word salawat is mentioned 5 times (and letting people think it means always "prayer"), is misleading.
• The word count is questionable, because it includes grammatical forms, which were excluded in other apologetic word counts.

"Seven heavens" mentioned 7 times

The Qur'an talks much more than 7 times about the seven heavens if we don't require both the words "seven" and "heavens" to be together in the verse. There are dozens of verses with the plural word "heavens", which just don't have the word "seven" in them, like this one:

• Verse 2:107 "Do you not know that Allah´s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and that besides Allah you have no guardian or helper?"

Here is the list of verses which talk about the seven heavens and explicitly mention the word seven (sabAAa, سبع) in them:

• 1) Verse 2:29 "He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth, and He directed Himself to the heaven, so He made them complete seven heavens (سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍ), and He knows all things"
• 2) Verse 17:44 "The seven heavens (ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتُ ٱلسَّبْعُ) declare His glory and the earth (too), and those who are in them; and there is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise, but you do not understand their glorification; surely He is Forbearing, Forgiving."
• 3) Verse 23:17 "And certainly We made above you seven heavens (سَبْعَ طَرَآئِقَ); and never are We heedless of creation."
  • Here the word for heavens is taraiqa (طَرَآئِقَ), which literally means "paths" and they are called paths, because heavens are used as paths by the angels. ^[7]
• 4) Verse 23:86 "Say: Who is the Lord of the seven heavens (ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ ٱلسَّبْعِ) and the Lord of the mighty dominion?"
• 5) Verse 41:12 "So He ordained them seven heavens (سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَاتٍ) in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing."
• 6) Verse 65:12 "Allah is He Who created seven heavens (سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰت), and of the earth the like of them; the decree continues to descend among them, that you may know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah indeed encompasses all things in (His) knowledge."
• 7) Verse 67:3 "Who created the seven heavens (سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍ) one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent Allah; then look again, can you see any disorder?"
• 8) Verse 71:15 "Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens (سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍ), one above another,"
• 9) Verse 78:12 "And We made above you seven strong ones (سَبْعًا شِدَادًا),"
  • "Seven strong-ones" (sabAAan shidadan, سَبْعًا شِدَادًا) refers to the seven heavens. ^[8]

We can get 7 occurrences if we count only the occurrences where the seven heavens are explicitly called seven "heavens" (samawat, سَمَٰوَٰتٍ) and not "paths" or "strong ones". So we could consider this word count to be valid. But is this really a miracle?

A more important question is: are there 7 heavens in reality? And when we consider that they are one above the other (verse 67:3) and stars are in the lowest heaven (41:12), that means our universe would be the lowest heaven. We can see only this universe, so do we really see all the 7 heavens as the verse 71:15 claims we should?

Let's see what other miracles with the number 7 the Qur'an offers, so that we can be sure that the one with "seven heavens" mentioned 7 times wasn't just a coincidence:

"Seven years" mentioned 2 times non-miracle

The Qur'an talks in two verses about "seven years".

• 1) 12:47 "He said: You shall sow for seven years continuously, then what you reap leave it in its ear except a little of which you eat."
• 2) 12:48 "Then there shall come after that seven years of hardship which shall eat away all that you have beforehand laid up in store for them, except a little of what you shall have preserved"

The word "years" is actually omitted in the second verse. In the Arabic, it just literally says "seven hard", although from the context it definitely speaks about years.

So the Qur'an speaks 2 times about 7 years and there is absolutely nothing amazing about it.

"Seven ears (of corn)" mentioned 3 times non-miracle

The Qur'an speaks about ears in these verses:

• 1) 2:261 "The parable of those who spend their property in the way of Allah is as the parable of a grain growing seven ears (with) a hundred grains in every ear; and Allah multiplies for whom He pleases; and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing"
• 2) 12:43 "And the king said: Surely I see seven fat kine which seven lean ones devoured; and seven green ears and (seven) others dry: O chiefs! explain to me my dream, if you can interpret the dream."
• 3) 12:46 "Yusuf! O truthful one! explain to us seven fat kine which seven lean ones devoured, and seven green ears and (seven) others dry, that I may go back to the people so that they may know."

The Qur'an speaks exactly 3 times about "seven ears" and that is a very non-interesting fact. This is not a miracle.

"Seven cows" mentioned 4 (or 2) times non-miracle

• 12:43 "And [subsequently] the king said, "Indeed, I have seen [in a dream] seven fat cows being eaten by seven [that were] lean, and seven green spikes [of grain] and others [that were] dry. O eminent ones, explain to me my vision, if you should interpret visions.""
• 12:46 "[He said], "Joseph, O man of truth, explain to us about seven fat cows eaten by seven [that were] lean, and seven green spikes [of grain] and others [that were] dry - that I may return to the people; perhaps they will know [about you].""

The question is whether to count the occurrences, where the word "cow" is not explicitly mentioned with the number 7. But we definitely can't get the word count 7 and this is not a miracle.

"Seven gates" mentioned 1 time

How many times does the Qur'an speak about "seven gates"?

• 15:44 "It has seven gates; for every gate there shall be a separate party of them."

Only one time.

Conclusion

• There are many cases where the Qur'an speaks about seven things. When one of those cases the number of verses happens to be seven, it is not very amazing.
  • There are also "seven verses" (15:87), "seven people" (18:22), "seven nights" (69:7), "seven seas" (31:27) mentioned one time non-miracles.
• Taking the one case where the number of verses is 7 and acting as if this represents the Qur'an's eloquent numerology is dishonest and misleading. It could be also described as "cherry picking" logical fallacy.

"Wine" and "intoxication" both mentioned 6 times

What is the significance of the number 6? And what is this supposed to mean? Wine equals intoxication? They are not the same thing.. but let's count them.

Wine (khamr, خمر):

• 1) 2:219 "They ask you about wine (ٱلْخَمْرِ) and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people..."
• 2) 5:90 "O you who have believed, surely wine (ٱلْخَمْرُ) and games of chance, and altars (for idols) and divining (i.e., divination by arrows or in any other way) are only an abomination of Ash-Shaytan's (The all-vicious, the Devil) doing, so avoid it, that possibly you would prosper."
• 3) 5:91 "Surely Ash- Shaytan's (The all-vicious, the Devil) would only (like) to excite enmity and abhorrence among you by means of wine (ٱلْخَمْرِ) and games of chance, (Literally: in wine and games of chance) and to bar you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer. Will you then be refraining?"
• 4) 12:36 "And two youths entered the prison with him. One of them said: I saw myself pressing wine (خَمْرًا ). And the other said: I saw myself carrying bread on my head, of which birds ate. Inform us of its interpretation; surely we see you to be of the doers of good."
• 5) 12:41 "O my two mates of the prison! as for one of you, he shall give his lord to drink wine (خَمْرًا ); and as for the other, he shall be crucified, so that the birds shall eat from his head, the matter is decreed concerning which you inquired."
• 6) 47:15 "(This) is the similitude of the Garden which the pious have been promised; therein are rivers of water not staling, and rivers of milk that does not change in taste, and rivers of wine (خَمْرٍ) - a delicious (drink) to the drinkers- and rivers of honey unadulterated..."

Some translations translate khamr as intoxicants to imply more general meaning.

Now let's count intoxication (sakara, سكر):

• 1) 4:43 ": O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated (سُكَٰرَىٰ ) until ..."
• 2) 15:15 "They would only say: "Our eyes have been intoxicated (سُكِّرَتْ ): Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery.""
• 3) 15:72 "By your life! they were blindly wandering on in their intoxication (سَكْرَتِهِمْ)."
• 4) 16:67 "And of the fruits of the palms and the grapes-- you obtain from them intoxication (سَكَرًا) and goodly provision; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who ponder."
• 5,6) 22:2 "On the day when you shall see it, every woman giving suck shall quit in confusion what she suckled, and every pregnant woman shall lay down her burden, and you shall see men intoxicated (سُكَٰرَىٰ ), and they shall not be intoxicated (بِسُكَٰرَىٰ) but the chastisement of Allah will be severe."
• 7) 50:19 "And the intoxication (سَكْرَةُ ) of death will bring the truth; that is what you were trying to avoid."

Some translations sometimes translate the word as "dazzled" or "drunk" or "stupor", but the basic meaning is the same and the arabic root سكر is the same.

So the words are not both mentioned 6 times.

"Muhammad" and "sharia" both mentioned 4 times

The word Muhammad (مُحَمَّد) appears in 4 verses:

• 1) 3:144 "And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? .."
• 2) 33:40 "Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the prophets; and Allah is cognizant of all things."
• 3) 47:2 "And (as for) those who believe and do good, and believe in what has been revealed to Muhammad, and it is the very truth from their Lord, He will remove their evil from them and improve their condition."
• 4) 48:29 "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves.."

In the next section, a specifically Arabic letter ع (ayn), that has no equivalent in the English alphabet will be transliterated as "AA".

The word "sharia" (شَرِيعَة) appears in one verse:

• 45:18 "Then We put you, [O Muhammad], on an ordained way (شَرِيعَةٍ, shareeAAa) concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know."

There are other 3 verses containing words derived from the same trilateral root شرع (sh-r-AA), but they are not "sharia":

• 1) 5:48 ".. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law (شِرْعَةً, shirAAa) and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good.."
  • This word is shirAAa not shareeAAa. Although the meaning is similar, they are not the same words.
• 2) 42:13 "He has ordained (شَرَعَ, SharaAAa) for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you..."
  • In this case it is a verb! It is from the same root, but it is not the word (noun) sharia.
• 3) 42:21 "Or have they associates who have prescribed (شَرَعُوا۟, sharaAAoo) for them any religion that Allah does not sanction? .."
  • Again this is a verb and it is not the word sharia.

There is also one occurrence of a word derived from the same root شرع, which however has a totally different meaning:

• 7:163 "And ask them about the town that was by the sea - when they transgressed in [the matter of] the sabbath - when their fish came to them openly (شُرَّعًا, shurraAAan) on their sabbath day, and the day they had no sabbath they did not come to them. Thus did We give them trial because they were defiantly disobedient."

So the word "Muhammad" is mentioned 4 times, but the word "sharia" is mentioned only once.

"The righteous" mentioned 6 times and "the wicked" 3 times

If we count only the literal words al-abrar (the righteous) and al-fujjar (the wicked), we get 5 occurrences of al-abrar:

• 1) 3:193 "Our Lord! surely we have heard a preacher calling to the faith, saying: Believe in your Lord, so we did believe; Our Lord! forgive us therefore our faults, and cover our evil deeds and make us die with the righteous (ٱلْأَبْرَارِ, al-abrar)."
• 2) 76:5 "Surely the righteous (ٱلْأَبْرَارَ, al-abrar) shall drink of a cup the admixture of which is camphor"
• 3) 82:13 "Most surely the righteous (ٱلْأَبْرَارَ, al-abrar) are in bliss,"
• 4) 83:18 "Nay! Most surely the record of the righteous (ٱلْأَبْرَارِ, al-abrar) shall be in the Iliyin."
• 5) 83:22 "Most surely the righteous (ٱلْأَبْرَارَ, al-abrar) shall be in bliss,"

And two occurrences of al-fujjar:

• 1) 82:14 "And most surely the wicked (ٱلْفُجَّارَ, al-fujjar) are in burning fire,"
• 2) 83:7 "Nay! most surely the record of the wicked (ٱلْفُجَّارِ, al-fujjar) is in the Sijjin."

So there is no miracle. However when we count the words with slightly different forms, we get one more occurrence for "the righteous":

• 3:198 "But as to those who are careful of (their duty to) their Lord, they shall have gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding in them; an entertainment from their Lord, and that which is with Allah is best for the righteous (لِّلْأَبْرَارِ, lil-abrar)."

And 3 occurrences for "the wicked":

• 38:28 "Shall We treat those who believe and do good like the mischief-makers in the earth? Or shall We make those who guard (against evil) like the wicked (كَٱلْفُجَّارِ, kal-fujjar)?"
• 71:27 "If You leave them, they will mislead Your slaves, and they will beget none but wicked (فَاجِرًا, fajiran) disbelievers."
• 80:42 "These are they who are unbelievers, the wicked (ٱلْفَجَرَةُ, al-fajarah)."

So this word count is more questionable than miraculous.

Also there are other word count "miracles" where the "bad" word has the same number as the "good" word. Like iman/kufr, paradise/hell. So why suddenly count double word counts?

"The Sabbath" mentioned 7 times

Mental gymnastics

The Sabbath (ٱلسَّبْت, as-sabt) is a day of the week, when Jews are supposed to not work. So what is miraculous about this word being mentioned 7 times according to apologists? Well, it is the 7th day of the week. So the word count of "seven Sabbaths" somehow implies the meaning "the 7th day".

The list

The word Sabbath is derived from the root سبت (s-b-t). This is a list of all occurrences of words derived from this root in the Qur'an:

• (*) The second occurrence in the verse 7:163, "their Sabbath" (سَبْتِهِمْ, sabtihim) has the possessive pronoun "their" suffixed as -ihim
• (**) The third occurrence in the verse 7:163, يَسْبِتُونَ (yasbitoona), is not the noun "Sabbath", but it is a verb ^[9]. This verb has no simple equivalent in English. It refers to "having Sabbath", so the verse literally says that they "Sabbathed". It is translated as "they had Sabbath", but the noun "Sabbath" is not present in the original Arabic, so this cannot be counted as an occurrence of "Sabbath".

Conclusion

• The word Sabbath (ٱلسَّبْت) appears 5 times in the Qur'an if we count only the basic form ٱلسَّبْت (without any prefixes and suffixes).
• The word appears 6 times if we count also the form with a suffix (sabtihim, 7:163).
  • Forms with suffixes were excluded in many apologetic word counts for other words (for example "Iman and kufr both mentioned 25 times"), so why would we count them now?
• The 7th word (yasbitoona) counted by apologists is a verb. It is not the noun "Sabbath".

Let's see whether a similar miracle occurs with other words as well.

"Ramadan" mentioned 1 time non-miracle

If the word "Sabbath" was mentioned 7 times, because Sabbath is the 7th day of the week, then by the same logic, the word "Ramadan", the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, should also occur 9 times.

This is the list of all the occurrences of the word "Ramadan" (رَمَضَانَ) in the Qur'an:

• 1) 2:185 "The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction..."

And that's it. There are no more occurrences of this word in the Qur'an although it is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. So the Qur'an is not very consistent in these word count "miracles".

"Gold" and "luxury" both mentioned 8 times

The word for "gold" is ذَّهَبِ (dhahab). All occurrences in the Qur'an are singular nouns:

So this word does occur 8 times, if we count all forms.

The word for "luxury" is تَرَف (taraf), derived from the root ترف (t-r-f). This is the list of all occurrences of words derived from the root ترف in the Qur'an:

• The word "city" (قَرْيَةٍ, qaryatin) is feminine in Arabic. So "her" wealthy people refers to a city.

So, the word "wealth" itself appears exactly 0 times.

In conclusion:

• The word "gold" appears 8 times, the word "wealth" appears 0 times.
• Apologists got number 8 for "wealth" by counting verbs and nouns together. 5 of the 8 occurrences is the word for "wealthy people".

"Silver" mentioned 6 times non-miracle

If the Qur'an is full of word count miracles, then we would expect the word "silver" (فضة, fidda) to be also mentioned 8 times:

But it is not, although gold and silver are mentioned together in verses 3:14 and 9:34 as a property of wealthy people. So the Qur'an is not very consistent with its word count "miracles".

"Fear" and "wish" both mentioned 8 times

This is one of those "miracles" that are so embarrassing enough by themselves, that there is no need for a refutation. What is miraculous about two words, that are not related to each other, being mentioned the same number of times?

But this word count is interesting since it contains the word "fear" or "terror", so this word count might also tell us where the Qur'an speaks about terrorism.

The Arabic word for "fear" is ٱلْخَوْفِ (al-khawf) and it is mentioned more than a 100 times in the Qur'an ^[10].

But in this word count the counted word is الرهب (ar-rahb) meaning "terror", "horror", "fear" and also "monk". The root of this word is رهب (r-h-b) and the Arabic word for "terrorism" (إرهاب, irhab) is also derived from this root.

This is the list of all words derived from this root (رهب) in the Qur'an:

The verse 8:60 urges Muslims to terrorize people who don't believe in Islam:

• "And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify (تُرْهِبُونَ, turhiboona) the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows."

If we count all forms of the noun "fear" derived from the root رهب, we get 3 occurrences. The others are either verbs, or they refer to monks. So the absurdity of this "miracle" lies not only in the meaningless connection between the two words, but also in the fact, that the word count of 8 is wrong.

The Arabic word for "wish" is رغبة (raghba), derived from the root رغب (r-gh-b). There are 8 words derived from this root in the Qur'an. They are not translated exactly as "wish" most of the time. There is the phrase يَرْغَبُ عَن (yarghabu 'an) meaning "hate", "forsake", which could be literally understood as "wish from (against)".

There are only 4 nouns referring to wish, including the phrase "wish against". Some of them refer to "wishing people" and not to wishing itself.

So in conclusion:

• There is no connection between these two words.
  • But since the word for "fear" also means "terror", maybe the meaning is "wish to terrorize".
• The nouns "fear" and "wish" do not appear 8 times. The word "fear" appears more than a hundred times. If we count the word "rahb" as fear, although it also refers to terrorizing, we get 3 occurrences. The word count for "raghb" is questionable, because it is not clearly translated as "wish" many times.
• Apologists get to the number 8 by counting nouns and verbs together, and they count words with similar meaning derived from the same root together. And in the end they get two equal word counts for two words which are not related, so they found (by using questionable counting method) meaningless equality in 2 word counts and there is nothing miraculous.

"Summer-hot" and "winter-cold" both mentioned 5 times

The first question is what is "summer-hot" and "winter-cold"? As it turns out, apologists counted the words cold and hot and they also "counted" the words summer and winter (which both appear only one time in the same verse) and somehow put it together and named the words "summer-hot" and "winter-cold". Taking two related words and making one big word out of them is probably against the common sense of most people, but for Islamic apologists it makes sense.

This article will use the common sense and count these words separately.

Firstly, the words "summer" and "winter" both appear only one time in the Qur'an and in the same verse:

• 106:2 "Their protection (of the Quraysh) during their trading caravans in the winter (ٱلشِّتَآءِ, ash-shitai) and the summer (وَٱلصَّيْفِ, wa-ssayf)"

The fact that these two words appear the same number of times is not very miraculous, since they both appear only once and in the same verse, in a verse which enumerates seasons.. And amazingly, even this word count is problematic, since the word "summer" appears with a wa- ("and") prefix and words with this prefix were not counted in some miracles (for example in the "365 days" miracle).

The word "heat" appears 4 times:

• 1,2) 9:81 "... [they] said: Do not go forth in the heat (ٱلْحَرِّ, al-harri). Say: The fire of hell is much severe in heat (حَرًّا, harran). Would that they understood (it)."
• 3) 16:81 "...He has given you garments to preserve you from the heat (ٱلْحَرَّ, al-harra) ..."
• 4) 35:21 "Nor the shade and the heat (ٱلْحَرُورُ, al-haroor)"

The word "cold" appears 3 times:

• 1) 21:69 "Allah said, "O fire, be coolness (بَرْدًا, bardan) and safety upon Abraham."
• 2) 38:42 "Urge with your foot; here is a cool (بَارِدٌ, baridun) washing-place and a drink."
• 3) 78:24 "They shall not taste therein cool (بَرْدًا, bardan) nor drink"

Apologists probably get to the number 4 for "cold" by including this verse:

• 24:43 "And He sends down of the clouds that are (like) mountains wherein is hail (بَرَدٍ, baradin)"

That was Shakir translation. To be sure he is not the only one to understand the word to be mean "hail", let's check other translations:

• Pickthall: "He sendeth down from the heaven mountains wherein is hail"
• Sahih International: "And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of clouds] within which is hail"
• Muhsin Khan: "And He sends down from the sky hail (like) mountains, (or there are in the heaven mountains of hail from where He sends down hail)"

Everyone seems to translate it as "hail", only apologists count is as coolness.

So in conclusion:

• The words "summer-hot" and "winter-cold" don't exist.
• The words "summer" and "winter" appear only once, together, in one verse.
• The word "heat" appears 4 times and the word "cool" 3 times
• Apologists add the word, which means "hail" to the "cool" word count

Other miracles

Some miracles have a word count or their analysis too big to fit in this article, so they are analyzed in these sub-articles:

• The word "month" (shahr) appears 12 times in the Qur'an
• The words "man" and "woman" both appear 23 times and 23 is the number of chromosomes
• The words dunya (world) and akhira (paradise) both appear 115 times
• The words "paradise" and "hell" both appear 77 times
• The words "iman" and "kufr" both appear 25 times when counting without the genitive form
• The Qur'an describes the water to land ratio as 71:29.
• The words "tongue" and "sermon" both occur 25 times.
• The words "shaytan" and "angel" both appear 88 times.
• The words "life" (hayat) and death (maout) both appear 145 times.
• The words zakah (charity) and "blessing" both occur 32 times
• The words sun (shams) and light (noor) both appear 33 times.

Other claims which don't have their own article (yet) are provided here with a quick analysis:

• The word "mind" (العقل) and "noor" (light, النور) both appear 49 times.
  • No. Occurrences of the word noor (نور) were already listed in the article Sun and light word count in the Qur'an. This word appears 43 times. There are also 6 occurrences of the word muneer (منير), which is however translated as "enlightening" or "illuminating" most of the time.
  • This word count is in contradiction with the "Sun and light both appear 33 times" miracle.
• The word "payment" or "reward" (الجزاء, al-jaza'u) is repeated 117 times and the word "forgiveness" (المغفرة, al-mughfira) is repeated 234 times (a double word count).
  • The word al-jaza'u is derived from the root جزي (j-z-y). When we search for all occurrences of words derived from this root in the Qur'an, we get 118 occurrences ^[11]. Most of these occurrences are verbs. So apologists not only counted it wrong, but also counted nouns and verbs together to get the result. The words like "jizya" or "punishment" or "penalty" share the meaning of "payment", "reward" or "recompense" with the other words, so there it no reason to exclude them. And if we should exclude them, then we should exclude them all.
  • Does this word count mean that all payments should be forgiven? Is it just to forgive payments? Shouldn't the message be that bad deeds should be forgiven? The words "payment" and "forgiveness" don't seem to be related so even if there was a double word count for "forgiveness" it wouldn't mean anything.
• The words "tree" (شجرة, shajarah) and "plant" (نبات, nabat) both occur 26 times.
  • When we search for all occurrences of words derived from the root شجر (sh-j-r), we find 27 occurrences ^[12]. When we exclude the words "arises", "vegetation" and "plant", we get 24 occurrences.
  • When we search for the root نبت (n-b-t), we get 26 occurrences ^[13]. Most of them are verbs and the rest of the words are questionable whether to count them or not. If we count only the singular word "plant" then we get 0 occurences.
• The words "hardship" (ٱلْعُسْرِ, al-'usri) and "patience" (صَبْرًا, sabran) both occur 114 times.
  • The word sabran is derived from the root صبر (s-b-r). There are only 103 words derived from this root in the Qur'an ^[14], most of them being verbs. al-'usri is derived from the root عسر. There are only 12 occurrences of words derived from this root in the Qur'an^[15]. Apologists probably meant the word "severe" (شَدِيدٌ, shadidun), but there are only 102 words derived from its root (شدد) in the Qur'an ^[16].
• The words "benefit" (نفع, nafa'a) and "corrupt" (فسد, fasad) both appear 50 times.
  • If we count nouns and verbs together and count all words derived from the roots of these words, we get 50 occurrences for both ^[17]. But these words are not clear antonyms. The word "benefit" is used in the sense of "something benefits someone" and the word "corrupt" is used in the sense of "someone spreads mischief in the land".
• The words "people" (الناس, an-nas) and "messengers" (الأنبياء, al-anbiya) are both mentioned 50 times.
  • What this supposed to mean? That Allah's messengers are people? That they are not aliens or animals?
• The words "calamity" (المصيبة) and "thanks" (الشكر) are both mentioned 75 times.
  • A meaningless connection.
• The words "people who are mislead" (الضالون) and "dead people" (الموتى) both mentioned 17 times.
  • A meaningless connection. "People who are mislead" are not dead. They die, but Muslims die as well.

Claims not analyzed yet:

• The words "Iblees" (إبليس) and the phrase "seek refuge from Iblees" (الاستعاذة بالله) both occur 11 times.
• The words "spending" (صدق, sadaqa. ِِِِِِAcually الْإِنْفَاقِ, al-infaq) and "satisfaction" (رضو) both occur 73 times.
• The phrase "creation of 7 heavens" (خلق السموت, khalaq as-samawat) mentioned 7 times
• The word Moon (قمر, al-qamr) occurs 27 times scientific miracle
• "Muslimeen" (مسلمين) and "jihad" (جهاد) both mentioned 41 times
• "Magic" (السحر) and "fitnah" (الفتنه) both mentioned 60 times
• "Speaking publicly" (الجهر) and "publicizing" (العلانيه) both mentioned 18 times
• The word "say" (قل, qul) and "they said" (قالوا) both occur 332 times.
• The words "reward" (أَجْر, ajr) and "action" (فعل, fa'il) both occur 107 times.
• The words "love" (المحبة, al-mahabbah) and "obedience" (الطاعة, al-ta'ah) both occur 83 times.
• The words "refuge" (الْمَصِيرُ, maseer) and "forever" (أَبَدًا, abadan) both appear 28 times.
• The words "right guidance" (الهدى, al-huda) and "mercy" (الرحمة, ar-rahma) both occur 79 times.
• "Human being" is used 65 times as well as references to the stages of human creation
• The words "good deeds" (الصالحات, as-salihat) and "bad deeds" (السيئات) both occur 167 times.
• The words "trouble" (الضيق) and "peace" (الطمأنينة) both occur 13 times.
• The words "treachery" (خَائِنَةٍ, khainah) and "foul" (خَبِيثَةٍ, khabith) both occur 16 times

This is probably the full list of "word count miracle" claims.

Views of the Islamic scholars

Some Islamic scholars actually took the time and analyzed these miracle claims.

A conclusion of Dr. Zahid Aziz after he refuted several "miracles":

A conclusion of Dr. Ashraf ‘Abd al-Razzaaq Qatanah after he analyzed several books about "word count miracles":

Dr. Fahd al-Roomi about the "365 days miracle":

See Also

• Mathematical Miracles - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Mathematical Miracles

External Links

• An alleged ‘miracle’ in the Holy Quran
• Mathematical Miracles in the Qur'an or the Bible?

References