September 26, 2005

The 114th Basmallah

I've been meaning to write about this. A few weeks ago, after taisir class, the ustazah pointed out to Milady and I a little gem in the Qur'an, an ayat that is hidden in plain sight. I was so excited at learning about this ayat that I could hardly go to sleep that night. Anyhoo...

As Muslims, we know that the Qur'an has 114 suwar (pl. of surah) and that there are 113 basmallah, the only surah not having a basmallah being the ninth (At-Taubah, Repentance). However, my ustazah asked, did you know that there is a 114th basmallah in the Qur'an? And there is:

"It is from Solomon, and is (as follows): 'In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful: (27:30)

I've been thinking about this verse since I heard about the connection (114 suwar, 114 basmallah). Obviously it could be "coincidence" that there is a 114th basmallah to make up for the one missing at the beginning of At-Taubah... But I've come not to believe in "coincidences" when it comes to the Qur'an. The Qur'an is far too subtle a work to be governed by mere coincidence. This to me is a sign (ayat) from Allah (swt) that shows once more the divine authorship of the Qur'an.

Alhamdulillah!

6 comments:

JDsg said...

Don't tell me, you're in the al-Jauhar class on Haji Ln., right? ;)

Anonymous said...

Oh I am not studying there. :)
I am studying in Pergas at the moment. Pergas, if transalated from Malay refers to the Association of Religious Teachers in Singapore.

And me, like you was very fascinated too by the 1 missing Basmallah.

Interesting blog u have. I am very fascinated by converts like yourself and Izzy Mo. Its interesting to know what made u guys convert and embrace Islam :)

Anonymous said...

So, do you think that it is a sign that this basmalla is "hidden"

JDsg said...

anonymous wrote: "...do you think that it is a sign that this basmalla is 'hidden'?"

Of course, the word "aya" (pl. ayat) itself means "sign," so the Qur'an is literally filled with over 6000 "signs."

But to answer your question, who can say definitively? The Qur'an is, without question, subtle enough that it would not surprise me if the answer were "yes." But what the meaning of that sign is, I couldn't tell you.

Being a creation of The Creator said...

Assalam Alaikum,

Sorry, I don't really understand...
Hope you can help me out~

What is basmallah? As in ' In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful'?

This phrase is not really an ayat of any surah except Al-Fatihah and as the one stated in 27:30? Isn't it?

Where are the rest of 112 basmallah?

JDsg said...

Salaam 'alaikum.

Khadijah: I just read your comment. Yes, the basmallah is the "In the Name of Allah." You are also correct in that the basmallah only appears as a numbered verse in Surah al-Fatihah and in verse 27:30; however, the other 112, which precede the other suwar, are still an integral part of each surah, even if they aren't numbered verses. Thus, there are still 114 basmallah in the Qur'an.