In the name of God, Gracious, Merciful

2/5/1994

Dear Dr. Sagan,

Thank you very much for your letter. I hope we can continue this debate with better understanding of each other’s position. As I have expected, you fell in the common trap and confused my argument with traditional numerology. I don’t blame you, since you are too busy to study a new argument made by an ordinary person. Furthermore, all of us are, more or less, influenced by our preconceived ideas regardless of our age and education.

I see a big difference between Norman Bloom’s argument and mine. As for Bloom’s argument, I  agree with your criticism on it. I am familiar with many such claims. For instance, after the discovery of the code 19, some zealots started to play with numbers. Currently, I am trashing hundreds of those speculations made by enthusiastic “believers” who send their work for evaluation. Certainly, “the fallacy of the enumeration of favorable circumstances,” and the “ignorance of mathematical properties and the law of probability” can mislead many naive people to confuse diamonds with pieces of glasses.

Enclosed are several short articles I wrote on paranormal phenomena, hoping that you will not classify me with those so-called “bright” persons.

Let me try to clarify the issue in several points:

1. I don’t claim that the “miraculous mathematical structure” of the Quran “proves” the existence of God or the divine source of the book for sceptics. Rather, I claim that it provides a falsifiable strong evidence for it. The strength of this evidence entirely depends on the initial reaction, approach and objectivity of the audience. If God wanted to prove Himself, He could, by definition, have made everyone a believer instantly.

2. The purpose of the mathematical evidence is clearly mentioned in Chapter 74, verse 31 (74:31). The number 19 increases the faith of believers and removes their doubts regarding the authenticity of the Quran. Therefore, I don’t expect from an atheist to become a deist by this evidence. Atheists, it seems to me, lack the required objectivity and the intellectual motivation to evaluate and appreciate the evidence. Can you see a 3-D holographic picture with naked eyes if you don’t think the probability for its existence? In order to see them you need to follow the rules and concentrate on them and wait with patience until it appears. On my part, the number 19, as the code of the Quran’s mathematical system, has intellectually convinced me, and related metaphysical experiences in my private life have spiritually satisfied me (Quran: 41:53).

3. The discovery of the mathematical structure of the Quran was made after a painstaking research without any pre-determined target. When Dr. Khalifa first published the computer data in 1973 he was not aware of the code, that is, the common denominator 19. He had found some interesting relations and correlation among the numbers of the frequency of certain letters. (We have national newspapers, magazines and books to witness this fact.) However, in the beginning of 1974 he discovered that most of those numbers were the multiple of 19 and then he realized the connection of Chapter 74 (Al-Muddathir, The Hidden One) with his discovery. So far, this was based on a priori statistics.

After the discovery of the code, quite a few people, including me, studied the claim and made further discoveries. However, this empirical study, later lead us to make few changes and modifications. For instance, we all came to the conclusion that the last two verses of Chapter 9 (The Ultimatum) are not from the original Quran. Therefore, both a priori statistics and a posteriori statistics have involved in our study. I should acknowledge that this study is not free of the philosophical problem, i.e., the theory-dependence of observation that stains every scientific research. However, the mathematical system of the Quran is in a unique way precise and objective that can lead independent researchers to the same conclusion. Besides, we have very interesting experiences regarding this research. If you want I can give you some examples.

4. I am aware of the history of mathematics and mathematicians. (My prime hobby is to read books on mathematics, solve puzzles and entertain with paradoxes.) If you could only spend an hour to study the examples of our argument you probably would not have reminded me of mathematicians in Muhammad’s time.

This is because the mathematical structure of the Quran involves both mathematics and Arabic. The language of Mathematics is universal and deductive; however, the language of Arabic is special and arbitrary. The Quran integrates these two different languages in a very clear and extensive fashion. I am convinced that no human mathematician and men of literary can ever manipulate language to such extend without sacrificing the meaning. To reach this conviction we do not need to know the Arabic. Just get rid of our prejudices and start evaluating the argument itself.

5. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to “calculate” the mathematical probability of this kind of phenomena. But you may not need to calculate the statistical probability of it to reach a judgment. Your intuition, most likely, will find it silly to waste time on such a calculation. You will see the evidence so clear and overwhelming that you will become certain without mechanical calculations of probability.

After this reminder let’s look at the argument in two steps:

A. Does the Quran has a mathematical structure or not?

We can discuss this issue. You may claim that our examples are all within the limit of coincidence. Then, I have to provide you with enough examples and reasons that should make you refrain from such a claim.

B. If we agree that these examples (in case that our counting is accurate) show a deliberate mathematical pattern in the Quran then we can continue and discuss the nature of it: whether is it human or divine.

If you want I can send a couple of books demonstrating the basic features of the argument. Nevertheless, here I will pick just a set of examples out of hundreds to discuss. Please notice that all the examples are coherent and integrated circuits of a “simple-to-understand-impossible-to-imitate” program.

The example is the first verse of the Quran, i.e., “Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,” (In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful) or shortly, “Basmalah.” Please see how the code 19 is consistent in the structure of the verse and its relation with the whole body of the book. And please remember that the number 19 is explicitly mentioned in 74:30 as a response for disbeliever’s claim that it is made up by Muhammad.

[The Arabic calligraphy is omitted]

• The first verse, i.e., the opening statement “Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,” shortly “Basmalah,” consists of 19 Arabic letters.
• The first word of Basmalah, Ism (name) occurs in the Quran 19 times.
• The second word of Basmalah, Allah (God) occurs 2698 times, or 19×142.
• The third word of Basmalah, Rahman (Gracious) occurs 57 times, or 19×3.
• The fourth word of Basmalah, Rahim (Merciful) occurs 114 times, 19×6.
• The multiplication factors of the words of the Basmalah mentioned above (1+142+3+6) add up to 152, or 19×8.
• The total number of verses where the word Allah (God) occurs add up to 118123, and is 19×6217.
• The Quran consists of 114 chapters, which is 19×6.
• The total number of verses in the Quran including all Basmalahs is 6346, or 19×334. If you add the digits of that number, 6+3+4+6 equals 19.
• The Basmalah opens all chapters in the Quran except chapter 9. Yet, despite its conspicuous absence from chapter 9, it occurs twice in chapter 27, so that its total occurrence is still 114, or 19×6.
• From the missing Basmalah of chapter 9 to the extra Basmalah of chapter 27, there are precisely 19 chapters.
• It follows that the sum of the chapter numbers from 9 to 27 (9+10+11+12…+26+27) is 342. This total (342) equals the number of words between the two Basmalahs of chapter 27, and 342 is 19×18.
• Each letter of Arabic alphabet corresponds to a number according to their original sequence in the alphabet. The Arabs used this system for calculations. When the Quran was revealed 14 centuries ago, the numbers as we know today did not exist. A universal system was used where the letters of the Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek alphabets were used as numerals. The number assigned to each letter is its “Gematrical Value.”

A study on the gematrical values of more than 120 attributes of God that are mentioned in the Quran, shows that only four names have gematrical values that are multiples of 19. These are “Wahid” (One), “Zul Fadl al Azim” (Possessor of Infinite Grace), “Majid” (Glorious), “Jaami” (Summoner). Their gematrical values are 19 , 2698, 57, and 114 respectively, which are all divisible by 19 and correspond exactly to the frequencies of occurrence of the Basmalah’s four words.

If you have confined your judgment with a preconceived assumption that either these are “interesting coincidences,” or “the work of a medieval mathematician” then there will be no point to carry our discussion further. By this way, I believe, scientists can handicap themselves from hearing the message of the Supreme Creator of the Universe.

Sincerely,

Edip Yuksel

PS: If you are interested, I can send you a list of Quranic verses about the creation and astronomy. You may appreciate them more than anyone else. Remember that the Quran may be the only book in the world where the word “Shahr (month)” is repeated 12 times and the word “Yawm (day)” 365 times.

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