Paradise and hell word count in the Qur'an

From WikiIslam, the online resource on Islam
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This page lists all forms of the words jannah (paradise, garden) and jahannam (hell) in the Qur'an. The purpose is to analyze the claim that they both appear 77 times.

Paradise - الجنة (al-jannah)

The word paradise (الجنة, al-jannah, literally means "the garden". The root of this word is جنن (j-n-n). Other words derived from this word, used in the Qur'an are:

  • garden (جَنَّٰتٍ, jannatin in verse 2:25)
  • over-shadowed (جَنَّ, janna in verse 6:76)
  • jinns (ٱلْجِنَّ, aljinna in verse 6:100)
  • madness (جِنَّةٍ, jinnatin in verse 7:184)
  • madman (مَجْنُونٌ, majnoonun in verse 51:39)
  • a snake (جَآنٌّ, jannun in verse 27:10)

This word appears only in the singular form and it is a feminine word - it ends on ta marbuta (ة). When a word is alone (not in a context of an Arabic text), the ta marbuta at the end is not pronounced, so it is read as jannah, not jannat, so when using this word in English it is basically always read as jannah. But when reading whole sentences from the Qur'an in Arabic, the ta marbuta would be read as "t".

There are 3 forms of الجنة:

  • ٱلْجَنَّةُ (al-jannatu) - nominative
  • ٱلْجَنَّةِ (al-jannati) - genitive
  • ٱلْجَنَّةَ (al-jannata) - accusative

And sometimes this exactly same word (only with differences in diacritics) actually refers to the jinns and not paradise:

  • ٱلْجِنَّةِ (al-jinnati)
Count Verse Word in Arabic Translation
1 2:35 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
2 2:82 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
3 2:111 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
4 2:214 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
5 2:221 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
6 3:142 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
7 3:185 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
8 4:124 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
9 5:72 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
10 7:19 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
11 7:22 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
12 7:27 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
13 7:40 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
14 7:42 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
15 7:43 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
16 7:44 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
17 7:46 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
18 7:49 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
19 7:50 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
20 9:111 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
21 10:26 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
22 11:23 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
23 11:108 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
24 11:119 ٱلْجِنَّةِ jinns
25 13:35 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
26 16:32 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
27 19:60 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
28 19:63 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
29 20:117 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
30 20:121 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
31 25:24 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
32 26:90 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
33 29:58 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
34 32:13 ٱلْجِنَّةِ jinns
35 36:26 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
36 36:55 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
37 37:158 ٱلْجِنَّةِ jinns
38 37:158 ٱلْجِنَّةُ jinns
39 39:73 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
40 39:74 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
41 40:40 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
42 41:30 بِٱلْجَنَّةِ of paradise
43 42:7 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
44 43:70 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
45 43:72 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
46 46:14 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
47 46:16 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
48 47:6 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
49 47:15 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
50 50:31 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
51 59:20 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
52 59:20 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
53 66:11 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
54 68:17 ٱلْجَنَّةِ paradise
55 79:41 ٱلْجَنَّةَ paradise
56 81:13 ٱلْجَنَّةُ paradise
57 114:6 ٱلْجِنَّةِ jinn

As we can see, this word does not appear 77 times and in 5 cases refers to the jinns:

  • 1) Verse 11:119 "... Certainly I will fill hell with the jinn (ٱلْجِنَّةِ, aljinnati) and the men, all together."
  • 2) Verse 32:13 "... I will certainly fill hell with the jinn (ٱلْجِنَّةِ, aljinnati) and men together."
  • 3,4) Verse 37:158 "And they assert a relationship between Him and the jinn (ٱلْجِنَّةِ, aljinnati); and certainly the jinn (ٱلْجِنَّةُ, aljinnatu) do know that they shall surely be brought up;"
  • 5) 114:6 "From among the jinn (ٱلْجِنَّةِ, aljinnati) and the men."

In the verse 41:30 the word appears with a prefix:

  • "Indeed, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah " and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], "Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise (بِٱلْجَنَّةِ, biljannati), which you were promised."

So this word count is already very questionable. Not only we didn't get to the number 77, but it's hard to say even to which number we have arrived, because there are many ways of counting:

  • Include or exclude the verses where the word refers to the jinns?
  • Include or exclude the verse where the word appears with a prefix?

Logically, if the miracle is supposed to be that the word count for "paradise" is 77, just like it is for "hell", then we should exclude the cases where it means something else. So the word "paradise" is mentioned 52 times in the Qur'an and the miracle claim is false.

Garden - جنة (jannah)

Trying to count al-jannah didn't bring the result 77. But maybe it will get to 77 if we consider "paradise" to be synonymous with "garden", because they are basically the same word and heaven is described as "gardens under which rivers flow", repeatedly, in the Qur'an.

The word "garden" doesn't always mean the garden where good Muslims are supposed to end up. In many verses the word just refers to a garden that is on earth. Or the word is used allegorically. So in the Translation column, the context is specified.

The list also includes Arabic words jannah, which have a different meaning, other than "garden". The reason is not that it makes sense to count them, but to understand how apologists got to the number 77.

The counts in the list:

  • The column "Mixed count" counts all forms of the Arabic word jannah, including the cases where it does not refer to gardens in heaven or where it does not refer to gardens at all. It counts singular, dual and plural forms together.
  • The column "Translation" counts all occurrences of the word, including singular, dual and plural forms, where the word refers to the gardens in paradise.
  • The column "Mixed number" counts singular, dual and plural forms separately, regardless whether the word refers to any gardens or not.
  • The column "Gardens in paradise number" counts singular, dual and plural forms separately, only from the words, which refer to the gardens paradise.
Mixed count Verse Word in Arabic Translation Mixed number Gardens in paradise number
1 2:25 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 1] plural 1 plural 1
2 2:265 جَنَّةٍۭ garden [allegorical] singular 1
3 2:266 جَنَّةٌ garden [allegorical] singular 2
4 3:15 جَنَّٰتٌ gardens [in paradise 2] plural 2 plural 2
5 3:133 وَجَنَّةٍ and a garden [in paradise 3] singular 3 singular 1
6 3:136 وَجَنَّٰتٌ and gardens [in paradise 4] plural 3 plural 3
7 3:195 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 5] plural 4 plural 4
8 3:198 جَنَّٰتٌ gardens [in paradise 6] plural 5 plural 5
9 4:13 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 7] plural 6 plural 6
10 4:57 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 8] plural 7 plural 7
11 4:122 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 9] plural 8 plural 8
12 5:12 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 10] plural 9 plural 9
13 5:65 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 11] plural 10 plural 10
14 5:85 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 12] plural 11 plural 11
15 5:119 جَنَّٰتٌ gardens [in paradise 13] plural 12 plural 12
16 6:99 وَجَنَّٰتٍ and gardens [of grapes] plural 13
17 6:141 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [of vine] plural 14
18 7:184 جِنَّةٍ madness singular 4
19 9:21 وَجَنَّٰتٍ and gardens [in paradise 14] plural 15 plural 13
20 9:72 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 15] plural 16 plural 14
21 9:72 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 16] plural 17 plural 15
22 9:89 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 17] plural 18 plural 16
23 9:100 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 18] plural 19 plural 17
24 10:9 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 19] plural 20 plural 18
25 13:4 وَجَنَّٰتٌ and gardens [of grapes] plural 21
26 13:23 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 20] plural 22 plural 19
27 14:23 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 21] plural 23 plural 20
28 15:45 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 22] plural 24 plural 21
29 16:31 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 23] plural 25 plural 22
30 17:91 جَنَّةٌ garden [of palms] singular 5
31 18:31 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 24] plural 26 plural 23
32 18:32 جَنَّتَيْنِ two gardens [given to a guy] dual 1
33 18:33 ٱلْجَنَّتَيْنِ the two gardens [given to a guy] dual 2
34 18:35 جَنَّتَهُۥ his garden [given to a guy] singular 6
35 18:39 جَنَّتَكَ your garden [given to a guy] singular 7
36 18:40 جَنَّتِكَ your garden [given to a guy] singular 8
37 18:107 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 25] plural 27 plural 24
38 19:61 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 26] plural 28 plural 25
39 20:76 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 27] plural 29 plural 26
40 22:14 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 28] plural 30 plural 27
41 22:23 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 29] plural 31 plural 28
42 22:56 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 30] plural 32 plural 29
43 23:19 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [of palms] plural 33
44 23:25 جِنَّةٌ madness singular 9
45 23:70 جِنَّةٌ madness singular 10
46 25:8 جَنَّةٌ garden [of the prophet] singular 11
47 25:10 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 31] plural 34 plural 30
48 25:15 جَنَّةُ garden [in paradise 32] singular 12 singular 2
49 26:57 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in Egypt] plural 35
50 26:85 جَنَّةِ garden [in paradise 33] singular 13 singular 3
51 26:134 وَجَنَّٰتٍ gardens [of the Ad tribe] plural 36
52 26:147 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [of the Samood tribe] plural 37
53 31:8 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 34] plural 38 plural 31
54 32:19 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 35] plural 39 plural 32
55 34:8 جِنَّةٌ madness singular 14
56 34:15 جَنَّتَانِ two gardens [of the Saba tribe] dual 3
57 34:16 بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ their two gardens [of the Saba tribe] dual 4
58 34:16 جَنَّتَيْنِ two gardens [of the Saba tribe] dual 5
59 34:46 جِنَّةٍ madness singular 15
60 35:33 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 36] plural 40 plural 33
61 36:34 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [of palms] plural 41
62 37:43 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 37] plural 42 plural 34
63 38:50 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 38] plural 43 plural 35
64 40:8 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 39] plural 44 plural 36
65 42:22 * ٱلْجَنَّاتِ gardens [in paradise 40] plural 45 plural 37
66 44:25 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in Egypt] plural 46
67 44:52 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 41] plural 47 plural 38
68 47:12 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 42] plural 48 plural 39
69 48:5 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 43] plural 49 plural 40
70 48:17 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 44] plural 50 plural 41
71 50:9 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [on earth] plural 51
72 51:15 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 45] plural 52 plural 42
73 52:17 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 46] plural 53 plural 43
74 53:15 جَنَّةُ garden [in paradise 47] singular 16 singular 4
75 54:54 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 48] plural 54 plural 44
76 55:46 جَنَّتَانِ two gardens [in paradise 49] dual 6 dual 1
77 55:54 ٱلْجَنَّتَيْنِ both gardens [in paradise 50] dual 7 dual 2
78 55:62 جَنَّتَانِ two gardens [in paradise 51] dual 8 dual 3
79 56:12 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 52] plural 55 plural 45
80 56:89 وَجَنَّتُ and gardens [in paradise 53] plural 56 plural 46
81 57:12 جَنَّٰتٌ gardens [in paradise 54] plural 57 plural 47
82 57:21 وَجَنَّةٍ and a garden [in paradise 55] singular 17 singular 5
83 58:16 جُنَّةً a cover singular 18
84 58:22 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 56] plural 58 plural 48
85 61:12 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 57] plural 59 plural 49
86 61:12 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 58] plural 60 plural 50
87 63:2 جُنَّةً a cover singular 19
88 64:9 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 59] plural 61 plural 51
89 65:11 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 60] plural 62 plural 52
90 66:8 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 61] plural 63 plural 53
91 68:34 جَنَّٰتِ gardens [in paradise 62] plural 64 plural 54
92 69:22 جَنَّةٍ garden [in paradise 63] singular 20 singular 6
93 70:35 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 64] plural 65 plural 55
94 70:38 جَنَّةَ garden [in paradise 65] singular 21 singular 7
95 71:12 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [on earth or in paradise **] plural 65
96 74:40 جَنَّٰتٍ gardens [in paradise 66] plural 66 plural 56
97 76:12 جَنَّةً garden [in paradise 67] singular 22 singular 8
98 78:16 وَجَنَّٰتٍ and gardens [on earth] plural 67
99 85:11 جَنَّٰتٌ gardens [in paradise 68] plural 68 plural 57
100 88:10 جَنَّةٍ garden [in paradise 69] singular 23 singular 9
101 89:30 جَنَّتِى my garden [in paradise 70] singular 24 singular 10
102 98:8 جَنَّٰتُ gardens [in paradise 71] plural 69 plural 58
  • (*) In the verse 42:22 the word appears with the al- prefix. Al-Jannah usually refers to the paradise and not to the gardens in paradise. But the word is plural and that would mean that there are many paradises. So this word probably means "gardens". However, even if we add this word to the Al-Jannah (paradise) word count, it still doesn't get to the word count 77. And for the total word count (paradise + paradise gardens) it doesn't matter in which category this word is.
  • (**) In the verse 71:12 "And help you with wealth and sons, and make for you gardens, and make for you rivers.", Noe promises his people that Allah will give them gardens. It is not clear whether he meant gardens on earth or in heaven. So the plural for "gardens in heaven" might be actually 59 and not 58.

There are cases where the ِArabic word جنة does not refer to any gardens. 5 times it refers to madness (jinnatun). The literal meaning is "possessed by the jinns" and that is why it has the root j-n-n, just like jannah.

  • 1) Verse 7:184 "Then do they not give thought? There is in their companion [Muhammad] no madness (جِنَّةٍ, jinnatin). He is not but a clear warner."
  • 2) Verse 23:25 "He is not but a man possessed with madness (جِنَّةٌ, jinnatun), so wait concerning him for a time."
  • 3) Verse 23:70 "Or do they say: There is madness (جِنَّةٌ, jinnatun) in him? Nay! he has brought them the truth, and most of them are averse from the truth."
  • 4) Verse 34:8 "He has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness (جِنَّةٌ, jinnatun) in him. Nay! those who do not believe in the hereafter are in torment and in great error."
  • 5) Verse 34:46 "Say: I exhort you only to one thing, that rise up for Allah´s sake in twos and singly, then ponder: there is no madness (جِنَّةٍ, jinnatin) in your fellow-citizen; he is only a warner to you before a severe chastisement."

In two cases it refers to "cover" (junnatun):

  • 1) Verse 58:16 "They make their oaths to serve as a cover (جُنَّةً, junnatan) so they turn away from Allah´s way; therefore they shall have an abasing chastisement."
  • 2) Verse 63:2 "They have taken their oaths as a cover (جُنَّةً, junnatan), so they averted [people] from the way of Allah . Indeed, it was evil that they were doing."

The word count

The list showed that the word "garden" in the context of "gardens in paradise" appears 71 times including 10 singular forms, 3 dual forms and 58 plural forms. If we count the (plural) occurrence in the verse 71:12, then we get 72 occurrences.

If we add the numbers 52 from "paradise" word count and the 71 from the "gardens in paradise" word count, we get the number 123. If we add the numbers 52 from "paradise" word count and the 10 from the singular "garden in paradise" word count, we get the number 62.

It seems that there is no way of getting the number 77, so how did apologists get to the number 77? They took the 57 occurrences of the Arabic word الجنة, regardless if it is the word paradise (al-jannah) or jinn (al-jinnah). Then they took the 24 singular forms of جنة, regardless if it is the word garden (jannah), madness (jinnah) or cover (junnah). So now they have 57 + 24 = 81 words. And now comes the biggest absurdity. They excluded 4 clearly singular forms in these verses, because they appear with a suffix:

  • 1) 18:35 (جَنَّتَهُۥ) - his garden
  • 2) 18:39 (جَنَّتَكَ) - your garden
  • 3) 18:40 (جَنَّتِكَ) - your garden
  • 4) 89:30 (جَنَّتِى) - my garden

The suffixes just make the form possessive. But it is still garden. A singular form of the word garden! The words with a prefix are counted and the words with a suffix are not counted!

Hell - جهنم (jahannam)

List of occurrences of the word "hell" (جهنم, jahannam). All occurrences are in the singular. This word sometimes occurs with some prefix. The forms without prefix appear in two forms:

  • جَهَنَّمُ (jahannamu) - nominative
  • جَهَنَّمَ (jahannama) - genitive

Unlike most Arabic words, the word jahannam has 4 (not 3) root letters (ج-ه-ن-م, j-h-n-m).

Count Verse Word in Arabic Translation
1 2:206 جَهَنَّمُ hell
2 3:12 جَهَنَّمَ hell
3 3:162 جَهَنَّمُ hell
4 3:197 جَهَنَّمُ hell
5 4:55 بِجَهَنَّمَ in hell 1
6 4:93 جَهَنَّمُ hell
7 4:97 جَهَنَّمُ hell
8 4:115 جَهَنَّمَ hell
9 4:121 جَهَنَّمُ hell
10 4:140 جَهَنَّمَ hell
11 4:169 جَهَنَّمَ hell
12 7:18 جَهَنَّمَ hell
13 7:41 جَهَنَّمَ hell
14 7:179 لِجَهَنَّمَ for hell 2
15 8:16 جَهَنَّمُ hell
16 8:36 جَهَنَّمَ hell
17 8:37 جَهَنَّمَ hell
18 9:35 جَهَنَّمَ hell
19 9:49 جَهَنَّمَ hell
20 9:63 جَهَنَّمَ hell
21 9:68 جَهَنَّمَ hell
22 9:73 جَهَنَّمَ hell
23 9:81 جَهَنَّمَ hell
24 9:95 جَهَنَّمُ hell
25 9:109 جَهَنَّمَ hell
26 11:119 جَهَنَّمَ hell
27 13:18 جَهَنَّمُ hell
28 14:16 جَهَنَّمُ hell
29 14:29 جَهَنَّمَ hell
30 15:43 جَهَنَّمَ hell
31 16:29 جَهَنَّمَ hell
32 17:8 جَهَنَّمَ hell
33 17:18 جَهَنَّمَ hell
34 17:39 جَهَنَّمَ hell
35 17:63 جَهَنَّمَ hell
36 17:97 جَهَنَّمُ hell
37 18:100 جَهَنَّمَ hell
38 18:102 جَهَنَّمَ hell
39 18:106 جَهَنَّمُ hell
40 19:68 جَهَنَّمَ hell
41 19:86 جَهَنَّمَ hell
42 20:74 جَهَنَّمَ hell
43 21:29 جَهَنَّمَ hell
44 21:98 جَهَنَّمَ hell
45 23:103 جَهَنَّمَ hell
46 25:34 جَهَنَّمَ hell
47 25:65 جَهَنَّمَ hell
48 29:54 جَهَنَّمَ hell
49 29:68 جَهَنَّمَ hell
50 32:13 جَهَنَّمَ hell
51 35:36 جَهَنَّمَ hell
52 36:63 جَهَنَّمُ hell
53 38:56 جَهَنَّمَ hell
54 38:85 جَهَنَّمَ hell
55 39:32 جَهَنَّمَ hell
56 39:60 جَهَنَّمَ hell
57 39:71 جَهَنَّمَ hell
58 39:72 جَهَنَّمَ hell
59 40:49 جَهَنَّمَ hell
60 40:60 جَهَنَّمَ hell
61 40:76 جَهَنَّمَ hell
62 43:74 جَهَنَّمَ hell
63 45:10 جَهَنَّمُ hell
64 48:6 جَهَنَّمَ hell
65 50:24 جَهَنَّمَ hell
66 50:30 لِجَهَنَّمَ to hell 3
67 52:13 جَهَنَّمَ hell
68 55:43 جَهَنَّمُ hell
69 58:8 جَهَنَّمُ hell
70 66:9 جَهَنَّمُ hell
71 67:6 جَهَنَّمَ hell
72 72:15 لِجَهَنَّمَ for hell 4
73 72:23 جَهَنَّمَ hell
74 78:21 جَهَنَّمَ hell
75 85:10 جَهَنَّمَ hell
76 89:23 بِجَهَنَّمَ with hell 5
77 98:6 جَهَنَّمَ hell

The word count for hell is easier. But there is still the question whether to count the words with prefix? In English these Arabic prefixes would be expressed with another word, so the word count would be 77. The word count 77 for "hell" makes sense in Arabic as well. But it should be mentioned that apologists didn't count the word "day" with these prefixes in the 365 days miracle in the Quran so now there is an inconsistency in the counting methods. There are 5 occurrences with a prefix so another possible word count would be 72.

  • When counting the word "hell" without prefixes, we get 72 occurrences. Exactly the same number as the number of virgins muslims are supposed to get in heaven. Is this just a coincidence? What if this numerical miracle means that kafirs actually get the 72 virgins in hell? Another possible interpretation might be that Muslims who want to go to heaven to get the virgins, might actually get 72 hells as a punishment for their lust.
Retrieved from "http://wikiislamica.net/index.php?title=Paradise_and_hell_word_count_in_the_Qur%27an&oldid=116207"