The Miracles of Numbers and Letters in the Holy Qur’an

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

1 April 2013   New Jersey, USA

www.Naqshbandi.org

www.Sufilive.com

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah! Madadak, yaa HabeebAllah. Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Shaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani! Madadak, yaa HabeebAllah. Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani! Madadak, yaa HabeebAllah. Yaa awliyaullahi jami`an! Qaddimoona ila hadrati ’n-Nabi (s). Yaa Sayyidee, unzhurnaa bi nazharin min `indik. Look at us, yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah! We are weak, servants, helpless ones! Present us to Allah (swt) clean from any sin. We are requesting and we are begging and we are asking--we cannot ask, but through your love, yaa Sayyidee yaa Rasoolullah, accept what we are asking (if “asking” is a good word to say; it’s better to say “begging”)--that Allah will forgive us all our sins and that you intercede for us in dunya and in Akhirah.

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Alhamdulillah! Alhamdulillahi `alaa ni`amihi zhaahiratan wa baatinan wa nashkuruhu jazeela shukru haythu qaal, wa la-in shakartum la-azeedannakum. We thank Allah and ask him to increase for us, as He said, “If you thank Me, I will give you more.” Fa zidnaa yaa Rabbanaa mimma yaa Rabbee, yaa Allah! Tatafaddal bihi `alayna min karamik wa joodik wa mahabbatik bi jaahi habeebika ‘l-Mustafa, `alayhi afdalu ‘s-salaatu wa ‘s-salaam, laa takilnaa ila anfusina wa laa lahzara kamaa qaal an-nabiyyu sallallau `alayhi wa sallam: Allahumma laa takilnee ilaa nafsee tarfata `aynin wa laa aqala min dhaalik. And we ask: O our Lord! For the sake of Prophet (s), increase us in Your Love and.... and don’t leave us to ourselves for one moment, as the Prophet (s) said, “Don’t leave me to my ego for the blink of an eye or less than that.”

O Brothers and Sisters! I am like you and you are like me; we are all equal. Allah looks at all human beings with the same balance, as the Prophet (s) said:

الناس سواسيه

An-naasu sawaasiyah.

People are equal.

All human beings are equal: they have the same rights, they have the same humanity and human nature. We have been informed by Allah (swt) on the Day of Promises when all souls were present, when He said:

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا

Fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwaahaa.

He inspired the self of its bad and its good. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)

Allah inspired the self what is good for it and what is bad. So since we know what is good and what is bad, no one can say, “No, I don't know;” no one from human beings can say, “I don’t know,” because Allah gave him a mind to think, “Is it good or is it bad?” And Allah (swt) gave us signs in everything in order for us to know that our knowledge is nothing. It means for us to know we are weak and to understand our weaknesses and try to improve. He described Himself with His Beautiful Names and Attributes. No one knows what is the meaning of “Allah,” a Name not like any name. It is a Beautiful Name that exceeds or surpasses anything of beauty. If this whole universe is decorated with all its stars and beauty is nothing compared to the beauty that is on the Name, “Allah.” No one knows except Him, but He wanted us to blessed with that Name, `arrafanaa, “He introduced us to His Name,” The Greatest Name that cannot be described except through the Ninety-nine Names. And how many Ninety-nine Names are there to describe the Name “Allah”? It is not only these Ninety-nine Names that we know; these name we know Allah made us to know but there are different groups of Ninety-nine Names and every group gives an understanding the beauty of Allah, and He granted to Muslims to say, “Allah”.

أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

Alaa bi dhikrillaahi tatma'inna ‘l-quloob.

Truly in remembrance of Allah do hearts find tranquility. (Surat ar-Ra`d, 13:28)

Alaa bi dhikri Allah! It means He is telling us, “This is My Name and if you remember Me through My Name, I will give you peace in your heart.” What does “peace” mean? Is it how we understand it? No, but rather peace means, “I will give you what you cannot get from anywhere, not on Earth, which is that earthly peace, but a peace from where I will put you, in a place, in a heaven with the Prophet (s), when you remember Me.” Why? Because He said:

أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي

Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.

I sit with him who remembers Me. (Ahmad, Bayhaqi)

“I am sitting with the one who remembers Me,” not sitting in the physical sense of sitting, but this is the Arabic translation: anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee, “I am with the one who remembers Me.” “Jalees” means “in the company of the one who remembers Me.” “If you remember Me, I am with you.” If He says, “I am with you,” who is with Him? Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah! What we are saying is not something physical in dunya, but in Akhirah. Allah will appear in Paradise; this is what the Prophet (s) mentioned.

وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَى

Wa laqad ra’aahu nazlatan ukhraa.

For indeed he saw him at a second descent. (Surat an-Najm, 53:13)

In the second movement of the Prophet (s) on the Night of Mi`raj, Prophet (s) saw Allah (swt) through his eyes, with the eyes of his head, as Imam Muslim said in his Sahih and Imam Nawawi explained, that he (s) saw his Lord, Allah (swt), with the eyes of his head. So Allah (swt) gave us an understanding, and this is very delicate to use words here, it is not easy. Allah (swt) wanted us to know, we knew about Him through His Beautiful Names and Attributes. We cannot say they are descriptions, as there is no description for Allah (swt) for Allah creates all descriptions, but He wanted us to know Him through these descriptions. How many?

وَلِلّهِ الأَسْمَاء الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا وَذَرُواْ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي أَسْمَآئِهِ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ

Wa lillaahi ‘l-asmaau ’l-husnaa fad`oohu bihaa wa dharoo ’lladheena yulhidoona fee asmaaihi sayujzawna maa kanoo ya`maloon.

The Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah: so call on Him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in His Names: for what they do, they will soon be requited. (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:180)

Allah (swt) said that He showed you, made you to understand Him through these Beautiful Names and Attributes, so ask Him through Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes, ask Him and He will give! How many Names? Ninety-nine Names. Allah (swt) wants that miracle to happen so He stamped everyone with His Ninety-nine Names! He said to you, “I am showing you My Ninety-nine Names, but you cannot understand it if you are not activating them.” How to activate them? Look at your hands: you see a number there, 18 and 81 in Arabic. Show the camera. This is 18 (right palm), this is 81 (left palm) in Arabic. Add them together, it makes Ninety-nine, correct? Ninety-nine Names!

So to activate the blessings of these, to know them is very difficult, to reach the level of knowing the secrets behind Allah’s Ninety-nine Names. No one knows them except what Allah (swt) gave to the Prophet (s), and the Prophet (s) gives to awliyaullah slowly, slowly, drops after drops. To activate them--because when you activate something you will be dressed with it and you will know it; you activated it, so you will know what is going to happen--so it means, “O My Servants! I gave you these Ninety-nine Names and I gave you a way to make sure that you will get the blessings of these Ninety-nine Names, to open them, we cannot say “activation,” but to open for the understanding of these Ninety-nine Names and to be dressed with them.”

Be dressed with them by doing what? By taking ablution, wudu! What is the first thing in ablution? (First you wash your hands.) How do you wash your hands? Show me. You wash your hands according to Shari`ah way, the sunnah of the Prophet (s), which is to do khallal, “to move the fingers of one between the fingers of the other.” So when you rub, that is rubbing the 18 and 81, the Ninety-nine. When you rub something, the light appears from it. Allah (swt) gave us a way to open in every ablution; you are opening on yourself the blessings and manifestations of these Ninety-nine Names, and Ninety-nine Names cannot be opened on someone who is making a sin. So ablution is the way to take the sin away and to open purity, to get the manifestation of the Ninety-nine names. So whatever sin you have made, even if you rub the fingers by themselves, it doesn’t work as it has to be with water.

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

Wa ja`alnaa min al-maa'i kulla shay’in hayy.

We made every living thing  from water. (Surat al-Anbiya, 21:30)

“We have made from water every thing, every creature alive,” because of water. So when you rub with water, that light appears in your heart.  

ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن

Maa wasi`anee ardee wa laa samaa'ee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbi `abdee al-mu'min.

Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.

(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Ihya of Imam al-Ghazali)

So when you open them, you are now ready to enter the Divine Presence to pray your prayers. Without ablution, which means without dressing from the manifestation of these Beautiful Names and Attributes, you cannot enter the Divine Presence. If you want to enter the presence of a king today, they tell you, “You must dress this way.” You cannot come inside not dressing the way they want. So how do you come to Allah’s Divine Presence, praying without dressing with a dress that is yaleeq, befits where you are? We know that Allah (swt) gave us these five prayers to be in the Divine Presence in every prayer as soon as we say, “Allahu Akbar,” to be there. So how to be dirty there? He made you to make ablution and to rub these Ninety-nine Names on your hands so that Light will shine in your heart and you will be able to enter His Presence.

O Muslims! There are a lot of meanings behind numbers, you have to know that. So Ninety-nine is composed of 9 + 9, so if you add 9 + 9, you get 18. Now add 1 + 8, you get 9. What is 9 in numeric understanding? It is zero, which means complete submission, you are zero, in complete submission to The One, to Allah (swt). When you rub your fingers, how many fingers are you rubbing? Ten, and 1 + zero is 1. So 1 is Allah and zero is you. Surrender in complete submission to Allah (swt)!

I will not be too long, but some important messages are coming to me and to you.

So that reality is with you, but try to use it. We are not using it. How many letters are in the Arabic alphabet? There are 27 letters and the 28th is the Laam-Alif as an added combination, so it is 27 letters. So all knowledge is within the 27, from Alif to Yaa, which is beginning with Alif  up to Yaa at the end. All knowledge of Arabic is in this alphabet, every knowledge and every secret that is hidden from us. For example, “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” “Kaaf. Haa. Yaa. `Ayn. Saad,” do you know the meanings? No, but when Jibreel (a) came to Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah!” revealing to him Surat Maryam, he said, “Kaaf,” and the Prophet (s) said, “`Alimtu, I knew.” What did he know from one letter? He knew every meaning of the ocean of that letter, and awliyaullah say that on every letter Allah (swt) gave to them 24,000 Oceans of Knowledge! When we say “ocean,” it means there is no beginning and no end of knowledge. So between the Alif and Yaa we have 27 letters, and 2 + 7 is 9. In numerology, 9 equals zero, submission, which means you have to submit; you as a servant have to submit.

Allah is the Creator! How many verses are in the Holy Qur’an? There are 6,666 verses, correct? 6 + 6 = 12 + 6 = 18 + 6 = 24 and 2 + 4 = 6.

الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ الرَّحْمَنُ فَاسْأَلْ بِهِ خَبِيرًا

Alladhee khalaqa ‘s-samaawaati wa ‘l-arda wa maa baynahumaa fee sittati ayyaamin thumma ‘stawaa `ala ‘l-`arsh.  

He Who created the Heavens and Earth and all that is between in six days and is firmly established on the Throne. (Suratu ‘l-Furqaan, 25:59)

Allah (swt) created Heavens and Earth in six days, and the verses of Holy Qur’an comes down to six, the combination of the letters of the Holy Qur’an: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 =24, then 2 + 4 = 6. All those secrets in six days! Allah said in the Holy Qur’an, “My verses of Holy Qur’an are 6,666; add the numbers, it becomes six, and I created Heavens and Earth in six days!”

قُلْ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَكْفُرُونَ بِالَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَرْضَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَتَجْعَلُونَ لَهُ أَندَادًا ذَلِكَ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ مِن فَوْقِهَا وَبَارَكَ فِيهَا وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَا أَقْوَاتَهَا فِي أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّامٍ سَوَاء لِّلسَّائِلِينَ

Qul a-innakum la-takfuroona billadhee khalaqa ‘l-arda fee yawmayni wa taj`aloona lahu andaadan dhaalika Rabbu ‘l-`Alameen. Wa ja`ala feeha rawaasiya min fawqihaa wa baaraka feehaa wa qaddara feehaa aqwaatahaa fee arba`ati ayyaamin sawaa‘an li ’s-saaileen.

Say, “Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the Earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the Worlds." And He placed on the Earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its (creatures') sustenance in four days without distinction for (the information) of those who ask. (Surat Fussilat, 41: 9-10)

He created Earth in two days and qaddara feehaa aqwaatahaa, “He allocated,” or, “He provided everyone with his sustenance,” what he is going to do, what is the beginning of his life, what is the end of his life, where he is going to live and where he is going to die, everything in two days and four days. He created them in two days and provided for them in four days, and 2 + 4 = 6. Allahu Akbar! How is this? Allahu Akbar! And still we are arrogant and proud to say, “O! We don’t want to look at the Qur’an.” Don’t look! Who cares for you to look or not to look? Allah is giving you evidences through letters. “Leave the verses. I am giving you understanding of letters, to know what every letter represents.” Allahu Akbar! SubhaanAllah!

Allah is giving us Signs, so what do we have to do? We have to take these Signs. The first letter of “Allah” is what? Alif. It is always shamikha, standing, uprising. The second letter is Baa, always in sajda; it is a horizontal Alif, but prostrating to the standing Alif! Why the Baa came after Alif ? The first letter of “Allah” is Alif and the second letter is the Baa. The Baa represents the Prophet (s) in complete sajda, because when it was revealed to him by Jibreel (a), when he said to him, “Iqraa!” and the Prophet (s) said, “What am I going to read?” (Jibreel said) “Bismi!” in the first letter to read. To open the opening of this universe is by Baa, in the name “Bi,” not any other letter; it’s the Baa that came after, and the Baa is always in sajda to the Alif, to Allah. (Allah is) saying, “Call me by My Name, Bi-Ismi, in the Name of Allah, ar-Rahman ar-Raheem!”

There are three Beautiful Names in this and three Meems in this, the letter Meem: bismi, Meem; ar-Rahman, Meem; ar-Raheem, Meem--Muhammad, Ahmad, Mahmood! Allah (swt) gave him one name on Earth, Muhammad (s), and two names in Heavens, Ahmad and Mahmood.

That is only to give us an idea about this Greatness of Allah (swt) and the meanings you can extract from what He gave you. He gave you Holy Qur’an, in which:

وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ

Wa laa ratbin laa yaabisin illa fee kitaabin mubeen,

(There is not) anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a Clear Book.

(Surat al-An`am, 6:59)

Wa laa ratbin laa yaabisin illa fee kitaabin mubeen, living and non-living is mentioned in this Book, in this Holy Qur’an, but you have to extract it, you have to work! Everyone of us is working for dunya to get something in order to live. Okay, but for Akhirah we need something to live also, is it not? He is not telling you to stop working, He is telling you, “As you work for dunya, work for Akhirah. Be good!” That is what He is asking from you.

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا

Fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwaahaa.

He inspired the self of its good and its bad. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)

Allah (swt) is reminding us, “He inspired the self what is good for it and what is bad; see the bad and leave it, but if you fail and you fall in the bad then repent, as I am waiting for your repentance.”

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Qul yaa `ibadiya ’Lladheena asrafoo `alaa anfusihim laa taqnatoo min rahmatillaahi inna Allaaha yaghfiru ’dh-dhunooba jamee`an innahu huwa ’l-ghafooru ‘r-raheem.

Say, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat al-Zumar, 39:53)

“Yaa Muhammad, say to My servants, laa taqnatoo min rahmatillaah, don’t lose hope of Allah's Mercy because you are the Mercy, yaa Muhammad! Laa taqnatoo min rahmatillaah, don’t lose hope of My Mercy, yaghfiru ’dh-dhunooba jamee`an, Allah is The One Who will forgive all sins, but come and say, ‘Yaa Rabbee! Open for me Your Door.’ The Door is open, enter. Be good!”

What did the Prophet (s) say?

‏‏ انما بعثت لاتمم مكارم الاخلاق

Innamaa bu`ithtu li utammimu makaarim al-akhlaaq.

I have been sent to perfect the best of conduct (your behavior and character). (Bazzaar)

Innamaa bu`ithtu li utammimu makaarim al-akhlaaq,“I have been sent to complete or perfect your good manners.” He didn’t say, “I came to complete your worship.” Your worship, you have to do it whether you like it or not because it’s an obligation. You can pray and fast, but if you still have bad manners, what’s the benefit?

“So Allah has sent me to perfect you, to bring you to Maqaam al-Ihsaan.” Religion is made of three parts. The first is the five pillars: shahaadatu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah, wa iqaamus-salaat wa itaauz-zakaat wa sawmu ramadaan wa hajju ‘l-bayt (Testimony of Faith, to bear witness that there is no God but Allah [swt] and Muhammad [s] is His Messenger; the performance of prayer; the payment of alms; the fast in Ramadan; and the pilgrimage to the House). He didn’t mention manners. He said these are the infrastructure of the house. You need a house, so you need to build the infrastructure of the house, and the infrastructure of a house is not like the infrastructure of a building; for a building it has to be heavier.

When you finish building that infrastructure then you have to know who is the planner, who planned for you or which engineer prepared that blueprint for you. Here comes faith: aamantu billahi wa malaa’ikatihi wa kutoobihi wa rusoolihi wa bi ’l-yawmi ’l-akhiri wa bi ’l-qadari khayrihi wa sharrihi, I believe in Allah, and in His Angels, and in His Books all of them, and in His Messengers, and in the Last Day, and in Pre-destination good and bad. That’s where the blueprint took place, which means when you are making the infrastructure, the Shahadah, the prayer, the fasting, etc., you have to have faith, but faith in what? Faith in Allah (swt).

Many people pray, but they have no faith; they are afraid from their leaders and they go and pray, or the children are afraid from their fathers and they pray, but they don’t believe. So second is to have faith, which is the plaster, the cosmetics to make it nice. First is the infrastructure, which is (building) the foundation and the walls, but with no plaster on them, you see only blocks or dry wall, and if it’s not nice then you have to plaster it and then paint to make it look nice, but it is still empty. So you put decorations everywhere for it to look nice, and that is Maqaam al-Ihsaan, what makes it shine up. When someone is looking at the decorated house, he doesn’t see the faith or infrastructure any more, because ihsaan took over everything! You cannot be a muhsin, in the Level of Ihsaan, if you don’t have faith and if you don’t have the infrastructure, the five prayers. So Maqaam al-Ihsaan is the decoration of the self, to look nice in front of people, and how do you look nice? Through your manners, is it not? It is through manners: how you eat, how you drink, how you sleep, how you act, do you get angry, are you friendly, are you happy or not happy, laughing or not laughing, smiling, etc. All these are the good manners. So when we establish the good manners, then everything else will come together in the puzzle.

أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك

An ta`bud Allah ka'annaka taraahu, fa in lam takun taraahu fa innahu yaraak.

That you worship Allah as if you see Him, for, if you don't see Him, truly He sees you. (Bukhari)

“You worship Allah as if you are seeing Him.” How much you are going to be worried if someone is watching what you are doing? So look, do you see what is in the corner there? There is a machine, an instrument there, an alarm system. Why do you have an alarm system? For dunya you want an alarm system, but for Akhirah no alarm system? For dunya, before you leave the house you set your alarm system in every corner of the house, especially if you have gold. The Hereafter has more than gold and more than diamonds, more than anything, but you don’t have an alarm system, letting Shaytan to come and go as much as he likes inside your heart! We need a very strong alarm system! What is the strongest alarm system in our body?

As Sayyidina `Ali (r) said:

راس الحكمة مخاة الله   

Raas al-hikmata makhaafatullah.

The head of wisdom is fear of Allah (swt).

The head of wisdom, the highest level of wisdom, is the fear of losing the love of Allah (swt). This is the alarm system, makhaafatullah, to fear Allah (swt). Awliyaullah say, “We fear Allah (swt) from losing His Love,” and the other meaning is, “We fear that Allah will punish us.” It has two meanings. So that is what is needed. So if you look at these signs of numbers and letters and verses of Holy Qur’an, how many surahs are in Holy Qur’an? 114. Add them together, 1 + 1 + 4 = 6. Allahu Akbar! It goes back to six. What did Allah say?

عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ إِلَّا مَلَائِكَةً

`Alayha tis`ata `ashara wa maa ja`alnaa as-haba ‘n-naari illaa malaa’ikatan.

Over it are nineteen (angels), and We have not made the keepers of the Fire except angels.

(Surat al-Muddaththir, 74:30-31)

Allah made how many angels in Hellfire? Nineteen. 1 + 9 + 10, then 1 + 0 = 1.  Allah is showing us, “It means everyone is zero and and I am One! If you believe in Me, you will be saved from going inside Hellfire.” Be zero, then you will not be asked!

O Believers, O Muslims! May Allah forgive us, may Allah bless us and may Allah bring every human being to the Right Way, to Siraat al-Mustaqeem.

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.