Edip Yüksel

Dr. Rashad Khalifa did not have any knowledge that his curiosity regarding the meaning of the alphabet letters that initialize 29 chapters of the Quran would end up with the discovery of its mathematical system. His computerized study that started in 1969 gave its fruits in 1974 by the discovery of the 14 century old SECRET.

If the Code 19 was going to provide strong evidence for the authenticity of the Quran, then it is reasonable to expect that the identity of the discoverer and the time of the discovery would not be coincidental. Indeed, the events have demonstrated a prophetic design in the timing of this miraculous mathematical design.

It is an undisputed fact that the number 19 is mentioned only in a chapter called “The Hidden,” the 74th chapter of the Quran. Juxtaposing these two numbers yields 1974, exactly the year in which the code was deciphered. (1) If you multiply these two numbers, 19×74, you will end up with 1406, the exact number of lunar years between the revelation of the Quran and the discovery of the code. Adding to this prophetic mathematical design, is the fact that the derivatives of the name of the discoverer, RShD (guidance), occurs in the Quran exactly 19 times. (2) The relationship between the following five elements, in my opinion, is more than interesting.

* The mathematical code (19).
* The number of the chapter mentioning the code (74).
* The year of the discovery of the code (1974).
* The number of lunar years between the revelation of the Quran and the year of the discovery (19×74).
* The frequency of derivatives of discoverer’s name, RShD, in the Quran (19).

The first two verses of Chapter 74 is about the revealing of the secret:

1. O you hidden one,
2. Come out and warn!

It is interesting that if we consider one version of spelling the first word, which contains three Alifs instead of two, (3) the number of letters in these two verses are 19. More interestingly, when we add the numerical values of each letter in these two verses the sum is a very familiar number.
Here is the value of each letter:

Y = 10
A = 1
A = 1
Y = 10
H = 5
A = 1

A = 1
L = 30
M = 40
D = 4
TH = 500
R = 200

Q = 100
M = 40

F = 80
A = 1
N = 50
Z = 700
R = 200
Total: 1974

1974, exactly the year when the hidden secret was discovered!

At the right time, we will produce for them a creature, made of earthly materials, (4) declaring that the people are not certain about our revelations/miracles. The day will come when we summon from every community some of those who did not believe in our revelations/ miracles, forcibly. When they arrive, He will say, “You have rejected My revelations/miracles, before acquiring knowledge about them. Is this not what you did?” They will incur the requital for their wickedness; they will say nothing. (27:82-85)

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Recently someone brought to my attention a statement made by famous mathematician and philosopher Martin Gardner in an article published in Scientific American’s September 1980 issue. There, Martin Gardner mentions Rashad’s discovery of the code 19 and claims that he has a 60-page booklet published in 1972 about the number 19. Though I had the original version of that issue, and read the article, I had not noticed the error regarding the year or the content of the booklet. Since Rashad was not aware of the code 19 when he published his early works on the statistical feature of the Quran, Martin Gardner either made an error in typing the date of the publication or made a false assumption regarding the content of the publication,. Had I knew this erroneous claim when I was in contact with him several years ago, I would have investigated the cause of the error. Unfortunately, I lost contact with Gardner and he is now over 90 years-old. Even if I contacted him, I do not think that he would find in his library a booklet he referred to a quarter of century ago in an article.

I have hundreds of documents published in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and French about Rashad Khalifa and his work. Besides, I have many of Rashad’s published and unpublished books, magazines, and articles. I decided to check them one more time to see whether any of the books, newspapers or magazines were referring to his discovery of 19 before the year 1974. As I expected, I could not find a single publication. I knew that before the year 1974, none, including Rashad, had no knowledge of the role of the number 19 in the Quran. The only statement that contradicts this fact is Martin Gardner’s reference.

However, if I had any doubt regarding the time of the discovery, it was removed entirely: I found one of Rashad’s books in my safe box. That book closed the issue for me. It has a green cover and its title is written in gold.

Miracle of the Quran:

Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets

Rashad Khalifa, Ph D, 1973, Islamic Productions International, Inc., St. Louis, MO.

In the beginning of the book, there is a note where Rashad thanks to four people for their useful suggestions before the publication. They are:

Virgil I. Moss
Ahmed H. Sakr
Sulayman Shahid Mufasir
Mujahid Al-Sawwaf

The following pages contain a two-and-half page Rashad’s biography and a note of dedication: to his father Abdul Halim Khalifa, the leader of al-Rashad al-Shaziliyya order in Egypt… (Years later when Rashad gave up from Hadith and Sunnah entirely, his father would reject him and 38 leading scholars met in Saudi Arabia under the leadership of blind Saudi cleric Bin Baz would issue a fatwa in 1989). The biography is followed by a two-page introduction. The date under the introduction is October 1973.

In brief, the book, published after October 1973, presenting his statistical research on the frequency of the initial letters in the Quran, which he started in 1969, does not contain a single reference to the code 19. Thus, Martin Gardne’s statement is either a simple typo error or confusion.