Although the revelation of the Quran took 23 years to complete, God tells us
that the entire Quran was placed into Muhammad’s soul during the month
of Ramadan, on the Night of Destiny. (See Sura
97, and also the verses 17:1, 44:3,
53:1-18). Thereafter, the angel Gabriel
helped Muhammad release a few verses of the Quran at a time, from the soul to
Muhammad’s memory. Muhammad then wrote down and memorized the verses just
released into his mind. When he died, he left the complete Quran written down
with his own hand in the chronological order of revelation, along with specific
instructions as to where to place every verse. The divine instructions recorded
by Muhammad were designed to put the Quran together into the final format that
we have today. The table below gives the chronological sequence of the revelations of the suras.
| Order Sura | 17...107 | 34....50 | 51....10 | 68....88 | 85....29 | 102...24 |
| 1.....96 | 18...109 | 35....90 | 52....11 | 69....18 | 86....83 | 103...22 |
| 2.....68 | 19...105 | 36....86 | 53....12 | 70....16 | 87.....2 | 104...63 |
| 3.....73 | 20...113 | 37....54 | 54....15 | 71....71 | 88.....8 | 105...58 |
| 4.....74 | 21...114 | 38....38 | 55.....6 | 72....14 | 89.....3 | 106...49 |
| 5......1 | 22...112 | 39.....7 | 56....37 | 73....21 | 90....33 | 107...66 |
| 6....111 | 23....53 | 40....72 | 57....31 | 74....23 | 91....60 | 108...64 |
| 7.....81 | 24....80 | 41....36 | 58....34 | 75....32 | 92.....4 | 109...61 |
| 8.....87 | 25....97 | 42....25 | 59....39 | 76....52 | 93....99 | 110...62 |
| 9.....92 | 26....91 | 43....35 | 60....40 | 77....67 | 94....57 | 111...48 |
| 10....89 | 27....85 | 44....19 | 61....41 | 78....69 | 95....47 | 112....5 |
| 11....93 | 28....95 | 45....20 | 62....42 | 79....70 | 96....13 | 113....9 |
| 12....94 | 29...106 | 46....56 | 63....43 | 80....78 | 97....55 | 114..110 |
| 13...103 | 30...101 | 47....26 | 64....44 | 81....79 | 98....76 | |
| 14...100 | 31....75 | 48....27 | 65....45 | 82....82 | 99....65 | |
| 15...108 | 32...104 | 49....28 | 66....46 | 83....84 | 100...98 | |
| 16...102 | 33....77 | 50....17 | 67....51 | 84....30 | 101...59 |
Not only was the order of revelations of the suras (chapters) different than their order in the Quran, but also the majority of the suras were not revealed as a complete unit at once. For example, the first revelation was Sura 96, Verses 1-5, the second revelation was part of Sura 68.
One of the suras that was revealed in its entirely was Sura 1, “The Key” (Al-Faatehah). This sura was revealed immediately after the Verse 74:30 which says “Over it is nineteen.” Many readers know by now that the first verse of Sura 1, In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, consists of 19 letters, and it constitutes the foundation upon which the Quran’s 19- based mathematical miracle is built.
The following mathematical facts based on the number 19 assure us that the chronological sequence of the suras is indeed divinely guarded, the same as the order of the suras in the Quran.
3. Sister Ihsan Ramadan discovered the following mathematical relationship between the sura numbers and the order of revelations based on the number 19. Basically, she first took every 19th sura in the Quran. These are Suras 19, 38, 57, 76, 95, and 114. Then, she put down the corresponding order of revelations for these suras and added them up:
Sura No. |
Order |
19 |
44 |
38 |
38 |
57 |
94 |
76 |
98 |
95 |
28 |
114 |
21 |
399 |
323 |
(19 x 21) |
(19 x 17) |
It is a mathematical property that the sum of the left hand column is a multiple
of 19. However, the sum of the right hand column is truly significant, further
indicating the divine preservation of the order of revelations.
Brother Ashraf from Canada discovered the following facts:
4. Consider each sura of the Quran in chronological order (see first table on the page). For each sura, add the chronological order
and the sura number. For example, the first sura will be represented by: 1 + 96 = 97. The second sura will be: 2 + 68 = 70. Continue till the last sura in the list which will be: 114 + 110 = 224.
Take the long (301 digit) number formed by concatenating each of the numbers above: 97, 70, 76, 78, 6, 117, 88, 95, 101, 99, 104, 106, 116, 114, 123, 118, 124, 127, 124, 133, 135, 134, 76, 104, 122, 117, 112, 123, 135, 131, 106, 136, 110, 84, 125, 122, 91, 76, 46, 112, 77, 67, 78, 63, 65, 102, 73, 75, 77, 67, 61, 63, 65, 69, 61, 93, 88, 92, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 118, 156, 87, 86, 142, 86, 94, 97, 107, 128, 144, 147, 149, 158, 160, 164, 167, 114, 114, 169, 89, 96, 92, 123, 151, 96, 192, 151, 142, 109, 152, 174, 164, 198, 160, 126, 125, 167, 163, 155, 173, 172, 170, 172, 159, 117, 122, 224. This number is a 19 multiple
Some Arabs may argue that they write numbers from right to left. If we reverse the order of the numbers: 224, 122, 117, 159, 172, 170, 172, 173, 155, 163, 167, 125, 126, 160, 198, 164, 174, 152, 109, 142, 151, 192, 96, 151, 123, 92, 96, 89, 169, 114, 114, 167, 164, 160, 158, 149, 147, 144, 128, 107, 97, 94, 86, 142, 86, 87, 156, 118, 112, 110, 108, 106, 104, 102, 100, 98, 92, 88, 93, 61, 69, 65, 63, 61, 67, 77, 75, 73, 102, 65, 63, 78, 67, 77, 112, 46, 76, 91, 122, 125, 84, 110, 136, 106, 131, 135, 123, 112, 117, 122, 104, 76, 134, 135, 133, 124, 127, 124, 118, 123, 114, 116, 106, 104, 99, 101, 95, 88, 117, 6, 78, 76, 70, 97 (i.e., where the first sura is in the right-most position), the number is still a multiple of 19. Praise be to God.
5. The gematrical value of "Al Quran" (i.e., the Quran) in Arabic is 383. The Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years. Concatenating: 383, 23 gives us a 19 multiple (19 x 2017)
Note: To divide the numbers by 19, you can use the Div19 software