2005-01-30
ZLATAN: 19 Questions for the believers of code 19.
EDIP: 19 Answers for the disbelievers of code 19!
ZLATAN: Where Quran says that there is code 19 embedded in it?
ZLATAN: 19 Questions for the believers of code 19.
EDIP: 19 Answers for the disbelievers of code 19!
ZLATAN: Where Quran says that there is code 19 embedded in it?
“As we saw above, based on the orthographic evidence from the great reading itself and physical archeological evidence, the great reading must have originated in a north Arabian Lakhmid province or border town and not in a central Arabian area such as the area later known as Mecca. So if Mecca was not the town where the great reading was originally descended and the prophet lived, why did it take on this myth?” (How did it Come to This? Part I, www.free-minds.org/forum, Ayman)
Continue reading ‘A Miraculous Conspiracy Theory about Mecca’ »
12 Hungry Men
Edip Yuksel © 2005
www.19.org
A philosophical, religious, political comedy… A comedy that can be enjoyed by middle school dropouts as well as scholars. Though the name and setting of the film resemble those of the Twelve Angry Men, a classic film directed by Henry Fonda and Sidney Lumet in 1957, it is much more. Salted and peppered with delicious remarks, actions and events, it provides an engaging debate on controversial issues, such as faith, abortion, euthanasia, war and peace. It accentuates the power of peace, tolerance, and human ingenuity to solve endemic social and political problems through rational dialogue. A dozen angry and hungry men, led by an ordinary woman, transform to twelve full and cheerful friends. The audience may hear its message in different decibels depending on their ears. To some, the Twelve Hungry Men is a loud statement against religious dogmatism that may give birth to Crusaders and Jihadies. To others, it is a sobering whisper, or just a nice hint.
In this film, a debate on abortion between elected representatives of major religious, philosophical and political groups evolves with humorous and witty diversions, matures with personal drama and surprises, and ends with an intellectual and emotional resolution.
The US Supreme Court denies review of another abortion case. The nation is expecting the intervention of Congress. Noticing that it is a big hot potato, the Congress decides to establish a Commission on Abortion to discuss the issue and come up with a recommendation for this controversy that has divided the country into two angry factions. Congress identifies major religious and nonreligious organizations to pick a representative for the commission. Sequestered in a lush hotel floor until they come up with a consensus, the 12 men come together under the leadership of a woman, a science teacher at a middle school who is also an adjunct professor of philosophy at a community college. Each man represents the common position of one of these groups: Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Protestants, Evangelicals, Mormons, Sunni Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Monotheists, Agnostics, and Atheists.
To speed up the debate and compromise, the congress authorizes the leading woman to impose some food and entertainment restrictions on the members, such as eating doughnuts, hotdogs, drinking soda and watching TV. The only person who is not bound by those restrictions is the group leader, who is also allowed to bribe members with food. The hungry men, under the leadership of the woman teacher engage in a hilarious yet serious debate that lasts 285 days.
Within two weeks, the Evangelical priest who is a passionate opponent of right-to-abortion gets involved in a romantic relationship with the teacher who sits nearby him. One night, this reputed religious figure is defeated by his lust and commits adultery. After this affair, worried about the teacher being pregnant, the priest is tortured by internal conflicts and suffers from anxiety. He does not know whether there were other men involved with her. He suspects and hopes that the baby belongs to his antagonist, the agnostic. Not being ready to take the risk, and after an intellectual and spiritual ordeal, he decides to suggest the woman to take a morning-after pill. As for the pro-abortion agnostic, he is not worried about the pregnancy; he is a bachelor and would be happy to have his first baby from this intelligent teacher.
Each member of the Commission is allowed to invite a guest of their choice, either to entertain or to be interviewed. Each writes the name of their favorite two guests on a piece of paper and they are collected in a bowl. The leading woman will stop the debate for the guest appearance whenever she feels that the debate is creating tension or boredom. She will randomly pick a name. The guest list will reflect a diverse group of people, such as, celebrities, young talents, bands, teenagers, criminals, judges, scientists, friends, relatives, or even ghosts of famous people channeled by a charlatan. These semi-silly and semi-serious interruptions will add more fun and elements of surprise to the movie.
The thought provoking and entertaining chapters are presented with the number of days displayed on the screen in nineteen day intervals (1, 19 days, 38 days, 57 days, … and 285 days). During the 285 days of debating, the participants who had started with yelling, condemning, and hurling slogans at each other, gradually get to know each other and learn how to listen and respect their opponents’ point of view. Furthermore, they develop camaraderie among themselves. The more their longing to get back to their families and junk food increases, the more their religious and irreligious tolerance decreases. They finally mellow down, compromise and come up with a unanimous conclusion on the issue that had divided them as well as the entire nation into enemy factions. The last night they will have a feast and “numa numa” dance.
The movie will end with the anxiously awaited announcement of the Commission’s recommendation on abortion. TV channels broadcast the press conference live, interrupting their regular programs. In the last scene, the Commission members are lined up in front of a hospital with the leading woman, the teacher, holding a newborn baby in her arms. On both sides are the twelve men, all in white robes, rather than their idiosyncratic attire that highlighted their religious and political differences. They now have turned to twelve fully satisfied and happy men. Moments before she announces the unanimous decision on abortion, there is complete silence. She reads the surprise conclusion and recommendation and declares the result of genetic test to determine the father of her newborn baby. He is not the Evangelist priest, who is in the verge of collapsing from trepidation.
The film, through humor and dialogues, demonstrates how hard core antagonists could come to an understanding and reach a compromised solution on the most divisive issues if only if they showed courage and empathy to listen to each other. In sum, the Twelve Hungry Men is a morbidly serious and vividly hilarious film that reveals our common values, hopes, fears, aspirations, and the power of dialogue.
June 2005
The USA-Inc, Crusaders and Zionist coalition is looking for an excuse to create pretext for another war, this time against Iran. Already stuck in the mud in Afghanistan and Iraq, and already shed the blood of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, the blood-thirsty warmongers have yet to get satisfied. They have bankrupted American treasury and they care less about American people; all they care is special interest groups, especially weapon and oil industry and the interest of fascist Zionists.
I know that the title and the subtitle of this article are quite challenging. If you have developed an attitude against witnessing the mathematical miracle of the Quran, you are justified to get upset with these words and perhaps get little angry. You might have already blinded your eyes and closed your ears with one or more false, contradictory, trivial, or irrelevant excuses, such as:
I will deal with all these excuses, and God willing, I will respond each of them one by one; but first thing first:
Whatever are your EXCUSES or REASONS to ignore, reject, or ridicule the number 19, this article will expose your true intentions, which you might be trying to hide even from yourself (11:5). If you are claiming to believe in the Quran, and after reading this article still continue ignoring or ridiculing the mathematical code of the Quran, you will be TORMENTED all your life by repeatedly witnessing an exciting fact and losing its sight afterwards, like a person who witnesses succeeding events of lightning in the darkness (2:17-20). You will neither appreciate nor comprehend the miracle, nor will you be satisfied with your denial. You will perpetually oscillate between momentary belief end prolonged disbelief, between private doubt and public denial. You will be doomed to SAQAR here and in the hereafter.
But, if you have faith and gained some goodness in your faith, then this article, by God’s will, may wake you up from ignorance, and may change your paradigm (6:158). You will never be the same; you will be among the progressives (74:30-37). You will be one of the few who are blessed by God to witness one of the greatest miracles. You will be sure about your faith, a faith not based on self-deceptive claims, on conformity with a religious group, or on blind faith, or wishful thinking; but a faith based on knowledge gathered from empirical and rational evidence corroborated by spiritual experience (41:53; 74:31). You will experience God’s presence in your life and attain happiness promised to believers and submitters (9:124; 10:64; 16:89). You will dedicate all your life to serve God alone without remorse or fear (2:62; 3:170; 10:62; 46:13). You will understand many Quranic verses that had not much meaning for you (2:1,108). Every time you see an unappreciative disbeliever denying or mocking the 19-based system, your knowledge-based faith will be justified. And the more people do not see what you and few others have witnessed will increase the importance, power and the wonder of the prophetic description of 74:31 in your mind. You will attain certainty (74:31; 27:1-3; 2:260; 13:2; 2:118; 45:20). However, witnessing this miracle will also put some responsibility on you (5:115; 47:25).
Let’s start from the translation of verses 21-37 of chapter 74, The Hidden One:
74:21 He looked.
74:22 He frowned and scowled.
74:23 Then he turned away arrogantly.
74:24 He said, “This is but an impressive illusion/magic!”
74:25 “This is human made.”
74:26 I will cast him into SAQAR!
74:27 And what will explain to you what the SAQAR is?
74:28 It leaves nothing, it lets nothing (NOT MORE, NOT LESS; PRECISE; PERFECT);
74:29 VISIBLE (LAWAHATUN) to PEOPLE (BASHAR) (universal)!
74:30 On it is Nineteen.
74:31 As guardians of fire we appointed none except angels, and we assigned their number (1) to torment the unappreciative disbelievers, (2) to convince People of the Book, (3) to strengthen the faith of the faithful, (4) to remove all traces of doubt from the hearts of People of the Book, as well as the believers, and (5) to expose those who have disease in their hearts, and the unappreciative disbelievers; they will say, “What did God mean by this allegory?” God thus sends astray whomever He wills (or, whoever wills), and guides whomever He wills (or, whoever wills). None knows the soldiers of your Lord except He. IT (HIYA) is a reminder for the people.
74:32 Indeed, by the Moon.
74:33 By the night as it passes.
74:34 And the morning as it shines.
74:35 This (NUMBER) is one of the GREATEST (KUBRA).
74:36 A WARNING (NAZEER) for the PEOPLE (BASHAR).
74:37 For those who want to progress or regress.
Though the function of 19 is listed in Chapter 74, Muddassir (The Hidden One), its implication and fulfillment was kept hidden according to God’s will as the Quran’s secret for 19×74 lunar years after its revelation to Muhammad. However, the All-wise God, unveiled this secret via a monotheist scientist in 1974, according to the most commonly used calendar, a calendar allegedly based on the birth of Jesus, which is considered a holy day and the sign of the End (19:15). As a result, the number 19, as the miraculous code of the Quran and the Bible strengthened and continue to strengthen the faith of believers, removed and continue to remove doubts in the heart of people of the book, and intellectually tormented and continue to torment hypocrites and unappreciative disbelievers.
Now let’s first discuss the words written in CAPITAL letters in the translation of the verses above. Then, we will discuss each of the popular excuses used by the unappreciative disbelievers of the miracle 19.
We should understand the meaning of these words by first referring to their usage in the Quran. Their immediate context as well as their use in other verses is usually sufficient to illuminate their meanings. For believers who have been lucky to witness this great miracle, the meaning of the verses above is good news; it gives them hope, enlightens them, informs them, and turns their faith from wishful thinking or conjecture to knowledge-based faith. Thus, the rhetorical value of these verses is very high for believers:
74:27 —> SAQAR (saqar, to be defined by the following verses)
74:28 —> (NOT MORE, NOT LESS; PRECISE; PERFECT);
74:29 —> LAWAHA (obvious; visible; tablet; screen)
74:29 —> BASHAR (humans; people)
74:31 —> HIYA (it; reference to the number 19)
74:31 —> ZIKRA (reminder; message)
74:35 —> HA (it; referring to the number 19)
74:35 —> KUBRA (great miracles)
74:36 —> NEZEER (warner to be embraced and supported)
On the other hand, those who have deprived themselves from witnessing the miracle 19 because of their ill intentions or their dogmatic rejection try hard to render these key words incompatible with the semantic context of the Quran. They conceive God of the Quran as an angry and despotic God who is not able provide any reasonable argument against those who question the Quran’s authenticity, but only resorts to intimidation: “I will burn you in hell!!!” The God they depict has double standard: He asks the disbelievers to bring their evidence for their argument (2:111; 11:17; 21:24; 27:64; 28:75; 35:40) but for His argument He only wants to scare them! The opponents of 19-based miracle, by distorting the meaning of the words in these verses, manage to blind themselves to one of the most profound philosophical and theological arguments and evidences in history. Not only they divert themselves from the right path they try to divert others too (6:25-26; 22:3; 41:83).
Thus, the understanding (more accurately, the misunderstanding) of those who cannot appreciate God as He should be (6:90-91), the argument for Quran’s authenticity is scorching, burning, dark, hellish, misfortune, disastrous, and scary. Thus, in the minds of opponents of miracle 19, the rhetorical value of these verses is simply a threat to burn and torture:
74:27 —> SAQAR (hell-fire)
74:28 —> (NEITHER LEAVES THE FLESH NOR THE BONES; DESTROYS CONTINUALLY);
74:29 —> LAWAHA (scorching; burning; shriveling)
74:29 —> BASHAR (skin)
74:31 —> HIYA (it; referring to hell-fire)
74:31 —> ZIKRA (news of disaster)
74:35 —> HA (it; referring to hell-fire
74:35 —> KUBRA (great punishment; gravest misfortune; dire scourge)
74:36 —> NAZEER (warning to be escaped)
Now let’s one by one discuss each of these words, which were widely and perhaps JUSTIFIABLY misunderstood by pre-1974 generations, and yet are intentionally distorted by the post-1974 opponents of one of the greatest miracles.
DOES “SAQAR” IN 74:27 MEAN HELL OR SOMETHING ELSE?
Though prominent Arabic dictionaries such as Lisan-ul Arab and specialized dictionaries such as Mufradat Fi Gharib-il Quran acknowledge that the word might be of foreign origin with no Arabic derivatives, these and other dictionaries and commentaries of the Quran do not hesitate defining it as hell or heat radiating from Sun. Lisan-ul Arab refers to a Hadith which uses a bizarre derivative of the word Saqar to mean “liars”. The word SaQaR is mentioned four times in the Quran, three times in Chapter 74 and once in 54:48. In the later one, the word SaQaR is used in a statement warning that when criminals will be dragged to the fire they will be told: “taste the touch of Saqar”. From this verse one might infer that Saqar is another word for fire; but a better inference is that Saqar is a negative feeling or state of mind one tastes after being committed to the divine punishment. In this case, there is no reason to think that this negative state of mind could not be obtained from experiences other than fire.
The Arabic word for hell is GaHyM or GaHaNnaM. The word NAR (Fire), though not a specific name for hell, is also frequently used to denote the same phenomenon. However, the word NAR (fire) is also used in its literal meaning, which is simply fire. For instance, verses 20:10-14 describe God’s communication with Moses through fire. Obviously, this fire in the holy land where God spoke through cannot be the Hell. Similarly, the word SaQaR does not necessarily mean hell. In fact, the semantic connection of SaQaR with hell is allegorical, since SaQaR is a descriptive word derived from the verb SaQaRa rather than a noun like GaHYM, GaHaNnaM.
In any case, the verse 74:27 does not ask nor expect us to rush into defining the meaning of this word, which it appears to be its first usage in the Quran. We are warned against rushing to define Quranic words or attempting to preempt the Quranic definition by prematurely assigning a meaning to a verse before considering its immediate or Quranic context or fulfillment (20:114; 75:16-19). Doing so is a sign of pretension and arrogance. Since the word is rarely used in the Quran (total four and three of them is in this chapter) and this verse is most likely the first usage of this rare word, it is more appropriate to wait the Quran explain the word. In brief, rushing to limit/define the meaning of the word Saqar in the verse “Do you know what SaQaR is?” is a disrespectful act against the Quran. When the Quran asks “Do you know what X means?” it does not want us to try to understand the meaning of X in the very question about its meaning! It is a rhetorical question. God wants to pull your attention to its modified or new meaning. The Quran uses this question 13 times either to modify the meaning of an already used word or to add another nuance (See: 69:3; 74:27; 77:14; 82:17-18; 83:8, 19; 86:2; 90:12; 97:2; 101:3, 10; 104:5).
Nevertheless, we see that almost all commentators or translators of the Quran have rushed to translate SaQaR as Hell or Fire:
Yusuf Ali: “Soon I will cast him into Hell-Fire!”
Marmaduke Pickthall: “Him shall I fling unto the burning.”
T.B. Irving: “I’ll roast him by scorching!”
M. H. Shakir: “I will cast him into Hell.”
MaulaHUM Muhammad Ali: “I will cast him into hell.”
N. J. Dawood: “I will surely cast him to the fire of Hell. ”
Muhammad Asad: “[Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]!”
Rashad Khalifa: “I will commit him to retribution”
As you see, none leave the word SaQaR as it is. However, Rashad Khalifa, as the one who was chosen to fulfill this great prophecy, renders the word SaQar accurately by translating it with a general word, “retribution.” Yasar Nuri Ozturk, a Turkish theology professor, in his post-1974 translation of the Quran, translated the word SaQaR under the light of the descriptive verses and related discoveries as the COMPUTER with succeeding screens manifesting the mathematical miracle of the Quran to all people.
So, we should not prime our minds or blind ourselves with prejudice by assuming SaQaR as HELL-FIRE before reading the following verses (75:16-19; 20:114).
DOES “IT LEAVES NOTHING; IT LETS NOTHING” IN 74:28 MEAN “EXACT, PRECISE” OR “DESTROYS FLESH AND BONES”?
Though the short verse is not generally mistranslated, but its meaning and implication is distorted. In the light of the context and post-1974 discoveries we should understand it is description of the 19-based mathematical structure that is exact. It does neither leave extra (BaQaYa) nor it let anything necessary go away (WaZaRa); in other words, it is perfect and precise; it is not one more not one less!
However, parroting the pre-1974 commentaries of the Quran, many translations and commentaries still convey the same misunderstanding. Since English translations usually do not comment on this particular verse and leave it to be understood within the context of CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, HELL and FIRE rather than the crucial role of the NUMBER NINETEEN, I will give you a sample of some popular Arabic commentaries of the Quran (which I have easy access in my personal library) in ascending chronological order. If the name of the commentary different than the name of the author his name will be indicated in the parenthesis. The number in parenthesis is the year of the authors’ death:
Tabari (922): Neither kills nor leaves alive; or devours them all and when they are recreated do not leaves them until eating them.
Tha’alibi (1035): Does not leave the dweller of hell alone and burns them.
Bagawi (1122): Neither kills nor leaves alive; eats everything thrown in; does not leave their flesh nor take their bones.
Nasafi (1143): Does not leave the flesh nor does let the bones of its dwellers; destroys everything in it and then restores them back to their starting point.
Baydawi (1292): It does not leave anything thrown in and does not leave it until destroys it.
Qurtubi (1272): Does not leave for them neither flesh, nor bone, nor blood, but burns them. Or does not leave anything from them and then does not let them go when they are recreated.
Zad-ul Masir (Ibn Cawzi, 1200): Does not leave but destroys their flesh and does not let them go when they are recreated.
Ibn Kathir (1372): Eat their flesh, sweat, bones, and skin. They do not die in this condition or they live.
Jalalayn (Celaleddin, 1459): Destroys flesh and bones, then starts it again.
Ruh-ul Maani (Alusi 1853): Destroys flesh, bones of everything thrown in.
Interestingly, one can understand the verse as pre-1974 commentators understood. Though they all heavily relied on Hadith for understanding of this verse, and knowing that there were literally thousands competing to fabricate hadith for various reasons we cannot prove whether Muhammad and his believing friends too understood that way. In fact, since we know that Muhammad and his friends had no clue about the mathematical structure of the Quran but had faith in its promise of QURANIC MIRACLES being manifested in the future (10:20; 25:4-6; 29:50-51; 41:53), it is highly conceivable that they understood the fact that these verses were about the importance of the number 19 and that their meaning would be fulfilled in the future. I further assert that Muhammad and those who dedicated their religion to God alone by upholding the Quran as the sole authority in their religion, stopped speculating on these verses as soon as they received the divine instruction in 75:16-19. As we know, after Muslims started following the fabricated hadiths, sunnah, and man-made teachings of various sects (6:112-145; 6:159; 7:29; 9:31; 16:52; 18:57; 39:2,11;14; 39:29-37; 39:43-45; 40:14,65; 42:21; 98:5), they lost their capacity for understanding of the Quran (6:23-25; 17:46). (See FOOTNOTE 1 )
However, it is important to remember that the verses 74:26-37 contain many words that can be understood both a description of Hell and a description of a great miracle, though the later is a much better fit. This linguistically marvelous aspect is well appreciated by those who witness the mathematical miracle and understand the original language of the Quran.
DOES “LAWAHA” IN 74:29 MEAN SCORCHING/BURNING OR OBVIOUS/VISIBLE?
The derivatives of the word LWH are used in the Quran to mean a surface used for recording information, board, and flat wood; and nowhere is it used to mean scorch or burn. Before the fulfillment of the prophecy, translators and commentators of the Quran had difficulty in understanding the simple meaning of this word and thus, they resorted to external sources and often odd meanings, such as scorch, or burn. In fact, the drive to justify a particular meaning for some “difficult” Quranic words is one of the many reasons for fabricating Hadith. (See: FOOTNOTE 2).
Verse 74:29 is very interesting and crucial in understanding the rest of the chapter. Though it consists of only 2 words, this verse is translated in several different ways. Here are some examples from English Translations:
Yusuf Ali: “darkening and changing the color of man”
Marmaduke Pickthall: “It shrivelleth the man”
T.B. Irving: “as it shrivels human (flesh).”
M. H. Shakir: “It scorches the mortal.”
MaulaHUM Muhammad Ali: “It scorches the mortal”
N. J. Dawood: “it burns the skins of men.”
Muhammad Asad: “making (all truth) visible to mortal man.”
Rashad Khalifa: “obvious to all the people.”
Those who do not know Arabic might think that the words are really difficult to understand and translate. In fact, the meaning of these two words, LaWwaHa and BaSHaR is very clear in the Quranic context. The word LaWwaHa, which comes from the root LWH, is the sister of the word LaWH (85:22) and its plural aLWaH. The plural form aLWaH is used in verses 7:145, 150, 154 for the “tablets” given to Moses, and in verse 54:13 for broad planks used by Noah to build his ark. The medieval commentators, not knowing the mathematical implication of the verses, mostly chose an unusual meaning for the word: scorching, burning, shriveling, etc. Ironically, most of them did acknowledge the obvious meaning of the word as “open board, tablet” (See Baydawi, Fakhruddin Er-Razi, etc.) Few preferred the “obvious” to the obscure. For instance, Muhammad Asad, who had no idea of the mathematical code, preferred the most obvious meaning. Rashad Khalifa who fulfilled the prophecy and discovered the implication of the entire chapter reflected the same obvious meaning. That “obvious” meaning, however, was obscured by the smoke of “scorching fire” burning in the imaginations of generations before him.
In 7:145; 7:150; 7:154, the word eLWaH, the plural of LaWHa is used to depict the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. In 54:13 it is used to describe the structure of the Noah’s ship that made of wood panes. In 85:22 the same word is used for the mathematically protected record of the original version of the Quran. As for the LaWaHa of 74:29, it is the amplified noun-adjective derived from the root of verb LWH, meaning open tablets, succeeding screens, obvious, manifesto, or clearly and perpetually visible.
Ironically, the Quran uses different words to describe burning or scorching. For instance, for burning the derivatives of HaRaQa (2:266; 3:181; 7:5; 20:97; 21:68; 22:9; 22:22; 29:24; 75:10), or for scorching the derivatives of SaLaYa ( 4:10; 4:30; 4:56; 4:115; 14:29; 17:18; 19:70; 27:7; 28:29; 29:31; 36:64; 38:56; 38:59; 38:163; 52:16; 56:94; 58:8; 69:31; 74: 26; 82:15; 83:16; 84:12; 87:12; 88:12; 92:15), or NaDaJa are used (4:56).
Again, we should note that the understanding of pre-1974 commentators was not without basis. Though their understanding did not rely on the Quranic usage of the words, and created some problems (such as explaining the verse 74:31), they had some justifiable excuses to understand the way they understood. The word LaWaHa also meant burn and BaSHaRa was another word for skin in Arabic language. As I mentioned above, the multiple meaning of these verses allowed the impatient pre-1974 generations to have an understanding, though a temporary and not primarily intended one. In fact, it was better for them to have patient and not rush to speculate on these verses without knowledge (20:114; 75:16-19). It was the computer generation destined to understand their real meaning (10:37-46).
DOES “BASHAR” IN 74:29 MEAN SKIN OR HUMAN?
The translation of the second word, BaSHaR is also among the distorted one. Many old commentaries translated it as “skin” rather then “human being” or “people” or “humans.” For instance, N. J. Dawood parrots such a translation. The meaning of BaSHaR is also obvious in the context of the Quran. The word BASHAR occurs in the Quran 36 times. It is also mentioned as BASHARAYN (two bashars). If we exclude the BASHAR of 74:29 for the sake of the argument, we see that the word BASHAR is used to mean human beings in all 36 verses: 3:47; 3:79; 5:18; 6:91; 11:27; 12:31; 14:10; 14:11; 15:28; 15:33; 16:103; 17:93; 17:94; 18:110; 19:17; 19:20; 19:26; 21:3; 21:34; 23:24; 23:33; 23:34; 25:54; 26:104; 26:186; 30:20; 36:15; 38:71; 41:6; 42:51; 54:24; 64:6; 74:25; 74:29; 74:31; 74:36.
Then, why those who have allergy against the code 19 still insist to translate the word BaSHaR as skin while in its all 36 occurrences the word BaSHaR there is not a single instance where the word BaSHaR is used to mean skin; but always used to mean human beings? Especially, despite the fact that the word BASHAR occurs thrice in the same Chapter: after 74:29, in 74:31 and 74:36, and the fact that the verse 74:36 witnesses for the 36th times for “human beings,” and that they were obliged to translate the last two occurrences as “human beings,” how could they still insist on translating the BaSHaR of 74:29 as “skin.” Since the prophetic verses did not make any sense for them before its fulfillment in 1974, translators and commentators of the Quran had an excuse to translate it differently before the fulfillment of the prophecy. However, after learning the discovery, none has an excuse to still continue parroting the overly stretched meaning.
Furthermore, the Quran uses “GeLD” for skin. This organic wrap that protects our body and provides tactile sense is referred in 13 verses with GLD and its derivatives: 4:56; 4:56; 16:80; 22:20; 24:2; 24:2; 24:4; 24:4; 39:23; 39:23; 41:20; 41:21; 41:22.
In short, while the Quran consistently uses GLD and its derivatives for skin and related words and while it consistently uses BShR for human beings, a convincing reason must be provided for ignoring all these examples and translating the BShR of 74:39 as “skin.” The pre-1974 generations can be excused for trying to understand these verses even if it meant accepting some uncommon usages or dialects. As for post-1974 generation, if they are still stuck with hell and fire, then they share the same disease with the disbelievers of the past (2:75; 4:46; 5:13; 5:41).
After the fulfillment of the prophecy and divine clarification of its context, it is distortion to render this two-word verse 74:29 as “shrivels/scorches the skin” or “shrivels/scorches the man” rather than “it is clearly visible for human beings” or “it is a manifesto/successive-screens for human beings.” However, the repetitive stretch and distortion committed by the post-1974 translators/commentaries on the many verses of Chapter 74 is bizarre and extraordinary. This pattern is prophetically described by verses 2:18; 3:7; 11:28; 41:44; 17:72; 25:73; 27:81.
DOES THE PRONOUN “HIYA” (SHE) IN THE END OF 74:31 REFER TO THE HELL OR TO THE NUMBER 19?
We know that verse 74:30 does not qualify the reference of 19. It pulls our attention to a NUMBER ALONE. The verse does not say “on it nineteen angles” or “on it nineteen guards” or “on it nineteen this or that.” The verse says “on it nineteen.” Period. Verse 74:31, after informing us that the number of guardians of hell is 19, isolates this number from hell again describes its role.
Yet, those whose minds stuck in Hell cannot even notice this evident emphasis to the number. Thus, they violate the general grammar rules and universal linguistic logic and identify the reference of HIYA (SHE) in the end of 74:31 as HELL FIRE.
According to the grammar rules and common linguistic logic, the reference of a pronoun should be sought in proximity first. Sure, if there is no compelling empirical or rational reason for skipping a closer noun. For instance, “Yesterday, at Mary’s home I saw Lisa. She was very thoughtful.” In this sentence grammar and logic leads us to think that the thoughtful person was Lisa not Mary. But, “Yesterday, in Delhi’s streets on the back of an elephant I saw Lisa. She was swinging her trunk/hose left and right and walking majestically.” (I had given the original example in Turkish and in Turkish the same word is used for both elephant’s trunk and hose. For didactic purposes please assume that it is the same in English.) Though grammatically the best candidate for reference of SHE is Lisa, we have an empirical reason to ignore the general rule since the one who would swing her trunk/hose is the elephant. But if these sentences are in a story and if we are told that Lisa was walking in the street with a hose in her hand, then the SHE in the sentence may equally refer to elephant OR Lisa. There will be ambiguity and if it is intentionally done then we wonder the purpose of the ambiguity. But, if the sentences continue, “When she hit the trunk/hose in her hand to a store sign…,” then we become sure that it was a hose not trunk. “Your mother had given you a walnut and a book. Have you eat and finished it?” A sound mind can easily deduce that that “it” refers not to the book, but to the walnut. But, if the question were “Your mother had given you a walnut and a book. Have you finished it?” then, an ambiguity will arise. However, if the context of the question is known then we can deduce whether the query is about finishing the book or the walnut or both.
The pronoun HIYA (SHE), based on the rules of grammar, the emphasis of the verse in its context, and based on the rhetorical superiority of its meaning, must be referred to the grammatically feminine closest noun IDDATAHUM (their number, that is Nineteen). How can we explain the act of skipping IDDATAHUM (their number, Nineteen) by ignoring the grammar, context, emphasis, and rhetoric, and insisting to reach the FIRE?
We will see in the miraculously elegant and prophetic expression of the Quran that hypocrites and unappreciative people have deserved the SaQaR penalty both in this world and hereafter. In this world as the 19-based mathematical code of the Quran; they will be intellectually tormented by its powerful evidences. And in the hereafter as the 19 guards of symbolic hell-fire; they will be convicted to eternally face the number 19 in the presence of guarding angles. (See FOOTNOTE 3)
DOES THE “ZIKRA” (REMINDER) IN 74:31 REFER TO HELL OR THE EVIDENCE?
This brings us to the last phrase of verse 74:31 “it/this is a warning/reminder for mankind.” Old commentaries and their parroting contemporaries refer “it/this” to the FIRE or HELL.
Those who have difficulty in accepting the possibility of an intellectual argument in The Hidden One (Muddathir), insert a HELL in the translation or the understanding of the last phrase of 74:31:
“This (HELL) is a warning for people.”
This way, they transform the ZiKRa to a warning to be scared, to a penalty to avoid. However, all the derivatives of ZKR, including ZiKRa, are used in the Quran 267 times; and if we include DKR which is mentioned 7 times; this word is mentioned 274 times in the Quran and NOWHERE is it used to describe HELL or FIRE. You may check for yourself all the 21 verses where the word ZiKRa is mentioned: 6:68; 6:69; 6090; 7:2; 11:114; 11:120; 21:84; 26:209; 29:51; 38:43; 38:46; 39:21; 40:54; 44:13; 50:8; 50:37; 51:55; 74:31; 80:4; 87:9; 89:23. You may also check the two verses where the word is suffixed with pronouns ZiKRaha and ZiKRahum: 47:18; 79:43.
More interestingly, however, you will find another derivative of the same word “ZiKRa” (reminder) is used in verse 74:49 as “taZKiRa.”
“Why do they turn away from this message/reminder (taZKiRa)?”
The disbelievers had ignored the reminder! Obviously, hell cannot be that reminder, since you are not supposed to embrace and face hell while you are alive on this earth. You are expected to turn away from Hell and turn to the message (taZKiRa). Therefore, taZKiRa and ZiKRa cannot be both HELL and the MESSAGE of the Quran. All the derivatives of ZKR are consistently used in the Quran for the divine message that revives and bestows eternal happiness.
Because of the self-ignited and self-inflicted hell fire burning in their minds, the disbelievers and hypocrites ignore the PLEASANT meaning associated to the word 280 times, and fight with us to keep it as HELL. Well, this was exactly what they were promised and what they deserve. Their initial decision, their prejudice, ignorance and arrogance, have led them to bet their faith on hell, a questionable one chance against 280 chances!
HOW DOES THE NUMBER NINETEEN INCREASE THE FAITH OF BELIEVERS AND ALSO REMOVE DOUBTS FROM THE MINDS OF PEOPLE OF THE BOOK AS PROMISED IN 74:31?
With the exception of Rashad Khalifa, all the translations and commentaries listed above have had big problem with this question. Since they did not accept it as a prophecy left to be fulfilled in the future, and since they rushed to speculate on them without knowledge, they dug a hole for themselves. Surely, they always could deceive themselves and others by claiming that THEIR FAITH was increased because of the association of the number 19 with the guardians of hell. This claim obviously would be a non-falsifiable claim. One can say anything about his or her own faith. However, this claim could not explain why specifically 19 and not another number or another thing. Let’s assume they could pretend that their faith was really increased by the nineteen guardians of hell, but how could they explain the other functions of the number nineteen? How could this number nineteen remove the doubts of people of the book? The proponents of HELL-19 just could not make up an answer for this, since the issue involved an OBJECTIVE fact, not a subjective claim.
Interestingly, those who saw the Hell-fire in these prophetic verses claimed that the people of the book would believe in the Quran because they would see that the number of guardians of hell was also nineteen in their own books! What? Please read it again. Yes, this is the explanation of all the prominent Sunni and Shiite scholars of the past and unfortunately it is exactly parroted by the contemporary ones!
First, there is no such a statement in the Bible. Second, even if there was such a statement there would not be anything special about nineteen, since there are many principles, stories of prophets, and instructions mentioned in the Quran that are also in the Bible. In fact, the very existence of similarity had an opposite effect on many people of the book; they claimed and still claim that the Quran was plagiarized from the Bible. Third, none has been persuaded regarding the authenticity of the Quran because the number of guardians of hell is nineteen! I personally communicated and met dozens of Christians or Jews whose doubts about the authenticity of the Quran was removed because of their witnessing the mathematical miracle of the Quran based on the number nineteen. You can find some of these people on Internet forums. This is happening despite the aggressive misinformation and disinformation campaign carried out by numerous Sunni and Shiite groups. Compare the prophetic role of MIRACLE-19 to the role of HELL-19 in their powers of removing doubts from the minds of People of the Book. Two DECADES versus more than 14 CENTURIES, and several THOUSAND people versus more than a BILLION people.
The HELL-19 advocates cannot show a single Christian or Jew who converted to their version of Islam because their doubts were removed after they noticed that the number of guardians of hell is also 19 in their books! This failure alone should be sufficient to wake up those who are still eager to see Hell in these verses. Yet, they still shamelessly repeat this lie to defend their hellish version.
Some opponents of the CODE-19 even tried to use a phrase in verse 74:31 against understanding of the very verse. They quote the fifth function of the number nineteen, “to expose those who have disease in their hearts, and the disbelievers; they will say, ‘What did God mean by this allegory?'” and then charge us: “You 19ers are asking this question; therefore, you have disease in your hearts.” First, none of us have asked this question, including Rashad Khalifa. We happened to learn the meaning of number nineteen even before asking such a question. We know the meaning of this allegory and we do not challenge that meaning. Furthermore, this question is not a question of a curious person who sincerely wants to learn the meaning of the Quran. This question is the challenge of arrogance and ignorance. It is a question that many still millions of Sunni and Shiite people are asking themselves. They will keep asking this question as long as they follow their ancestors blindly and worship Prophet Muhammad and religious scholars.
DOES THE “HA” IN 74:35 REFER TO HELL OR THE NUMBER 19? DOES THE WORD “KUBRA” IN THE SAME VERSE REFER TO “GREAT DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES” OR TO “GREAT SIGNS AND MIRACLES”?
When we reflect on the context and the usage of the words of verse “This is one of the greatest” we can easily deduce that this refers to the number 19 and its prophetic function as a conclusive evidence for the authenticity of the Quran and a great test for people. Unfortunately, many of those who did not witness the incredible mathematical structure based on the number 19, related this verse to Hell, again.
Let’s one by one see several different translations of this verse. (Again, the pre-1974 translations have an excuse in their mistranslations since they did not witness the fulfillment of the prophecy of the mathematical miracle):
Yusuf Ali: “this is but one of the mighty (portents)”
Marmaduke Pickthall: “Lo! This is one of the greatest (portents)”
T.B. Irving: “Surely it is one of the gravest (misfortunes).”
M.H. Shakir: “Surely it (hell) is one of the gravest (misfortunes).”
MaulaHUM Muhammad Ali: “Surely it is one of the gravest (misfortunes)”
N. J. Dawood: “it is a dire scourge.”
Muhammad Asad: “Verily, that [hell-fire) is Indeed one of the great [forewarnings]”
Rashad Khalifa: “This is one of the greatest miracles.”
I leave for you to assess the contextual reference of the pronoun in 74:35. Here, I will draw your attention to the descriptive word KuBeR, which is the plural of KaBeeR derived from KBR (great). The derivatives of KBR are used in the Quran to describe positive or negative events, people, or things. For instance, in verses 20:23; 44:16; 53:18; 79:20 it is used to describe God’s ayaats or miracles. The derivatives of the same word are used for disaster in 79:34 and hell in 87:12.
In other words, if we do not consider the context of the group of verses, we may understand the reference of THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST as either HELL FIRE or one of God’s greatest MIRACLES. Through this verse alone, one may see flames of fire or signs of a miracle. Nevertheless, considering the context of this verse it becomes clear that the first vision is a man-made hallucination and the later a divine gift.
DOES THE WORD NAZER IN 74:36 REFER TO THE HELL FIRE OR TO THE DEVINE EVIDENCES?
NAZER is an adjective derived from the root NZR and means “WARNER” Throughout the Quran the various derivatives of this word occur 130 times. Here are the verse numbers where the form NaZeR (warner) occurs 44 times: 2:119; 5:19; 5:19; 7:184; 7:188; 11:2; 11:12; 11:25; 15:89; 17:105; 25:1; 25:7; 25:51; 25:56; 26:115; 28:46; 29:50; 32:3; 33:45; 34:28; 34:34; 34:44; 34:46; 35:23; 35:24; 35:24; 35:37; 35:42; 35:42; 38:70; 41:4; 43:23; 46:9; 48:8; 51:50; 51:51; 53:56; 67:8; 67:9; 67:17; 67:26; 71:2; 74:36.
In NONE of these verses the word NaZeR is used for HELL or FIRE. In these verses NaZeR describe God’s messengers, books, revelation, and signs.
THEN WHY THOSE WHO CLAIM TO BE MUSLIMS DO NOT UNDERSTAND OR APPRECIATE THE PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT OF THESE AYAAT (REVELATIONS/SIGNS/MIRACLES)? WHY THEY SEE AND WORK HARD TO SEE HELL-FIRE, INSTEAD OF THE PRECISE AND UNIVERSAL GREAT MIRACLE?
Surely, previous generations who were not aware the discovery of Code 19 via computer had an excuse to twist the meaning of obvious verses in order to make sense out of them. They could not imagine that the 19 was the code of an elaborate mathematical system. Nevertheless, some early commentators of the Quran who did not limit the understanding of the Quran with Hadith and Sunnah sensed something beyond HELL from these verses and discussed them as alternative understanding. For instance, Fakhruddin er-Razi in his famous Tafsir al Kabir, in his 23rd comment on Basmalah, speculates on the 19 letters of Basmalah and lists numerous implications, such as the difference between the number of 5 prayers and the number of hours in a day; the number of physical, intellectual, and emotional faculties that humans are blessed with, etc. Among the modern commentators who lived before 1974, Muhammad Asad is the only one that subscribes to Razi’s interpretation of the number nineteen of 74:30. (See FOOTNOTE 4). However, Asad too could not avoid but see Hell everywhere.
The opponents of the miracle 19 are no different than those who rejected the entire Quran in the past. The description of these verses fits both groups, which is another miraculous aspect of the Quran:
74:21 He looked.
74:22 He frowned and scowled.
74:23 Then he turned away arrogantly.
74:24 He said, “This is but an impressive illusion/magic!” (See FOOTNOTE 5)
74:25 “This is human made.”
In conclusion, those who reject to witness the miracle 19 are insulting the wisdom of God. According to them God’s only answer to someone who challenges the authenticity of the Quran is: “Get lost! I will burn you in the hellfire” Depicting God as someone who cannot engage in an intellectual argument with His opponent, but can only employ the cheapest method of persuasion (threat) cannot be the path of believers who are warned by the incredible prophecies of this wonderful chapter, The Secret.
Turning back to the question: Then why those who claim to be Muslims do not understand or appreciate the prophetic fulfillment of these ayaat (revelations/signs/miracles)? Why they see and work hard to see hell-fire, instead of the precise and universal great miracle?
The Quran provides prophetic answers to this question in numerous verses. Please read and reflect on them:
“A.L.M. Do the people think that they will be left to say, “We believe,” without being tested? We have tested those before them, for God must distinguish those who are truthful, and He must expose the liars.” (29:1-4)
“Their example is like those who start a fire, then, as it begins to shed light its surrounding, God takes away their light, leaving them in darkness, unable to see. Deaf, dumb, and blind; they will not return.” (2:17-18)
“I will divert from My revelations/signs/miracles (ayaat) those who are arrogant on earth, without justification. Consequently, when they see every kind of sign/miracle (ayat) they will not believe in. When they see the path of guidance they will not adopt it as their path. Yet, when they see the path of straying they will adopt it as their path. This is the consequence of their rejecting our revelations/signs/miracles (ayaat) and of being heedless thereof.” (7:146) (See, FOOTNOTE 6)
“They challenge you to bring the retribution, when Hell is already surrounding the unappreciative/disbelievers.” (29:54) (Please read from 29:48)
“He sent down to you this scripture, containing straightforward verses- which constitute the essence of the scripture-as well as multiple-meaning or allegorical verses. Those who harbor doubts in their hearts will pursue the multiple-meaning verses to create confusion, and to extricate a certain meaning. None knows the true meaning thereof except GOD and those well founded in knowledge. They say, “We believe in this-all of it comes from our Lord.” Only those who possess intelligence will take heed.” (3:7) (See FOOTNOTE 7)
“When reminded of their Lord’s revelations/signs/miracles, they never react to them as if they were deaf and blind.” (25:73)
“Are they waiting for angels to come to them, or your Lord, or some manifestation/miracles of your Lord? The day some of the manifestation/miracles of your Lord come, no person will benefit from believing if he or she did not believe before that, and did not reap the benefits of belief by leading a righteous life. Say, ‘Keep on waiting; we too will wait.” (6:158).
“Some of them listen to you. But we place veils on their hearts to prevent them from understanding, and deafness in their ears. Thus, no matter what kind of sign/miracle they see, they cannot believe. Thus, when they argue with you, the unappreciative disbelievers will say, “These are tales from past.” (6:25-26)
“When they arrive, He will say, “You have rejected My revelations/signs/miracles before acquiring knowledge about them. Is this not what you did?” (27:84).
“They never expected an accounting/calculation. And they passionately rejected our revelations/miracles. Although we have counted everything in a record/book.” (78:27-29).
“They cannot take heed against God’s will. He is the source of righteousness; He is the source of forgiveness.” (74:56).
Alhamdulillah.
NEXT: EXPOSING THE EXCUSES OF HYPOCRITES AND UNAPPRECIATIVE PEOPLE.
FOOTNOTES:
The prototype disbeliever who is challenged by the number 19 is described as the one who makes erroneous inferences (74:18-20). The repetitious reference to his fallacious logic emphasizes the importance of thinking and inferring properly.
God has embedded in our hardware and system software the rules of logical thinking (rooh and aql), which amazingly work perfectly in harmony with the rules of external or natural world. If we employ these rules they will help us to understand God’s law in the nature and the scripture. Our ego, our weakness to follow the crowd, our short term petty interests and similar interference can prevent us from employing those rules correctly or efficiently.
Number 19, as the mathematical system of the Quran, invites the audience to use his or her rules of inferences to witness, understand and appreciate the intricate and extraordinary design of the Book. This invitation is from the Creator of human mind who blessed humans with power to reason and freedom of choice to use that power correctly. It is most interesting that the rules we need to appreciate God’s mathematically designed message are exactly 19. The number of rules are complete and sufficient to test the truth value of any statement.
“The present list of 19 rules of inference constitutes a COMPLETE system of truth-functional logic, in the sense that it permits the construction of a formal proof of validity for ANY valid truth-functional argument.” (FN1)
The above quotation together with its emphasis on COMPLETE and ANY is from the textbook I use for my logic classes. The book, which has been reviewed by scores of professors around the nation is one of the most popular text books used at American universities and colleges. The book provides the list of 19 Rules of Inferences both inside and on its cover.
The first nine rules of the list are rules of inference that “correspond to elementary argument forms whose validity is easily established by truth tables.” (Id, page 351). The remaining ten rules are the Rules of Replacement, “which permits us to infer from any statement the result of replacing any component of that statement by any other statement logically equivalent to the component replaced.” (Id, page 359).
Here are the 19 Rules of Inference:
1. Modus Ponens (M.P.) | p → q
p .: q |
2. Modus Tollens (M.T.) | p → q
~ q .: ~ p |
3. Hypothetical Syllogism (H.S.) | p → q
q → r .: p → r |
4. Disjunctive Syllogism (D.S.) | p v q
~ p .: q |
5. Constructive Dilemma (C.D. | (p → q) ∙ (r → s)
p v r .: q v s |
6. Absorption (Abs.) | p → q
.: p → (p∙q) |
7. Simplification (Simp.) | p∙q
.: p |
8. Conjunction (Conj.) | p
q .: p∙q |
9. Addition (Add.) | p
.: p v q |
Any of the following logically equivalent expressions can replace each other wherever they occur: |
|
10. De Morgan’s Theorem (De M.) | ~ (p∙q) ≡ (~ p v ~ q)
~ (p v q) ≡ (~ p∙~ q) |
11. Commutation (Com.) | (p v q) ≡ (q v p)
(p∙q) ≡ (q∙p) |
12. Association (Assoc.) | [p v (q v r)] [(p v q) v r]
[p∙ (q∙r)] [(p∙q) ∙r] |
13. Distribution (Dist) | [p∙(q v r)] ≡ [(p∙q) v (p∙r)]
[p v (q∙r)] ≡ [(p v q) ∙ (p v r)] |
14. Double Negation (D.N.) | p ≡ ~ ~ p |
15. Transposition (Trans.) | (p → q) ≡ (~ q → ~ p) |
16. Material Implication (M. Imp.) | (p → q) ≡ (~ p v q) |
17. Material Equivalence (M. Equiv.) | (p≡q) ≡ [(p → q) ∙ (q → p)]
(p≡q) [(p∙q) v (~ p ∙ ~ q)] |
18. Exportation (Exp.) | [(p∙q) → r] ≡ [p → (q → r)] |
19. Tautology (Taut.) | p ≡ (p v p)
p ≡ (p∙p) |
Introduction to Logic, Irving M. Copi and Carl Cohen, NINETEEN: God’s Signature in Nature and Scripture www.19.org |
Verse 4:82 of the Quran claims that it is free of contradictions. Any internal contradiction or contradiction between the Quran and God’s laws in the nature will falsify the claim. I found the following claims of contradiction posted in an evangelical site disguised as “humanist.” Here are the 10 charges and my answers.
Islam is not a proper name; it simply means submission and peace. There are many aspects of being a muslim or submitter to God. There are at least three spheres of divine law. Submitting oneself to those laws is the only way of attaining peace and eternal happiness. These laws are:
Continue reading ‘Was the Discovery of the Code 19 a Coincidence?’ »
Fifteen Great Reasons We Should Embrace
and Follow the Quran-only Islam
Abdur Rab
21 July 2009
www.19.org
Islam that we should follow is the one guided strictly by the Quran’s tenets. The Hadith, the alleged second source of Islam, is unacceptable as religious guidance as it has given rise to spurious, untenable and ludicrous ideas that have corrupted practiced Islam (See: Chapters 10 and 11 of the author’s recently published book Exploring Islam in a New Light: An Understanding from the Quranic Perspective). The Quran-only Islam seeks to replace the most widely held notions of Islam that have led to sectarian divisions among Muslims, and given rise to the violence, strife, inequality and fanaticism seen so often in western portrayals of Islam. The Hadith believers think that the Quran is not sufficient or easy for us as guidance. The Quran, however, is emphatic on the points that it is detailed and self-explained (6:114; 12:111; 16:89), and straightforward, clear and sufficiently easy to follow (39:28; 43:2; 44:2, 58; 54:17, 22, 32, 40). There are at least fifteen great reasons why one should embrace and follow this Quran-only Islam:
1. The Quran provides to date the most reliable comprehensive religious guidance to humankind.
Confirming and upholding earlier divine messages, the Quran embodies the latest genuine and most comprehensive divine guidance to humankind. It is the latest divinely inspired book in Arabic, which is empirically found to remain intact in its original version, unaltered and undiluted since its compilation by the Prophet Muhammad’s trustworthy companions. The Quran excels in eloquence as well as in profundity, universal appeal, logical coherence and scientific orientation of its message. (For more illumination, see Chapter 1 of my book Exploring Islam in a New Light: An Understanding from the Quranic Perspective.)
2. The Quran gives not a new religion but the purest of all monotheistic religions.
The roots of Islam are traceable to earlier monotheistic religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Vedic Hinduism. However, the pure monotheism that the Quran reestablishes has unfortunately been lost or diluted in earlier religions (e.g., the Trinity introduced in Christianity and polytheism and idolatry in Hinduism). The Quran corrects the errors that crept into earlier religious books and their associated religions, and at the same time upholds the original religions brought by the Prophets Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others. All earlier prophets of God are respected prophets of Islam, who are excellent examples to emulate for all Muslims. Our Prophet Muhammad was specifically urged to follow Abraham as an excellent example and follow his religion (60:4-6; 3:95; 2:135; 4:125; 16:123).
3. This religion is spiritual. The Quran calls for a religious practice that is essentially and fundamentally spiritual in nature.
The Quran urges humankind to embark on a journey of spiritual evolution, as distinguished from material wellbeing, for self-purification and to attain spiritual wisdom to lead an enriched, progressive and blissful life. For this it prescribes religious practices such as prayer and noble and humanitarian deeds along with strict moral and ethical uprightness. The Quran inspires us to envision and build a human society where peace, security, justice and compassion and an environment conducive to the uplifting of all humankind prevail.
4. This religion is humane. The Quran emphasizes mercy, compassion and service to humanity.
God wants us to be as good and kind to others as we are to ourselves (2:267). God wants us to save a man rather than kill him, and saving a man is like saving the whole of humankind (5:32). In accordance with this spirit, we need to serve humanity to save them from any danger and disadvantage—from death, disease, injury, deprivation, ignorance, misery, poverty and hunger. To be good and generous to fellow human beings, especially to those who are poor and disadvantaged, is a great virtue in the sight of God (90:12–18; 2:261, 265; 70:24–25). Serving God amounts to serving humanity in the same way as God serves them through His agents.
5. This Islam advocates social egalitarianism.
Though it sanctifies private ownership and enterprise, the Quran has a strong socialistic overtone. It urges the more wealthy sections of people in society to share their wealth and income with their poor and disadvantaged fellow beings (2:177; 76:8-9; 92:20-21; 107:1-7; etc.). The Quran states there is no piety without giving (92:18; 9:103; 3:92; 107:1–7). (For more illumination on this, see the discussion on spending in God’s Way in the author’s above-cited book.)
6. This religion advocates application of a rational approach to religion.
Typical of all practiced religions, practiced Islam is found to often distract from what are dictated by scientific knowledge and reason. The Quran, on the other hand, rather encourages us to apply reason and a scientific approach to faith. It encourages us to look throughout the universe and see how things happen:
“Say: Travel through the earth, and see how God hath brought forth all creation.” (29:20).
Creation or change points to causal relation. The Quranic religion is one that makes man conscious of how he can change both his lot and the lot of his society. The Quran makes it amply clear that He does not change the condition of man unless he himself takes the initiative and changes it:
“Verily God changeth not the condition of a people until they themselves change their own condition” (13:11).
Other statements in the Quran such as that one’s reward is proportionate to one’s work, that none shoulders the burden of others, that the universe with its planetary system follows a perfect logical order underscore Islam’s rational foundation. It is only with sincere effort that man can achieve progress and success. God does not do anything on His own to reward or punish man or any creature.
7. This religion has no room for religious fanaticism or “fundamentalism”.
The Quran does not encourage a fatalistic belief in God. He has given us free will to choose between good and evil (13:11; 18:29; 76:3; 91:7–10). We are rewarded or punished according to what we do (2: 286; 20:15; 28:84; 53:31, 39; 42:30; 6:132; 46:19; 17:19; 5:35; etc.). There should be no such thing as predestination by God or fatalism, i.e., the belief that God preordains all events. The fatalistic idea espoused by the Hadith is that God knows in advance all events, He predetermines all events, and He wills all events and, therefore, all events take place in accordance with what God knew, planned and willed. But if this idea is true, the Quranic verse that “Man hath only that for which he maketh effort” (20:15; 53:39) cannot have any meaning. For, if God decides beforehand what man will do, He cannot legitimately make him responsible for anything he does and the whole system of rewarding for good work and punishing for bad work completely breaks down, there remaining no role for religion to play for man. Fatalism or fatalistic attitude belies God’s Laws or the logical system. Fatalism or blind dependence on God, which negates the relevance of man’s own efforts is, therefore, not only a real obstacle for one’s spiritual progress, but a great impediment to overall human progress, and should therefore be shunned.
At the same time we need to note that belief in God’s Laws or the logical system also implies that we need to be mentally ready to accept, and readily accept what cannot be escaped or avoided. This is what really means accepting the given set of facts or factors, that have already been predetermined by factors, and which man must live with. The given set of predetermined facts or factors is so to say God-given or God-willed. One needs to believe in this kind of taqdir or predetermined fate or destiny, and this is not fatalism or predestination.
This Islam also rejects many other fanatic beliefs held by Muslims that are encouraged mostly by the Hadith literature (e.g., reciting Quranic verses without understanding is a virtue (thawab) or reciting such and such verses of the Quran gives such and such virtues).
8. This “Quran-only” Islam rejects sects and madhabs.
When Islam came – during the Prophet’s lifetime, there was only one Muslim group. Muslims later became divided into sects such as Shiites, Sunnis and Kharijites (who were distinct from Shiites and Sunnis), and Sunnis in turn formed four madhabs (schools of thought) – Shafi, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali. Subsequently, there emerged another much conservative Sunni group called Wahhabis. Such divisions among Muslims are unacceptable under the “Quran-only” Islam (3:103, 105; 6:159). The Quran urges Muslims to remain steadfast and united on the path of God (3:103, 105). The Quran states:
“Verily thou (O Muhammad) hast no concern with those who have divided their religion and became sects. Their affair is only with God who will inform them of what they did.” (6:159)
9. This Islam guarantees human freedom – freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
The Quran explicitly allows free human will (13:11; 18:29; 76:3; 91:7–10), which is really the basic foundation of religion, since without free will human beings could not be made accountable for their deeds. It allows freedom to choose between religions, which is implicit in the very statement that there must not be any coercion in religion (2:256). The Prophet was asked to not force anyone to his religion (10:99). Also the statement “To you your religion, to me my religion” (109:6) signifies full religious freedom and tolerance. The Prophet was asked to not revile others’ gods lest others wrongfully revile God through ignorance (6:108). Also the statement “Bear with what they say, and part from them in a nice manner” (73:10) guarantees freedom and tolerance of speech.
10. This Islam is truly a religion of peace and tolerance.
The “Quran-only” Islam is peaceful by definition. The expression “Islam” is derived from “salama”, which means “peace”. It also means submission (to God or godly values). The Quran supports only defensive wars. It strongly condemns aggressive wars and persecution and torture, and asks believers to cease hostility, if the enemy inclines to peace (2:190-193; 4:90; 8:61-62).
“Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but initiate not aggression. Verily God loveth not aggressors. And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places wherefrom they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Sacred Mosque until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there), then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. But if they desist, then verily God is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful. And fight them until there is no more persecution, and religion is for God. But if they desist, let there be no hostility except against the wrongdoers.” (2:190–193)
The Quranic religion is a most tolerant religion, a misunderstood faith because of the influence from the widely revered Hadith literature that has perpetuated the harsh, extremist version of Islam. By historical standards also, notwithstanding the fact that Muslims often deviated from the Quran-dictated path, “Islam has a long record of tolerance” according to noted scholar on comparative religion John Esposito. The Quran strongly condemns the intolerance, violence and terrorism that are currently being orchestrated by Muslim extremists in various parts of the world. In the Quran, God has clearly and strongly warned humankind against any act of wrongdoing, murder, corruption or mischief in the land (5:32; 7:56, 74; 13:25; 26:151–152, 183; 27:48–49; 47:22–23).
Another aspect of tolerance espoused by the Quran is a forgiving attitude believers are urged to exhibit towards those who commit excesses. It recommends forgiveness in place of retaliation to the extent possible without encouraging persistence of injustice in society.
(For more on tolerance, the reader may visit the free-minds.org website link: http://www.free-minds.org/tolerance, or read the relevant section in Chapter VI of the author’s book Exploring Islam in a New Light, or Edip Yuksel’s article “Violence and Peace” in Quran: A Reformist Translation, republished in just published Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform.)
11. This Islam is for human dignity and equality, and respectful of genuine human rights.
The Quran has full respect for human dignity and advocates equal treatment of all human beings irrespective of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other similar status. All men and women are equal in the eyes of God; only virtuousness determines who is nearer to Him (3:195; 4:124; 16:97; 33:35). The best in God’s sight is one who is best in righteous conduct (49:13). All the children of Adam—all men and women—deserve the same dignity:
“And verily We have bestowed honor on the children of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favors, above a great part of Our creation.” (17:70)
There is no room for racial discrimination in this Islam. Likewise, even though women are treated as inferior to men in traditional Islam, the Quran does not approve of such discrimination. Nor is there any rationale for discrimination on the basis of any religion in name (2:62; 5:69). For that matter, no other reason, e.g., wealth or property, strength in manpower, or status or power in society, is of any value to God (9:55, 69; 10:58, 88–89; 28:76–81; 30:39; 34:37; 43:32–35; 111:2).
The Quran guarantees private initiative and enterprise, and the right to private ownership of property (2:188). It puts a very high premium on human life, which implies a very high regard for an individual (5:32). It requires us to stand and fight for human rights and against human oppression (4:75). It forbids us to deprive others of their legitimate rights:
“And wrong not men of their things (or rights), and act not corruptly in the earth, making mischief.” (26:183).
Thus human rights abuses that are being committed from time to time by governments or ethnic groups are things that deserve strong condemnation from Islam.
12. This Islam rejects misogyny.
The Hadith-dominated traditional Islam treats women as inferior to men. The degrading way in which women are being treated in Muslim societies has been a major stumbling block not only to their development but also to overall development of Muslim countries. It is ironic that Muslim fundamentalists or puritans display a particularly demeaning attitude toward women, treating them “as a constant source of danger, and vulnerability for Islam,” and going “as far as branding women as the main source of corruption and evil” (Khaled Abou El Fadl). The Quran rejects this misogynistic treatment of women. The ideal vision of relationship between husband and wife that the Quran depicts is that of mutual love and respect, mutual comfort, kindness and support, and equality and complementarity (30:21; 4:19; 7:189; 25:74; 2:228). The Quran grants women rights over men similar to those of men over women (2:228). Virtuous persons see their spouses and children as comfort for them (25:74). The Quran, of course, grants some edge to men over women, but that is because of the sociological situation where men share a greater financial responsibility than women. If, however, financial responsibility is shared equally by them, men and women should be treated equally as well in matters of inheritance, for example, where discrimination between men and women is being maintained. (For a fuller discussion of these and other relevant points, the reader is referred to Chapter 8 of my book Exploring Islam in a New Light.)
13. This Islam strongly advocates doing justice to all, even to enemies.
The Quran strongly exhorts us to uphold the cause of justice, if necessary by testifying against ourselves, parents and relatives (4:135), and not to let the hatred (by implication, enmity or injustice) of others make us commit any injustice or stray from doing justice (5: 8), which implies ensuring justice to all without parochial or partisan considerations, or regardless of religious or ethnic affiliations. The Quran urges us to not bribe judges to immorally grab others’ property, or to distort justice (2:188). God urges us to give right measure and not to deprive others of their rights. He urges us to maintain proper criminal justice in society – to punish people proportionately to their crimes, and where appropriate to forgive them without jeopardizing the cause of justice.
14. This Islam rejects sharia-prescribed harsh (hudud) punishments.
This Islam rejects the cruel shariah-prescribed punishments such as the punishment by death for apostates, the punishment by stoning to death for adulterers and adulteresses; cutting limbs of thieves; etc. It is the Hadith, not the Quran that prescribes the first two punishments. The cutting of limbs is an extreme or exemplary form of punishments for thieves, and that needs to be understood in a historical context. When society moves toward a more civilized way of life, the need for harsher punishments fades away. From that standpoint, limb cutting is a crude form of punishment that can be avoided without encouraging the crime. Some Muslim scholars think, the relevant word is not limb-cutting but limb-marking so that the culprits are well marked and humiliated in society (See Quran: A Reformist Translation by Edip Yuksel et. al.)
15. This Islam categorically condemns slavery and slavery-like practices.
This Islam is unequivocally against slavery and slavery-like practices, and human domination of one group over another group, and chauvinism and imperialism. Slavery is a most dehumanizing institution. A good Muslim will never enslave a person, but will rather free him or her, or keep him or her as an equal member of his family. Social egalitarianism is a major hallmark of Islam. This is the only way we evolve and elevate all men and help develop their latent talents and bring about all round progress in society. Ironically, slavery and slavery-like practices have long continued in Muslim societies, much longer than in Western societies (For example, the British government abolished slavery long ago.) because of ambiguous influence from the Hadith literature. The Hadith recommends emancipation from slavery, and at the same time permits it.
An active gang among the Submitters community are replacing the Hadith and Sunnah of Muhammad with Rashad’s Appendices, footnotes, subtitles, audio and video tapes, while replacing the title “Final Prophet” with “the Messenger of the Covenant.” What a regression!
The message of the Quran has not gotten stale since centuries. It is one of the miraculous nature of this Book that the verses addressing medieval Arabs and their neighbors do not remain as historical accounts of a particular population lived in the past, but a guide for generations to come. The message of the Quran is universal….
The following articles together with various articles by others were published under the title “United But Disoriented.” It is available at www.quran.org
An Ultimatum
Why Do People Get Disoriented?
A Dialogue between Two Submitters
The Acid Test
The Cult Infecting International Community of Submitters
Is Rashad’s Translation of the Quran Error-free?
Exposure? Let’s see who are really exposed?
AN ULTIMATUM
Are We Going To Repeat The Blunders Of Previous Communities?
Edip Yuksel
In the April, 1997 issue of Submitters Perspective, an article titled “Pilgrimage: Hajj and Umrah” made me concerned about the direction of this community. The author, in that article repeatedly asked the reader to REMEMBER “the duties of the Messenger of the Covenant,” a messenger who repeatedly asked people to remember that accepting anything besides the Quran as a religious source was shirk. Where could a person find the duties of “the Messenger of Covenant?” Sure, the students of the Quran know well that there is no such list of duties in the Quran. The author, in his article written on religious matters, was repeatedly asking his reader to REMEMBER a source besides the Quran.
A messenger might have had many duties and he might have listed them somewhere, but it is not the duty of Muslims (Submitters) to memorize or keep remembering the list of a particular messenger’s duties. Their duty is to follow God’s word alone and reject any other source or authority besides it. It does not matter if the associated source is in written or oral. They are supposed to dedicate the religion to God alone (98:5).
If we keep reminding each other of the words and writings of the late messenger, our children and grandchildren would most likely follow our advise and would remind each other of religious authorities besides the Quran, and as the sign of hypocrisy or ignorance, they might also be parroting the motto, “The Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but the Quran.”
Distinguishing their messenger’s hadith (words) from that of the previous messenger’s through pseudo differences does not change the fact that accepting anything besides the Quran as another authority is shirk. Period. There is no difference between orally narrated hadiths that we cannot verify and those that were transmitted in print or by video tapes, which presumably we might be able to verify. Sayings or writings of messengers might be treated differently regarding their authenticity, but our rejection of Hadith and Sunnah was not based merely on their unreliability, but primarily on the fact that messengers or religious scholars were not other authorities or even teachers of God’s religion. We are commended to devote the religion to God Alone (98:5; 9:31; 6:114).
Abusing the authority of prophets and messengers, and presenting their words or writings as an other authority besides God’s word is one of the most common and repeated blunders of “Submitters” of many generations. Unfortunately, our community has not been different. We have witnessed some so-called Submitters claiming the infallibility of “the Messenger of the Covenant.” We have witnessed published articles claiming that “Kitab” (The Book) mentioned in the Quran refers to BOTH the Quran and Rashad’s translation. We have seen people claiming that the video and audio tapes of “the Messenger of the Covenant” are necessary sources besides the Quran, in addition to his three versions of translation, footnotes, subtitles, appendices and articles, thereby making him a “prophet” with new revelations. We have seen “Submitters” promoting ridiculous interpretations to justify clear errors and contradictions in Rashad’s translation. We have heard outrageous misinterpretations of the claim “authorized translation” as if it meant that every word and letter of Rashad’s translation were divine, including the revised and re-revised versions. Attributing human errors and contradictions to our Lord, the Omniscient, is not something to take lightly (6:21; 6:93; 6:144; 7:37; 10:17; 11:18; 29:68). We have seen people trying to freeze God’s universal message with snap-shot understanding of a human messenger. We have seen people disoriented because of their insistence on following the Sunnah of “the Messenger of the Covenant” instead of indisputable facts.
Despite all this mass reversion to shirk (associating partners to God), sure with a different idol and a different excuse, we have yet to see a single article in the Submitters Perspective criticizing this popular trend in this small community. Muhammedans who idolized Muhammad after his departure did exactly the same. While they repeatedly reminded each other of the duties and the words of “the Final Prophet” they focused their criticism on Christians and Jews. In fact, they were repeating the same great blunder with a few minor changes. They ignored the warnings of monotheists who soon became a minority and they oppressed or suppressed their voice. Unfortunately, our community has not taken heed from this history and it is failing the divine test designed for every generation (29:2). While we criticize Muslim’s addiction with mentioning Muhammad besides God in their religious articles and books, we also feel a compelling urge to insert Rashad’s title “the Messenger of the Covenant” in our speeches and writings.
“Is God not sufficient for His servant?. . .” (39:36)
Well, should we remind those who follow the appendices, footnotes, subtitles, video and audio tapes of Rashad, one of the Sunnah of their messenger, like we remind Muhammedans of their own Hadith and Sunnah to expose their contradiction? Why not? Do you REMEMBER the only verse that was hanging on Rashad’s office door for many years until his assassination? Wasn’t it 39:36? Also remember that 39:36 was the only verse that is underlined in his translation. And should I remind them of another hadith? Remember Appendix 19 of the Messenger of Covenant; what does it say about you? Do you remember Rashad’s book “Quran, Hadiths and Islam?” Have you applied it to yourself?
Besides creating modern versions of Hadith and Sunnah, some are trying their best to distort, pervert and dilute the great mathematical miracle of the Quran. As we know that some members of this community abused the mathematical code of the Quran with the unforgettable May 19, 1990 doomsday prophecy and they keep abusing it with their mathematical illiteracy. Some of them did not take heed from their blunder. Now they employ the same childish numerical manipulations to find more mathematical evidence for the messengership of a dead person. One of those doomsday prophets even claimed a divine rank through his childish calculations. Incredibly, he finds followers and supporters within this community.
We have become extremely tolerant to the mushriks (those who set partners to God) among us. Probably, because of being trapped in cult-syndrome: we share the same unifying symbol, Rashad Khalifa, or “the Messenger of Covenant,” equivalent to Muhammedans’ repeated expression “Muhammad Sallallahu Aleyhi Wasallam.” This cult or sectarian syndrome is addressed by an interesting Quranic verse:
“Are your disbelievers better than those disbelievers? Have you been absolved by the Scripture?” (54:43).
After Rashad’s death, the fallible human messenger suddenly became an infallible messenger and all his work with all re-visions, contradictions and errors magically became another divine revelation. The devils who concocted or hoped such a mutation, in order to replace Rashad’s translation with the original Quran, expunged the original from the translation. To imply an exclusive divine revelation, they also removed the name of those whom Rashad acknowledged for their assistance and contribution to the translation.
In brief, members of this community are replacing the Hadith and Sunnah of Muhammad with Rashad’s Appendices, footnotes, subtitles, audio and video tapes. Some of those who were addressing their messenger with his first name (Rashad) during his lifetime, soon after his departure, they developed a taboo against mentioning his first name. Muhammedans and those who repeat their blunder cannot commemorate their idols’ names without words of praise or rank. Are we going to follow the footsteps of previous generations? What a miserable convergence! What a regression!:
“Surely, those who slide back, after the guidance has been manifested to them, the devil has enticed them, and has misled them.” (47:25)
We cannot standby the repetition of the worst part of the history. If we cannot burn the new calf and throw it into the sea like Moses did, we might be required to repeat Saleh’s words (7:79) to our people soon.
***
The following people are some of those who have expressed their endorsement for this ultimatum.
[Many more monotheists cut their affiliations with the Submitters since this “ultimatum” ]
WHY DO PEOPLE GET DISORIENTED?
Following Mercator’s Flat Earth Instead of God’s Round Earth
Edip Yuksel
The message of the Quran has not gotten stale since centuries. It is one of the miraculous nature of this Book that the verses addressing medieval Arabs and their neighbors do not remain as historical accounts of a particular population lived in the past, but a guide for generations to come. The message of the Quran is universal. It is shocking to witness the tragic fact that contrary to their lip service, “Muslims” have repeated the blunder of Meccan mushriks by transforming the monotheism to polytheism, by fabricating sects and religions in the name of God. The Quranic issues and arguments that was revealed more than 14 centuries ago are alive today.
I could never imagine that the verses about the qibla (direction of the Salat prayer) would become alive in our time. The Submitters who accepted the message brought by Prophet Muhammad were tested by “qibla” and some of them failed. Interestingly, our community has been tested recently with the same test and many has failed. It is a wonder why people fail the same test twice even they have full warning in advance.
Quran informs us that Muhammad, like all other Meccan mushriks, was turning his face to Ka’ba, the Sacred Masjid built by Abraham in Mecca. He was simply following the tradition. When he and his supporters were oppressed and tortured, they immigrated to Medina, a nearby city dwelled by Ehl-il Kitab (People of The Book: Nazarenes and Jews). Muslims and People of the Book formed a city-state under the leadership of Muhammad. They lived in accordance to the historical Medina Constitution which was accepted after consultation and consent of minorities. The city-state of Medina, in today’s terminology, was an open society governed by the principles of republicanism and federal secularism. Muslims and the People of the Book established alliance against gentiles (ummies), their aggressive neighbors. They defended the city against several attacks orchestrated by the leaders of Meccan theocratic oligarchy. They even had to dig drenches around the city to defend themselves against the coalition of mushrik tribes of Arabia. This experience created solidarity and a sense of community between Muslims and their allies, People of the Book.
Because of this political alliance and social proximity, Muhammad decided to change the direction of the prayer after consulting his supporters. There was no revelation besides the Quran that advised such a change as it is claimed by hadith literature. It was entirely a personal or community decision that was the product of changed circumstances and mass psychology. By changing their Qibla from Sacred Masjid (Ka’ba) to Jerusalem, Muslims declared their independence from Meccan oppressive regime and its allies. Monotheists were not a part of mushrik tribes of Arabia anymore. They were a new community with a new identity.
Soon the condition changed. The mushrik coalition collapsed and the political power of monotheists increased dramatically (13:41). Mecca, the hometown of many Muslims was getting ready to a peaceful surrender (48:27). The nostalgia in the heart of Muhammad and many believers were increasing. Muhammad had no more reason to insist on turning to Jerusalem. He was feeling a powerful urge to change the qibla back to the Sacred Masjid (2:144). Soon, for the first time he received a revelation regarding the qibla; God revealed Muhammad to turn back to the original qibla, that is the Sacred Masjid (2:144, 149, 150). Thus, the previous qibla (the Sacred Masjid, not Jerusalem) became a test to distinguish the hypocrites from those who follow the messenger, that is, his message. Hadith books misinterpret verse 2:142-3 and claim that the test was about changing qibla from the Sacred Masjid to Jerusalem. This claim has no Quranic basis. This misinterpretation perhaps was fabricated to create binding “revelations” that do not exist in the Quran. The followers of Hadith and Sunna abuses this misinterpretation to support the necessity of following other sources besides the Quran. Sure, there were revelations to Prophet Muhammad that were not part of the Quran (see 66:3), but they were personal; they were not intended to bind others. Claiming that God tested the faith of believers by a revelation that does not exist in the Quran is entirely wrong, since the Quran was the only message delivered by Muhammad (6:19, 38, 114-115).
Indeed, verse 2:145 is a refutation to the traditional understanding. If the test was about changing the direction from Ka’ba (the Sacred Masjid) to Jerusalem, then the problem of those who failed the test would be their conformity with Meccan Arabs. However, the problem was the opposite: their conformity with the People of the Book in Medina. They did not want to damage their relationship by turning back to their original qibla. Their alliance and personal relationship with Christians and Jews had created a psychological obstacle against such a change. But, God the Omnipotent had a different plan (2:148-150). Those who became disoriented after the knowledge had come to them were severely criticized in verse 2:145.
The Perpetual Test
When some people questioned our direction for prayers in the Masjid Tucson, the members of our community reacted differently. Those of us who were making fun of Muhammedans for disputing over the first day of Ramadan started disputing over a matter of similar simplicity. Finding the direction of Ka’ba was no more difficult than finding the first day of the crescent. Some members of our community who were comfortably asking astronomers when to start fasting developed allergy against the astronomers and experts.
When we invited an astronomer to the Masjid to demonstrate the direction of Mecca on the GLOBE and to answer the questions, none of those who turn to the wrong direction asked a question nor challenged the accuracy of the demonstration. This visual demonstration, although took less than five minutes, was protested by some. They claimed that their Quranic study was interrupted by that “disbeliever” astronomer. Without knowing our guest, they insulted him and told him to get out of the Masjid. The hypocrisy of using the Quranic study as an excuse to avoid and suppress the truth was evident in the fact that the same people were not hesitating in spending dozens of minutes on personal stories or jokes during the Quranic studies. The direction of the prayer somehow became unQuranic after the truth of the matter became evident.
After reading several articles written by experts and after talking with astronomers and those who are experts in Global Positioning Systems, it became evident that the direction of Ka’ba from Tucson was North-East. There is clear consensus among scientists and experts. Their argument is very clear and convincing for those who have open minds. Despite the scientific fact, many in our community, inspired by the flat map of Mercator’s Projection, continued turning their face to a wrong direction.
This issue was ignored for months. Finally, in a Quranic study, we discussed the issue. Those of us who changed the qibla based on the knowledge we have acquired, talked in unity. We said that facing something means facing the shortest line between you and the object. The shortest line on the GLOBE surely is the shortest curve. You might connect yourself and the object of your direction with many imaginary lines, but the only different ones are the shortest and longest ones. If you face the longest connecting line you will be turning your back, but if you face the shortest one you will be facing it. Thus, the shorterst curve connecting Tucson to Mecca shows the North-East direction.
In fact, those who insist on turning to East or South-East also have employed the same “shortest line” principle, but on a FLAT EARTH. Connecting your location with Mecca with the shortest line on a MERCATOR’S FLAT MAP does not coincide with the reality of GOD’S ROUND PLANET.
Those who were insisting on turning their face to the wrong direction had many different reasons. The five different reasons that were cited in one meeting were:
There were others who tried to save their tradition by playing with linguistics. They claimed that if you turn to North-East, the qibla changes to South-East after passing the North Pole. This people are so ignorant of astronomy that they think the imaginary lines such as Parallels, or Poles that resulted from the rotation of the Earth or its magnetic force would have influence on the direction of locations on the Earth. If they could simply manage to imagine themselves on the North Pole, they would find out that they could not face each other according to their silly theory.
And there were others who did not express any “reason” at all. Perhaps they just did not care. They did not try to justify the wrong direction by flimsy excuses and silly reasons. The comfort of following the majority and their “infallible” messenger was sufficient for them.
The Real Reason
Idolization of messengers and abuse of their words and practices is not new. The “test” we have experienced in the Masjid Tucson proved beyond doubt that our community was no better than previous generations. If you hear people claiming that they follow the Quran alone and self-righteously imply that they are the “elite of the elite,” do not put your full trust in them. You might ask them what they mean by the Quran; their Quran might be a different Quran. Check whether they have replaced the Arabic hadiths with the English ones. Ask them whether they have replaced hadith books with subtitles, footnotes, appendices, video and audio tapes. Listen to them whether they commemorate the “Messenger of the Covenant” instead of Muhammad or Jesus. See whether they employ a linguistic trick to replace “Sunnah” of the previous messenger with “spiritual reasons.”
Finally, watch them while they are praying. If they are disoriented, be suspicious of their claim. If they have turned to a wrong direction by error, no problem. God forgives them. But, if they have intentionally chosen the wrong direction despite the clear evidence, then they are in deep trouble. They might tell you many different reasons, but the real reason of their disorientation is prophesied by the Quran (2:143). Ironically, deep in their heart they know the real reason. They are most likely those who pretend to be monotheists (6:23). They will be deserted by their idols in the hereafter as they have deserted the Quran after receiving its message (25:30).
There is no difference between those Muhammedan’s who get disoriented time-wise every Ramadan because of not accepting God’s precise calculation in the rotation of heavenly bodies (55:5) and between Khalifites who get disoriented space-wise because of preferring a flat earth instead of a round one (79:30; 39:5). What a regress; both in religion and science!
“Wherever you go, you shall turn your face (during Salat) towards the Sacred Mosque; wherever you might be, you shall turn your faces towards it. Now the people have no argument against you, except the transgressors among them. Do not pay attention to them; you shall devote your attention to Me. I will then perfect My blessings upon you, that you may be guided.” (2:150)
A Dialogue between Two Submitters
Edip Yuksel
A: This is the Quran. We have to follow this book alone as the source of guidance.
B: The book that you are waving in your hand is the revised translation of the Quran with many footnotes, subtitles, introduction and appendices. Quran as the word of God contains 114 chapters and 6346 verses. It has an intricate mathematical code which proves its divine nature.
A: But the footnotes, subtitles, introduction and appendices are from the messenger of God. We have to obey the messenger, and accept all of them as the explanation of the Quran.
B: Well, you may read them and benefit from them. You may benefit from many other books and encyclopedias for better and deep understanding of certain verses. You can also ask questions to knowledgeable people and accept their study after verifying them. However, the only SOURCE of the religion is the Quran alone.
A: But, Dr. Rashad Khalifa claimed that his translation, including all appendices and footnotes were authorized by God.
B: So far we had three translations bearing this claim on their cover. You can see some serious errors being corrected in the following revised versions. Now, there are three ways to interpret this:
Please reflect on the fact that Rashad did not receive a book, even not a single verse.
A: I am not saying that the messengers are infallible. But I am saying that God will not allow the messenger to contaminate the message with falsehood. Any errors will be minor ones that do not effect the belief and salvation of believers.
B: This is an invalid conclusion, since the premise does not necessarily warrant the conclusion. Do you mean that if we find any error we should automatically label it as a minor one? Or, do you mean that whenever we realize that it is an important error, then, we should defend the error and blame our understanding, since the messenger cannot have committed big errors? The only important message of messengers is to worship God alone, believe in the day of judgement and advocate righteousness.
The origin of the problem is not the mistake of the messengers. If we believe that a messenger, as a human being, is not perfect, and can make mistakes like us, even big ones, then, that messenger cannot mislead us. On the other hand, if we are scared to see the errors and cover our mind with false assumptions, then, the “messenger” will mislead us. Let me summarize it. It is not that the messenger guides or misleads us, it is how we perceive the messenger that determines our guidance. Besides, if the Quran can mislead certain people, why not the messenger (17:82)?
For instance, according to the Quran, to each confirmed disbeliever a devil is assigned as a condemnation (7:27; 43: 36; 26:222-223); but some footnotes claim that every human being, including believers, are born with an assigned devil. Another example: According to the Quran, Adam’s body became visible in the heaven (7:22), however, in the appendices it is written that his body became visible on the earth not in the heaven. One more example: Appendix 1 claims that the number 19 looks the same in all languages of the world, and both components, 1 and 9, are the only numerals that look the same in all languages. This is simply not correct. I believe that if Rashad was alive, he would have immediately corrected these mistakes. In fact, in a Quranic study close to his last day he was reminded of 7:22. He immediately acknowledged his mistake. But, he was martyred before the publication of third edition. Now, should we put him in a position which he never claimed?
A: Don’t you see that God explained many verses through Dr. Khalifa? We could not understand those verses without him.
B: Rashad was a pioneer in accepting the Quran alone. By this way he tore down the veil that covered the true meaning of God’s word. Thus, he had the advantage of starting ahead of us. He had devoted his time to understanding the Quran. Nevertheless, he was in a learning process which was witnessed by many of us and which is also obvious in his writings. None can claim that he reached the perfect point just before his departure.
Besides, he was not the only one who got the correct understanding of many verses either. There were some students of the Quran who reached the same understanding simultaneously. There were even some scholars who lived centuries before Rashad, who stated certain points which you may think that was originated by Rashad. Moreover, I recommend the “Quran, Hadith and Islam.” Please read that book again; but this time for yourself. Just replace Muhammad’s name with Rashad’s name and see the crystal clear point: Quran is explained and fully detailed by God.
A: Actually, God is the one who explains the Quran. Did God send a messenger to explain things? If we accept Rashad Khalifa as a messenger, clearly He did: ” O people of the scripture, our messenger has come to you to explain things to you, after a period of time without messengers, lest you say, ‘We did not receive any preacher or warner.’ A preacher and warner has now come to you. God is Omnipotent.” (5:19). We know from his footnote, that Rashad Khalifa was that messenger. This whole issue goes back to whether we accept God as the Doer of everything. If we accept this principle that God is doing everything, it follows easily that He explains the Quran through His messenger. It is not the messenger who is doing the explaining, it is God. The messenger is just the means of communication–he is jest delivering the message from God to us.
B: This is exactly what the followers of Hadith and Sunna keep claiming by misinterpreting the verses. During Rashad’s lifetime you were not saying this. You were saying just the contrary. Just read the “Quran, Hadith, and Islam,” and especially the Appendix 19. If you are using an argument which you have rejected two minutes ago, it is self-contradiction, or double-standard. We used to say that the Quran is the messenger of God, that is, after the departure of the human messenger, the Quran continues to deliver God’s message. Do you retreat from this position now?
A: We know that Satan advocates idol worship and pushes it as hard as he can. He has duped millions upon millions into this trap. We must be very careful of it. However, that is not his only trap. God uses the Children of Israel as examples again and again in the Quran. Their problem was not idolizing their messengers, but minimizing and rejecting them. They followed their scholars and their own egos rather than what came through their messengers. “We have taken a covenant from the Children of Israel, and we sent to them messengers. Whenever a messenger went to them with anything they disliked, some of them they rejected, and some they killed.” (5:70). Therefore, we must equally be careful of this trap.
B: Do you mean that if I don’t read appendices and footnotes and subtitles etc. of this translation, and satisfy with the Quran alone, I will be considered like the Jews who rejected their messengers? Do you claim that Rashad’s mission was to bring a supplement to the Quran? Or advocate the Quran alone? If you notice that the verse 5:70 is about the people who rejected or killed the messengers while they came to them. Why? Because they have idolized their previous messengers or scholars. For instance, please read 40:34 and 9:31.
THE ACID TEST
Edip Yuksel
The Quran informs us regarding the existence of hypocrites among believers (4:88). Since believers are advised to have an open society, there will always be hypocrites and idol worshipers who pretend to be believers or Submitters. They serve a function. And this forum serves a function to expose them (4:179).
Disagreement among monotheists are categorically different from the disagreement between monotheists and idol worshipers. Monotheists can reconcile their differences after acquiring more knowledge, and they can respect each other’s differences after realizing the linguistic permission of the Quran for such differences. However, even a little difference between a true monotheist and a pretender is categorically different, because of the underlying premises. Even if the pretender is correct on a certain issue, he/she will be loser ultimately, because of idol worship.
Some are surprised and frustrated after observing hostile arguments on this list. Why? They are probably thinking that every person on this forum is a believer. There is no reason to expect that ALL the people on this list are upholding the Quran alone, since the list is open to everyone who pretends so. We see those who claim that they are Muslims and follow the Quran on SRI. But, we realize that their claim is just a lip service. This forum is no different.
The problem arise when this fact is denied by those who gullibly expect peace with those misguided and deluded people. When we gullibly expect that every one on this forum is a monotheist, then, we will force ourselves to treat hypocrites, advocates of man-made teachings and fabricators of lies as our brothers and sisters. This create a problem which eventually help the agents of Satan.
Muslims, soon after the departure of the prophet Muhammad started following hadith and sunnah. They had some “reasonable excuses” for their position. There were new ideas and arguments, and they thought they can prevent the CONFUSION of Submitters by sticking with the words spoken by Muhammad that were witnessed by many trustworthy companions. They forgot about the clear warnings that the Quran was sufficient for them. They thought if they substantiate the authenticity of a hadith through evidence, such as by multiple trustworthy witnesses, then they could shed light on controversial issues. Instead of studying the Quran on their own, they chose the apparently easy way of perroting the messenger. They created new theories to establish another source besides the Quran.
During this state of confusion they needed to claim the infallibility of messenger to bring comfort to those who do not think for themselves. Unfortunately, this backward and ignorant movement attracted many mindless people and distorted the original message of the messenger. They turned God’s religion (98:5; 6:114) to God plus Messenger’s religion. Later some other groups were added as other sources of this “company religion.” They labeled those who rejected other sources besides the Quran. They accused them of hating the messenger, or trying to replace messenger’s inspired opinion with their little opinions, etc. They used the psychological tactic that is well diagnosed in the Quran: 39:36.
We are witnessing the same pattern. Sure, there are more factors that contribute to the emergence of religious movements strolling backward to the days of ignorance. The Quranic fact that people, after receiving the divine message are invariably falling into idol worship is well analyzed by Muhammad Abu Rayye in his critical book on hadith: “Adva ‘ala es-Sunnetil Muhammadiyya.” It is a great historical analysis of the creation of hadith and sunnah. I think you can find its English translation from libraries. (Check under the name of the author. Try different spellings too.) After reading that book you will be surprised how it accurately describes our current problems in this community. We are repeating the sad history foot by foot, inch by inch.
I am personally grateful to God for leading me to His message through Rashad. I admired his faith, sincerity, and humbleness. He sacrificed his worldly life to promote the truth. He was correcting his errors and learning continuously. He had some weaknesses as all we do. I participated, like some others, in the re-vision of his translation and contributed substantially. I was on his list of acknowledgment not because of my proofreading (as some started claiming so), but because my harsh criticism of his translation and my principle of searching for the best understanding of God’s word (17:36; 60:12). I think that Rashad’s translation is categorically different than all other translations, because it promotes worshipping God alone and following the Quran alone.
But, as a work of human being, it contains errors and limited understanding of God’s word which is designed for all generations until the last day. Defending Rashad’s errors by any means possible is an insult to Rashad who always sought the truth even if it was used against him by his enemies to portray him as an unstable person. Those who read Rashad’s translation without idolizing him will be guided, inshallah. But those “believers” who consider Rashad’s translation as a divine inspiration and as an infallible source of knowledge will be misguided by the very translation. They will be confused by contradictions created by wrong choice of words or personal interpretations or missing phrases. Those “disbelievers” who expect messengers to be infallible demigods will dismiss his translation entirely upon finding errors in it, and they will never pay attention to its message.
There are those who now deny the fact that Rashad was consulting believers for his translation, a fact that was acknowledged by Rashad in Muslim Perspective and in his brief acknowledgment which was deleted from his translation after his departure. Rashad followed the Quranic advice and learned from others (42:38). The deletion of the acknowledgment serves the purpose of those who are trying hard to present Rashad’s translation as an infallible inspired book. I know that this point will be abused by those who want to distract the issue by insulting me as if I am bringing this issue because of my name. If I cared about what would they think of me I would not have raised this issue at all. But, this has nothing to do with my name or the name of others. Rashad acknowledgment exposes their new fabrications regarding the nature and purpose of his translation.
The Questions
I am presenting several questions to demonstrate that there are some people who pretend to follow the Quran alone, but in fact they do not. Here are my questions:
1. Who did originally use the word Islam, or Muslim? In other words, who did first coin the name of the only religion acceptable by God?
a) God (98:5; 3:19; 3:85; 10:72; 22:78).
b) Abraham.
2. Did God create the earth in four days (periods) because the complexity of its design REQUIRED longer period, or HE chose to create it in four days for certain reasons?
a) God is NOT required by anything; He can create anything He wants by merely saying “be” and it “becomes” as the case in Big Bang (2:117; 3:47; 6:73; 36:82; 40:68). But, He might have CHOSEN evolution for some reasons.
b) The complexity of Earth’s design REQUIRED longer time for its creation in 4 days.
3. Does the Quran advocate consultation among believers or consensus? Do they mean the same thing?
a) The Quran advises us to consult each other (42:38).
b) The Quran advises us to have consensus.
4. Do believers have devil companions (qareen)? (Companions; not whisperers).
a) No, devil companions are assigned by God to ardent disbelievers after they have proven that they are fanatic disbelievers (4:38; 43:36)
b) Yes, WE ALL have DEVIL COMPANIONS from jinns.
5. Can Satan be God’s representative on earth?
a) God’s arch enemy cannot represent God and there is no such thing as “a temporary god” (43:45). Humans are born with God’s “revelation” (ruh) (32:9) embedded in their conscious mind (nafs), thus they are able to represent God on earth by submitting to His will (38:26; 6:165; 10:14; 10:73; 35:39)
b) Satan was appointed by God as His representative.
6. Is there water-dependent life on other planets?
a) Yes, life dependent creatures (dabba) are distributed on both earth and in the universe (24:45; 42:29; 16:49).
a) No, life is only on earth.
7. Did God Almighty send messengers to every community?
a) No, God did not send messenger to every community; but to every nation (35:24; 25:51 & 36:6).
b) Yes God sent messengers to every community.
8. Is the so-called “authorized English translation” the word of God which is free of contradictions (4:82) and unimitatable (2:23); or is it word of a human messenger which contains contradictions (4:82) and lacks miraculous evidence of its divine source (2:23)?
a. All the translations of the Quran carry the characteristic of their human translators: fallible, limited in information, containing contradictions, and lack the divine evidence and guarantee of preservation. As an example, see the contradiction created by translating two different Arabic word with one English word: 29:12 x 29:13. Also the verses mentioned above in the question number seven.
b. The divine statement “Authorized English Version” means that Rashad’s translation is the same as the word of God.
9. Which direction is the qibla in Tucson?
a. North-East, since the shortest curve that connects Tucson to Mecca on a round Earth shows North-East. All astronomers and experts in navigation are in agreement. You can verify this easily on a globe by connecting Tucson with Mecca with a piece of string.
b. Though we come up with various reasons, we all follow the shortest line that connects Tucson to Mecca on a flat map.. Nevertheless, the practice (not Sunnah!) of the “Messenger of the Covenant” is the real reason. Unfortunately, some of us are confused between East and South-East. Again, the words and practice of the Messenger of Covenant is different than hadith and sunnah.
10. Why don’t you follow Muhammedan hadiths besides the Quran?
a. Because the Quran is detailed, complete and the only source of God’s law (6:19;38;114). We should devote our religion to God alone (98:5), not God + messenger + ulama, etc. Accepting any authority besides God as another source of God’s religion is shirk, the only unforgivable sin.
b. We do not follow hadith because they are not authentic. Otherwise, we would be glad to follow other sources besides the Quran. In fact, we follow many teachings of the Messenger of the Covenant besides the Quran. BTW, we are trying to call them with a different name, even some of us tried to call them as “part of the Quran.” We know that hadith and sunnah are satanic teachings.
I chose “a” as the correct answer for all the 10 questions above. I believe that if you pick “b” as your answer for all or most of the questions you are fooling yourself by claiming that you are following the Quran alone.
The Cult Infecting the
International Community of Submitters
Edip Yuksel
Rasahad Khalifa was a courageous monotheist and there are still some monotheists affiliated with this mutating and evolving cult. Though Rashad Khalifa strongly objected to the idolization of humans and invited Muslims to follow the Quran alone, Submitters consider Dr. Khalifa’s work infallible and treat his translation as inspiration, a deceptive word used to avoid the use of the word revelation. The site also demonstrates numerous examples of arbitrary mathematical manipulations as mathematical miracle, thereby discrediting the extraordinary mathematical system in the Quran.
The evolution of this baby cult should be observed, since it provides a contemporary laboratory to witness the progress of corruption in religious organizations. The short history of this organization provides excellent clues how messengers who called to worship God alone are transformed to partners with God by clergymen and their ignorant followers. The cult claims to follow a person who gave his life to promote monotheism and who fought against sectarian divisions and idolizations of religious heroes. Rashad Khalifa, a person in continuous search of truth and self-correction, soon after his death, was turned to an infallible prophet who allegedly received English revelations from God. Rashad Khalifa, a person who considered following any religious teaching besides God’s word idolworship (for instance, see Appendix 19 of his translation), soon after his death was turned to a cult leader with “authorized” teachings besides God’s word. Rashad’s writings in Appendices, footnotes of the translation and news letters are introduced as supplement to the Quran. The obvious errors and contradiction in those writings are sanctified and authorized in the name of God.
Though there are many monotheists still affiliated with the organization, the new comers are introduced to a distorted message that contradicts the real teaching of Rashad Khalifa, that is, the Quran ALONE as the source of islam. Abdullah Arik, the official leader of the organization, is a very nice fellow who is trying hard to keep the unity of the congregation, unfortunately at the cost of compromising with the cult, the idol-carvers.
Is Rashad’s Translation of the Quran Error-free?
Edip Yuksel
For those who claim the infallibility of Dr. Khalifa, I would like to give a sample of verses in his translation that I think carry some minor or important translational problems: 2:114; 2:233; 2:275*; 2:282*; 4:34&*; 4:79*; 7:157; 7:193; 8:64; 10:34!; 11:54; 11:87; 12:37; 14:4; 16:75*; 18:16*; 19:26!; 20:96&*; 20:114; 21:96*; 21:90* x 21:73; 25:30*; 29:12 x 29:13; 32:5!; 34:41; 35:24 x 25:51; 43:11 x 41:12*; 43:36*; 47:11 x 42:15; 49:1 x 38:26&7:3; 56:83-85; 65:12* x 42:29; 73:15!; 75:27; 75:31?; 87:6 (Asterisks are for footnotes and/or subtitles, exclamation marks for missing phrases, and “x” for contradictions.)
Despite clear and numerous evidence to the contrary, some so-called Submitters who left the ranks of Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Hindu polytheism continue their idolization of Rashad by claiming the third revision of his translation to be infallible. In fact, some of them have devolved further and now they claim mathematical miracles for the English translation. Of course the re-re-revised version! I have discussed this issue in length with those who replaced Muhammed’s, Ali’s or Jesus’ idol with of Rashad.
In the last section of this book, you will see some of Rashad’s communication and articles published in various magazines and newspapers, both in Arabic and English. In one of the publications, Rashad answers the question regarding the meaning of “Authorized Translation.” Those who follow the May 19, 1990 “Doomsday Prophets” who could not wait to fabricate a hadith to promote their delusional prophecy, are refuted one more time, with an authentic hadith of their own idol. They will soon come up with the so-called “science of hadith” of Rashad in order to reconcile the internal contradictions among the three revised, yet “authorized” versions; articles in the Submitter’s Perspective; footnotes, subtitles and Appendices in his translation. In order to explain the contradictions of their “infallible messenger,” they will even employ the diabolic Sunni idea of abrogation. They are repeating the history of the past communities who idolized their messengers, in an incredible speed and success. My previous predictions regarding the backward mutation and devolution of this group have been proven to be true. As it seems, they will continue taking the regressive path of the previous generations.
Rashad never claimed to be infallible, nor did he claim that his translation, with parentheses, footnotes and appendices to be a revelation. He never doubted that the Quran is the last book revealed to the last prophet. However, I agree with him that his translation was authorized by God through discovery of the code and for its clear emphasis on serving God alone and not adding any other sources (including Rashad’s) to God’s word, which is perfect and fully detailed. Rashad was a student of the Quran, trying to purify his mind from the atmospherics of his traditional past that prevented him from receiving the clear broadcast of the divine message. During my years of mail and face-to-face conversation with him, I found him to be usually humble in acknowledging his errors. For instance, he encouraged us to edit and discuss the second revision of his translation verse by verse. During this intense consultation we had numerous discussions.
We continuously learned from each other according to God’s will. During that period, I persuaded him to correct some of the mistakes of the first edition. For example: 2.106; 3:97*; 7.75; 11.87; 11.88; 12.88; 18.83; 21.96; 21.112; 24.35; 27.42; 37.63; 38.44; 39.6; 43.61; 56.79; 72.7; 72.18; 74.31; 96.2. He acknowledged my substantial contribution in the first pages of his translation. Later, when he re-revised his translation, he continued correcting his errors. For example, 4.176; 6.74*; 12.88; 18.83; 30.3; 38.59; 95.5! etc.
Not surprisingly, the gang managed to delete the section where Rashad acknowledged some people, including me for their editorial assistance (My assistance was categorically different, since it was mostly related to the substance rather than grammar or spelling, which was worse during my early years in the USA). The gang wished to purge one of the many evidences indicating that Rashad’s translation was not dictated by an angel, but he was consulting and receiving some help from his friends. Of course, the gang also did not wish to see my substantial contribution to Rashad’s translation to be known by new comers. Upon protests from first generation of Submitters, the gang’s scheme did not last; the acknowledgement section was restored in the following editions of the translation.
Briefly stated, he never claimed to be infallible, as the new idol-carvers among the Submitters claim. The three revised editions of his translations are blatant witnesses to the fact that he was in a continual learning process and that he was open-minded to reasonable criticism. If he were alive, he would surely make many corrections to his third revision. In fact, it is the experience and fate of all translators. Every time I edit my Turkish and English translations of the Quran, I find errors caused by insufficient information, imperfect attention, shortcomings, linguistic problems and unintentional mistakes. Nevertheless, I still believe that both of my translations or Rashad’s are good in delivering the message, inshaAllah.
The message, however, will be missed by those who have prejudice and by those who would consider Rashad’s or my translation to be infallible. If you have bad intentions or you have tendency to set up idols besides God, the Quran will only increase your deviation from truth. Thank God, we have the original Quran that we can refer to anytime we have a question. In 1995, I warned Submitters that it would be an unfortunate repetition of history if one day some of them would claim that Rashad’s translation, Quran the Final Testament, is “equivalent to the original” or “a revelation from God” in itself. But they since then, a growing number of Submitters responded to my warning with bigotry and ignorance. They are passionately adhering to this constant human tendency invoked by the master hypnotist: hero-worship.
Exposure?
Let’s see who are really exposed?
14 July 2009
SOLOMON: Salamun Alaikum all,
Subhan Allah, It just so happens that I was listening to some Quran Study recordings today and I stumbled across this awesome audio recording of a Khutba by Behrouz on this very subject at hand about obeying the messenger ith Dr. Rashad Khalifa present there and guess who is exposed as a result of that khutba – you got it ! The one person who had to get upset was Edip.
If I am not mistaken, this was the last Friday Prayer khutba that Dr. Rashad Khalifa attended since this audio recording took place on the 25th or 26th of Januaury 1990 and Rashad passed away on the 31st of January 1990 – just a week later. So Masha Allah, this may be the final recording of Rashad we have on file in audio format that I know of …Praise be to God.. very interesting points raised by brother Behrouz in his khutba followed by God truely exposing Edip at the end of the Friday prayer and khutba.
You can listen to it by clicking here.
12. Quran study from Behrouz (2).mp3
Title: Q-study 1/25/90, Behrouz’s khutba, Edip’s exposure
Alternatively, you can hear it and other recordings by going to:
http://www.submission.ws/quranstudies
and hear it in the streaming format without having to download it.
Congratulations to Edip for being featured as the bad apple on Submission.ws. God set him up as an example for us. This is a very informative Quran study that we can learn a lot from., Masha Allah. Praise be to God Lord of the Universe! God bless, Solomon.
EDIP: (I will mention some names, not to make judgment about their current condition or future, but to tell the background of the video, exactly how and why it happened. I do not say anything behind anyone that I would not be able to tell to their face. So, feel free to share it with those whose names are mentioned)
Okay, let’s see who are/were exposed? This is for the record. I know some of you will reject it without even reading it, as they have demonstrated repeatedly. But, at least if one person relay it to future generations, it might shed light on this particular video-sunna and about the how the seeds of division was planted in this little, yet important community.
The last khutba was given by a devil’s agent, who was filled with jealousy and complex feelings and was ready to do anything to flatter Rashad and get his attention. My experience during the last days in the Masjid was extraordinary and I witnessed incredible events happening: we were divided and those would be followers of Rashad’s hadith and sunna would use their distorted perception of some events as an excuse to justify their idolization of him despite the Quran and Rashad’s clear teachings… The root of your position emerged a few nights before the Khutba, dear Solomon. Rashad did not live to clarify many lies promoted by the gang during his last days and afterwards. But some people in the Masjid were convinced that those last-hour events were the fulfillment of 22:52. The details are just incredible:)
Those who were present during the Khutba will remember that Bahrouz’s khutba was first in its kind. After the Khutba many in the Masjid (such as Dr. Sabahi and his wife, Dr. Gatut Adisoma, Mahmoud Abib, John Spooner, Dr. Martha Schulte, Cathryn Colton, Sanobar Tafazoli and I), felt very uncomfortable with his suggestions that we should start calling Rashad not by his first name. I remember clearly that Dr. Mahmood Sabahi and Dr Marikh Sabahi both rose up and protested the Khutba and questioned Rashad. Rashad told them that they were right and they should not change anything regarding the regular convention of calling him by his first name, not standing up when he enter the Masjid, etc.
A few days before the Khutba, in the presence of some guests from Canada such as Ismail Barakat, and from Phoenix such as Abdulhay Parnian, Rashad made a comment contradictory to the Quran, which immediately received objection from me. In order to help his idol in a philosophical debate between me and Rashad on omnipotence of God, in order to help Rashad who was looking for an answer to my counter argument, Bahrouz declared that Angels were made of hydrogen and Hydrogen was eternal and not created by God. Obviously, this was no help. Later, the following Friday evening, after that Khutba, the contentious debate was revisited. I continued rejecting Rashad’s statement. Finally, Rashad asked Dr. Martha Schulte, a linguist, about the debate, and she supported my position. People in the Masjid got very confused and divided. Some people supported my position and others Rashad’s and some stayed neutral. It was clearly a great test for those who were present… (The debate between me and Rashad was tape-recorded and perhaps it is posted somewhere on the internet; I recommend you listening to it UNTIL THE END).
What happened later to Rashad? I decided not to talk to Rashad; yet I still went to Masjid and worked on my Turkish translation of the Quran on the Macintosh given to me by Rashad. Rashad sent me message through Lisa Spray. He wanted to talk to me… The following Sunday morning Rashad and I met, and he repented for his remarks regarding our debate on omnipotence of God. Within five days, God took Rashad to Himself, proving to Bahrouz and all others who started idolizing him that Rashad was a human messenger, a mortal human like all of us! Only God is worth serving!
What happened to Bahrouz? He and some of those ignorants like him fabricated a big lie attributing to their idol, Rashad, and claimed that exactly in 19 May 1990 a meteor would hitSaudi Arabia. Guess who was the leading person in Masjid adamantly opposing Bahrouz’ fabrication in the name of his idol? It was Edip. Edip was absolving Rashad against those fabrications. Who supported Bahrouz? The whole gang: Feroz Karmally, Keikhosrow Emami, Douglas Brown, Muhetesem Erisen, and more! Even Abdullah, who is an intelligent and nice guy but a great bystander, felt weak and helpless under the pressure of that gang; despite my strong opposition he chose to publish their lies and arbitrary numerical calculations in the Submitters Perspective as a May 19, 1990 doomsday prophecy! Ironically, when they were proven wrong by God the evening of that night, they self-righteously justified their blunder by saying “we could not know the future; so we could not oppose those calculations” (weren’t they declaring just the opposite days before?!) and they were still finding fault in my opposition to their lies and doomsday prophecy! I will never forget that night where all the gang members, minus Bahrouz, gathered in Masjid Tucson and each justified their support and promotion of that lie! They likened their mistake to Abraham’s mistake. By fabricating a lie and false prophecy they were promoted to become Abrahams. Me? I was wrong again! I realized that some of my comrades were different than the delusional evangelical Christians, Jehovah Witnesses, or members of any cult! It was disgusting to see those guys claiming to be submitters and brave monotheists unable to repent for their God-proven crimes!
When the so-called prophecy did not occur, your hero Bahrouz, in panic, rented a U-Haul and moved his family to California from the apartment next to the Masjid! What happened to the gang members who were congratulating him after his idolizing khutba? Kayhosrov declared his messengership and came up with several fake prophecies about earthquakes; he is now silent, thank God. What about Muhteshem? He is lost and has nothing to do with Quran. What happened to his wife Suzan? She is not practicing and is not involved.
What happened to Edip? Edip was excommunicated by those who could not handle his opposition to their idol-carving. The last straw was to invite an astronomer, Dr. Mark Sykes, the current director of Planetary Science Institute, to shed light on the controversy regarding qibla. Instead of listening to the expert some of the gang members protest this invitation. Douglas Brown, then the member of the gang, accused me of bringing an infidel to the Masjid and the rest closed their ears and turned their back to the scientific demonstration. (Then, I was shocked to see the real nature of this gang: they were making fun of Muhammadans for having allergy with truth and science, but now they were acting exactly like them). The gang leader who made the final decision about the excommunication while poor Abdullah was standing by was Dr. Shakira Karipineni. What happened to her? She was later herself was excommunicated by better idol-carvers.
Dear Solomon,
I pray that one day, you will learn that you have betrayed Rashad’s message of “The Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but the Quran“. The devil could not add anything, since the statement was so powerful. Well, devil is very talented. As he fooled all previous communities by approaching them from left or right, he found a way to fool our community too. He CHANGED THE REFERENCE OF THE QURAN. Like a magician, he made the word TRANSLATION disappear and replaced the original Arabic Quran with Rashad’s English Version of the Quran, which has all those appendices, footnotes, and plenty of errors and contradictions, which can be found in any fallible human product.
You betrayed the monotheism, since you do not really believe that God’s word is fully detailed, complete. You have raised Rashad to the level of God by considering his understanding infallible and you froze the dynamic source of God’s knowledge, the Quran, with a particular messenger’s limited knowledge. Furthermore, by idolizing him, you have lost all your chance to understand him too. You are not even able to understand his Appendix 19, which is less than a page. Appendix 19 will haunt all those who wish to consider Rashad’s words (hadith) a divine inspiration or part of the Quran!
I hope you will repent to God and dedicate your system to Him ALONE.
MAZAR MAGIC: Peace be upon All of you, I have three genuine questions for Edip,
EDIP: Peace dear Mazar, thank you for these questions. Instead of monologues, now we finally have a dialog. As it seems, you have not read my articles at www.19.org or www.yuksel.org on this subject. I have addressed all these questions in the past, repeatedly. Here is one of them that I think answers all of your three questions and more. I hope that you will read the article titled, A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO SUBMITTERS with open mind.**
The following emails may not be in chronological order, since I did not have time to collect them from several threads in the order. But, it will convey the central point of the argument.
SHREE MULAY: Peace Everyone, My Quran says Authorized English Version of the Quran… God Bless. PS: Not a translation… The Reformist Quran(and others) is a translation… Therein lies the difference.
SERENA KARMALLY: Salam, Edip, you have accused people of replacing Rashad with Muhammad. How is that so? Traditional Muslims believe that Muhammad can help them and be their intercessor, mention Muhammad’s name in prayer, and make a distinction of him among the rest of the prophets/messengers. Submitters do not do this with Muhammad OR Rashad. Reading Hadith/Sunna is not the same as reading the appendices/footnotes. Hadith/Sunna are hearsay and opinions of egotistical scholars that think they know more than anyone else. Hadith are lies attributed to the prophet created by evil people. If you think the appendices and footnotes are like hadith and sunna, then you think Rashad Khalifa was an evil person and you obviously do not believe he was a messenger of God that was sent with the math miracle as his proof (Which I think is quite strange considering you believe in the math miracle). So you either believe Rashad was a messenger and accept it all because he was from God and was obviously then sent to purify the religion and wouldn’t be leading others astray, or you don’t believe he was a messenger or in any of the proofs he brought.
God Sends His Teachings to us Through His Messengers
[28:50] If they fail to respond to you, then know that they follow only their own opinions. Who is farther astray than those who follow their own opinions, without guidance from GOD? GOD does not guide such wicked people.
Maybe you do believe he was a messenger and in the proof that he brought from God, but you’d rather follow your own opinion. However, just because you choose to worship your ego as an idol besides God, that doesn’t mean you should try and accuse others of idol worship.
I find that people who accuse submitters of worshipping Rashad for no reason and with no solid proof are the ones that really seem to be obsessed with him. No one here puts up Rashad’s picture and worships or praises him. You are the one dead set on trying to prove the appendices and footnotes are hadith and sunna to the point that you, in fact, are the one obsessed with Rashad. After truth there is falsehood, and I think it’s very dangerous that you’re ego convinces you into thinking that only you can be right, and only you are special and because of that you’ve completely diverted from the message. Even though in your heart you know Rashad’s translation is right and from God, because you didn’t find it out for yourself, you have to find something on your own, whether it’s right or wrong.
Also, please do not make anymore baseless accusations; if you want to accuse someone of seomthing, you need to have actual proof.
EDIP YUKSEL: Your hatred towards me is based on your obsession with Rashad, an iconoclast, a modern Muhammad. Some people joining the ranks of submitters, unfortunately, replaced their old idol(s) with another. You appear to have replaced Rashad with Muhammad, Hadith and Sunna with Appendices/Footnotes and Videos, and all your arguments against me are EXACTLY the same arguments used by those who are obsessed with Muhammad. Because of ignorance and arrogance, both parties claim to be monotheists, while they do not submit themselves.
I know, for a short moment, as short as the light of lightning (2:19-20), you will see the truth in my statement above, but you will immediately revert back to your ignorance and arrogance like all others with different idols.
My final response for ignorant like you will be: 39:36
La ilahe illa Allah.
Peace, Edip
SOLOMON: I agree with Serena email , Masha Allah. He is full of himself and making baseless accusations against submitters without proof and striving hard to repel people from the path of God.
People like Edip show the symptoms of a serious heart disease known as ‘Hypocrisy’ or what I ‘d like to call ‘the lowest pit of hell syndrome’.
Click here to learn how to diagnose this chronic illness. It is the most horrendous disease of its kind because it if untreated , it could be fatal and can lead one to the lowest pit of hell.
They Think That They Are Believers
[4:145] The hypocrites will be committed to the lowest pit of Hell, and you will find no one to help them.
(Now I understand why!)
The only cure is to repent , reform and believe.
EDIP: Peace Serena: I had addressed these issues in the past and listed the problems with a gang among submitters. If you wish to see my criticism of that gang, which since has become more influential, please see the attached article. I know that I should not have accused all Submitters in that article, but unfortunately, the bystanders has so far let the gang grow more loud and destructive.
http://www.yuksel.org/e/religion/submitters.htm
Remember Quran alone does not mean Quran plus Appendices, etc.
To see that you contradict yourself, read Appendix 19 and learn the real reason why Rashad rejected hadith and sunna.
Remember that messengers were not fallible.
Remember that understanding of the Quran is not indexed with Muhammad or Rashad or this or that. We are each responsible to understand with our OWN MIND. You understand Rashad too with your OWN MIND. If using one’s own mind is egoism, then we should betray our God-given mind and be blind followers!
Remember that Rashad was not a prophet who came up with an English version of the Quran, but a messenger.
Remember that each group idolized their messengers in a different way and self-righteously condemned the old way and promoted the new way.
If you read those articles you will learn the reasons why I was EXCOMMUNICATED (I did not leave the Submitters, but a gang of people who overwhelmed Abdullah, the gang that claimed infallibility of Rashad and used his sunna against scientific facts, led the division and a group of submitters were asked to leave the main group). Peace, Edip
SERENA KARMALLY: Salam. If you think idol worship means believing someone with incontrovertible proof is a messenger, and reading appendices and footnotes that contain no innovations and are put in by the CLARIFYING** messenger using only Quran as a reference to CLARIFY, then we both have very different ideas of what idol worship is. If you think Rashad went against scientific facts, and made innovations (like you very clearly just stated) then you don’t believe he was from God. Case Closed.
JAMAL NOORDEEN: Salamun Alaikum, for all who idolize Rashad let them know that he passed away and with Allah (subhanuthala).and anyone who claims to be quranist and worship GOD ALONE let them know that living messenger is Quran and everlasting is the presense of GOD.
RAMEEZ POJEE: Salaam Alaykum, To add to what Shahid said, Muhammad was forbidden from explaining the Quran (75:19), and his only duty was to deliver the Quran. So, we reject anything that comes with the Quran. Quran is complete, no doubt about it. But, Rashad was sent to explain things to us.
God’s Messenger of the Covenant
[5:19] O people of the scripture, our messenger has come to you, to explain things to you, after a period of time without messengers, lest you say, “We did not receive any preacher or warner.” A preacher and warner has now come to you. GOD is Omnipotent.*
Remember, Quran is a living messenger. But, the above verse # 19 cannot apply to the Quran. Note the statement – our messenger has come to you, to explain things to you, after a period of time without messengers. God bless you,
JAMAL NOORDEEN: Salamun Alaikum. Dear all first of all we should know very clear that the fact is different from truth that is to say the fact is changeable but The TRUTH never change and remain to be the same forever and in easier terms THE QURAN is the Truth and it is the word of our lord GOD but any intrepretations or appendices or footnotes are facts which infact we received the fact from Rashad (messenger of covenent). and from QURAN we learn that none can explain the Quran for the future generation too. It is the responsibility of our Lord GOD to explain the quran in the time frame which he sets on his own.
By the same time Rashad sent with some duties to accomplish that he has done to the fullest will of GOD. infact he has been given some explanations which does not cover all QURAN but specific news as it is from the 72:27.
Any one who wants to stick with facts only and dont want to taken by QURAN are rejecters of TRUTH and shall know that GOD is the TRUTH and his word are. and that is what could be called as the rejection of truth.
This is n internet argument on the frequency of the word YaWM (Day) in the Quran. In the end of this lengthy argument, Daniel Lomax admitted that the frequency of the word YaWM (day) in singular form is indeed 365, its plural form is 30, and the total of all its derivatives is 475 (19×25). This is one of the rare arguments that both parties finally reach to the same conclusion.
Edip Yuksel vs. Daniel Lomax, at al
(The discussion took place in January-February 1996
at as soc.religion.islam group under
“365 days” hoax exposed)
In 1959, Abdurrazzaq Nawfal, an Egyptian scholar, noticed some mathematical relations between the frequency of certain words. While writing his book “Al-Islamu Deenun wa Dunya” (Islam: both Religion and World), he noticed that the frequency of the word “Dunya” (World) had exactly the same frequency as the word “Akhirah” (Hereafter), 115 times each, in the Quran. In 1968, while writing another book titled “Alemul Jinni wal Malayika” (Universe of Jinns and Angels), he noticed that the word “Shaytan” (Satan) had exactly the same frequency as the word “Malak” (Angel), 88 times each. These interesting literary symmetry in the frequency of certain words led him to make a more comprehensive study on the numerical structure of the Quran. Nawfal published his findings in 1983 in a book: “Al-I’cazul Adadiy LilQuranil Kareem” (Numerical Miracle Of the Holy Quran). The book was published by Darul Kitabil Arabiy, Beirut, Lebanon.
Some of his findings are striking. Three examples, I believe, leaves no doubt that the Quran is a mathematically designed unique book.
When Ahmed ELNEWEIHI posted a brief article on SRI (Socio.Religion.Islam) informing the readers the frequency of these three words in the Quran, all the followers of medieval Arab fabrications (Hadith and Sunna) rushed to reject the claims. The ignorance and backwardness of the followers of Hadith and Sunna, unfortunately is reinforced by their arrogance. They can never see the miracle of the Quran. They only parrot their scholar’s empty rhetoric that the Quran is a literary miracle without questioning its meaning and implications. They reduce the author of the Quran to the level of their simple-minded scholars. “How could God’s word have a mathematical pattern in it? Mathematics? No way!” they exclaim. Then, they try all the tricks and deception to reject the obvious mathematical patterns exist in the Quran.
If you are interested with the arguments on the mathematical structure of the Quran, please obtain my lengthy debate with Lomax, in “Running Like Zebras”. The argument exposes the hypocrisy and deception of those who have traded God’s word with medieval Arab fabrications, that is, Hadith and Sunnah. You can download the book from http://www.moslem.org/yuksel.htm. [Now, you can download the book from tihs site]
In the end of this argument we will present the list of chapters and verses where these three words occur in the Quran.
Ahmed ELNEWEIHI:The word “YAWM”, or “day” is mentioned 365 times in the quraan.
DEAN Ahmad: But there are 354 days in the Muslim year.
ELNEWEIHI: But, who said the Quran is restricted to the muslim calender? The Quran is a message to all mankind and should reflect the more “accurate” count of the number of days in the year.
Daniel LOMAX: Then should we expect there to be 365.2425 occurrences of the word “day” in the Qur’an? By the way, has anyone verified the count? This figure comes from the Khalifites, who are notorious for doctored counts. Many of them do not check out.
Jochen KATZ: Well, shouldn’t you expect more accuracy from the word of God, if it was indeed a thing planned by him to discover? It is more like 365.3 days. So, only a crude first approximation. And then, scientific research has shown that the earth is slowing down in its rotation. Comparison of some shells and the growth rings of very old trees that have been found, show that several thousand years ago the year had nearly 400 days. And we are loosing a number of seconds every year. So, the time will come it won’t only have 364 days and each day a bit longer than today. That too will make the miracle disappear. Just wait long enough.
ELNEWEIHI: If you have a word that makes sense and can be described as 0.3…. of a word, please let me know.
This is not a “crude” approximation, this is a mathematically correct approximation. I thought from your e-mail address that you may have some mathematical background, but may be I am wrong. For your information, 365 is the proper mathematical rounding up of the number 365.3…….
Having been so accurate as to request that the Quran should have repeated the word “Day” 365.3…. times (and even then, I am sure you would not have been convinced), I do not expect that you turn around and tell me that your reasons for believing in Jesus is that he was foretold in the Bible. I will then ask you to find from the bible a quote that describes all the details (including the height, the color, the era, the name of the king of the day, . so on..) that would show beyond any doubt that your beliefs are on sound basis. After all, the Bible should have made it so clear that no one would have any doubt that he was the Son of God.
Edip YUKSEL: Katz is demonstrating a sophisticated degree of knowledge! Ironically, he flunks to see the clear and simple relation between the frequency of the word “yawm” (day) in the Quran, and the number of days in a year, that is 365. I wonder why he is resorting to fractions of a day to deny such a clear message. How hard he is trying to reject the clear mathematical relation! Watching the Muhammedan and Christian disbelievers rejecting the clear divine signs confirms the Quranic statement once more (6:25; 7:146).
As for the slowing down… Well, the number of days won’t go down 364 since the end of the world is not too far (42:17 ….). Quran gives the time of the “Hour” and it is less than a thousand year. The Hour will struck disbelievers. Just wait long enough.
KATZ: By the way, some Christians employ the same silly reasoning to the Bible too. You are welcome to answer in the same revealing way.
ELNEWEIHI: I will not turn down your invitation. I agree you with you that some christians employ silly reasoning to the bible, but I do not agree that it is the “same” silly reasoning. For the numberof days in a year is 365 is not silly, but how some christians quote from the bible to show that the bible had predicted the future is indeed silly. I heard and read some of them say the bible had predicted many events and wars when it said that people of the North will conquer people of the South and so on.
KATZ: Counting exercises keep many a believer busy. But I don’t think they will ever establish anything of great significance. Just my personal opinion.
ELNEWEIHI: If you remember, I said to you in my first article that we can go on with these and similar discusions without producing any evidence that can be called “an evidence beyond any doubt”. I invited you to debate with me the basis I cited before (and can cite again) for my belief and those that you can site for your belief. You have unfortunately declined.
Your answer reminded me of the verse in the Quran where God says to Muhammed that even if He (God) sent down a ladder from the sky so that Muhammed can climb on it in front of the non-believer (as a proof of being a prophet of God) , they will only say: you musthave hypnotized us to see you doing this, but it was not actually true.
KATZ: just head [sic] read this ‘slowing down thing’ a few days ago, so that was a new thought, but I had better adorned it with many smileys as to not be taken so seriously in this specific posting.
ELNEWEIHI: It is too bad you are retracting that statement, because it just occured to me that if the “slowing down thing” was correct, it would have pointed to yet, another miracle in the Qur’an.
Since the counting of the word “Yawm” or “day” and relating it to the number of days in a year was “discovered” only recently, one can say that the Qur’an has prophesized that when people will discover this count, the number of days in the time of this discovery will indeed be rounded to 365 days. In other words, we would have here the combination of a scientific fact and a prophecy in one.
Would not that have been a more accurate prophecy than the statements in the bible that christians claim them to be prophecies, to try to prove that the bible is truly the word of God?
I must add here that until I verify the count of the word “Yawm” in the Qur’an myself, I can not claim any miracle. I must also repeat that I am not in a hurry to do that, because this is not the basis of my belief.
KATZ: For that I want to combine Mr. Lomax counting results with Ahmed Elneweihi’s ingenious prophetic interpretation. 🙂
Now, may I propose that this is a backward prophecy instead of a forward prophecy? And the scientific method (proof?) given by the Qur’an (or better: by those who have nothing better to do to make up proofs for ) (the divine origin of it by methods which were never intended to be read into ) (the text) for the real age of the earth is that we calculate back how many years from the creation of the earth it would have taken to slow down the rotation of the earth as to give the decrease from 475 days/year to 365 days/year, because clearly, this given number corresponds to the time of creation.
Only humorous responses to this posting will be taken seriously.
Asser HASSANAIN:You know, I don’t understand what these arguments about the numeracity of the Quran is all about! The numeracity of the Quran (that is, the striking numerical pattern) should NOT be used as means to support an unrelated religious view or a religious discussion.
LOMAX: I admire the brother for admitting his ignorance at the outset. What striking pattern? Aside from the utter lack of such a “pattern,” I agree with the remainder. Whatever pattern exists, even if it is very, very striking, does not ipso facto prove much other than there is a pattern. When I did believe that there was a clear pattern, it did not lead me to conclude that Rashad Khalifa was a Messenger!, only that the book was beyond ordinary human origin. But I was depending on false data from Khalifa.
Nevertheless, I remain grateful to him, for this false data increased my faith and led me to begin to seriously read the Qur’an in Arabic, where I found ample confirmation not dependent upon number tricks.
LOMAX: Brother Behnam has noted the lack of independent confirmation of Khalifa’s work. This is a little misleading. Many others have reported on numerical phenomena in the Qur’an; however, there is no coherent explanation of what it is nor any demonstration that what has been discovered is statistically significant. “Beyond Probability” by Arik does attempt a calculation of probability, but it is incorrect on its face, as will be seen by anyone who knows probability theory. It does not take an expert, by the way, just a basic knowledge.
Further, Khalifa’s work is so full of errors and undocumented methods that anyone who tries to verify it soon runs into serious difficulties. This is not obvious to English speakers, because our language is written very differently than Arabic. For example, Khalifa counts the letter alif, but there is, in fact, no consensus on how to write alif in the Qur’an, and Khalifa’s counts correspond to no known ms. or system of writing. Certainly they do not correspond to the Tashkent mushaf, which Khalifa used when counting Sad (in one place; it is not clear that he used it consistently, in fact, it is clear that he did not.)
Some time back, I wrote a “Draft FAQ” on this subject, detailing matters on which clarity is necessary before claims about these miracles can be objectively verified. Yuksel promised to respond to that, but so far, nothing but more bluster. I think I will repost that FAQ.
LOMAX: It is the wont [sic] of Khalifites to claim this or that numerical phenomenon in the Qur’an as a “miracle.” In spite of repeated invitations, they have never defined just what they mean by “miracle,” but the apparent meaning is any striking congruity of numbers derived from the Qur’an, or sometimes from other sources like the numerical values of the letters in Rashad Khalifa’s name.
When word counts are involved, more often than not, I have found that the counts have been manipulated to produce the striking totals. This claim that the occurrence of the word “day” (yawm) in the Qur’an is 365 is a very good example.
Edip Yuksel wrote: “Below is the frequency of the word “Yawm” day (in its singular form) in the Quran. I have copied from one of my Turkish books. Unfortunately, during the transfer it lost its format.”
Notice that Yuksel did qualify the statement, unlike the earlier mentions of this “miracle” in this newsgroup. He is only counting singular forms. Now, if it were necessary to count the dual and plural forms of the word to come up with the “miraculous” total, I am certain that they would have been included. Nevertheless, it would be interesting if all occurrences of the singular “day” in the Qur’an totalled 365. Do they?
I have seen this claim before. Then, I looked up “yawm” in the Kassis concordance, and found 475 mentions. However, this included the dual and plural forms, and it is a piece of work to separate them out. But now Yuksel has presented us with a list, albeit mangled, of his claimed “singular forms.” Further, I just obtained a copy of the Flugel concordance, which lists each unique form in superb detail. So, I was moved to check this claim out more precisely.
I took Yuksel’s list, formatted it, and imported it into a database program. Then I used the Kassis concordance to insert all mentions of the word, including the dual and plural. Since Kassis, conveniently, gives the verse numbers from Flugel’s edition of the Qur’an in addition to the more standard numbers used by Khalifa, I was able to easily identify each form. In the process, I found several misprints in Yuksel’s list, plus tabulation errors, as well as three occurrences missing from Flugel. I did not find any errors in Kassis. Note, however, that I do not have a validated Arabic Qur’an in machine-readable form. It is possible, but unlikely, that there are additional mentions not listed here.
The finished database is appended below for anyone who wishes to examine the data.
Of the 475 total occurrences of all forms of “yawm,” 3 are in the dual and 27 are in the plural, leaving 445 in the singular.
Flugel’s concordance lists 34 different forms of this word, including variations caused by prefixes or suffixes. Here is a list of these forms, with the total count for each form, and Yuksel’s inferred count. The “<” at the right shows counts which are in error, or which result from an unstated condition. The number at the beginning of each row is the sequence of the form in Flugel. Transliteration notes are at the end of this article.
Yuksel’s counts do not add up to 365 because he skipped his number 297. To summarize the discrepancies, besides plurals, Yuksel has not counted any of the forms ending with ^-i&i~, except for one single mention at 45:27. This accounts for 69 omissions. He counted 6 mentions of fa!lyawma out of 8 (2 omissions). He also inconsistently counted simple forms of yawm with suffixed pronouns: 1 out of 4 occurrences of yawmahum were counted (3 omissions), 1 out of 2 yawmihim (1 omissions), and yawmikum and yawmukum were not counted at all (5 omissions). Finally, he missed a mention of yawma at 45:17. With the 30 duals and plurals, this accounts for the difference of 111.
I see no way to reconcile this data with the claim of 365 mentions. The sloppiness of the counting is typical of Khalifite claims; if the count works out, research and checking have a tendency to stop.
I would appreciate notice of any substantive errors in this article…
ALL MENTIONS OF ANY FORM OF “YAWIMA” IN THE QUR’AN
yseq xseq verse F# form trans notes
1 1 0 y1:4 3 yawmi
2 2 0 y2:8 7 wabi!lyawmi
3 3 0 y2:48 45 yawma~!
4 4 0 y2:62 59 wa!lyawmi
5 4 1 x2:80 74 -‘ayya!ma~! days
6 5 0 y2:85 79 wayawma
7 6 0 y2:113 107 yawma
8 7 0 y2:123 117 yawma~!
9 8 0 y2:126 120 wa!lyawmi
10 9 0 y2:174 169 yawma
11 10 0 y2:177 172 wa!lyawmi
12 10 2 x2:184 180 -‘ayya!ma~! days
13 10 3 x2:184 180 -‘ayya!mi~ days
14 10 4 x2:185 181 -‘ayya!mi~ days
15 10 5 x2:196 192 -‘ayya!mi~ 3 days
16 10 6 x2:203 199 -‘ayya!mi~ days
17 10 7 x2:203 199 yawmayni 2 days
18 11 0 y2:212 208 yawma
19 12 0 y2:228 228 wa!lyawmi
20 13 0 y2:232 232 wa!lyawmi
21 14 0 y2:249 250 !alyawma
22 15 0 y2:254 255 yawmu~
23 16 0 y2:259 261 yawma~! Y had 2:255
24 17 0 y2:259 261 yawmi~ part day
25 18 0 y2:264 266 wa!lyawmi
26 19 0 y2:281 281 yawma~!
27 20 0 y3:9 7 liyawmi~
28 20 8 x3:24 23 -‘ayya!ma~! days
29 21 0 y3:25 24 liyawmi~
30 22 0 y3:30 28 yawma
31 22 9 x3:41 36 -‘ayya!mi~ 3 days
32 23 0 y3:55 48 yawmi
33 24 0 y3:77 71 yawma
34 25 0 y3:106 102 yawma
35 26 0 y3:114 110 wa!lyawmi
36 26 10 x3:140 134 !al-‘ayya!mu days
37 27 0 y3:155 149 yawma
38 28 0 y3:161 155 yawma
39 29 0 y3:166 160 yawma
40 29 11 x3:167 160 yawma^’i&i~ that day
41 30 0 y3:180 176 yawma
42 31 0 y3:185 182 yawma
43 32 0 y3:194 192 yawma
44 33 0 y4:38 42 bi!lyawmi
45 34 0 y4:39 43 wa!lyawmi
46 34 12 x4:42 45 yawma^’i&i~ that day
47 35 0 y4:59 62 wa!lyawmi
48 36 0 y4:87 89 yawmi
49 37 0 y4:109 109 yawma
50 38 0 y4:136 135 wa!lyawmi
51 39 0 y4:141 140 yawma
52 40 0 y4:159 157 wayawma
53 41 0 y4:162 160 wa!lyawmi
54 42 0 y5:3 4 !alyawma
55 43 0 y5:3 5 !alyawma
56 44 0 y5:5 7 !alyawma
57 45 0 y5:14 17 yawmi
58 46 0 y5:36 40 yawmi
59 47 0 y5:64 69 yawmi
60 48 0 y5:69 73 wa!lyawmi
61 48 13 x5:89 91 -‘ayya!mi~ 3 days
62 49 0 y5:109 108 yawma
63 50 0 y5:119 119 yawmu
64 51 0 y6:12 12 yawmi
65 52 0 y6:15 15 yawmi~
66 52 14 x6:16 16 yawma^’i&i~ that day
67 53 0 y6:22 22 wayawma
68 54 0 y6:73 72 wayawma
69 55 0 y6:73 73 yawma
70 56 0 y6:93 93 !alyawma
71 57 0 y6:128 128 wayawma
72 57 15 x6:130 130 yawmikum
73 58 0 y6:141 142 yawma
74 59 0 y6:158 159 yawma
75 59 16 x7:8 7 yawma^’i&i~ that day
76 60 0 y7:14 13 yawmi
77 61 0 y7:32 30 yawma
78 61 17 x7:51 49 fa!lyawma today
79 62 0 y7:51 49 yawmihim
80 63 0 y7:53 51 yawma
81 63 18 x7:54 52 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
82 64 0 y7:59 57 yawmi~
83 65 0 y7:163 163 yawma
84 66 0 y7:163 163 wayawma
85 67 0 y7:167 166 yawmi
86 68 0 y7:172 171 yawma
87 68 19 x8:16 16 yawma^’i&i~
88 69 0 y8:41 42 yawma
89 70 0 y8:41 42 yawma
90 71 0 y8:48 50 !alyawma
91 72 0 y9:3 3 yawma
92 73 0 y9:18 18 wa!lyawmi
93 74 0 y9:19 19 wa!lyawmi
94 75 0 y9:25 25 wayawma
95 76 0 y9:29 29 bi!lyawmi
96 77 0 y9:35 35 yawma
97 78 0 y9:36 36 yawma
98 79 0 y9:44 44 wa!lyawmi
99 80 0 y9:45 45 wa!lyawmi
100 81 0 y9:77 78 yawmi
101 82 0 y9:99 100 wa!lyawmi
102 83 0 y9:108 109 yawmi~
103 83 20 x10:3 3 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
104 84 0 y10:15 16 yawmi~
105 85 0 y10:28 29 wayawma
106 86 0 y10:45 46 wayawma
107 87 0 y10:60 61 yawma
108 88 0 y10:92 92 fa!lyawma
109 89 0 y10:93 93 yawma
110 89 21 x10:102 102 -‘ayya!mi days
111 90 0 y11:3 3 yawmi~
112 90 22 x11.07 9 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
113 91 0 y11:8 11 yawma
114 92 0 y11:26 28 yawmi~
115 93 0 y11:43 45 !alyawma
116 94 0 y11:60 63 wayawma
117 94 23 x11:65 68 -‘ayya!mi~ 3 days
118 94 24 x11:66 69 yawma^’i&i~ that day
119 95 0 y11:77 79 yawmu~
120 96 0 y11:84 85 yawmi~
121 97 0 y11:98 100 yawma
122 98 0 y11:99 101 wayawma
123 99 0 y11:103 105 yawmu~
124 100 0 y11:103 105 yawmu~
125 101 0 y11:105 107 yawma
126 102 0 y12:54 54 !alyawma
127 103 0 y12:92 92 !alyawma
128 103 25 x14.05 5 bi-‘ayya!mi days
129 104 0 y14:18 21 yawmi~
130 105 0 y14:31 36 yawmu~
131 106 0 y14:41 42 yawma
132 107 0 y14:42 43 liyawmi~
133 108 0 y14:44 44 yawma
134 109 0 y14:48 49 yawma
135 109 26 x14:49 50 yawma^’i&i~ that day
136 110 0 y15:35 35 yawmi
137 111 0 y15:36 36 yawmi
138 112 0 y15:38 38 yawmi
139 113 0 y16:25 27 yawma
140 114 0 y16:27 29 yawma
141 115 0 y16:27 29 !alyawma
142 116 0 y16:63 65 !alyawma
143 117 0 y16:80 82 yawma
144 118 0 y16:80 82 wayawma
145 119 0 y16:84 86 wayawma
146 119 27 x16:87 89 yawma^’i&i~ that day
147 120 0 y16:89 91 wayawma
148 121 0 y16:92 94 yawma
149 122 0 y16:111 112 yawma
150 123 0 y16:124 125 yawma
151 124 0 y17:13 14 yawma
152 125 0 y17:14 15 !alyawma
153 126 0 y17:52 54 yawma
154 127 0 y17:58 60 yawmi
155 128 0 y17:62 64 yawmi
156 129 0 y17:71 73 yawma
157 130 0 y17:97 99 yawma
158 131 0 y18:19 18 yawma~!
159 132 0 y18:19 18 yawmi~ part day
160 133 0 y18:47 45 wayawma
161 134 0 y18:52 50 wayawma
162 134 28 x18:99 99 yawma^’i&i~ that day
163 134 29 18:100 100 yawma^’i&i~ that day
164 135 0 y18:105 105 yawma
165 136 0 y19:15 15 yawma
166 137 0 y19:15 15 wayawma
167 138 0 y19:15 15 wayawma
168 139 0 y19:26 27 !alyawma
169 140 0 y19:33 34 yawma
170 141 0 y19:33 34 wayawma
171 142 0 y19:33 34 wayawma
172 143 0 y19:37 38 yawmi~
173 144 0 y19:38 39 yawma
174 145 0 y19:38 39 !alyawma
175 146 0 y19:39 40 yawma
176 147 0 y19:85 88 yawma
177 148 0 y19:95 95 yawma
178 149 0 y20:59 61 yawmu
179 150 0 y20:64 67 !alyawma
180 151 0 y20:100 100 yawma
181 152 0 y20:101 101 yawma
182 153 0 y20:102 102 yawma
183 153 30 x20:102 102 yawma^’i&i~ that day
184 154 0 y20:104 104 yawma~!
185 154 31 x20:108 107 yawma^’i&i~ that day
186 154 32 x20:109 108 yawma^’i&i~ that day
187 155 0 y20:124 124 yawma
188 156 0 y20:126 126 !alyawma
189 157 0 y21:47 48 liyawmi
190 157 33 x21:103 103 yawmukum your day
191 158 0 y21:104 104 yawma
192 159 0 y22:2 2 yawma
193 160 0 y22:9 9 yawma
194 161 0 y22:17 17 yawma
195 161 34 x22:28 29 -‘ayya!mi~ days
196 162 0 y22:47 46 yawma~!
197 163 0 y22:55 54 yawmi~
198 163 35 x22:56 55 yawma^’i&i~ that day
199 164 0 y22:69 68 yawma
200 165 0 y23:16 16 yawma
201 166 0 y23:65 67 !alyawma
202 167 0 y23:100 102 yawmi
203 167 36 x23:101 103 yawma^’i&i~ that day
204 168 0 y23:111 113 !alyawma
205 169 0 y23:113 115 yawma~!
206 170 0 y23:113 115 yawmi~ part day
207 171 0 y24:2 2 wa!lyawmi
208 172 0 y24:24 24 yawma
209 172 37 x24:25 25 yawma^’i&i~ that day
210 173 0 y24:37 37 yawma~!
211 174 0 y24:64 64 wayawma
212 175 0 y25:14 15 !alyawma
213 176 0 y25:17 18 wayawma
214 177 0 y25:22 24 yawma
215 177 38 x25:22 24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
216 177 39 x25:24 26 yawma^’i&i~ that day
217 178 0 y25:25 27 wayawma
218 178 40 x25:26 28 yawma^’i&i~ that day
219 179 0 y25:26 28 yawma~!
220 180 0 y25:27 29 wayawma
221 180 41 x25:59 60 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
222 181 0 y25:69 69 yawma
223 182 0 y26:38 37 yawmi~
224 183 0 y26:82 82 yawma
225 184 0 y26:87 87 yawma
226 185 0 y26:88 88 yawma
227 186 0 y26:135 135 yawmi~
228 187 0 y26:155 155 yawmi~
229 188 0 y26:156 156 yawmi~
230 189 0 y26:189 189 yawmi
231 190 0 y26:189 189 yawmi~
232 191 0 y27:83 85 wayawma
233 192 0 y27:87 89 wayawma
234 192 42 x27:89 91 yawma^’i&i~ that day
235 193 0 y28:41 41 wayawma
236 194 0 y28:42 42 wayawma
237 195 0 y28:61 61 yawma
238 196 0 y28:62 62 wayawma
239 197 0 y28:65 65 wayawma
240 197 43 x28:66 66 yawma^’i&i~ that day
241 198 0 y28:71 71 yawmi
242 199 0 y28:72 72 yawmi
243 200 0 y28:74 74 wayawma
244 201 0 y29:13 12 yawma
245 202 0 y29:25 24 yawma
246 203 0 y29:36 35 !alyawma
247 204 0 y29:55 55 yawma
248 204 44 x30:4 3 wayawma^’i&i~ that day
249 205 0 y30:12 11 wayawma
250 206 0 y30:14 13 wayawma
251 206 45 x30:14 13 yawma^’i&i~ that day
252 207 0 y30:43 42 yawmu~
253 207 46 x30:43 42 yawma^’i&i~ that day
254 208 0 y30:55 54 wayawma
255 209 0 y30:56 56 yawmi
256 210 0 y30:56 56 yawmu
257 210 47 x30:57 57 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
258 211 0 y31:33 32 yawma~!
259 211 48 x32:4 3 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
260 212 0 y32:5 4 yawmi~
261 212 49 x32:14 14 yawmikum your day
262 213 0 y32:25 25 yawma
263 214 0 y32:29 29 yawma
264 215 0 y33:21 21 wa!lyawma
265 216 0 y33:44 43 yawma
266 217 0 y33:66 66 yawma
267 217 50 x34:18 17 wa-‘ayya!ma~! days
268 218 0 y34:30 29 yawmi~
269 219 0 y34:40 39 wayawma
270 220 0 y34:42 41 fa!lyawma
271 221 0 y35:14 15 wayawma
272 222 0 y36:54 54 fa!lyawma
273 223 0 y36:55 55 !alyawma
274 224 0 y36:59 59 !alyawma
275 225 0 y36:64 64 !alyawma
276 226 0 y36:65 65 !alyawma
277 227 0 y37:20 20 yawmu
278 228 0 y37:21 21 yawmu
279 229 0 y37:26 26 !alyawma
280 229 51 x37:33 32 yawma^’i&i~ that day
281 230 0 y37:144 144 yawmi
282 231 0 y38:16 15 yawmi
283 232 0 y38:26 25 yawma
284 233 0 y38:53 53 liyawmi
285 234 0 y38:78 79 yawmi
286 235 0 y38:79 80 yawmi
287 236 0 y38:81 82 yawmi
288 237 0 y39:13 15 yawmi~
289 238 0 y39:15 17 yawma
290 239 0 y39:24 25 yawma
291 240 0 y39:31 32 yawma
292 241 0 y39:47 48 yawma
293 242 0 y39:60 61 wayawma
294 243 0 y39:67 67 yawma
295 243 52 x39:71 71 yawmikum your day
296 243 53 x40:9 9 yawma^’i&i~ that day
297 244 0 y40:15 15 yawma
298 245 0 y40:16 16 yawmahum
299 246 0 y40:16 16 !alyawma
300 247 0 y40:17 17 !alyawma
301 248 0 y40:17 17 !alyawma
302 249 0 y40:18 18 yawma
303 250 0 y40:27 28 biyawmi
304 251 0 y40:29 30 !alyawma
305 252 0 y40:30 31 yawmi
306 253 0 y40:32 34 yawma
307 254 0 y40:33 35 yawma
308 255 0 y40:46 49 wayawma
309 256 0 y40:49 52 yawma~!
310 257 0 y40:51 54 wayawma
311 258 0 y40:52 55 yawma
312 258 54 x41:9 8 yawmayni 2 days
313 258 55 x41:10 9 -‘ayya!mi~ 4 days
314 258 56 x41:12 11 yawmayni 2 days
315 258 57 x41:16 15 -‘ayya!mi~ days
316 259 0 y41:19 18 wayawma
317 260 0 y41:40 40 yawma
318 261 0 y41:47 47 wayawma
319 262 0 y42:7 5 yawma
320 263 0 y42:45 44 yawma
321 264 0 y42:47 46 yawmu~
322 264 58 x42:47 46 yawma^’i&i~ that day
323 265 0 y43:39 38 !alyawma
324 266 0 y43:65 65 yawmi~
325 266 59 x43:67 67 yawma^’i&i~ that day
326 267 0 y43:68 68 !alyawma
327 267 60 x43:83 83 yawmahum
328 268 0 y44:10 9 yawma
329 269 0 y44:16 15 yawma
330 270 0 y44:40 40 yawma
331 271 0 y44:41 41 yawma
332 271 61 x45:14 13 -‘yya!ma days
333 271 62 x45:17 16 yawma
334 272 0 y45:27 26 wayawma
335 273 0 y45:26 25 yawmi out of seq
336 274 0 y45:27 26 yawma^’i&i~
337 275 0 y45:28 27 !alyawma
338 276 0 y45:34 33 !alyawma
339 276 63 x45:34 33 yawmikum your day
340 277 0 y45:35 34 fa!lyawma
341 278 0 y46:5 4 yawmi
342 279 0 y46:20 19 wayawma
343 279 64 x46:20 19 fa!lyawma today
344 280 0 y46:21 20 yawmi~
345 281 0 y46:34 33 wayawma
346 282 0 y46:35 34 yawma
347 283 0 y50:20 19 yawmu
348 284 0 y50:22 21 !alyawma
349 285 0 y50:30 29 yawma
350 286 0 y50:34 33 yawmu
351 286 65 x50:38 37 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
352 287 0 y50:41 40 yawma
353 288 0 y50:42 41 yawma
354 289 0 y50:42 41 yawmu F missed
355 290 0 y50:44 43 yawma
356 291 0 y51:12 12 yawmu
357 292 0 y51:13 13 yawma
358 292 66 x51:60 60 yawmihim that day of theirs
359 293 0 y52:9 9 yawma
360 293 67 x52:11 11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
361 294 0 y52:13 13 yawma
362 294 68 x52:45 45 yawmahum
363 295 0 y52:46 46 yawma
364 296 0 y54:6 6 yawma
365 297 0 Y skipped
366 298 0 y54:8 8 yawmu~ Y had 54:7
367 299 0 y54:19 19 yawmi
368 300 0 y54:48 48 yawma
369 301 0 y55:29 29 yawmi~
370 301 69 x55:39 39 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
371 302 0 y56:50 50 yawmi~
372 303 0 y56:56 56 yawma
373 303 70 x57:4 4 -‘ayya!mi~ 6 days
374 304 0 y57:12 12 yawma
375 305 0 y57:12 12 !alyawma
376 306 0 y57:13 13 yawma
377 307 0 y57:15 14 fa!lyawma
378 308 0 y58:6 7 yawma
379 309 0 y58:7 8 yawma
380 310 0 y58:18 19 yawma
381 311 0 y58:22 22 wa!lyawmi
382 312 0 y60:3 3 yawma
383 313 0 y60:6 6 wa!lyawma
384 314 0 y62:9 9 yawmi F missed
385 315 0 y64:9 9 yawmu
386 316 0 y64:9 9 liyawmi
387 317 0 y64:9 9 yawma
388 318 0 y65:2 2 wa!lyawmi
389 319 0 y66:7 7 !alyawma
390 320 0 y66:8 8 yawma
391 321 0 y68:24 24 !alyawma
392 322 0 y68:39 39 yawmi
393 323 0 y68:42 42 yawma
394 323 71 x69:7 7 -‘ayya!mi~ 8 days
395 323 72 x69:15 15 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
396 323 73 x69:16 16 yawma^’i&i~ that day
397 323 74 x69:17 17 yawma^’i&i~ that day
398 323 75 x69:18 18 yawma^’i&i~ that day
399 323 76 x69:24 24 !l-‘ayya!mi days
400 324 0 y69:35 35 !alyawma
401 325 0 y70:4 4 yawmi~
402 326 0 y70:8 8 yawma
403 326 77 x70:11 11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
404 327 0 y70:26 26 biyawmi
405 327 78 x70:42 42 yawmahum that day of theirs
406 328 0 y70:43 43 yawma
407 329 0 y70:44 44 !lyawmu
408 330 0 y73:14 14 yawma
409 331 0 y73:17 17 yawma~!
410 331 79 x74:9 9 yawma^’i&i~ that day
411 332 0 y74:9 9 yawmu~
412 333 0 y74:46 47 biyawmi
413 334 0 y75:1 1 biyawmi
414 335 0 y75:6 6 yawmu
415 335 80 x75:10 10 yawma^’i&i~ that day
416 335 81 x75:12 12 yawma^’i&i~ that day
417 335 82 x75:13 13 yawma^’i&i~ that day
418 335 83 x75:22 22 yawma^’i&i~ that day
419 335 84 x75:24 24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
420 335 85 x75:30 30 yawma^’i&i~ that day
421 336 0 y76:7 7 yawma~!
422 337 0 y76:10 10 yawma~!
423 338 0 y76:11 11 !lyawmi that day
424 339 0 y76:27 27 yawma~!
425 340 0 y77:12 12 yawmi~
426 341 0 y77:13 13 liyawmi
427 342 0 y77:14 14 yawmu
428 342 86 x77:15 15 yawma^’i&i~ that day
429 342 87 x77:19 19 yawma^’i&i~ that day
430 342 88 x77:24 24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
431 342 89 x77:28 28 yawma^’i&i~ that day
432 342 90 x77:34 34 yawma^’i&i~ that day
433 343 0 y77:35 35 yawmu
434 343 91 x77:37 37 yawma^’i&i~ that day
435 344 0 y77:38 38 yawmu
436 344 92 x77:40 40 yawma^’i&i~ that day
437 344 93 x77:45 45 yawma^’i&i~ that day
438 344 94 x77:47 47 yawma^’i&i~ that day
439 344 95 x77:49 49 yawma^’i&i~ that day
440 345 0 y78:17 17 yawma
441 346 0 y78:18 18 yawma
442 347 0 y78:38 38 yawma
443 348 0 y78:39 39 !lyawmu
444 349 0 y78:40 41 yawma
445 350 0 y79:6 6 yawma
446 350 96 x79:8 8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
447 351 0 y79:35 35 yawma
448 352 0 y79:46 46 yawma
449 353 0 y80:34 34 yawma
450 353 97 x80:37 37 yawma^’i&i~ that day
451 353 98 x80:38 38 yawma^’i&i~ that day
452 353 99 x80:40 40 yawma^’i&i~ that day
453 354 0 y82:15 15 yawma
454 355 0 y82:17 17 yawmu F missed
455 356 0 y82:18 18 yawmu
456 357 0 y82:19 19 yawma
457 357 100 x82:19 19 yawma^’i&i~ that day
458 358 0 y83:5 5 liyawmi~
459 359 0 y83:6 6 yawma
460 359 101 x83:10 10 yawma^’i&i~ that day
461 360 0 y83:11 11 biyawmi
462 360 102 x83:15 15 yawma^’i&i~ that day
463 361 0 y83:34 34 fa!lyawma
464 362 0 y85:2 2 wa!lyawmi
465 363 0 y86:9 9 yawma
466 363 103 x88:2 2 yawma^’i&i~ that day
467 363 104 x88:8 8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
468 363 105 x89:23 24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
469 363 106 x89:23 24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
470 363 107 x89:25 25 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
471 364 0 y90:14 14 yawmi~
472 364 108 x99:4 4 yawma^’i&i~ that day
473 364 109 x99:6 6 yawma^’i&i~ that day
474 364 110 x100:11 11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
475 365 0 y101:4 3 yawma
476 365 111 x102:8 8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
Notes: The total count is 476 instead of 475 because Yuksel’s unused 297 is numbered. Interestingly, this is number 365 in my list! “F missed” indicates that this mention is not found in Flugel’s concordance. One verse in Yuksel is slightly “out of sequence.” Three mentions of “day” refer to “part of a day.” Two of Yuksel’s verse numbers were incorrect or nonstandard.
Unusual transliteration symbols: ~ nunates the previous vowel ! is alif, and also hamzat-ul-wasl – is alif as a chair for hamza ‘ is hamza & is dhal ^ is a point (used with hamza).
LOMAX: Edip Yuksel wrote: “Just now I saw Lomax’ legthy answer which is trying to confuse the simple issue. I am, inshallah, going to expose his blindig prejudice, as I did before.”
It is my sincere hope that Yuksel can do what he claims. But I fear that he must first cast the beam out of his own eye before he will be able to help me with my own defects of vision.
My answer was not “lengthy,” rather it was short, in its summary, and lengthy only because the supporting data was appended. Yes, this issue is simple. How many times does the word “day” occur in the Qur’an?
The short answer is zero, because “day” is an English word. One will note that zero is divisible by both 19 and 365 without any remainder.
But, really, we are talking about an Arabic word. But what Arabic word? It turns out that this is not a simple a question as the Khalifites would pretend. If the word is “yawm” in all its forms, the answaer is 475 times, to the best of my knowledge, and I have made it easy to correct me by publishing my “lengthy” response. I actively invite and hope for correction.
Eliminating the non-singular forms, we still have 445. To get 365, it is necessary to eliminate some singular forms. An obvious candidate is yawma’idh, which means, literally, “the day when,” and ‘idh is written connected with yawm, so one may be able to claim, by the perverse logic typical of Khalifites, that this is a different word (but Khalifa translates it using the word “day”). This will only account for 70 mentions; we still have 375 left. If we eliminate all forms with pronoun suffixes, there remain 364, or, instead, we can eliminate all forms with prefixes, in which case their remain 356. I haven’t yet found a way to get 365. My guess is that either there is a missing occurrence in the list, in which case 364 becomes 365, or previous sources accidentally counted, like Yuksel, one of the yawma’idh occurrences.
Edip Yuksel wrote: “For those who wonder our previous debate with Lomax on the code 19, please download a copy of “Running Like Zebras” from: http://www.moslem.org/yuksel.htm”
I thank Yuksel for the link. . . .
As for “running like zebras,” I would rather run like a zebra, which is a honest creature meaning harm to no one, than bark like a hyena.
Edip Yuksel wrote: “Wait Lomax. The candle of falsifiers cannot misguide people against the light of the truth.”
Satan has power only over those who follow him. Khalifa said, a false messenger is a messenger of Satan. This is the warning, as always there is a warning, like the warning of the angels at Babylon.
With the work I did, and presuming that Yuksel had actually counted the words, it should be only a few minutes to make a preliminary comment on my paper. After all, all it talked about is a word count, and the differences between my count and Yuksels’s count were thoroughly and clearly cited. I found numerous clear errors in Yuksel’s count. I hope that he or anyone else can find any remaining errors in mine.
But, true to form, Yuksel responds, not with facts, but with bluster. Instead of joining with others as seekers of truth, he blames me for “extreme skepticism.” Yuksel, repent; your repentance will open for you the gates of paradise and ward off from you humiliation in this life and the next. I do not write all this but in the hope of guidance for myself and for others, including you and other brothers and sisters who, like
Dr. Khalifa, were misled by this particular fitna.
LOMAX: Edip Yuksel wrote: “Well, Lomax you are exposed many times of trying to confuse the issue by a wobbly extreme skepticism. Thank God it has been documented in “Running Like Zebras” for those who seek the truth.”
For me, the matter becomes more and more clear. Originally, the “numerical miracles” were presented by Dr. Khalifa as a proof that even the skeptical could examine and test. Supposedly it was “scientific” and “mathematical” proof. Now, when one of these claims is carefully examined, and the results of the investigation are published in a way that makes it easy for anyone to check the results, Yuksel can only refer to “skepticism” as if it were something hateful. This is the mark of religious fanaticism; more and more, I see his resemblance to the very religious scholars he hates. This is not surprising, that the son would resemble his father.
Edip Yuksel wrote: “As for your recent posting on the frequency of the word “day”, wait few days for its exposition. And do not forget that God is the only master of the day of judgment. The miracle of the Quran will continue to increase the faith of believers despite of falsifiers.”
A “falsifier” is someone who changes the truth. Yuksel is the man who, with his own hand, with white-out and pen, altered the text of the Qur’an, by his own admission. He is the man who published a list, supposedly of all occurrences of the word “day” in the Qur’an, and this list was false on its face, and even more false when examined in detail. If I have erred in my publication, I invite correction, something Yuksel does not do; in fact he hates it.
My original work on the 19 contained a detailed discussion of the question of how many times the word “Allah” occurs in the Qur’an. That discussion, based on the work of Khalifa collated with the work of Phillips, and a direct examination of the Qur’an were these two sources differed, was in error as to its conclusions. The error proceeded from the fact that Phillips had not found all of Khalifa’s errors, and the errors that remained were balancing errors; the result being that the count of “Allah”, excluding the initial bismillahs, but including the first, was 2699; thus Khalifa, apparently, was correct in his later assertion that the count becomes 2698 if 9:128-129 are excluded.
(Of course, it is also 2698 in Warsh without truncating sura 9, because Warsh does not include 1:1 as a verse of the Qur’an.)
But I only was able to discover this once I obtained a copy of the Arabic/English edition of Khalifa’s translation, which gives a runninig total. With that running total, I could compare it with the earlier verse-by-verse total from Visual Presentation of the Miracle, and find the remaining discrepancies. Khalifa’s early work was full of errors.
My point is that, even though I published clearly founded and verifiable (but wrong) evidence that the count was 2701, no Khalifite pointed out where I was wrong. this is because they do not actually count these things: they are people of the very taqlid they condemn.
At one time, by his report, Yuksel actually did do quite a bit of counting. But he has settled into belief, and this 365 day question is the proof.
When I started to count, I did not know whether or not the count would be 365 days or not. I merely thought it was absurd to debate the significance of a phenomenon that had not been shown to exist.
The little boy who said that the emperor had no clothes was not a skeptic, he merely reported what he saw.
However, so many times has this particular “emperor” appeared naked inpublic, I do now expect him to be unclothed, and I am not sure that I willcontinue to spend the dozen or so hours of work that it took, in thiscase, to carefully collate the data, every time another Khalifite claimappears.
If there is a numerical miracle in the Qur’an, the Khaliftes are guilty, not of proclaiming it, but of concealing it by a confusion of false claims. I am still, from time to time, working with people who believe they have found statistically signficant phenomena; so far, no cigar, but, as Yuksel says, judgment is with Allah, and he guides to his path whom he wills.
THERE ARE 365 OCCURRENCES OF THE WORD “YWM” (DAY) IN THE QURAN
LOMAX: Of the 475 total occurrences of all forms of “yawm,” 3 are in the dual and 27 are in the plural, leaving 445 in the singular. . . .Yuksel’s counts do not add up to 365 because he skipped his number 297. To summarize the discrepancies, besides plurals, Yuksel has not counted any of the forms ending with ^-i&i~, except for one single mention at 45:27. This accounts for 69 omissions. He counted 6 mentions of fa!lyawma out of 8 (2 omissions). He also inconsistently counted simple forms of yawm with suffixed pronouns: 1 out of 4 occurrences of yawmahum were counted (3 omissions), 1 out of 2 yawmihim (1 omissions), and yawmikum and yawmukum were not counted at all (5 omissions). Finally, he missed a mention of yawma at 45:17. With the 30 duals and plurals, this accounts for the difference of 111.
I see no way to reconcile this data with the claim of 365 mentions. The sloppiness of the counting is typical of Khalifite claims; if the count works out, research and checking have a tendency to stop.
YUKSEL: Well, as you see, I did not stop. (It is another proof that I am not a Khalifite as projected by a confessed Muhammadan, Lomax). I would like to thank Lomax for his efforts. I Hope it will serve a good function to find the truth of this matter. Based on Lomax’s tedious work, I have corrected several typo errors. As for his summary of “discrepancies,” here are my answers:
I did not count the word YWM (pronounced as yawm) with suffixes. I did not need to mention this, since the word (YWM) by itself was sufficient to express this point. In my earlier posting I wrote about “the frequency of the word “yawm” day (in its singular form) in the Quran.” A non-hostile eye would easily notice that I did not mention “yawmahum” (their days), nor yawma-izin (that day), etc. In fact, the counting method we deduce from this word is used for all other computations. For instance, in the count of the word ALLAH (GOD) we did not count the ones with the suffix HUMMA. As we discussed in my book “Running Like Zebras,” (available from http://www.moslem.com [and from www.yuksel.org]) a clear, sound and consistent counting method is employed in the mathematical structure of the Quran. The confusion here is superficially created by Lomax, whose skeptical confusion reaches a crescendo when it comes to the mathematical structure of the Quran, or monotheism.
The 45:27 in my list was merely a typing error. It should have been 45:17. I also omitted one, only one count of “fa!lyawma.” Lomax confused the word I have counted in 7:51 with the one I have not. He is right regarding the second omission. I have missed the word “fa!lyawma” in 46:20. This, by the way, makes my count 365.
As I stated above, Lomax wrongly identified the word I have counted in 7:51. There, I did not count “yawmahum” (their days) as he claimed; I counted “fa!lyawma” which he wrongly accused me of its omission.
Below is my correction of the list presented by Lomax.
I have erased the notes regarding Flugel’s concordance. It is irrelevant at this point and will complicate the simple counting of the word. Thanks to Lomax, he has already managed to create a non-friendly sceen by his “unusual transliteration symbols.” Furthermore, in order to create consistency, I have translated the few words that he had forgotten to translate. I also want to remind the reader the fact that the three-letter root of the word in question is”YWM.” The vowels used in English transliterations are not original letters.
ALL MENTIONS OF ANY FORM OF “YWM” IN THE QURAN
YSEQ XSEQ VERSE FORM TRANS
1 1 0 y1:4 yawmi
2 2 0 y2:8 wabi!lyawmi
3 3 0 y2:48 yawma~!
4 4 0 y2:62 wa!lyawmi
5 4 1 x2:80 -‘ayya!ma~! days
6 5 0 y2:85 wayawma
7 6 0 y2:113 yawma
8 7 0 y2:123 yawma~!
9 8 0 y2:126 wa!lyawmi
10 9 0 y2:174 yawma
11 10 0 y2:177 wa!lyawmi
12 10 2 x2:184 -‘ayya!ma~! days
13 10 3 x2:184 -‘ayya!mi~ days
14 10 4 x2:185 -‘ayya!mi~ days
15 10 5 x2:196 -‘ayya!mi~ days
16 10 6 x2:203 -‘ayya!mi~ days
17 10 7 x2:203 yawmayni (2) days
18 11 0 y2:212 yawma
19 12 0 y2:228 wa!lyawmi
20 13 0 y2:232 wa!lyawmi
21 14 0 y2:249 !alyawma
22 15 0 y2:254 yawmu~
23 16 0 y2:259 yawma~!
24 17 0 y2:259 yawmi~
25 18 0 y2:264 wa!lyawmi
26 19 0 y2:281 yawma~!
27 20 0 y3:9 liyawmi~
28 20 8 x3:24 -‘ayya!ma~! days
29 21 0 y3:25 liyawmi~
30 22 0 y3:30 yawma
31 22 9 x3:41 -‘ayya!mi~ (3) days
32 23 0 y3:55 yawmi
33 24 0 y3:77 yawma
34 25 0 y3:106 yawma
35 26 0 y3:114 wa!lyawmi
36 26 10 x3:140 !al-‘ayya!mu days
37 27 0 y3:155 yawma
38 28 0 y3:161 yawma
39 29 0 y3:166 yawma
40 29 11 x3:167 yawma^’i&i~ that day
41 30 0 y3:180 yawma
42 31 0 y3:185 yawma
43 32 0 y3:194 yawma
44 33 0 y4:38 bi!lyawmi
45 34 0 y4:39 wa!lyawmi
46 34 12 x4:42 yawma^’i&i~ that day
47 35 0 y4:59 wa!lyawmi
48 36 0 y4:87 yawmi
49 37 0 y4:109 yawma
50 38 0 y4:136 wa!lyawmi
51 39 0 y4:141 yawma
52 40 0 y4:159 wayawma
53 41 0 y4:162 wa!lyawmi
54 42 0 y5:3 !alyawma
55 43 0 y5:3 !alyawma
56 44 0 y5:5 !alyawma
57 45 0 y5:14 yawmi
58 46 0 y5:36 yawmi
59 47 0 y5:64 yawmi
60 48 0 y5:69 wa!lyawmi
61 48 13 x5:89 -‘ayya!mi~ (3) days
62 49 0 y5:109 yawma
63 50 0 y5:119 yawmu
64 51 0 y6:12 yawmi
65 52 0 y6:15 yawmi~
66 52 14 x6:16 yawma^’i&i~ that day
67 53 0 y6:22 wayawma
68 54 0 y6:73 wayawma
69 55 0 y6:73 yawma
70 56 0 y6:93 !alyawma
71 57 0 y6:128 wayawma
72 57 15 x6:130 yawmikum your day
73 58 0 y6:141 yawma
74 59 0 y6:158 yawma
75 59 16 x7:8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
76 60 0 y7:14 yawmi
77 61 0 y7:32 yawma
78 62 0 y7:51 fa!lyawma
79 62 17 x7:51 yawmihim their day
80 63 0 y7:53 yawma
81 63 18 x7:54 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
82 64 0 y7:59 yawmi~
83 65 0 y7:163 yawma
84 66 0 y7:163 wayawma
85 67 0 y7:167 yawmi
86 68 0 y7:172 yawma
87 68 19 x8:16 yawma^’i&i~ that day
88 69 0 y8:41 yawma
89 70 0 y8:41 yawma
90 71 0 y8:48 !alyawma
91 72 0 y9:3 yawma
92 73 0 y9:18 wa!lyawmi
93 74 0 y9:19 wa!lyawmi
94 75 0 y9:25 wayawma
95 76 0 y9:29 bi!lyawmi
96 77 0 y9:35 yawma
97 78 0 y9:36 yawma
98 79 0 y9:44 wa!lyawmi
99 80 0 y9:45 wa!lyawmi
100 81 0 y9:77 yawmi
101 82 0 y9:99 wa!lyawmi
102 83 0 y9:108 yawmi~
103 83 20 x10:3 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
104 84 0 y10:15 yawmi~
105 85 0 y10:28 wayawma
106 86 0 y10:45 wayawma
107 87 0 y10:60 yawma
108 88 0 y10:92 fa!lyawma
109 89 0 y10:93 yawma
110 89 21 x10:102 -‘ayya!mi days
111 90 0 y11:3 yawmi~
112 90 22 x11.07 -‘ayya!mi~ days
113 91 0 y11:8 yawma
114 92 0 y11:26 yawmi~
115 93 0 y11:43 !alyawma
116 94 0 y11:60 wayawma
117 94 23 x11:65 -‘ayya!mi~ (3) days
118 94 24 x11:66 yawma^’i&i~ that day
119 95 0 y11:77 yawmu~
120 96 0 y11:84 yawmi~
121 97 0 y11:98 yawma
122 98 0 y11:99 wayawma
123 99 0 y11:103 yawmu~
124 100 0 y11:103 yawmu~
125 101 0 y11:105 yawma
126 102 0 y12:54 !alyawma
127 103 0 y12:92 !alyawma
128 103 25 x14.05 bi-‘ayya!mi days
129 104 0 y14:18 yawmi~
130 105 0 y14:31 yawmu~
131 106 0 y14:41 yawma
132 107 0 y14:42 liyawmi~
133 108 0 y14:44 yawma
134 109 0 y14:48 yawma
135 109 26 x14:49 yawma^’i&i~ that day
136 110 0 y15:35 yawmi
137 111 0 y15:36 yawmi
138 112 0 y15:38 yawmi
139 113 0 y16:25 yawma
140 114 0 y16:27 yawma
141 115 0 y16:27 !alyawma
142 116 0 y16:63 !alyawma
143 117 0 y16:80 yawma
144 118 0 y16:80 wayawma
145 119 0 y16:84 wayawma
146 119 27 x16:87 yawma^’i&i~ that day
147 120 0 y16:89 wayawma
148 121 0 y16:92 yawma
149 122 0 y16:111 yawma
150 123 0 y16:124 yawma
151 124 0 y17:13 yawma
152 125 0 y17:14 !alyawma
153 126 0 y17:52 yawma
154 127 0 y17:58 yawmi
155 128 0 y17:62 yawmi
156 129 0 y17:71 yawma
157 130 0 y17:97 yawma
158 131 0 y18:19 yawma~!
159 132 0 y18:19 yawmi~
160 133 0 y18:47 wayawma
161 134 0 y18:52 wayawma
162 134 28 x18:99 yawma^’i&i~ that day
163 134 29 18:100 yawma^’i&i~ that day
164 135 0 y18:105 yawma
165 136 0 y19:15 yawma
166 137 0 y19:15 wayawma
167 138 0 y19:15 wayawma
168 139 0 y19:26 !alyawma
169 140 0 y19:33 yawma
170 141 0 y19:33 wayawma
171 142 0 y19:33 wayawma
172 143 0 y19:37 yawmi~
173 144 0 y19:38 yawma
174 145 0 y19:38 !alyawma
175 146 0 y19:39 40 yawma
176 147 0 y19:85 yawma
177 148 0 y19:95 yawma
178 149 0 y20:59 yawmu
179 150 0 y20:64 !alyawma
180 151 0 y20:100 yawma
181 152 0 y20:101 yawma
182 153 0 y20:102 yawma
183 153 30 x20:102 yawma^’i&i~ that day
184 154 0 y20:104 yawma~!
185 154 31 x20:108 yawma^’i&i~ that day
186 154 32 x20:109 yawma^’i&i~ that day
187 155 0 y20:124 yawma
188 156 0 y20:126 !alyawma
189 157 0 y21:47 liyawmi
190 157 33 x21:103 yawmukum your day
191 158 0 y21:104 yawma
192 159 0 y22:2 yawma
193 160 0 y22:9 yawma
194 161 0 y22:17 yawma
195 161 34 x22:28 -‘ayya!mi~ days
196 162 0 y22:47 yawma~!
197 163 0 y22:55 yawmi~
198 163 35 x22:56 yawma^’i&i~ that day
199 164 0 y22:69 yawma
200 165 0 y23:16 yawma
201 166 0 y23:65 !alyawma
202 167 0 y23:100 yawmi
203 167 36 x23:101 yawma^’i&i~ that day
204 168 0 y23:111 !alyawma
205 169 0 y23:113 yawma~!
206 170 0 y23:113 yawmi~ part day
207 171 0 y24:2 wa!lyawmi
208 172 0 y24:24 yawma
209 172 37 x24:25 yawma^’i&i~ that day
210 173 0 y24:37 yawma~!
211 174 0 y24:64 wayawma
212 175 0 y25:14 !alyawma
213 176 0 y25:17 wayawma
214 177 0 y25:22 yawma
215 177 38 x25:22 yawma^’i&i~ that day
216 177 39 x25:24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
217 178 0 y25:25 wayawma
218 178 40 x25:26 yawma^’i&i~ that day
219 179 0 y25:26 yawma~!
220 180 0 y25:27 wayawma
221 180 41 x25:59 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
222 181 0 y25:69 yawma
223 182 0 y26:38 yawmi~
224 183 0 y26:82 yawma
225 184 0 y26:87 yawma
226 185 0 y26:88 yawma
227 186 0 y26:135 yawmi~
228 187 0 y26:155 yawmi~
229 188 0 y26:156 yawmi~
230 189 0 y26:189 yawmi
231 190 0 y26:189 yawmi~
232 191 0 y27:83 wayawma
233 192 0 y27:87 wayawma
234 192 42 x27:89 yawma^’i&i~ that day
235 193 0 y28:41 wayawma
236 194 0 y28:42 wayawma
237 195 0 y28:61 yawma
238 196 0 y28:62 wayawma
239 197 0 y28:65 wayawma
240 197 43 x28:66 yawma^’i&i~ that day
241 198 0 y28:71 yawmi
242 199 0 y28:72 yawmi
243 200 0 y28:74 wayawma
244 201 0 y29:13 yawma
245 202 0 y29:25 yawma
246 203 0 y29:36 !alyawma
247 204 0 y29:55 yawma
248 204 44 x30:4 wayawma^’i&i~ that day
249 205 0 y30:12 wayawma
250 206 0 y30:14 wayawma
251 206 45 x30:14 yawma^’i&i~ that day
252 207 0 y30:43 yawmu~
253 207 46 x30:43 yawma^’i&i~ that day
254 208 0 y30:55 wayawma
255 209 0 y30:56 yawmi
256 210 0 y30:56 yawmu
257 210 47 x30:57 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
258 211 0 y31:33 yawma~!
259 211 48 x32:4 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
260 212 0 y32:5 4 yawmi~
261 212 49 x32:14 yawmikum your day
262 213 0 y32:25 yawma
263 214 0 y32:29 yawma
264 215 0 y33:21 wa!lyawma
265 216 0 y33:44 yawma
266 217 0 y33:66 yawma
267 217 50 x34:18 wa-‘ayya!ma~! days
268 218 0 y34:30 yawmi~
269 219 0 y34:40 wayawma
270 220 0 y34:42 fa!lyawma
271 221 0 y35:14 wayawma
272 222 0 y36:54 fa!lyawma
273 223 0 y36:55 !alyawma
274 224 0 y36:59 !alyawma
275 225 0 y36:64 !alyawma
276 226 0 y36:65 !alyawma
277 227 0 y37:20 yawmu
278 228 0 y37:21 yawmu
279 229 0 y37:26 !alyawma
280 229 51 x37:33 yawma^’i&i~ that day
281 230 0 y37:144 yawmi
282 231 0 y38:16 yawmi
283 232 0 y38:26 yawma
284 233 0 y38:53 liyawmi
285 234 0 y38:78 yawmi
286 235 0 y38:79 yawmi
287 236 0 y38:81 yawmi
288 237 0 y39:13 yawmi~
289 238 0 y39:15 yawma
290 239 0 y39:24 yawma
291 240 0 y39:31 yawma
292 241 0 y39:47 yawma
293 242 0 y39:60 wayawma
294 243 0 y39:67 yawma
295 243 52 x39:71 yawmikum your day
296 243 53 x40:9 yawma^’i&i~ that day
297 244 0 y40:15 yawma
298 245 0 y40:16 yawmahum
299 246 0 y40:16 !alyawma
300 247 0 y40:17 !alyawma
301 248 0 y40:17 !alyawma
302 249 0 y40:18 yawma
303 250 0 y40:27 biyawmi
304 251 0 y40:29 !alyawma
305 252 0 y40:30 yawmi
306 253 0 y40:32 yawma
307 254 0 y40:33 yawma
308 255 0 y40:46 wayawma
309 256 0 y40:49 yawma~!
310 257 0 y40:51 wayawma
311 258 0 y40:52 yawma
312 258 54 x41:9 yawmayni (2) days
313 258 55 x41:10 -‘ayya!mi~ (4) days
314 258 56 x41:12 yawmayni (2) days
315 258 57 x41:16 -‘ayya!mi~ days
316 259 0 y41:19 wayawma
317 260 0 y41:40 yawma
318 261 0 y41:47 wayawma
319 262 0 y42:7 yawma
320 263 0 y42:45 yawma
321 264 0 y42:47 yawmu~
322 264 58 x42:47 yawma^’i&i~ that day
323 265 0 y43:39 !alyawma
324 266 0 y43:65 yawmi~
325 266 59 x43:67 yawma^’i&i~ that day
326 267 0 y43:68 !alyawma
327 267 60 x43:83 yawmahum their day
328 268 0 y44:10 yawma
329 269 0 y44:16 yawma
330 270 0 y44:40 yawma
331 271 0 y44:41 yawma
332 271 61 x45:14 -‘yya!ma days
333 272 0 x45:17 yawma
334 273 0 y45:26 yawmi
335 274 0 y45:27 wayawma
336 274 62 x45:27 yawma^’i&i~ that day
337 275 0 y45:28 !alyawma
338 276 0 y45:34 !alyawma
339 276 63 x45:34 yawmikum your day
340 277 0 y45:35 fa!lyawma
341 278 0 y46:5 yawmi
342 279 0 y46:20 wayawma
343 280 0 y46:20 fa!lyawma
344 281 0 y46:21 yawmi~
345 282 0 y46:34 wayawma
346 283 0 y46:35 yawma
347 284 0 y50:20 yawmu
348 285 0 y50:22 !alyawma
349 286 0 y50:30 yawma
350 287 0 y50:34 yawmu
351 287 64 x50:38 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
352 288 0 y50:41 yawma
353 289 0 y50:42 yawma
354 290 0 y50:42 yawmu
355 291 0 y50:44 yawma
356 292 0 y51:12 yawmu
357 293 0 y51:13 yawma
358 293 66 x51:60 yawmihim their day
359 294 0 y52:9 yawma
360 294 67 x52:11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
361 295 0 y52:13 yawma
362 295 68 x52:45 yawmahum their day
363 296 0 y52:46 yawma
364 297 0 y54:6 yawma
365 298 0 y54:8 yawmu~
366 299 0 y54:19 yawmi
367 300 0 y54:48 yawma
368 301 0 y55:29 yawmi~
369 301 69 x55:39 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
370 302 0 y56:50 yawmi~
371 303 0 y56:56 yawma
372 303 70 x57:4 -‘ayya!mi~ (6) days
373 304 0 y57:12 yawma
374 305 0 y57:12 !alyawma
375 306 0 y57:13 yawma
376 307 0 y57:15 fa!lyawma
377 308 0 y58:6 yawma
378 309 0 y58:7 yawma
379 310 0 y58:18 yawma
380 311 0 y58:22 wa!lyawmi
381 312 0 y60:3 yawma
382 313 0 y60:6 wa!lyawma
383 314 0 y62:9 yawmi
384 315 0 y64:9 yawmu
385 316 0 y64:9 liyawmi
386 317 0 y64:9 yawma
387 318 0 y65:2 wa!lyawmi
388 319 0 y66:7 !alyawma
389 320 0 y66:8 yawma
390 321 0 y68:24 !alyawma
391 322 0 y68:39 yawmi
392 323 0 y68:42 yawma
393 323 71 x69:7 -‘ayya!mi~ (8) days
394 323 72 x69:15 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
395 323 73 x69:16 yawma^’i&i~ that day
396 323 74 x69:17 yawma^’i&i~ that day
397 323 75 x69:18 yawma^’i&i~ that day
398 323 76 x69:24 !l-‘ayya!mi days
399 324 0 y69:35 !alyawma
400 325 0 y70:4 yawmi~
401 326 0 y70:8 yawma
402 326 77 x70:11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
403 327 0 y70:26 biyawmi
404 327 78 x70:42 yawmahum their day
405 328 0 y70:43 yawma
406 329 0 y70:44 !lyawmu
407 330 0 y73:14 yawma
408 331 0 y73:17 yawma~!
409 331 79 x74:9 yawma^’i&i~ that day
410 332 0 y74:9 yawmu~
411 333 0 y74:46 biyawmi
412 334 0 y75:1 biyawmi
413 335 0 y75:6 yawmu
414 335 80 x75:10 yawma^’i&i~ that day
415 335 81 x75:12 yawma^’i&i~ that day
416 335 82 x75:13 yawma^’i&i~ that day
417 335 83 x75:22 yawma^’i&i~ that day
418 335 84 x75:24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
419 335 85 x75:30 yawma^’i&i~ that day
420 336 0 y76:7 yawma~!
421 337 0 y76:10 yawma~!
422 338 0 y76:11 !lyawmi
423 339 0 y76:27 yawma~!
424 340 0 y77:12 yawmi~
425 341 0 y77:13 liyawmi
426 342 0 y77:14 yawmu
427 342 86 x77:15 yawma^’i&i~ that day
428 342 87 x77:19 yawma^’i&i~ that day
429 342 88 x77:24 yawma^’i&i~ that day
430 342 89 x77:28 yawma^’i&i~ that day
431 342 90 x77:34 yawma^’i&i~ that day
432 343 0 y77:35 yawmu
433 343 91 x77:37 yawma^’i&i~ that day
434 344 0 y77:38 yawmu
435 344 92 x77:40 yawma^’i&i~ that day
436 344 93 x77:45 yawma^’i&i~ that day
437 344 94 x77:47 yawma^’i&i~ that day
438 344 95 x77:49 yawma^’i&i~ that day
439 345 0 y78:17 yawma
440 346 0 y78:18 yawma
441 347 0 y78:38 yawma
442 348 0 y78:39 !lyawmu
443 349 0 y78:40 yawma
444 350 0 y79:6 yawma
445 350 96 x79:8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
446 351 0 y79:35 yawma
447 352 0 y79:46 yawma
448 353 0 y80:34 yawma
449 353 97 x80:37 yawma^’i&i~ that day
450 353 98 x80:38 yawma^’i&i~ that day
451 353 99 x80:40 yawma^’i&i~ that day
452 354 0 y82:15 yawma
453 355 0 y82:17 yawmu
454 356 0 y82:18 yawmu
455 357 0 y82:19 yawma
456 357 100 x82:19 yawma^’i&i~ that day
457 358 0 y83:5 liyawmi~
458 359 0 y83:6 yawma
459 359 101 x83:10 yawma^’i&i~ that day
460 360 0 y83:11 biyawmi
461 360 102 x83:15 yawma^’i&i~ that day
462 361 0 y83:34 fa!lyawma
463 362 0 y85:2 wa!lyawmi
464 363 0 y86:9 yawma
465 363 103 x88:2 yawma^’i&i~ that day
466 363 104 x88:8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
467 363 105 x89:23 yawma^’i&i~ that day
468 363 106 x89:23 yawma^’i&i~ that day
469 363 107 x89:25 fayawma^’i&i~ that day
470 364 0 y90:14 yawmi~
471 364 108 x99:4 yawma^’i&i~ that day
472 364 109 x99:6 yawma^’i&i~ that day
473 364 110 x100:11 yawma^’i&i~ that day
474 365 0 y101:4 yawma
475 365 111 x102:8 yawma^’i&i~ that day
Unusual transliteration symbols: ~ nunates the previous vowel ! is alif, and also hamzat-ul-wasl – is alif as a chair for hamza ‘ is hamza & is dhal ^ is a point (used with hamza)
CONCLUSIONS:
I expect Lomax to reflect on this corrected table and acknowledge the following facts:
God always exposes those who rejects the truth (47:29). Here is how:
First, in our previous arguments on the code 19, Lomax always tried to come up with different ways of count that were not divisible by the code. In other words, he always escaped from that number, fulfilling the prophetic description of 74:50. However, here, God Almighty trapped him with that number. In trying to escape from 365 he resorted to 475, a number divisible by 19. Observing his 19-phobic behavior, I am sure he would have rejected the total 475 had he noticed that it was divisible by 19 or had we introduced it as an evidence for the mathematical code of the Quran.
Second, Lomax translated SOME of those forms in his list. Inadvertently, he demonstrated the truth since NONE of the forms he has translated were counted by us. If you count the frequency of UNtranslated form(s) you will have 365. Coincidence?
Also there was a divine sign for Lomax to stop and reflect. He noticed it, but did not take heed. Lomax wrote: “The total count is 476 instead of 475 because Yuksel’s unused 297 is numbered. Interestingly, this is number 365 in my list!” He does not know that God Almighty shows His signs to us even through sloppy work.
Abdulbaqi’s concordance lists only 9 different forms of this word. Some of those forms should be combined, since the suffix “alif” does not add any extra meaning; except showing that the word is used as an object in the sentence. Therefore, we have only 6 different forms of this word mentioned in the Quran, not 34 diffirent forms as Lomax claims. Here are the different forms of “YWM” listed by “Mu’jam-ul Mufahras Lielfaz-il Quran-il Kareem,” preceded by their frequency in the Quran:
365 ……………. ywm, ……………….. day
5 ……………. ywm-kum …………. your day
5 ……………. ywm-hum …………. their day
3 ……………. ywm-ayn ………….. two days
27 ……………. ayyaam ……………. days
70 ……………. ywm-ezen ………… that day
—————————————————–
475 (19×25)
“Indeed, they have rejected this without studying and examining it, and before understanding it. Thus did those before them disbelieve. Therefore, note the consequences for the transgressors. Some of them believe, while others disbelieve in it. Your Lord is fully aware of the evildoers.” (10:39-40)
“The Hour has come closer, and the moon has split. Then they saw a miracle; but they turned away and said, “Old magic.” They disbelieved, followed their own desires, and adhered to their old traditions. Sufficient warnings have been delivered to alert them. Great wisdom; but all the warnings have been in vain.” (54:1-5).
“Disregard them until they meet THEIR DAY in which they are struck. On that DAY, their schemes will not protect them, nor will they be helped.” (52:45-46)
“Read your own record. TODAY, you suffice as your own reckoner.” (27:14)
“Then, when the horn is blown. That will be a DIFFICULT DAY. For the disbelievers, not easy.” (74:9-10).
“God will judge among you on the DAY OF RESURRECTION regarding all your disputes.” (22:69).
“You shall respond to your Lord before a DAY comes which is decreed inevitable by God. There will be no refuge for you on THAT DAY, nor an advocate.” (42:47).
LOMAX: Edip Yuksel wrote: “There are 365 occurrences of the word “ywm” (day) in the quran”
IF we exclude the phrase “the day when,” and forms of YWM with attached pronouns, such as “their day,” and all the dual and plural occurrences (for the phrase and the forms with attached pronouns are certainly singular), then this statement is true. It should also be noted that, to arrive at this count, one must also include all forms of “day” with prefixed prepositions and conjunctions, as well as with the suffixed alif of the indefinite accusative.
Yuksel has consistently objected to specifying such detail, but it is important: what is being done here is to determine the method of counting words which allegedly leads to the “miracle.” To discriminate words for counting purposes we need to know about these details.
Yuksel did not indentify any counting errors in my paper. There is one, described below. But I did, apparently, incorrectly assign his counts in some cases. This was due to the fact that his original article did not specify which forms were being counted: I divided the occurrences in the Qur’an into two piles: his, on the one hand, and the others which he had not mentioned. Where there were two occurrences in one verse, and one had been counted and one had not, I assigned the first to Yuksel: until I did my study I had no way of knowing which forms he was counting and which ones he was not, and, once it was relatively clear, I forgot to go back and see if I could reassign these occurrences to show a more consistent pattern.
Yuksel wrote: “I did not count the word YWM (pronounced as yawm) with suffixes. I did not need to mention this, since the word (YWM) by itself was sufficient to express this point. In my earlier posting I wrote about “the frequency of the word ‘yawm’ day (in its singular form) in the Quran.” A non-hostile eye could have easily noticed that I did not mention “yawmahum” (their days), nor yawma-izin (that day), etc.”
I am very familiar with the arguments, and I did not know what Yuksel claims I would “easily notice” if I were not hostile. Of course, he can accuse me of lying, but the hostility would be his, not mine. I have never seen any mention of these distinctions in any of the writings on this subject. It was only after studying Yuksel’s list that I even suspected that these forms were not being counted.
Quite the contrary, I would have assumed that a count of all the occurences of the singular form of the word “day” in the Qur’an would include “their day” and “your day;” after all, these are clearly singular. But we are getting closer to a description of what the rules are for counting. It would be better if these rules were disclosed at the outset; unless, of course, one’s purpose is to make the “miracle” look as impressive as possible.
Yuksel wrote: “In fact, the counting method we deduce from this word is used for all other computations. For instance, in the count of the word ALLAH (GOD) we did not count the ones with the suffix HUMMA.
Fascinating. I had not noticed this; this is the first mention of this fact I have seen anywhere. I was already aware that the count included the two orthographically distinct forms ALLAH and LILLAH, but not that it excluded the form with the suffix (which, in the original unmarked Arabic, consists of a single M appended to the end of the word, and which makes it mean “O Allah.” Thus it is used in prayers where Allah is directly addressed by name.) The H is not part of the suffix; rather it is part of the name ALLAH.
Yuksel wrote: “As we discussed in my book ‘Running Like Zebras,’ … a clear, sound and consistent counting method is employed in the mathematical structure of the Quran. The confusion here is superficially created by Lomax, whose skeptical confusion reaches a crescendo when it comes to the mathematical structure of the Quran, or monotheism.”
“Running Like Zebras” is a fairly disorganized collection of arguments. It does not describe, at least as far as I have been able to find, any “clear, sound and consistent counting method.” Yuksel is here claiming that the only confusion which exists on this subject is that which I have “created,” but why is that simple facts like the omission of “Allahumma” from the count of “Allah” are not mentioned until now? Was this omission common knowledge? Again and again, the count of Allah has been described as “the frequency of occurrence of the word “God” (Allah) in the Qur’an.” I would expect this to include “O God,” (Allahumma) unless otherwise stated.
So now I look up one of these five mentions in “The Final Testament,” the one at 3:26. Sure enough, whereas Khalifa capitalizes the occurrences of Allah (translating them as GOD), here he translates Allahumma as “our god.” But “our god” in Arabic would be “ilAhunaa”, which does occur once in the Qur’an, at 29:46. No, Allah is the personal name of the one God in Arabic, and “Allahumma” means “O God,” the one God, not merely “my God,” or “our God, or “your God,” but THE God. Or, to put it the way Allah has commanded us to put it, when speaking to the people of the Book, “Our god and your god are one GOD.”
So now we see how the meaning of the Qur’an was distorted in “Final Testament” to maintain this “miracle.” One does not find this particular distortion in the earlier translation by Khalifa, “Qur’an: The Final Scripture.”
Yuksel wrote: “The 45:27 in my list was merely a typing error. It should have been 45:17. I also omitted one, only one count of “fa!lyawma.” Lomax confused the word I have counted in 7:51 with the one I have not. He is right regarding the second omission. I have missed the word “fa!lyawma” in 46:20. This, by the way, makes my count 365.”
What Yuksel has not made plain is that my errors were in assigning his counts to specific forms of the word. Since I did not know at the outset what specific forms he was counting (in spite of his charge that only a hostile eye would not have known), I assigned the first form in a verse where there were two to his count and made the second form one that he had not counted. Then I forgot to go back and see if changing this would rectify his inconsistencies. This was my error.
Yuksel wrote: “Below is my correction of the list presented by Lomax.”
Three days later, this correction still has not appeared. Perhaps it is lost in the net somewhere. But I will correct my list, found at http://www.crl.com/~marjan. BTW, if any reader has trouble accessing that site, please let me know. I have had two reports of Netscape crashing when trying to access it (but my copy reads it fine). I have refrained from posting it here because of its length.
Yuksel wrote: “I expect Lomax to reflect on this corrected table and acknowledge the following facts: 1. We both made errors in the counting.”
I made one error in identifying the form of a count and several errors in allocating counts to Yuksel. I did not expect my work to be free of error. The error in identification, however, was not caught by Yuksel, at least not specifically. He only asserts that a total is different than what I reported, without pointing out the specific instance of the error. This was less than helpful.
Yuksel wrote: “2. After the corrections, the fact still remain intact: the frequency of the word “YWM” (in its singular form) is equal to the number of days in a solar year: 365.”
I can now say with high certainty that, if the forms with attached pronouns and with the suffix ‘idhin are excluded, it is true that there are 365 mentions. For some reason Yuksel is allergic to mentioning the exceptions; I suspect it is because it definitely dilutes the impact of the “miracle.” He also does not mention inconvenient facts, such as that there are 365.25 days, not 365 days, in the solar year. Since “part of a day” is mentioned several times in the Qur’an (these have been included in the count of YAWM), perhaps there is some way to reconcile this fractional difference.
Yuksel wrote: “3. As Lomax has acknowledged, the frequency of dual and plural forms is 30. Does it require too much imagination to see this number as indicator of average number of days in a month?”
The average number of days in a month is, more accurately, 29.53. What Yuksel is doing is showing that cross-connections can be made between bodies of data. What he has not done is to show that these cross- connections are statistically signifigant. He has not even tried, unless one counts sheer verbal bluster as trying. One measure of effort in which I will probably never surpass Yuksel is in words per argument. Just look at “Running Like Zebras.”
Yuksel wrote: “4. The total frequency of all forms of the word “YWM” as acknowledged by Lomax, is 475, that is, 19×25. (Congratulations for discovering this fact “by accident.”)”
I have elsewhere stated the obvious: one out of nineteen statistics, collected at random, will be divisible by 19. This is not a “miracle.” So the existence of 19-divisible statistics does not prove anything, unless it is shown that they occur substantially more often than one out of nineteen examinations. Of course, if one may manipulate counting criteria, one may make it appear that they occur much more often. This is why it is so important that the criteria for counting be clearly and specifically stated in a way that they cannot be manipulated.
By selecting such criteria, knowing the effects in advance, one may make it appear that 19-divisible statistics are more common than one would expect by chance, but there is a limit to this effect. Essentially, if one has selected the criteria to make a certain group of counts come out 19-divisible, assuming that the original data is random and not ordered by 19-divisibility, this selection should not increase the occurrence of 19-divisibility in new counts done after the selection.
But if the selection criteria can be nudged each time, because of the unique character of each word, for example, there is no limit to the number of “miraculous” statistics that could be created with diligent labor.
Yuksel wrote: “God always exposes those who rejects the truth (47:29). Here is how: In our previous arguments on the code 19, Lomax always tried to come up with different ways of count that were not divisible by the code.”
What I have done is not to deny legitimate counts, but to show that there are alternate ways of counting. With a real “mathematical code,” this will not deny a legitimate decoding; it only bears on the question of whether or not the counting may have been manipulated to produce the announced result.
Yuksel wrote: “In other words, he always escaped from that number, fulfilling the prophetic description of 74:50. However, here, God Almighty trapped him with that number. In trying to escape from 365 he resorted to 475, a number divisible by 19. Observing his 19-phobic behavior, I am sure he would have rejected the total 475 had he noticed that it was divisible by 19 or had we introduced it as an evidence for the mathematical code of the Quran.”
I have never denied that there are many nineteen-divisible counts in the Qur’an. Yuksel has simply lost his mind in his polemic.
Yuksel wrote: “Second, Lomax translated SOME of those forms in his list. Inadvertently, he demonstrated the truth since NONE of the forms he has translated were counted by us. If you count the frequency of UNtranslated form(s) you will have 365. Coincidence?”
Not at all. I only translated forms which were apparently not included in Yuksel’s list. Had Yuksel’s list, proposed as proof, been correct, there would have been no problem, except for one word, which I still promise I will get to.
Yuksel wrote: “Also there was a divine sign for Lomax to stop and reflect. He noticed it, but did not take heed: “The total count is 476 instead of 475 because Yuksel’s unused 297 is numbered. Interestingly, this is number 365 in my list!” He does not know that God Almighty shows His signs to us even through sloppy work.”
But I did notice it, and commented on it. This number is an artifact of my work, combined with Yuksel’s work. We might choose to consider that as a sign that Allah is guiding our work. I have no problem with that; certainly I ask him for that. But we might also choose to consider it a sign that statistics like this turn up in collections of numbers of all kinds, not just in Qur’an, and I am certain that this is true, and Allah has power over all things.
Yuksel wrote: “5. Fuad Abdulbaqy’s concordance is much more accurate than the concordances used by Lomax. His concordance, Flugel, (1) misses three occurrences out of 475, (2) does not follow the standard verse numbering, and (3) divides words into fictional different forms, confusing irrelevant vowels with letters. On the other hand, Abdulbaqy’s concordance, (1) misses only one occurrence out of 475 and makes the correction in its introduction. (2) follows the standard verse numbering, and (3) divides words according to a grammatically reasonable classification. Despite my previous suggestions, Lomax is still insisting on not using this most accurate and popular index.”
I am flabbergasted that Yuksel somehow tries to turn the fact that I discovered three errors in Flugel (and now one more) into some kind of defect on my part. No errors were discovered in Kassis. I have only one reason for not using AbdulBaqi: I do not have a copy. I have ordered one.
Since Yuksel has now asserted that Abdulbaqy “divides words according to a grammatically reasonable classification,” will he now accept AbdulBaqi’s classifications as legitimate for a preliminary investigation of word frequencies in the Qur’an? In other words, if AbdulBaqi lists two forms separately, we will not combine them, and if he combines them, we will not separate them?
This does not mean that, if word frequencies in AbdulBaqi turn out to show a clear pattern in the Qur’an, we might not then look for ways in which AbdulBaqi’s classifications might be adjusted, but only that we will not deviate from these classifications *before* we have shown such a pattern. Without *some* clear method of identifying words, it will remain possible that the “miraculous” counts are merely an artifact of the counting process.
Yuksel wrote: “Abdulbaqi’s concordance lists only 9 different forms of this word. Some of those forms should be combined, since the suffix “alif” does not add any extra meaning; except showing that the word is used as an object in the sentence. Therefore, we have only 6 different forms of this word mentioned in the Quran, not 34 diffirent forms as Lomax claims.”
That one classification is legitimate does not deny that other classifications are legitimate. In this discussion, an excess of information is necessary at the beginning; it appears that Yuksel would like to cover up the various differences. I did not claim that it was illegitimate to combine the alif-suffixed forms, for example, nor that there was anything wrong with combining the genetive with nominative and accusative forms. In fact, my piece was primarily investigational: to determine exactly what was being counted, in the absence of clear statements from Yuksel and other claimants. However, note the slipperiness of what Yuksel is saying: AbdulBaqi lists the alif-suffixed forms separately, but we will combine them because it “does not add any meaning;” i.e., the alif only indicates how the word is being used in the sentence (which often does add meaning), but does not make a variation in the meaning of the noun itself. But this could also be asserted about “yawmikum,” etc., (that it is “your” day does not make it other than a “day”) and it is even more true about “ALLHM”; for the M does not change the meaning of ALLH, any more than prefixing a YA to the sacred name changes its meaning (both forms would mean “O God!”).
It is no wonder that the rules for counting words have not been stated. Yuksel, I suspect, knows that if he states clear rules, there will still be this exception and that exception.
Yuksel wrote: “Here are the different forms of “YWM” listed by “Mu’jam-ul Mufahras Lielfaz-il Quran-il Kareem,” preceded by their frequency in the Quran:
365 ywm day
5 ywm-kum your day
5 ywm-hum their day
3 ywm-ayn two days
27 ayyaam days
70 ywm-ezen that day
———————————
475 (19×25)”
It appears that this summary is accurate (except for a minor detail: the count for “ywm-hum” includes “ywm-him”). It matches my corrected database derived from Kassis and Flugel. Note that the occurrences of words do include all the forms with prefixes, but not those with suffixes other than alif. But, looking at this summary, I was able to find one more error in Flugel that I did not discover previously.
Flugel counts 40:16 as an occurrence of yawmahum. However, the “hum” is not attached to “yawm.” Instead, it is a separate pronoun. With the correction implied by this, my counts match the AbdulBaqi counts. Note that Yuksel did not catch this error, though he did assert, correctly, that I had missed a count (actually, the count was not missed, but rather misidentified). He did not specify the misidentified count, though the whole point of my publication of the detailed list and the summary totals by form was to make it easier to find discrepancies like this. It appears that Yuksel reasons from conclusions, not from primary evidence. The current database may be found at http://www.crl.com/~marjan, as 365day.doc.
Yuksel wrote: “Indeed, they have rejected this without studying and examining it, and before understanding it. Thus did those before them disbelieve.”
I have probably studied and examined the “miracle of the nineteen” more closely than nearly every supporter or critic of it. Yuksel may be an exception, and I think there are a few others. As to “understanding,” Allah knows best who is best in understanding. I continue to examine the claims of numerical coherency in the Qur’an. That the boy cried “wolf” falsely so many times does not prove that there is no wolf, only that the boy is not to be trusted.
YUKSEL: Yes Lomax, the answer was attached. Thank you.
I was expecting an acknowledgement of the fact that the singular form of the word “ywm” (day), (without suffixes) occurs in the Quran 365 times, its plural forms “yawmayn” and “ayyaam” occur 30 times, and all the forms of the word occur 475 (19×25) times. However, you chose not to acknowledge this simple fact.
LOMAX: The day you learn to be fully accurate in what you say, that day will I acknowledge what you say as true without reservation. You still have not quite done it.
I will say what I can say. If it is not enough for you, well, may Allah inform us as to the truth.
The word “ywm” in all its forms occurs in the Qur’an, according to my research, 475 times. This is equal to 19×25, for those who consider such correspondences significant.
The dual and plural forms together occur 30 times.
If one excludes forms with any suffix other than the alif of the accusative, and the dual and plural forms, there remain 365 occurrences.
All these facts are either explicitly stated in my corrected paper or are easily derived from it.
Now, you have repeatedly stated that there is a clear and concise method for counting words in the Qur’an.
(1) What is this method? Can you state it in a way such that it can be applied to any word, without knowing in advance what the word is? Can it be stated so clearly that a computer algorithm could be used to count words?
(2) With the word “Yawm,” all forms together occur an exact multiple of 19 times. This seems to be significant to you. If we count a series of words like “yawm” in the Qur’an, do you expect that the totals for all forms of the words (let us restrict ourselves to nouns, for simplicity) will be divisible by 19 more than would be expected from random variation?
We already know that this is not true for “Allah.” In this case, in the received text, there are 2816 occurrences. It is necessary to exclude the bismillahs other than 1:1, and 9:128, and the five “Allahumma” mentions, to come up with a multiple of 19.
“Allahumma” is clearly a form of “Allah,” even more than is “Lillah.”
This whole matter exposes only how slippery are word definitions and how you have been less than open about discussing all this. In all our discussion, knowing how important was the issue of how to count words, the exclusion of “Allahumma” was never mentioned. It was never mentioned in any publication of Khalifa, as far as I am aware. Khalifa has even distorted his translation of “Allahumma” to make it appear that it does not contain the word “Allah”!
Yuksel, you know the Qur’an well enough to know what is the fate of those who know the truth and who conceal it. But then there is an exception: “illa ladhiyna taabuw wa aslahuw wa bayyanuw.” (2:160). It is enough for me that I have reminded you of this.
You are like the magicians of Pharaoh; and you object to anyone who shines light on your ropes and hidden wires. But there remains time for you to come forward and declare the truth, though it grows short.
I fully understand how difficult this would be for you. Yet the reward from Allah would be tremendous.
Yuksel, you are intelligent enough to know that there are methods for objectively weighing the significance of “coincidences.” It would be enough, I think, if you would fully cooperate with applying these techniques to the study of the “miracle.” They are statistical techniques, and their results are thus not fully certain, but they are far more reliable than an ad hoc “Gee whiz, that’s amazing,” and, with a large enough sample, statistical results can be *very* reliable.
[YUKSEL: Years after this internet debate, I noticed that some other people are also raising the question about ALLAHUMMA (translated as ‘our Lord’), which occurs 5 times in the Quran. They ask why this word is not included in the count of ALLAH (God), which is 2698 (19×142). Those who know basics of Arabic grammar will know the reason easily. Those who do not have this knowledge can learn the difference by checking the context of the usage of ALLAHUMMA and ALLAH. Here are few clues for those who do not know Arabic:
Shawki HAMDAN: He also told you that if you follow him you would be wrong. He told you that unless you verify his statements, you do not have to believe him. Have you done that Hyder ? All I hear you saying is that some anonymous person improved your awareness. Who is this person ? Maybe I can improve his awareness.
The proof of the falsehood of these verses can be verified by anyone, even you !
Farid ud-Dien RICE: To what extent have you verified it, Shawki? Br. Abdurrahman Lomax was himself once a follower of Khalifa, and even knew him personally. Br. Lomax tried to verify things for himself, and then found many mistakes in Khalifa’s counts. He has even posted himself here the fallacy in the number of counts of the word “Day” in the Qur’an (which the Khalifites claim to be 365, if I remember right), posting every occurrence of the word “Day” which he found. It did not turn out to be the number the Khalifites claim it is. Have you checked things to the same extent Br. Lomax has?
FINALLY
YUKSEL: Farid ud-Dien Rice who was relying on Lomax did not know that Lomax in the end of our argument corrected his errors. Rice and other sectarian folks, while accusing others not having checked things extensively, followed our argument blindly. I did not answer Lomax’s lengthy reply, since in his last reply he finally accepted the truth without hiding it under his usual elegant and verbose rhetoric, but only with little nagging. I do not want to dwell on his misguided and erroneous new allegations. Lomax and his ditto-heads have been exposed sufficiently in our Internet argument titled “Running Like Zebras.”
Indeed, the truth of the matter depends neither on me nor on Lomax. It is an objective fact that can easily be verified or falsified by others. I thank to Lomax for allowing us to demonstrate one of the mathematical patterns of the Quran for those who do not accept claims without verification (17:36). Below is the complete list of the frequency of the singular word “DAY” (YaWM) in the Quran:
No —–> Sura:Verse
1 ——> 1 :4
2 ——> 2:8
3 ——> 2:48
4 ——> 2:62
5 ——> 2:85
6 ——> 2:113
7 ——> 2:123
8 ——> 2:126
9 ——> 2:174
10 ——> 2:177
11 ——> 2:212
12 ——> 2:228
13 ——> 2:232
14 ——> 2:249
15 ——> 2:254
16 ——> 2:259
17 ——> 2:259
18 ——> 2:264
19 ——> 2:281
20 ——> 3:9
21 ——> 3:25
22 ——> 3:30
23 ——> 3:55
24 ——> 3:77
25 ——> 3:106
26 ——> 3:114
27 ——> 3:155
28 ——> 3:161
29 ——> 3:166
30 ——> 3:180
31 ——> 3:185
32 ——> 3:194
33 ——> 4:38
34 ——> 4:39
35 ——> 4:59
36 ——> 4:87
37 ——> 4:109
38 ——> 4:136
39 ——> 4:141
40 ——> 4:159
41 ——> 4:162
42 ——> 5:3
43 ——> 5:3
44 ——> 5:5
45 ——> 5:14
46 ——> 5:36
47 ——> 5:64
48 ——> 5:69
49 ——> 5:109
50 ——> 5:119
51 ——> 6:12
52 ——> 6:15
53 ——> 6:22
54 ——> 6:73
55 ——> 6:73
56 ——> 6:93
57 ——> 6:128
58 ——> 6:141
59 ——> 6:158
60 ——> 7:14
61 ——> 7:32
62 ——> 7:51
63 ——> 7:53
64 ——> 7:59
65 ——> 7:163
66 ——> 7:163
67 ——> 7:167
68 ——> 7:172
69 ——> 8:41
70 ——> 8:41
71 ——> 8:48
72 ——> 9:3
73 ——> 9:18
74 ——> 9:19
75 ——> 9:25
76 ——> 9:29
77 ——> 9:35
78 ——> 9:36
79 ——> 9:44
80 ——> 9:45
81 ——> 9:77
82 ——> 9:99
83 ——> 9:108
84 ——> 10:15
85 ——> 10:28
86 ——> 10:45
87 ——> 10:60
88 ——> 10:92
89 ——> 10:93
90 ——> 11:3
91 ——> 11:8
92 ——> 11:26
93 ——> 11:43
94 ——> 11:60
95 ——> 11:77
96 ——> 11:84
97 ——> 11:98
98 ——> 11:99
99 ——> 11:103
100 ——> 11:103
101 ——> 11:105
102 ——> 12:54
103 ——> 12:92
104 ——> 14:18
105 ——> 14:31
106 ——> 14:41
107 ——> 14:42
108 ——> 14:44
109 ——> 14:48
110 ——> 15:35
111 ——> 15:36
112 ——> 15:38
113 ——> 16:25
114 ——> 16:27
115 ——> 16:27
116 ——> 16:63
117 ——> 16:80
118 ——> 16:80
119 ——> 16:84
120 ——> 16:89
121 ——> 16:92
122 ——> 16:111
123 ——> 16:124
124 ——> 17:13
125 ——> 17:14
126 ——> 17:52
127 ——> 17:58
128 ——> 17:62
129 ——> 17:71
130 ——> 17:97
131 ——> 18:19
132 ——> 18:19
133 ——> 18:47
134 ——> 18:52
135 ——> 18:105
136 ——> 19:15
137 ——> 19:15
138 ——> 19:15
139 ——> 19:26
140 ——> 19:33
141 ——> 19:33
142 ——> 19:33
143 ——> 19:37
144 ——> 19:38
145 ——> 19:38
146 ——> 19:39
147 ——> 19:85
148 ——> 19:95
149 ——> 20:59
150 ——> 20:64
151 ——> 20:100
152 ——> 20:101
153 ——> 20:102
154 ——> 20:104
155 ——> 20:124
156 ——> 20:126
157 ——> 21:47
158 ——> 21:104
159 ——> 22:2
160 ——> 22:9
161 ——> 22:17
162 ——> 22:47
163 ——> 22:55
164 ——> 22:69
165 ——> 23:16
166 ——> 23:65
167 ——> 23:100
168 ——> 23:111
169 ——> 23:113
170 ——> 23:113
171 ——> 24:2
172 ——> 24:24
173 ——> 24:37
174 ——> 24:64
175 ——> 25:14
176 ——> 25:17
177 ——> 25:22
178 ——> 25:25
179 ——> 25:26
180 ——> 25:27
181 ——> 25:69
182 ——> 26:38
183 ——> 26:82
184 ——> 26:87
185 ——> 26:88
186 ——> 26:135
187 ——> 26:155
188 ——> 26:156
189 ——> 26:189
190 ——> 26:189
191 ——> 27:83
192 ——> 27:87
193 ——> 28:41
194 ——> 28:42
195 ——> 28:61
196 ——> 28:62
197 ——> 28:65
198 ——> 28:71
199 ——> 28:72
200 ——> 28:74
201 ——> 29:13
202 ——> 29:25
203 ——> 29:36
204 ——> 29:55
205 ——> 30:12
206 ——> 30:14
207 ——> 30:43
208 ——> 30:55
209 ——> 30:56
210 ——> 30:56
211 ——> 31:33
212 ——> 32:5
213 ——> 32:25
214 ——> 32:29
215 ——> 33:21
216 ——> 33:44
217 ——> 33:66
218 ——> 34:30
219 ——> 34:40
220 ——> 34:42
221 ——> 35:14
222 ——> 36:54
223 ——> 36:55
224 ——> 36:59
225 ——> 36:64
226 ——> 36:65
227 ——> 37:20
228 ——> 37:21
229 ——> 37:26
230 ——> 37:144
231 ——> 38:16
232 ——> 38:26
233 ——> 38:53
234 ——> 38:78
235 ——> 38:79
236 ——> 38:81
237 ——> 39:13
238 ——> 39:15
239 ——> 39:24
240 ——> 39:31
241 ——> 39:47
242 ——> 39:60
243 ——> 39:67
244 ——> 40:15
245 ——> 40:16
246 ——> 40:16
247 ——> 40:17
248 ——> 40:17
249 ——> 40:18
250 ——> 40:27
251 ——> 40:29
252 ——> 40:30
253 ——> 40:32
254 ——> 40:33
255 ——> 40:46
256 ——> 40:49
257 ——> 40:51
258 ——> 40:52
259 ——> 41:19
260 ——> 41:40
261 ——> 41:47
262 ——> 42:7
263 ——> 42:45
264 ——> 42:47
265 ——> 43:39
266 ——> 43:65
267 ——> 43:68
268 ——> 44:10
269 ——> 44:16
270 ——> 44:40
271 ——> 44:41
272 ——> 45:17
273 ——> 45:26
274 ——> 45:27
275 ——> 45:28
276 ——> 45:34
277 ——> 45:35
278 ——> 46:5
279 ——> 46:20
280 ——> 46:20
281 ——> 46:21
282 ——> 46:34
283 ——> 46:35
284 ——> 50:20
285 ——> 50:22
286 ——> 50:30
287 ——> 50:34
288 ——> 50:41
289 ——> 50:42
290 ——> 50:42
291 ——> 50:44
292 ——> 51:12
293 ——> 51:13
294 ——> 52:9
295 ——> 52:13
296 ——> 52:46
297 ——> 54:6
298 ——> 54:8
299 ——> 54:19
300 ——> 54:48
301 ——> 55:29
302 ——> 56:50
303 ——> 56:56
304 ——> 57:12
305 ——> 57:12
306 ——> 57:13
307 ——> 57:15
308 ——> 58:6
309 ——> 58:7
310 ——> 58:18
311 ——> 58:22
312 ——> 60:3
313 ——> 60:6
314 ——> 62:9
315 ——> 64:9
316 ——> 64:9
317 ——> 64:9
318 ——> 65:2
319 ——> 66:7
320 ——> 66:8
321 ——> 68:24
322 ——> 68:39
323 ——> 68:42
324 ——> 69:35
325 ——> 70:4
326 ——> 70:8
327 ——> 70:26
328 ——> 70:43
329 ——> 70:44
330 ——> 73:14
331 ——> 73:17
332 ——> 74:9
333 ——> 74:46
334 ——> 75:1
335 ——> 75:6
336 ——> 76:7
337 ——> 76:10
338 ——> 76:11
339 ——> 76:27
340 ——> 77:12
341 ——> 77:13
342 ——> 77:14
343 ——> 77:35
344 ——> 77:38
345 ——> 78:17
346 ——> 78:18
347 ——> 78:38
348 ——> 78:39
349 ——> 78:40
350 ——> 79:6
351 ——> 79:35
352 ——> 79:46
353 ——> 80:34
354 ——> 82:15
355 ——> 82:17
356 ——> 82:18
357 ——> 82:19
358 ——> 83:5
359 ——> 83:6
360 ——> 83:11
361 ——> 83:34
362 ——> 85:2
363 ——> 86:9
364 ——> 90:14
365 ——> 101:4
Below is the complete list of the frequency of the plural forms of the word “DAY” (AYyAM, YaWMaYN):
No —–> Sura:Verse
1 ——> 2:80
2 ——> 2:184
3 ——> 2:184
4 ——> 2:185
5 ——> 2:196
6 ——> 2:203
7 ——> 2:203
8 ——> 3:24
9 ——> 3:41
10 ——> 3:140
11 ——> 5:89
12 ——> 7:54
13 ——> 10:3
14 ——> 10:102
15 ——> 11:7
16 ——> 11:65
17 ——> 14:5
18 ——> 22:28
19 ——> 25:59
20 ——> 32:4
21 ——> 34:18
22 ——> 41:9
23 ——> 41:10
24 ——> 41:12
25 ——> 41:16
26 ——> 45:14
27 ——> 50:38
28 ——> 57:4
29 ——> 69:7
30 ——> 69:24
Below is the complete list of the frequency of the word “SHaHR” (Month):
No —–> Sura:Verse
1 ——> 2:185
2 ——> 2:185
3 ——> 2:194
4 ——> 2:194
5 ——> 2:217
6 ——> 5:2
7 ——> 5:97
8 ——> 9:36
9 ——> 34:12
10 ——> 34:12
11 ——> 46:15
12 ——> 97:3
That’s the END of the debate on 365 days and plus, finally!
Edip Yuksel
ANTESCRIPT: I have originally written this essay for the English 101, Section 17, Instructor Sheila Kineke in Fall of 1990 at the University of Arizona. I was a 33-year-old political refugee, and English was chronologically my fifth language. During my first year in the USA, I used to walk with a yellow Turkish-English pocket dictionary in my hand. My college education in the country of my birth had been interrupted by a dozen detentions and four years in prison, followed by official ban from continuing my college education. Without a college degree, I managed to become a best-selling author, keeping the first spot in list for years. With the immigration, I would gain my freedom of speech and many other opportunities; yet I had to sacrifice other things. I would lose the umlaut of “u” in my last name together with the utility of the main tool of my occupation, that is my native language. Soon, I decided to disobey the Turkish law, and enrolled in/on/at the University of Arizona. I still remember the torturous hours in the university’s bookstore browsing the text books in the longest shelves of more than hundred English 101 courses offered for the approximately 3000 freshmen students. Torturous, since every instructor was requiring the books of a guy named Shakespeare. The spelling of the name alone was a challenge for me. I had no idea about him, but it took me only a few seconds to realize that I was encountering the biggest obstacle between me and a college diploma. Shakespeare’s books were not in English; it was totally a different language. I did not have patience nor appetite to learn a sixth language, especially after age thirty-three. I already had difficulty with English, especially with its propositions in-on-at-of-off (see enroll, above) and the ubiquitous the. I prayed to God to find a san-Shakespeare instructor. I was in a crisis mode. I was just giving up hope, I came across one. Sheila’s was the only English 101 course that did not require Shakespeare. Instead she required July’s People, by Nadine Gordimer who would soon win the Nobel Prize in literature. Yes, Sheila and Nadine, both women, saved my college education. As for the following essay, I wrote it as a class assignment. Sheile liked it and wanted to submit it for Composition Competition among freshmen. My essay won the first place in the category of Rhetorical Analysis. It was published in the next edition of the English 101 textbook as a good example of rhetorical analysis, which gave me great confidence and hope. I would be able to transfer many of my writing skills without mastering the language.
You are, most likely, already sitting down when you are reading this essay. But John Smith was standing in the kitchen while he opened a “hybrid letter” bearing that suggestion in a quotation. I am sure you are wondering how a letter can be a “hybrid”. Well, in the US almost every non-homeless person receives two kinds of mail: Normal and “junk”. This particular letter was in between. Although it had all the qualities (!) of junk mail, it was from a respected magazine to which he was a subscriber. Since it was a hybrid letter he had mixed feelings towards it. Should he open it, or throw in the trash? After a short reluctance on this crucial issue, he opened it as you would have predicted.
Most Americans pay attention to junk mail a short period in their life, especially at their private address. Until they recognize the face of junk mail their honesty make them easy prey for experienced marketers. Our John who received that letter was one of those naive Americans.
The letter was a successful appeal to the dream of an average American. It was an excellent example of verbal communication and a fulfillment of a manipulative and tricky commercial plan. The letter made him go through all kind of emotions. It excited him, sweetly challenged him, intrigued his curiosity, caressed his greed, showed him colorful dreams, reminded him of his friends, made him act like a child, promised him some free goods, and finally, repeated the great news. However, the letter, with all its serious appearance, was a hook. As an average American he was not able to read and to see between the lines which draw the hypocritical face of the sender. The tricky strategy, the subliminal message, and manipulative tone of the letter was beyond his perception. The creators of the letter were experienced and highly educated human hunters. They had proved their skills multi-millions of times on average people.
“Great news Mr. John Smith… You’re getting closer to a chance of becoming a multi-millionaire!” was the first paragraph of that letter. John’s response was several single words with exclamation marks bouncing between his brain and heart: Wow! Really! Unbelievable!… He had every reasons to get excited. First of all, this letter was from a highly respected and internationally popular magazine, Reader’s Digest. So, it was no joke. Besides, his pocket was empty; not multi-million, only multi-thousands would be enough to drive him crazy with happiness. In addition, it was a personal letter, since the font character was not the same as published materials and his name was not an alien in the text. (Like millions of Americans, he did not know that today’s computers can send the same letters to millions of people with their name embedded in the letter with the same color and type of letters.) So, he read the beginning paragraph again: “Great news Mr. John Smith…. You’re getting closer to a chance of becoming a multi-millionaire!”
As he continued he met a very important word in the beginning of the second paragraph: “Important…” He held his breath and started drinking the words with his eyes. “… The secret of winning an extra $ 125,000.00 prize will be revealed somewhere in this letter. Read it carefully to discover how that prize could be yours.” Wow again! After great news a rewarding mystery! He was familiar with solving mysteries, for he was an avid TV (lots of detective shows) watcher. But he was not receiving any awards from his accurate predictions. Now, he had an opportunity to solve a mystery and win an extra $ 125,000.00 prize, just by reading two pages! What is more, he was under an intellectual challenge. He must discover that secret and win that money in seconds! But he decided not to rush. He had time and he was supposed to read it carefully. He knew that It must be a very hidden secret.
Dear Mr. Smith:
What does a limousine pulling up to 512 W. Illusion St. have in common with a private jet landing at Tucson International Airport… An all-expense paid weekend in New York City… And, BEST OF ALL, FIVE MILLION DOLLARS?
He closed his eyes for a while and watched the king of the cars standing by his door. He and his wife are flying from joy. He notices his neighbor watching them enviously from behind his curtains. Then he is resigning from his job. He is not a slave of 9-to-5 anymore. All of these joyful pictures passed through his mind in a few seconds. He felt an overwhelming relief.
You’ve already come through two of three stages in the $10,250,000.00 Sweepstakes. The next and final stage is the Grand Prize drawing. If you’re our big winner, The Smith Grand Prize experience could begin when a special courier arrives at 512 W. Illusion St. with a letter….
“I suggest you sit down before reading this letter. If any family or friends are with you, call them in before continuing. We have some wonderful news that’s going to make a big difference in your life. You won the $5 Million Grand Prize in our $10,250,000.00 Sweepstakes!”
He wanted to sit down in advance and close his eyes again and visualize this great moment of his life. But he did not. He felt it to be irrational, and un-realistic. So, he preferred to continue the reading.
As if the writers of the letter were closely following his thoughts and feelings, the next paragraph started to rationalize this great news:
Your chance to win is real. Remember: only 7 in every 100 Arizona residents are among those who were selected to receive this opportunity to enter the Sweepstakes and save money on a new Reader’s Digest Gift Subscription. But not only did The Smith name first appear on our computerized master list at Stage 1, it was registered last week by our IBM 3090 computer on the attached prize entry cards…
Really? Only 7 in 100? He felt himself very lucky. He did not feel a need to doubt this information. He did not even try to figure out his actual chances of winning. The letter was not telling him that he was among 200 thousand Arizona residents, or among 17 million Americans who were selected to receive this single opportunity! Instead of 17,000,000 to 1 odds, he had only 7 to 1 odds in his mind! He must have been very lucky! He had already passed two stages even without knowing them.
He also did not wonder why this letter was giving him some unnecessary information. For instance, was it important for him what kind of computer they are using for registration? Why did they specify it as “IBM 3090 computer”? Could it be an indirect ad for “IBM” trademark? Or was it merely a communication strategy suggesting “a deep self-disclosure to create trust and intimacy”? (Interpersonal Communication, Richard L. Weaver II, p. 110-114)
While he was continuing the reading he encountered his name many times. But, it was not boring to read his name 7 times in 9 short paragraphs. Conversely, he felt pleasure when he participated in spelling his name:
When our computer spelled out the name
-M-R-. J-O-H-N S-M-I-T-H-
as an eligible entrant in our Sweepstakes, it also revealed some important information:
What? More information? This letter was like an adventure. Excitement after excitement… Good news, secrets to be discovered, awards followed by important revelations… He stopped spelling his name and wondered at the important information:
AS A MEMBER OF THE READER’S DIGEST FAMILY SINCE 1990 YOU’RE ENTITLED TO A SUBSTANTIAL DISCOUNT ON A NEW GIFT SUBSCRIPTION. YOU’LL ALSO RECEIVE OUR NEW 1991 DESK CALENDER AND THE HAMMOND ROAD ATLAS. Now, you can enter a Christmas Gift Subscription to Reader’s Digest for $9. 97 plus $2. 96 delivery. You save $10. 71 OFF the yearly cover price.
John felt honored for he was accepted as “a member of the Reader’s Digest family.” Even though he could not explain the position and importance of this paragraph in a letter bearing a “great” news, he was interested in it. Christmas was close and it would be a cheap but a credible gift for his friends. Since his mind was busy with multi-million dollars, 9 dollars appeared to be nil to him.
On the other hand, he was not aware of the fact that the letter promising multi-million dollars was calculating cents. It was separating the actual price in two parts with foxy fractions, so that the real price 13 dollars would be perceived by the reader as less than 10 dollars. The success of this tactic has been proven billions of times. John’s was the billion-plus-one case.
Not just once at Christmas–but once each month for a whole year–Reader’s Digest brightens the life of the person you send it to. It serves as a constant reminder of your thoughtfulness. What’s more, Reader’s Digest is the easiest gift in the world to give.
This was really true. As a matter of fact, he was conditioned to be positive towards this letter from the first two words, “great news.” Thus, the truth about the “constant reminder” easily drew the pink picture of his brightened friend thanking him every month, even every moment she read the magazine.
He continued reading… In the following paragraphs, the gift was wrapped and delivered for him, and a card was sent on his behalf, “sparing him the time, trouble and expense of sending a Christmas Card!” It was so simple and quick! He continued.
Why not take advantage of this unique gift opportunity right now. Just fill in your recipient’s name and address on Prize Entry Card ≠ 2. Then return both Cards today! SEND NO MONEY NOW. Don’t pay a cent until after Jan. 4, NEXT YEAR!
Although there were only two months to the Jan. 4, it was still next year. This was really a great deal. But what about the “great news?” What happened to it? For the first time he harbored some negative thoughts, but a big title with a calligraphic character turned him back to his normality:
Important
Earlier, I promised to give you the secret of winning an extra $125,000.00 Bonus Prize. Here’s how to do it: Attached to the return envelope are two very important seals. Peel off the gold seal and carefully affix it to the red Sweepstakes Star (with your initials inside) found on Prize Entry Card ≠1.
That easy? How could such a simple task be called a secret? He followed the instructions carefully, although it was the simplest thing to do. After the “golden seal”, he had to peel off the “silver seal” and affix them to the appropriate place carefully. Like every one else, he did not wonder about the reason for this splendid description of the colors, or the importance of the peeling off the seals and sticking them somewhere else. While he performed his duty, somehow, he noticed some flashes of memories from his kindergarten years.
The last paragraphs of the letter were sandwiching the gift order suggestion with the other pair of the sweet cookies:
As a computer-selected entrant in our $10,250,000.00 Sweepstakes, you could win a big cash prize whether or not you order a subscription. But to ensure your complete eligibility in Stage 3– when 55,556 prizes are selected–return both Entry Cards by August 20.
What’s more, the sooner you reply, the more you could win. For each day the winning entry beats AUG. 20, I’ll add $10,000 -A-DAY to the Grand Prize–up to $100,000 EXTRA!
Sincerely, D. P. Barron, Director of Sweepstakes.
“You see, he is sincere, he does not require me to order a subscription to be eligible for the Sweepstakes.” said to himself. “But,” he continued, “What does the last part of the paragraph mean?” He could not understand whether he was required to order a gift subscription, or not. He thought about his friend, the gift and the Sweepstakes… And he filled both Entry Cards.
At the bottom of the letter there was a P.S. He could not ignore it.
P.S. (Did you discover the secret way to win an EXTRA BONUS PRIZE? If not, read this page again carefully.)
Even though he was an average American, he got offended from that footnote. Was it a deliberate insult, or was it just an innocent reminder? He decided to think positive. He sat down to incubate his hope for the letter that would tell him “Sit down before reading this letter…”
Writer: Edip Yuksel
Instructor’s Comments on “Sit Down Before Reading this Letter”
The Rhetorical Analysis Unit of 101 is challenging for both instructors and students, both because of the variety of texts—books, essays, movies, television shows, musical performances, plays even junk mail—that can be analyzed, and because of the skills such analysis calls upon, students need to be able to break a “whole” text into its constituent parts, to delineate those parts, and to evaluate its persuasive power.
Edip’s essay presents a fine example of such analytic skills coupled with imagination and a strong sense of his own audience. It’s easy to see that he’s very concerned with keeping his reader interested and amused while describing how junk mail works its magic on an audience (at least upon gullible Mr. John Smith).
Edip’s attention to detail—his line by line quotations from letter and fully developed responses to each new idea—show how a student can focus in on the text at hand and then expand on it through his or her own analysis and evaluations.
Edip’s essay shows us that rhetorical analysis doesn’t have to be dry and serious. By entering imaginatively into hopes and dreams of one member of a text’s audience, Edip reveals the effects of that directly (and keeps us laughing as he does so).
Instructor: Sheila Kineke
(A Student Guide to First Year Composition, 12th edition, Edited by Lori Snook, N. Erec Toso, Barbara Jensen. The University of Arizona. Tilly Warnock, Director of Composition; Rudolph C. Troike, Acting Head, Department of English; Burgess International Group, Inc., 1991; pp 69-76)
PS: Below is the Turkish-English/English-Turkish pocket dictionary that used to carry in my hand between 1989-1990.