Source: http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Odd-Even_Mathematical_Miracle
Contents
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1 Introduction to the miracle 2 2 coincidences or 1? o 2.1 If it was by design rather than coincidence 3 How remarkable is this coincidence? 4 See Also 5 External Links 6 References
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In this article, we will show that these properties of the numbering of the Quran are in fact something more simple than it at first seems, and why it is perfectly plausible that it happened by chance, without any deliberate intention, whether divine or human.
[edit] 2 coincidences or 1?
Before beginning, its worth mentioning that the number of ayats into which the Quran is divided was not part of Muhammad's "revelation", but rather multiple numbering systems were used (6000, 6204 etc.), perhaps all with an identical Qur'anic text (that's a separate question), and the 6236 divisions of the Kufah school simply became most popular.[2] The first thing to notice is that added together, the total of the even s+a numbers and the total of the odd s+a numbers must contain the sum of all the surahs and all the ayats in the Quran (since every surah belongs to one of the two groups). Thus if one group = the sum of the surahs, it follows trivially that the other group must = the sum of the ayats. We can deconstruct things a bit further. We can simply state the miracle as follows: 1. Total s+a (odd) = total surah numbers 6555 = 6555 2. Total s+a (even) = total ayats 6236 = 6236 Each sura belongs either to the odd s+a group or the even s+a group. If we subtract all the suras numbers belonging to the odd s+a group from both sides of the first equation, we can see that it becomes: Total ayats in the odd s+a group = total sura numbers in the even s+a group If we then subtract all the ayats belonging to surahs in the even s+a group from both sides of the second equation we can see that it becomes: Total surah numbers in the even s+a group = total ayats in the odd s+a group Swap the sides of this equation round and youll see that it is identical to the other equation. To illustrate visually:
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Thus both apparent coincidences in reality simplify to a single one. They are not two independant coincidences. They both follow trivially from a single more mundane-sounding coincidence: Total ayats in the odd s+a group = total surah numbers in the even s+a group. Specifically, that number is 3303. And no, 3303 is not divisible by 19 in case you were wondering. It is sometimes claimed that the distribution of ayats has to be exactly as it is for the miracle to work. However, there are many ways that the distribution of ayat numbers could be different without affecting this property and which you can easily verify with the spreadsheet. For example, you could add/subtract any multiple of 2 to the number of ayats of any sura in the even s+a group. For 2 even numbered suras, you could swap their number of ayats if both are even or both are odd. The same for 2 odd numbered surahs.
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because you have changed the total of sura numbers in the even s+a group by an odd number, and you have changed the total ayats in the odd s+a group by zero or an even number.
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This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Miracles which serves as a starting point for hich anyone wishing to learn more about this topic
Mathematical Miracles - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Mathematical Miracles
[edit] References
1. It seems to have first appeared online at discoveringislam.org and comes from a book by a Jordanian researcher named Abdullah Jalghoom. 2. Qurn - Encyclopdia Britannica, accessed March 29, 2011 3. The vbscript code can be found at the quranspotlight website. Categories:
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