Balance
&
Symmetries

Humans are known to see beauty in balance and symmetry,

so we would perhaps imagine

that even when it is not obvious on the surface,

something in which we see or hear beauty

might contain some kind of symmetry and balance at the root.

But Balance and Symmetry are defined numerically,

so one might expect to find some rhythmic patterns

in those things that we see and hear as beautiful.

But what are the chances of finding them

in a recognisable way in a book?

By examining a text numerically

can we learn anything that the words don't tell us?

Can we learn anything about the author?

Can this kind of examination be applied to the Qur'an?

For the Qur'an was always renowned for its beauty.

At the time it was revealed its effect on people

was so extreme that it was thought to be magical,

with the power to take control of anyone who listened to it.

So there's surely no reason not to examine the Qur'an

in search of word play and pattern.

It can be examined in terms of thematic structures over the course of the book,

rhythms and order in the count of its words,

and at a microscopic level even looking for patterns in the letters.

And when we do, we find that the Qur'an

has any number of intriguing and amusing word balancing acts.

There are opposites,

like the words for “Tyranny” (Zulm) and “Justice” (Qist),

both of which appear 15 times,

or “Devil” (Shaytan) and “Angel” (Malak),

each of which appears 88 times.

There are pairs where one part leads to another,

like the word for “Work” (Amal)

and the word for “Reward” (Ajr)

both appearing 108 times,

the words for “Sun” (Shams)

and “Light” (Nur)

33 times each,

and the words for “This Life” (Dunya)

and the “After Life” (Akhira)

with 115 occurrences each

There are pairs of near synonyms,

like the two words for the Judgement Day,

the “Day of Deen” (Yaumiddin)

and the “Day of Standing” (Qiyama)

with 70 appearances each,

and other incidental numerically balanced word forms,

such as the words for “They Said” (Qalu)

and “Say” (Qul)

332 times each.

None of these instances would be too exceptional on their own,

no more than coincidence,

but as the numbers mount

it all seems unlikely to be an accident.

Especially as there are yet more strange word count collations,

such as the number of derivatives

of the root of the word for "Messenger" (Rasul)

which appears frequently throughout the Qur'an,

512 times,

which also just happens to be equal to

the total number of times the proper names of the 26 Messengers are mentioned.

How beautiful

There are times when God seems to be playing with us,

as when saying in words

“the example of Jesus is like Adam”,

while using the name of each 25 times,

one like the other.

And seven heavens are mentioned occasionally in the Qur'an

strangely enough just seven times.

Doesn't that make you smile?

And now we are up in the heavens,

how about we look at

the heavenly bodies that are up there,

and the way we use them to measure time.

The word for “Year” (Sana)

appears 7 times in the singular and 12 in the plural

like our 7 days a week

and 12 months in a year,

which together add up to 19,

the number of years in the Meton cycle

of earth moon and sun alignment,

used by NASA and others in flight planning,

trajectory calculations,

and launch window analysis.

This cycle was observed and calculated by Meton of Athens in about 400 BC,

a period of 19 years being almost identical to 235 synodic months of 29 days,

as opposed to the sidereal month which is only 27 days.

27 also happens to be the number of occurrences

of the word meaning “Moon” (Qamar)

in the Qur'an

as well as the number of occurrences

of the word for “Days” (Ayaam).

It is all just so pretty,

as well as stretching the bounds of probabilities.

Add to that the number of times

the sun and moon are mentioned together,

which also happens to be 19,

and the fact that the only time the Qur'an highlights this confluence

saying “when the sun and moon are joined together”

it occurs with the 19th use of the phrase

How Divinely perfect.

Especially when you also discover

that the word for “Days” may appear 27 times,

but the word for “Day” (Yaum)

makes its own contribution,

with 365 appearances.

Neat.

Al-Hamdulillah.