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 Yuksel wrote:
> 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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