A case for mathematics

The logic is simple, if there is a God He must have communicated with us, all we have to do is to verify that the communication is from God. How do we verify the authenticity of communicat­ions in modern times? Why, through checksums of course. If the checksums authenticate God’s signature then that is that. Period.

Before we get into it let me state that the issue is not whether the reference to the mathematical patterns in the Quran have been detailed in the text of the Quran or not, similarly there are valid reasons as to why they were not discovered earlier, the fact to focus on is that these patterns are very much there for all to verify 100%, employing scientifically consistent methodologies.

The other important thing to keep in mind is that these mathematical patterns should not be confused with the Bible code or similar claims which are mostly based on Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS) snippets and even that within well-defined boxes. The Quranic patterns, on the other hand, links every textual element of the Quran in such a manner that the reproduction of its like is a scientific impossibility, given the availability of the resource at the time of revelations and in the foreseeable future, say the next thousands of years.

The presence of mathematical patterns in the Quran has been conveniently bogged down by the naysayers in the Rashad Khalifa (RK) controversy. Those opposed to it are quick to point how RK falsified data and remove two verses from the Quran. It is a pity that because of RK this 100% verifiable phenomenon has been restricted to circles that take the trouble to verify it for themselves as opposed to taking the words of those (both Muslims and non-Muslims) that have vested interest in suppressing this proof of the authentication of the word of God. Although the number 19 has become synonymous with the Quranic patterns, in reality, it is not just the 19 that is central to the Quranic patterns, in fact the seven based pattern is more robust in my opinion, "And We have certainly given you, seven of the often repeated and the great Quran". Quran 15:87.

The other sad part is that the math involved is actually not complicated at all but it is math never the less and one of the reasons that a lot of people withdraw from verifying it for themselves. The reality is that one need not know more than secondary school level math to verify most of it.

As to why these patterns are important? The short answer is authentication. To be able to rationally answer fundamental questions is the ultimate objective. Mind you the patterns are a cross-check to preserve the Quranic text and does not take anything away from it. If I were to ask the below mentioned three questions to most Muslims, they will not be able to answer with any more conviction or objectivity than a Christian or a Hindu or for that matter an Atheist. In fact, it becomes a game of “our scholars are better than yours". The truth must be more than that and blind faith must not be part of the equation.
Here are the questions;

1. How do you know there is a God or not.
2. How do you know the Quran is the word of God
3. Why is it impossible to produce 3 Short verses at par with Quranic verses?

In addition to authentication, the patterns eject the subjective from God's challenge in the Quran. If one were to analyze the challenge and make it current, the production of three short verses at par with Quran's verses will pose a problem and reduce the argument to "our scholars are better than your" for some and then there is the issue of knowing Arabic. God in His infinite wisdom makes sure that the gauntlet He has thrown to all of humanity and the Jinns is not bogged down in either a subjective merry go round or restricted to a particular language. 

We have to bring to the table something that is current to our times and directly relevant to the tools at our disposal. The literary brilliance arguments have its own place but come on, three short noncontradictory verses in thousands of years, where billions of humans and jinns are allowed to work on it in a team?

The authentication aspect of the message will gain more importance both for Muslims and others as our knowledge base expands. The often repeated "only God knows" should be qualified to "God is the only one who knows till such time that we figured it out " (of course through God-given faculties) The only exceptions to the rule are those aspects of knowledge that are beyond human comprehension and where God specifically draws our attention to the limitation of our design in the same way that God pointed out to angels and Jinns of their design limits. These premises are of course valid after one has authenticated Quran to be the word of God.

I would like to draw the attention of Muslims who object to the Mathematical Patterns to meditate on the following verses that are relevant to the uniqueness of the Quran;

Many of them follow nothing but illusion; yet illusion cannot replace the reality. God verily knows what they do. (36) This Qur'an is not such (a writ) as could be composed by anyone but God. It confirms what has been revealed before, and is an exposition of law. Without any doubt it's from the Lord of all the worlds.(37) Do they say (of the Prophet) that: "He has composed it?" Say to them: "Bring a Surah like this, and call anyone apart from God you can (to help you), if what you say is true." (38) IN FACT, THEY DENY WHAT IS BEYOND THE REACH OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE, WHOSE EXPLANATION HAS NOT REACHED THEM YET. So had those who have gone before them denied; but look at the fate of the unjust (39) Some of them will believe in it, some will not. Your Lord knows the transgressors well. (40) If they (still) call you a liar, tell them: "For me my actions, for you yours. You are not answerable for my deeds, nor I for what you do." (41)Some of them listen to you: But can you make the deaf hear who do not understand a thing? Quran 10:36-42

Currently every single transmitted or stored message is subjected to authentication based on numbers, including this post. The earlier generations had other means of authentication; all related to the prevalent believability standards and progressively these methodologies and standards have become understandably more complex. We, Muslims must step out of "we are the best because we say so" mentality and even if we fail to convince/flip/turn all Non-Muslims, we should be able to hold our own in the face of questions asked by Muslims as well as others. Needless to say, we should be able to answers in the context of "today's knowledge base" as well. The Quranic mathematical patterns fit the bill perfectly.

In spite of objections from the usual quarters, several verses point to these patters. Of course, you can come up with alternate explanations for the verses pointing to these patterns but that does not limit the meaning to a particular explanation especially when God does not restrict its meaning. In the case of   Huruf-e-Muqatta'at  (abbreviated letters or letter symbols), there are no viable explanations in the traditional commentaries, these letters, in fact, validate the patterns from a more visible angle. Moreover, just imagine if God were to restrict the meaning to the mathematical patterns, how you think people in the seventh century would have coped. Can you imagine the burden where every believer would have felt compelled to verify it for him/herself without the aid of relevant tools? I think it is very much in line with God's mercy that He gradually keeps revealing those aspects of the Quran that fit the tools we have and at the same time satisfy our rational take on His message.

Please go here for a summary of what has already been discovered http://lifecheat.blogspot.com/2010/12/short-intro-to-four-serious-attempts-at.html

As to those who keep bringing up arguments against the clearly verifiable patterns by comparing Quran to Shakespeare or others, quick probability calculations will settle the issue. Let me try and put the issue in perspective, it would be much easier to opt for creating a couple of Milky Way galaxies than to attempt duplications of the Quran, This is especially directed towards those who claim to know mathematic­s.

To those Muslims yet not sold on the idea of patterns, let me ask them a few questions since Quran is a message from God and this message is without a doubt intended for us (humans and Jinns). Now, why did God include in the body of the message non-Arabic words and yet using Arabic letters? (to date nobody has deciphered this part of the message)

So here is the problem, the patterns are already here. If now. one is shown a clearly observable pattern and that pattern cannot be explained away as a coincidence or manmade then all questions leading up to the discovery becomes irrelevant, the questions are relevant if one has to decide whether to pursue a certain line of thinking or investigate certain markers. If on the other hand one leapfrogs the process or stumble upon a clearly visible and verifiable set of facts, what is the point of keep on raising the now redundant question, especially if the questions are been raised with the objective of disproving the existence of the already discovered facts?

Any logical attempts to disprove the notion that there are no mathematical patterns in the Quran must include the direct refutation or falsification of the already discovered facts on the table. No amount of beating around the bush will make these facts render themselves back to undiscovered. Hence it doesn't matter if there is/are no reference (s) to it in the Quran, which clearly there are, or at least debatable. It also doesn't matter anymore why earlier generations hadn't made the discovery or the connection to the relevant verses. What matters is the pattern itself and how it is tied to the layout of the text. One cannot pretend it is not there and even if some choose to do so their pretense will not prevent others from seeing it and drawing conclusions. End of story.

let us take the patterns out of the equation for now.

Since the Arabic language is unlikely to assign new meaningful meanings to these words and even if it does, as to how the new meanings will be relevant to an already existing message, will remain a challenge and let us keep the objective of a message in mind, to convey meaning, then in what shape do you envision the meaning of these al-huroofe-Muqatiaat will be understood eventually, when the day comes, if not numbers?

The logic leading towards the existence of God lies in determining the uniqueness of the Quran to the point that will clearly establish it to be beyond human capabilities. On popular demand here is a more complex test, also derived from the Quran, to tackle and in my opinion still many orders removed from the true complexity of the Quranic patterns.

My watered down version of the original challenge from the Quran stands and so far unsurprisingly no takers, please go here to have a go http://lifecheat.blogspot.com/2010/04/so-why-wont-you-do-it.html

Here are the parameters for a bit more complex challenge;

1 Agree on the length of the number of verses/sentences in your book with the minimum of 6000 in total.
2 Determine that the sum-total of all the verses is an exact multiple of a number not less than 5 and have one other prime number, to be used independently as a multiple for words and letters.
4 Link every verse of the book to these multiples.
5 Cross-reference each chapter of the book to every other chapter in the book with these prime numbers.
6 Ensure that the distribution of the chapters and verses follow a distinct odd-even pattern.
7 Ensure that one of the common multiples extends to the positional notation of letter, words, and chapters in the book.
8 Have at least 100 numbers in this cross references to be more than 25 digits long and at least one that is more than a 100 digit long.
9 Keep track of every number mentioned in the book and ensure that the sum of all numbers used is also a multiple of at least one of the number chosen as the base.
10. Choose a word to represent the central theme of the subject matter and use it at least 2000 times with the final number to be a prime number.
11. Choose at least a dozen words and tie them to their opposites in equal measure and some natural phenomena.

The list goes on but I think this will do for now.

Now to make it a bit more interesting given the setting Quran was revealed, the text must be written in rhythmic prose and please use ink based pens only and animal skins for the paper. As you are busy with writing the book, have at least 100 people memorize the entire book word for word. The book must cover, law, cosmology, general science, dietary guideline, political structure, hygiene, monetary guidelines and of course general aspect of ethics and morality. 

In addition to working on the book, hire at least two professional killers and take out contracts on your own head, furthermore, prepare an army to defend against repeated attacks from much better equipped armies and all the while continuing to preach what you write on a daily basis to all comers as part of your daily routine.

The mathematical patterns embedded in the Quran provides ample proof that it is the work of an infinitely intelligent being but the fact that the author of the Quran claims to be God is significant and we will use it in our conclusions. Needless to say in 1400 years since the compilation of the Quran, nobody has even come close to the literary eloquence of the text alone; with the added difficulty of embedding the mathematical pattern settle the issue once and for all.

The significance of the author of the Quran claiming to be God becomes apparent when we are unable to explain the Quran's presence among us. In the absence of coming up with an alternative explanation, if somebody now turns around and say you are not God to the author so to speak then the logical question has to be on what basis is this objection raised. Is the objector more intelligent to be able to second guess the author? The author of the Quran has already demonstrated His infinite intelligence, the objector has not. In fact, the objector is unable to come up with even with a three short verses sequence in response to the gauntlet thrown down by the author of the Quran. Logic dictates to go with the infinitely intelligent being, call it what you want. I go with God because that is what the being is claiming. Since no other being who has claimed to be God or the claim associated with one has demonstrated the same degree of intelligence that would qualify one as a God, once again logic dictates to go with the one which has.

Furthermore, the current alternatives on the table favor the God Model as opposed to the "something from nothing Model". Equally important is the fact that that the "we don't know model" or the more "scientifically" correct "we don't know yet" model is of no use to an individual who has a very limited time on his/her hand. All that was missing from the God Model to bring it home was physical evidence of God's existence. The Quran demonstrate the most important attribute of a God, intelligence, hence logic and probability dictate that not only to follow the God model but not to settle for the nonverifiable Models on the table on which the jury of the experts is still out.
To finish with an example may bring it home for some;

And as God says in the Quran bring another example like it and all the humans and Jinns are free to form a team and they will have till the Day of Judgment to come up with the goods.

1. Number of letters it is based on is 19
2. The length of the number below is a monstrous 114 digits long
3. The opening verse itself is repeated 114 times in the Quran which is a multiple of 19
4. The number below itself is divisible by 7
5. The reverse of this number is also divisible by 7, what are the odds on just this alone
6. The number mirrors the occurrences of Bismillah in the Quran chapter by chapter. 1 denotes onetime, 2 denotes twice and 0 none.
7. Each natural number (1,3,5,7,8) in the quotient is repeated 19 times each exactly, that is mind blowing
8. And if there are still undecided, here is something that brings it all home. The number 15873 is staring at us in the quotient multiple times appropriately separated with a zero, please verify for yourself, in the 15th Chapter, verse number eighty-seven, the third word is none other than seven (سَبْعًا)

Here is the number and the calculations;

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111211111111111111111011111111 =
15873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015887301587301587301573015873 x 7

When read from right to left, we have:
111111110111111111111111112111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 =
15873015730158730158730158873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873015873 x 7

And it’s all about Seven, the often repeating. Quran 15:87 with 19 thrown in as well, confirming two of the major numerical indicators so far discovered that has no other apparent meaning in the context of their respective verses. And even the sum and multiples of the number of the chapter and verse is perfectly in   perfectly in sync and 15:87 renders to 1+5+8+7=21=7 +7+7=7 x 3 and 1x5x8x7=280/7=40   by the way 7 is the first number mentioned in the Quran,

We must realize we haven't even properly scratched the surface. Let me just add a few relevant facts to the above example in order to underline how this single number is interlinked with the entire Quran.

There are exactly 77 chapters between the first chapter where the occurrence of the 7 is to be found the first time and the last chapter where the last occurrence of seven is to be found but that is not all, when we count the number of verses between the first occurrence of the number 7 and the last occurrence of the number 7, we find that there are precisely 5649 verses between them, the number is a multiple of 7, (807x7) of course.. From chapter to verse but it does not stop there, from another angle, the number of verses from the beginning of the chapter where the first occurrence of 7 is recorded is exactly 28 (7x4), in fact we now bore down to the number of words, 406 (7x58), even the sum total of all the verses in the Quran Sum(1:6236) =19,446,966 is also is a multiple of 7. Add to it the total number of 7s in the Quran 28 (7x4) and on the textual level, the mention of 7 heavens mentioned exactly seven times for instance and much much more, all make this discovery nothing short of impossible to duplicate, as rightly claimed by the Quran.

One thing more, the number 88 happens to be at 88th position counting from the longer end in both the above sequences. No, I have not figured out its significance, yet, it goes to show Quran is an endless sea of knowledge which must not be restricted to any particular discipline and certainly not to exclude the universal domain of numbers.

A heads up for those who are either habitually dismissive or in the habit of repeating kneejerk arguments out there, to compare the claims of other scriptures also having “codes” is like comparing a fireworks display to the Milky Way Galaxy. Then there are those that matter of factly state, "these are just numbers it does not prove that there is a God", the question is then what does it prove? and where did they materialize from? If one doesn't know the answer to these questions then one is in no position to say it's not from God and let us not forget that the book they are found in is all about God. Above all, the Quranic numerical patterns have little to do with encryption, it is all about the modern notion of computationally securing a message and this message is computationally secure and beyond anything, human science has been able to come up with to date. If this is not a big deal then my follow up question is in which Universe?