ON THE CLAIM THAT THE WORD "DAY" OCCURS IN THE QUR'AN 365 TIMES by AbdulraHman Lomax, marjan@gate.ioa.com [Corrected 2/22/96] as-salamu 'alaykum It is the wont of the followers and imitators of Rashad Khalifa to claim this or that numerical phenomenon in the Qur'an as a "miracle." In spite of repeated invitations, they have never defined precisely what they mean by "miracle," but the apparent meaning is any striking congruity of numbers derived from the Qur'an, or sometimes from other sources like the numerical values of the letters in Rashad Khalifa's name. When word counts are involved, I have often found that the counts have been manipulated, generally in unstated ways, to produce the striking totals. This claim that the occurrence of the word "day" (yawm) in the Qur'an is 365 is an example. Edip Yukselwrote: > Below is the frequency of the word "Yawm" day (in its > singular form) in the Quran. I have copied from one of my > Turkish books. Unfortunately, during the transfer it lost > its format. Notice that Yuksel did qualify the statement, unlike the earlier mentions of this "miracle" in the newsgroup soc.religion.islam. He is only counting singular forms. Now, if it were necessary to count the dual and plural forms of the word to come up with the "miraculous" total, I am certain that they would have been included. Nevertheless, it would be interesting if all occurrences of the singular "day" in the Qur'an totalled 365. Do they? I have seen this claim before. Then, I looked up "yawm" in the Kassis concordance, and found 475 mentions. However, this included the dual and plural forms, and it is a piece of work to separate them out. But now Yuksel has presented us with a list, albeit mangled, of his claimed "singular forms." Further, I just obtained a copy of the Flugel concordance, which lists each unique form in superb detail. So, I was moved to check this claim out more precisely. I took Yuksel's list, formatted it, and imported it into a database program. Then I used the Kassis concordance to insert all mentions of the word, including the dual and plural. Since Kassis, conveniently, gives the verse numbers from Flugel's edition of the Qur'an in addition to the more standard numbers used by Khalifa, I was able to identify each form without the more tedious work of looking up each verse. In the process, initially, I found several misprints in Yuksel's list, plus tabulation errors, as well as three occurrences missing from Flugel [and one misidentification]. I did not find any errors in Kassis. Note, however, that I do not have a validated Arabic Qur'an in machine-readable form. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that there are additional mentions not listed in Kassis. The finished database is appended below for anyone who wishes to examine the data. Of the 475 total occurrences of all forms of "yawm," 3 are in the dual and 27 are in the plural, leaving 445 in the singular. Flugel's concordance lists 34 different forms of this word, including variations caused by prefixes or suffixes. Here is a list of these forms, with the total count for each form. The number at the beginning of each row is the sequence of the form in Flugel. Transliteration notes are at the end of this article. Yuksel's count is given as corrected. The "<" notes singular forms which Yuksel does not count. F. form total Yuksel notes 20 !al-'ayya!mu 1 0 the days 16 !alyawma 38 38 the day 24 !l-'ayya!mi 1 0 the days 9 !lyawmi 1 1 the day 3 !lyawmu 2 2 the day 25 -'ayya!ma 1 0 days 26 -'ayya!ma~! 3 0 days 21 -'ayya!mi 1 0 days 23 -'ayya!mi~ 18 0 days 10 bi!lyawmi 2 2 by the day 22 bi-'ayya!mi 1 0 by the days 5 biyawmi 5 5 by a day 17 fa!lyawma 8 8 and the day 33 fayawma^'i&i~ 4 0 and that day 6 liyawmi 4 4 of a day 8 liyawmi~ 4 4 of a day 18 wa!lyawma 2 2 and the day 12 wa!lyawmi 21 21 and the day 27 wa-'ayya!ma~! 1 0 and days 11 wabi!lyawmi 1 1 and by the day 14 wayawma 44 44 and a day 34 wayawma^'i&i~ 1 0 and that day < 13 yawma 133 133 a day 32 yawma^'i&i~ 65 0 that day < 15 yawma~! 16 16 a day 31 yawmahum 3 0 their day < 19 yawmayni 3 0 2 days 4 yawmi 31 31 a day 7 yawmi~ 28 28 a day 30 yawmihim 2 0 their day < 29 yawmikum 4 0 your day < 1 yawmu 16 16 a day 2 yawmu~ 9 9 a day 28 yawmukum 1 0 your day < TOTALS 475 365 Yuksel's originally published list was inaccurate, with about six errors; it was not merely poorly formatted. But this is water under the bridge. It is now possible to determine how he and others came up with a count of 365 days. All the dual (3 mentions) and plural forms (27 mentions) are discarded; all forms with suffixes are discarded, whether they be personal pronouns (10 mentions) or 'idhin ("that") (70 mentions), except that the suffixed alif of the accusative does not exclude the word. This brings the total down to 365 mentions. But note that 80 clearly singular forms have been omitted. I would appreciate notice of any substantive errors in this article, to marjan@gate.ioa.com. ALL MENTIONS OF ANY FORM OF "YAWIMA" IN THE QUR'AN "verse" is the standard verse number. "F#" is the verse number from Flugel's concordance and Qur'an. "form" gives my own transliteration of the Arabic form. This is non-standard, but standard transliteration does not fully convey Arabic writing, only pronunciation, more or less. Transliteration notes are at the end. "trans" is a rough translation of some words; also some mentions of "day" give a specific number, which is shown. verse F# form trans notes 1 1:04 3 yawmi 2 2:08 7 wabi!lyawmi 3 2:48 45 yawma~! 4 2:62 59 wa!lyawmi 5 2:80 74 -'ayya!ma~! days 6 2:85 79 wayawma 7 2:113 107 yawma 8 2:123 117 yawma~! 9 2:126 120 wa!lyawmi 10 2:174 169 yawma 11 2:177 172 wa!lyawmi 12 2:184 180 -'ayya!ma~! days 13 2:184 180 -'ayya!mi~ days 14 2:185 181 -'ayya!mi~ days 15 2:196 192 -'ayya!mi~ 3days 16 2:203 199 -'ayya!mi~ days 17 2:203 199 yawmayni 2days 18 2:212 208 yawma 19 2:228 228 wa!lyawmi 20 2:232 232 wa!lyawmi 21 2:249 250 !alyawma 22 2:254 255 yawmu~ 23 2:259 261 yawma~! 24 2:259 261 yawmi~ part of a day 25 2:264 266 wa!lyawmi 26 2:281 281 yawma~! 27 3:09 7 liyawmi~ 28 3:24 23 -'ayya!ma~! days 29 3:25 24 liyawmi~ 30 3:30 28 yawma 31 3:41 36 -'ayya!mi~ 3days 32 3:55 48 yawmi 33 3:77 71 yawma 34 3:106 102 yawma 35 3:114 110 wa!lyawmi 36 3:140 134 !al-'ayya!mu days 37 3:155 149 yawma 38 3:161 155 yawma 39 3:166 160 yawma 40 3:167 160 yawma^'i&i~ that day 41 3:180 176 yawma 42 3:185 182 yawma 43 3:194 192 yawma 44 4:38 42 bi!lyawmi 45 4:39 43 wa!lyawmi 46 4:42 45 yawma^'i&i~ that day 47 4:59 62 wa!lyawmi 48 4:87 89 yawmi 49 4:109 109 yawma 50 4:136 135 wa!lyawmi 51 4:141 140 yawma 52 4:159 157 wayawma 53 4:162 160 wa!lyawmi 54 5:03 4 !alyawma 55 5:03 5 !alyawma 56 5:05 7 !alyawma 57 5:14 17 yawmi 58 5:36 40 yawmi 59 5:64 69 yawmi 60 5:69 73 wa!lyawmi 61 5:89 91 -'ayya!mi~ 3days 62 5:109 108 yawma 63 5:119 119 yawmu 64 6:12 12 yawmi 65 6:15 15 yawmi~ 66 6:16 16 yawma^'i&i~ that day 67 6:22 22 wayawma 68 6:73 72 wayawma 69 6:73 73 yawma 70 6:93 93 !alyawma 71 6:128 128 wayawma 72 6:130 130 yawmikum 73 6:141 142 yawma 74 6:158 159 yawma 75 7:08 7 yawma^'i&i~ that day 76 7:14 13 yawmi 77 7:32 30 yawma 78 7:51 49 fa!lyawma today 79 7:51 49 yawmihim 80 7:53 51 yawma 81 7:54 52 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 82 7:59 57 yawmi~ 83 7:163 163 yawma 84 7:163 163 wayawma 85 7:167 166 yawmi 86 7:172 171 yawma 87 8:16 16 yawma^'i&i~ 88 8:41 42 yawma 89 8:41 42 yawma 90 8:48 50 !alyawma 91 9:03 3 yawma 92 9:18 18 wa!lyawmi 93 9:19 19 wa!lyawmi 94 9:25 25 wayawma 95 9:29 29 bi!lyawmi 96 9:35 35 yawma 97 9:36 36 yawma 98 9:44 44 wa!lyawmi 99 9:45 45 wa!lyawmi 100 9:77 78 yawmi 101 9:99 100 wa!lyawmi 102 9:108 109 yawmi~ 103 10:03 3 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 104 10:15 16 yawmi~ 105 10:28 29 wayawma 106 10:45 46 wayawma 107 10:60 61 yawma 108 10:92 92 fa!lyawma 109 10:93 93 yawma 110 10:102 102 -'ayya!mi days 111 11:03 3 yawmi~ 112 1:40 9 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 113 11:08 11 yawma 114 11:26 28 yawmi~ 115 11:43 45 !alyawma 116 11:60 63 wayawma 117 11:65 68 -'ayya!mi~ 3days 118 11:66 69 yawma^'i&i~ that day 119 11:77 79 yawmu~ 120 11:84 85 yawmi~ 121 11:98 100 yawma 122 11:99 101 wayawma 123 11:103 105 yawmu~ 124 11:103 105 yawmu~ 125 11:105 107 yawma 126 12:54 54 !alyawma 127 12:92 92 !alyawma 128 1:12 5 bi-'ayya!mi days 129 14:18 21 yawmi~ 130 14:31 36 yawmu~ 131 14:41 42 yawma 132 14:42 43 liyawmi~ 133 14:44 44 yawma 134 14:48 49 yawma 135 14:49 50 yawma^'i&i~ that day 136 15:35 35 yawmi 137 15:36 36 yawmi 138 15:38 38 yawmi 139 16:25 27 yawma 140 16:27 29 yawma 141 16:27 29 !alyawma 142 16:63 65 !alyawma 143 16:80 82 yawma 144 16:80 82 wayawma 145 16:84 86 wayawma 146 16:87 89 yawma^'i&i~ that day 147 16:89 91 wayawma 148 16:92 94 yawma 149 16:111 112 yawma 150 16:124 125 yawma 151 17:13 14 yawma 152 17:14 15 !alyawma 153 17:52 54 yawma 154 17:58 60 yawmi 155 17:62 64 yawmi 156 17:71 73 yawma 157 17:97 99 yawma 158 18:19 18 yawma~! 159 18:19 18 yawmi~ part of a day 160 18:47 45 wayawma 161 18:52 50 wayawma 162 18:99 99 yawma^'i&i~ that day 163 18:100 100 yawma^'i&i~ that day 164 18:105 105 yawma 165 19:15 15 yawma 166 19:15 15 wayawma 167 19:15 15 wayawma 168 19:26 27 !alyawma 169 19:33 34 yawma 170 19:33 34 wayawma 171 19:33 34 wayawma 172 19:37 38 yawmi~ 173 19:38 39 yawma 174 19:38 39 !alyawma 175 19:39 40 yawma 176 19:85 88 yawma 177 19:95 95 yawma 178 20:59 61 yawmu 179 20:64 67 !alyawma 180 20:100 100 yawma 181 20:101 101 yawma 182 20:102 102 yawma 183 20:102 102 yawma^'i&i~ that day 184 20:104 104 yawma~! 185 20:108 107 yawma^'i&i~ that day 186 20:109 108 yawma^'i&i~ that day 187 20:124 124 yawma 188 20:126 126 !alyawma 189 21:47 48 liyawmi 190 21:103 103 yawmukum your day 191 21:104 104 yawma 192 22:02 2 yawma 193 22:09 9 yawma 194 22:17 17 yawma 195 22:28 29 -'ayya!mi~ days 196 22:47 46 yawma~! 197 22:55 54 yawmi~ 198 22:56 55 yawma^'i&i~ that day 199 22:69 68 yawma 200 23:16 16 yawma 201 23:65 67 !alyawma 202 23:100 102 yawmi 203 23:101 103 yawma^'i&i~ that day 204 23:111 113 !alyawma 205 23:113 115 yawma~! 206 23:113 115 yawmi~ part of a day 207 24:2 2 wa!lyawmi 208 24:24 24 yawma 209 24:25 25 yawma^'i&i~ that day 210 24:37 37 yawma~! 211 24:64 64 wayawma 212 25:14 15 !alyawma 213 25:17 18 wayawma 214 25:22 24 yawma 215 25:22 24 yawma^'i&i~ that day 216 25:24 26 yawma^'i&i~ that day 217 25:25 27 wayawma 218 25:26 28 yawma^'i&i~ that day 219 25:26 28 yawma~! 220 25:27 29 wayawma 221 25:59 60 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 222 25:69 69 yawma 223 26:38 37 yawmi~ 224 26:82 82 yawma 225 26:87 87 yawma 226 26:88 88 yawma 227 26:135 135 yawmi~ 228 26:155 155 yawmi~ 229 26:156 156 yawmi~ 230 26:189 189 yawmi 231 26:189 189 yawmi~ 232 27:83 85 wayawma 233 27:87 89 wayawma 234 27:89 91 yawma^'i&i~ that day 235 28:41 41 wayawma 236 28:42 42 wayawma 237 28:61 61 yawma 238 28:62 62 wayawma 239 28:65 65 wayawma 240 28:66 66 yawma^'i&i~ that day 241 28:71 71 yawmi 242 28:72 72 yawmi 243 28:74 74 wayawma 244 29:13 12 yawma 245 29:25 24 yawma 246 29:36 35 !alyawma 247 29:55 55 yawma 248 30:4 3 wayawma^'i&i~ that day 249 30:12 11 wayawma 250 30:14 13 wayawma 251 30:14 13 yawma^'i&i~ that day 252 30:43 42 yawmu~ 253 30:43 42 yawma^'i&i~ that day 254 30:55 54 wayawma 255 30:56 56 yawmi 256 30:56 56 yawmu 257 30:57 57 fayawma^'i&i~ that day 258 31:33 32 yawma~! 259 32:4 3 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 260 32:5 4 yawmi~ 261 32:14 14 yawmikum your day 262 32:25 25 yawma 263 32:29 29 yawma 264 33:21 21 wa!lyawma 265 33:44 43 yawma 266 33:66 66 yawma 267 34:18 17 wa-'ayya!ma~! days 268 34:30 29 yawmi~ 269 34:40 39 wayawma 270 34:42 41 fa!lyawma 271 35:14 15 wayawma 272 36:54 54 fa!lyawma 273 36:55 55 !alyawma 274 36:59 59 !alyawma 275 36:64 64 !alyawma 276 36:65 65 !alyawma 277 37:20 20 yawmu 278 37:21 21 yawmu 279 37:26 26 !alyawma 280 37:33 32 yawma^'i&i~ that day 281 37:144 144 yawmi 282 38:16 15 yawmi 283 38:26 25 yawma 284 38:53 53 liyawmi 285 38:78 79 yawmi 286 38:79 80 yawmi 287 38:81 82 yawmi 288 39:13 15 yawmi~ 289 39:15 17 yawma 290 39:24 25 yawma 291 39:31 32 yawma 292 39:47 48 yawma 293 39:60 61 wayawma 294 39:67 67 yawma 295 39:71 71 yawmikum your day 296 40:9 9 yawma^'i&i~ that day 297 40:15 15 yawma 298 40:16 16 yawma F: yawmahum 299 40:16 16 !alyawma 300 40:17 17 !alyawma today 301 40:17 17 !alyawma today 302 40:18 18 yawma 303 40:27 28 biyawmi 304 40:29 30 !alyawma 305 40:30 31 yawmi 306 40:32 34 yawma 307 40:33 35 yawma 308 40:46 49 wayawma 309 40:49 52 yawma~! 310 40:51 54 wayawma 311 40:52 55 yawma 312 41:9 8 yawmayni 2days 313 41:10 9 -'ayya!mi~ 4days 314 41:12 11 yawmayni 2days 315 41:16 15 -'ayya!mi~ days 316 41:19 18 wayawma 317 41:40 40 yawma 318 41:47 47 wayawma 319 42:7 5 yawma 320 42:45 44 yawma 321 42:47 46 yawmu~ 322 42:47 46 yawma^'i&i~ that day 323 43:39 38 !alyawma 324 43:65 65 yawmi~ 325 43:67 67 yawma^'i&i~ that day 326 43:68 68 !alyawma 327 43:83 83 yawmahum 328 44:10 9 yawma 329 44:16 15 yawma 330 44:40 40 yawma 331 44:41 41 yawma 332 45:14 13 -'ayya!ma days 333 45:17 16 yawma 334 45:26 25 yawmi 335 45:27 26 wayawma 336 45:27 26 yawma^'i&i~ 337 45:28 27 !alyawma 338 45:34 33 !alyawma 339 45:34 33 yawmikum your day 340 45:35 34 fa!lyawma 341 46:5 4 yawmi 342 46:20 19 wayawma 343 46:20 19 fa!lyawma today 344 46:21 20 yawmi~ 345 46:34 33 wayawma 346 46:35 34 yawma 347 50:20 19 yawmu 348 50:22 21 !alyawma 349 50:30 29 yawma 350 50:34 33 yawmu 351 50:38 37 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 352 50:41 40 yawma 353 50:42 41 yawma 354 50:42 41 yawmu missing in F 355 50:44 43 yawma 356 51:12 12 yawmu 357 51:13 13 yawma 358 51:60 60 yawmihim that day of theirs 359 52:9 9 yawma 360 52:11 11 yawma^'i&i~ that day 361 52:13 13 yawma 362 52:45 45 yawmahum 363 52:46 46 yawma 364 54:6 6 yawma 365 54:8 8 yawmu~ 366 54:19 19 yawmi 367 54:48 48 yawma 368 55:29 29 yawmi~ 369 55:39 39 fayawma^'i&i~ that day 370 56:50 50 yawmi~ 371 56:56 56 yawma 372 57:4 4 -'ayya!mi~ 6days 373 57:12 12 yawma 374 57:12 12 !alyawma 375 57:13 13 yawma 376 57:15 14 fa!lyawma 377 58:6 7 yawma 378 58:7 8 yawma 379 58:18 19 yawma 380 58:22 22 wa!lyawmi 381 60:3 3 yawma 382 60:6 6 wa!lyawma 383 62:9 9 yawmi missing in F 384 64:9 9 yawmu 385 64:9 9 liyawmi 386 64:9 9 yawma 387 65:2 2 wa!lyawmi 388 66:7 7 !alyawma 389 66:8 8 yawma 390 68:24 24 !alyawma 391 68:39 39 yawmi 392 68:42 42 yawma 393 69:7 7 -'ayya!mi~ 8days 394 69:15 15 fayawma^'i&i~ that day 395 69:16 16 yawma^'i&i~ that day 396 69:17 17 yawma^'i&i~ that day 397 69:18 18 yawma^'i&i~ that day 398 69:24 24 !l-'ayya!mi days 399 69:35 35 !alyawma 400 70:4 4 yawmi~ 401 70:8 8 yawma 402 70:11 11 yawma^'i&i~ that day 403 70:26 26 biyawmi 404 70:42 42 yawmahum that day of theirs 405 70:43 43 yawma 406 70:44 44 !lyawmu 407 73:14 14 yawma 408 73:17 17 yawma~! 409 74:9 9 yawma^'i&i~ that day 410 74:9 9 yawmu~ 411 74:46 47 biyawmi 412 75:1 1 biyawmi 413 75:6 6 yawmu 414 75:10 10 yawma^'i&i~ that day 415 75:12 12 yawma^'i&i~ that day 416 75:13 13 yawma^'i&i~ that day 417 75:22 22 yawma^'i&i~ that day 418 75:24 24 yawma^'i&i~ that day 419 75:30 30 yawma^'i&i~ that day 420 76:7 7 yawma~! 421 76:10 10 yawma~! 422 76:11 11 !lyawmi that day 423 76:27 27 yawma~! 424 77:12 12 yawmi~ 425 77:13 13 liyawmi 426 77:14 14 yawmu 427 77:15 15 yawma^'i&i~ that day 428 77:19 19 yawma^'i&i~ that day 429 77:24 24 yawma^'i&i~ that day 430 77:28 28 yawma^'i&i~ that day 431 77:34 34 yawma^'i&i~ that day 432 77:35 35 yawmu 433 77:37 37 yawma^'i&i~ that day 434 77:38 38 yawmu 435 77:40 40 yawma^'i&i~ that day 436 77:45 45 yawma^'i&i~ that day 437 77:47 47 yawma^'i&i~ that day 438 77:49 49 yawma^'i&i~ that day 439 78:17 17 yawma 440 78:18 18 yawma 441 78:38 38 yawma 442 78:39 39 !lyawmu 443 78:40 41 yawma 444 79:6 6 yawma 445 79:8 8 yawma^'i&i~ that day 446 79:35 35 yawma 447 79:46 46 yawma 448 80:34 34 yawma 449 80:37 37 yawma^'i&i~ that day 450 80:38 38 yawma^'i&i~ that day 451 80:40 40 yawma^'i&i~ that day 452 82:15 15 yawma 453 82:17 17 yawmu missing in F 454 82:18 18 yawmu 455 82:19 19 yawma 456 82:19 19 yawma^'i&i~ that day 457 83:5 5 liyawmi~ 458 83:6 6 yawma 459 83:10 10 yawma^'i&i~ that day 460 83:11 11 biyawmi 461 83:15 15 yawma^'i&i~ that day 462 83:34 34 fa!lyawma 463 85:2 2 wa!lyawmi 464 86:9 9 yawma 465 88:2 2 yawma^'i&i~ that day 466 88:8 8 yawma^'i&i~ that day 467 89:23 24 yawma^'i&i~ that day 468 89:23 24 yawma^'i&i~ that day 469 89:25 25 fayawma^'i&i~ that day 470 90:14 14 yawmi~ 471 99:4 4 yawma^'i&i~ that day 472 99:6 6 yawma^'i&i~ that day 473 100:11 11 yawma^'i&i~ that day 474 101:4 3 yawma 475 102:8 8 yawma^'i&i~ that day Unusual transliteration symbols: ~ nunates the previous vowel ! is alif, and also hamzat-ul-wasl - is alif as a chair for hamza ' is hamza & is dhal ^ is a point (used with hamza)
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