What Is the Meaning of Numbers in Islam?

Numerology is the ancient practice of reading signification into numbers and patterns of numbers, and in Islam, just as in many faith and mystical traditions, this practice has a long and interesting history.

Nineteen

Nineteen is perhaps the most important mystical number in Islam. Nineteen is the sum of verses given during Mohammad's first two visits to the cave where he received revelation as well as the number of words in the first verse of the revelatory chapter (sura). It has been argued that the very Quran is given symmetry by the number 19.

Word Pairings

It has been noted that several words and their inverses appear an equal number of times in the Quran, such as "man" and "woman," "angels" and "Satan," and "life" and death."

Arabic Alphabet

As in Judaism (with Hebrew), the letters of the Arabic alphabet have been endowed with numerical values that are used to draw associations between words and phrases.

Argumentation

Many Muslims, knowing that the prophet Muhammad was illiterate, take it to mean that the numerical patterns in the Quran, which are quite complex, indicate the divine nature of the work's authorship.

Divination and Islamic law

Divination (predicting the outcomes of future events) is haram (or disallowed) by Islamic law, and so Muslims are instructed not to use numerology for this purpose.

Resources

• Alphabet numerology