I purchased all the available books of Quranic translations and exegeses (Tafseer) I could find, placed them on a large table, and began my translation. The first sura, The Key, was completed in a few days. The first verse in Sura 2 is “A.L.M.” The translation of this verse took four years, and coincided with the divine unveiling of “the secret,” the great mathematical Miracle of the Quran. The books of Quranic exegeses unanimously agreed that “no one knows the meaning or significance of the Quranic Initials A.L.M., or any other initials.” I decided to write the Quran into the computer, analyze the whole text, and see if there were any mathematical correlations among these Quranic initials.

I used a time-share terminal, connected by telephone to a giant computer. To test my hypothesis, I decided to look at the single-lettered Quranic Initials—“Q” (Qaaf) of Suras 42 and 50, “S” (Saad) of Suras 7, 19, and 38, and “N” (Noon) of Sura 68. As detailed in my first book MIRACLE OF THE QURAN: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MYSTERIOUS ALPHABETS (Islamic Productions, 1973), many previous attempts to unravel the mystery had failed.

The computer data showed that the text of the only Q-initialed suras, 42 and 50, contained the same number of Q’s, 57 and 57. That was the first hint that a deliberate mathematical system may exist in the Quran. Sura 50 is entitled “Q,” prefixed with “Q,” and the first verse reads, “Q, and the glorious Quran.” This indicated that “Q” stands for “Quran,” and the total number of Q’s in the two Q-initialed suras represents the Quran’s 114 suras (57+57 = 114 = 19x6).

This idea was strengthened by the fact that “the Quran” occurs in the Quran 57 times.

The Quran is described in Sura “Q” as “Majid” (glorious), and the Arabic word “Majid” has a gematrical value of 57: M (40)+J (3)+I (10)+D (4) = 57.

Sura 42 consists of 53 verses, and 42+53 = 95 = 19x5. Sura 50 consists of 45 verses, and 50+45 = 95, same total as in Sura 42.

By counting the letter “Q” in every “Verse 19” throughout the Quran, the total count comes to 76, 19x4. Here is a summary of the Q-related data:

1. The frequency of occurrence of “Q” in Sura “Q” (No. 50) is 57, 19x3.

2. The letter “Q” occurs in the other Q-initialed sura (No. 42) exactly the same number of times, 57.

3. The total occurrence of the letter “Q” in the two Q-initialed suras is 114, which equals the number of suras in the Quran.

4. “The Quran” is mentioned in the Quran 57 times.

5. The description of the Quran as “Majid” (Glorious) is correlated with the frequency of occurrence of the letter “Q” in each of the Q-initialed suras. The word “Majid” has a gematrical value of 57.

6. Sura 42 consists of 53 verses, and 42+53 is 95, or 19x5. 7. Sura 50 consists of 45 verses, and 50+45 is also 95, 19x5. 8. The number of Q’s in all verses numbered “19” throughout the Quran is 76, 19x4.

Glimpses of the Quran’s mathematical composition began to emerge. For example, it was observed that the people who disbelieved in Lot are mentioned in 50:13 and occur in the Quran 13 times—7:80; 11:70, 74, 89; 21:74; 22:43; 26:160; 27:54, 56; 29:28; 38:13; 50:13; and 54:33. Consistently, they are referred to as “Qawm,” with the single exception of the Q-initialed Sura 50 where they are referred to as “Ikhwaan.” Obviously, if the regular, Q-containing word “Qawm” were used, the count of the letter “Q” in Sura 50 would have become 58, and this whole phenomenon would have disappeared. With the recognized absolute accuracy of mathematics, the alteration of a single letter destroys the system.

Another relevant example is the reference to Mecca in 3:96 as “Becca!” This strange spelling of the renowned city has puzzled Islamic scholars for many centuries. Although Mecca is mentioned in the Quran properly spelled in 48:24,

the letter “M” is substituted with a “B” in 3:96. It turns out that Sura 3 is an M-initialed sura, and the count of the letter “M” would have deviated from the Quran’s code if “Mecca” was spelled correctly in 3:96.

his initial is unique; it occurs in one sura, 68, and the name of the letter is spelled out as three letters—Noon Wow Noon—in the original text, and is therefore counted as two N’s. The total count of this letter in the N-initialed sura is 133, 19x7.