Your god is one god; there is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(2:163)

 

The Quran is characterized by a unique phenomenon never found in any human authored book. Every element of the Quran is mathematically composed—the suras, the verses, the words, the number of certain letters, the number of words from the same root, the number and variety of divine names, the unique spelling of certain words, and many other elements of the Quran besides its content. There are two major facets of the Quran’s mathematical system: (1) The mathematical literary composition, and (2) The mathematical structure involving the numbers of suras and verses.

The number nineteen is the common denominator throughout the Quran’s mathematical system. For example, the first verse (1:1), known as Basmalah, consists of 19 Arabic letters. The Quran consists of 114 (19×6) suras. The total number of verses in the Quran (including the 112 un-numbered Basmalahs) is 6346 or 19×334. Also 6+3+4+6 = 19. The

total occurrence of the word Allah (God) is 2698, or 19×142. The total sum of the verse numbers for all verses containing the word Allah is 118123, or 19×6217. These are just a few examples and should alone suffice as incontrovertible proof that the Quran is God’s message to the world. However, the Quran’s mathematical system is not limited to the word Allah (God), it is extremely vast, extremely intricate, and totally comprehensive. For more information, please refer to Appendix 1 of the “Quran: The Final Testament, Authorized English Translation by Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D.”

Why 19?

The “abjad” numerical system, assigning a numerical value to each letter, has been widely practiced before the establishment of the Roman or Arabic numerals as we know today. For example, in Arabic, the letter Alif (A) has a numerical value of 1, and Bah (B) has a numerical value of 2, and so on. If the people’s language were Hebrew, or Aramaic,

they used the letters of that language for numerals. We now understand that the mathematical coding of the Quran with the number 19 is based on the fact that 19 is the numerical value of the word “wahid” (ONE). The following is a study done by Dr. Cesar Majul in 1984. It is reported again here as an answer to some people’s question on 19.

The Word “One” Referring to God

In the text of the Quran, there are 19 and only 19 verses where the word wahid (واحد) is used to refer to or characterize Allah (God) as ONE.

It is to be recalled that the most important or basic doctrine—the central theme—of the Quran is that God is ONE. The Quran teaches that God will forgive any sin of a repentant transgressor; but one offense He will not forgive is that of ascribing partners to Him (39:53; 4:48; 4:116 …).

 

Applying the abjad numerical system (or gematrical values of the letters) to the word wahid gives it the numerical value of 19:

Arabic Letters of Wahid
Numerical Value
و
6
ا
1
ح
8
د
4
Total
19

The word wahid occurs 25 times in the total number of Quranic verses. Of these, one verse refers to one kind of food. Two verses use the word to refer to persons involved in inheritance shares. One verse refers to a gate. One refers to watering, and another one refers to each of a pair of adulterers. These account for six verses. The balance of 19 verses refer to God’s quality (sifat) as being ONE. Table 1 lists all the verses in which the word wahid (ONE) is mentioned.

Thus there are 19 and only 19 Quranic verses which use the word wahid as exclusively referring to God’s Oneness. That this word also has the numerical value of 19 is significant. This fact in the light of other considerations, like the researches of Dr. Rashad Khalifa, cannot be another accident or coincidence. Indeed, it is another instance of general pattern in the Quran.

Note: Incidentally, the word wahidanis also found in the Quran to refer to “one.” It as such occurs five times. In 25:14 it refers to one’s destruction. In 38:5 it refers to some persons trying to make many gods into one. In 54:24 it refers to one alone among men. In 2:133 and 9:31, it refers to worship of

One God. But the numerical value of wahidan is twenty and not nineteen. This comes about from the extra alif used for the tanwin at the end of the word. Thus this word was not included in the list of 25 entries in Table 1.

He looked. He frowned and whined. Then he turned away arrogantly. He said, “This is but clever magic! This is human made.” I will commit him to retribution. What retribution! Thorough and comprehensive.

Obvious to all people. Over it is nineteen…. This is one of the great miracles (74:21-30, 35)

 

Table 1. The 25 verses in which the word wahid (one) is mentioned in the Quran, and the 19 cases where it refers to the oneness of God

Number
Sura and Verse
Nature of verse (the word wahid refers to)
Verses where wahid refers to God
1
2:61
one kind of food
 
2
2:163
God as ONE
1
3
4:11
one person in inheritence
 
4
4:12
each of two in inheritence
 
5
4:171
God as ONE
2
6
5:73
God as ONE
3
7
6:19
God as ONE
4
8
12:39
God as ONE
5
9
12:67
one gate
 
10
13:4
watering
 
11
13:16
God as ONE
6
12
14:48
God as ONE
7
13
14:52
God as ONE
8
14
16:22
God as ONE
9
15
16:51
God as ONE
10
16
18:110
God as ONE
11
17
21:108
God as ONE
12
18
22:34
God as ONE
13
19
24:2
each adulterer
 
20
29:46
God as ONE
14
21
37:4
God as ONE
15
22
38:65
God as ONE
16
23
39:4
God as ONE
17
24
40:16
God as ONE
18
25
41:6
God as ONE
19