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The Ultimate Revelations
by
Jamshed Akhtar
Khaleej Times
Saturday- May 2, 1998
Holy Quran in
scientific light
SEARCHERS for
extra-terrestrial intelligence should look no further than the Holy
Quran, suggests the author of a new book which provides mathematical
and scientific proof of the extra-terrestrial origin of the holy
book.
The Ultimate Revelations
by Jamshed Akhtar was presented in the UAE at the Sharjah Book Mall
under the patronage of Sheikha Azza bin Sultan Al Qasmi on Thursday.
The book is also being promoted by the Government of Sharjah's Auqaf
department.
"This book has interest
for religious persons certainly, scientists definitely and even for
those interested in science fiction," said Uthman Barry, a teacher
who hosts Discovering Islam on Sharjah TV.
The Ultimate Revelations
is a book of fiction based on fact. As pointed out by Syed Khalil,
executive director of Galadari Brothers, "It is the first attempt
made to present the Quran in a scientific manner to the modern
world."
He said its presentation
with the aid of mathematical and scientific arguments would give the
work credence among even the Western scientific community which was
sceptical of all things religious.
"Throughout my
education, I was taught that science and religion do not go
together," said Dr. Bilal-Abdul Aleem of the Sharjah Auqaf
department and co-host of Discovering Islam.
"This book goes a long
way in presenting spiritual philosophies to intelligent, scientific
people," Dr. Bilal added.
The author, himself a
scientific person being a retired engineer, has spent twelve years
researching the book. During his research he discovered the key to
unlocking the mathematical code in the Quran which, he believes, may
be the first of several layers of coded messages beneath its primary
text.
Mr. Akhtar also argues
that while a particular community of people in the world is
convinced of the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence and is
awaiting a 'message' as confirmation of their beliefs, the
possibility of such a message having already being received in the
past has never been considered.
Mr. Akhtar invites
intellectuals to re-examine the Quran in the light of mathematics
and science which he believes will convince them that the holy book
is a divine message that is proof of its extra-terrestrial origin.
^Top
Gulf News
May 1st, 1998
Azza Sultan
impressed by the new book.
Sheikha Azza Sultan Al
Qasmi, daughter of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al
Qasmi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, yesterday
had a reception at which she introduced to the public a book, The
Ultimate Revelations, written by an Indian author, Jamshed Akhtar,
at the Book Mall here.
The book, described as
"a fascinating blend of the latest scientific research, science
fiction and philosophy," was initially published in India and was
brought here by its author on a fund raising trip, when Sheikha Azza
heard of it.
Impressed by the book
and its contents, she offered to publish it in the U.A.E. Dr. Bilal
Abdul Aleem, one of the speakers at last night's reception, said
"The Ultimate Revelations" was among the first of many books in the
English language that Sheikha Azza intends publishing.
^Top
Journal
of Islamic Science
June 1998
Jamshed Akhtar 'The
Ultimate Revelations' (Delhi: International Books, 1996)
The Ultimate Revelations
is a novel that pertains to explain the mystery of the Qur'an in
scientific, numerical terms by means of an analysis of the Arabic
text. In an attempt to demonstrate the power, wisdom and
beauty of this 'ultimate message' to mankind Akhtar discusses the
arrival of the Qur'an, the characteristics of the language of the
holy Book, and the answers to all mankind's problems to be found in
its revered pages. His book fails in three respects: firstly
because his knowledge of Arabic is virtually non-existent; secondly,
he is so intent on proving the existence of a mathematical code that
he fixes his results, overlooks exceptions to his 'rules' and
totally ignores any linguistic aspects of the text in the hunt for
numerical clues; thirdly, and more seriously, his book is also
offensive because it is a demonstration of the worst form of
Eurocentrism. The Qur'an - according to Akhtar - is now
'understood' only because clever Western people have invented
computers thus enabling Muslims to at last unlock the secrets of the
text. Centuries of Islamic thought count for nothing compared
to the marvels of the West.
Picture it: The world is
on the brink of total destruction; a new ice age is advancing,
mankind is on the verge of annihilation. International
conferences are rapidly drawn up to brainstorm ideas that may
prevent the slow but steady onslaught of deadly ice.
Dramatically, the Qur'an is presented as 'a message from the stars'
- a message from an extra-terrestrial intelligence, which holds the
only hope for the future. The man who delivers this message is
Hamza, a young scientist who gradually comes to understand the
meaning of the great Muslim text by means of his dreams. His
dreams tell him about the prophets in the past; they also point him
to the future and to the secret code that lies within the heart of
the text.
All quite exciting...
except it really doesn't work. Akhtar claims to be writing a
book about the mystery of the Qur'an, and yet, as one reads, it
becomes patently clear that he is merely re-constructing other
writers' ideas, and doing it rather badly. One of the main
flaws in this book is the inaccuracy concerning Arabic. The
whole point of Akhtar's book is that the Qur'an be understood
correctly. The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic, and this is what
the 'mystery' and the 'message' is supposed to be about. The
Arabic language is therefore the central theme of Akhtar's book.
Yet Akhtar destroys any confidence the reader may have in him by
getting his facts totally wrong. He even gets languages mixed
up; a mistake that may have been regarded as an oversight in any
other book becomes incompetence in this one.
Arabic is the language
of the Qur'an, yet when describing the letters of the alphabet,
Akhtar does not describe Arabic at all, but Urdu. He appears
to be ignorant of basic differences between the two languages,
describing the Urdu alphabet and labelling it 'Arabic'. It is
very much like a Spanish being described as English. The two
may well be related, but they are not the same. They may have
some letters in common, but there are intrinsic differences between
the languages that cannot be ignored. For example, he writes
that there are three 's' sounds, and four 'z' sounds in the
'language of the message'. (P.159) This may well be true of
Urdu, but it is definitely not true of Arabic which has only two 's'
sounds, and only one 'z' sound. For the reader who knows any
Arabic, it immediately becomes clear that the very foundation of the
book is flawed. This in turn leads the reader to be suspicious
of the contents of the book as a whole. Fortunately for
Akhtar, this section appears in the middle of the book, following
the descriptions of Hamza's dreams. The reader is encouraged
and enticed by a fairly promising story, only to be disappointed by
the 'proofs' that follow.
Akhtar tries to prove
the 'wonders' of Arabic by demonstrating that the 'Combination of
letters in its roots is also peculiar. When similar letters
are combines, they denote generally different shades of meaning of
the same idea.' Some examples will be given below because it
is necessary to demonstrate quite how inaccurate Akhtar is when he
discusses Arabic. At this point, it is worth mentioning that
(and Akhtar gets this right) Arabic verbs are triliteral; they
consist of a 'root' of three letters. From this basic root,
several verb forms and nouns are constructed. This structure
is discussed by Akhtar in some detail. The problem is, Akhtar
tries to impose too much order on a language that does not always
act in an orderly way. He looks for patterns where, in fact,
there are none. Languages do not always 'behave' logically -
they exist in the realm of passions too. Unfortunately, Akhtar
is searching for rules which he can impose on a moving, living
system - the Arabic language. He is so keen to discover some
scientific order that he misses the meaning of the text altogether;
in looking for patterns, he ignores exceptions to 'the rule' and
thus misses the stinging irony or humour of the Arabic text.
An example of 'order',
according to Akhtar, can be found in these words which have similar
roots: Khafar which means to escort or safe conduct, ghafar which
means to cover or conceal and kafar which also means to cover or
conceal. (p.153) So far, so good. It can be seen that by
changing the first letter, but by using letters with similar sounds
- gh,kh,k- (of course, some linguists would argue that these are not
at all similar sounds, but let us bear with Akhtar for a moment),
words with similar meanings can be discovered. Unfortunately
for Akhtar this is not as simple as he would have the reader
believe. Arabic verbs can present a huge variety of meanings.
ghafar can also mean to forgive, whilst kafar is the origin of the
word kafir; or infidel. An Arabic verb may present up to ten
forms, and one form alone can have several meanings. A good
example of this is 'ada which can mean any of the following in its
first form alone: to return, to be traceable, to give up, to resign
to accrue, to grow, to yield, to do something no more or no longer.
One of my favourites that involves several forms of the verb is
malla, which can mean to become weary or bored, to be boring or
irritating, to dictate or, finally, to embrace a religion.
Take your pick.
True, verbs usually have
a common theme, but this is by no means always the case. What
is the connection between being boring and being religious? Or
to leave, to stink, to intervene, to be pleased, and to have a break
(some of the verbs derived from the verb ruh)?
Akhtar then steers into
even more uncertain territory when he looks for links between nouns
constructed from these verbs. The example he gives is laban,
which means milk. He gives examples of the other nouns that
have a similar root (l,b,n). Several of the words he lists do
not appear in Arabic dictionaries at all e.g labain, lab'an.
The words that do appear have different meanings to the ones he
allocates to them. For example, malban, which he claims means
milk vessel (The Hans Wehr dictionary says it means a sweet made of
corn starch - we are not told which dictionary Akhtar uses).
Another example that he places in the same list of words does not
even derive from the same triliteral root - malainat does not share
the root letters l,b,n. Yet it is given as an example of how
the root system works (p.155). The use of a word from another
root is patently absurd in this case, because the whole point of
this section is to prove how Arabic words with the same root are
related. If the reader was uneasy with the mistakes concerning
the alphabet, these further errors totally undermine any confidence
in Akhtar's authority to be discussing the mystery of the Arabic in
the Qur'an. It is quite clear he knows very little about it at
all.
Akhtar's approach, apart
from being inaccurate, is actually unnecessary. The Qur'an can
be seen as a book that does not need any 'defence'. It can
stand as it is; full of mystery and beauty. For Muslims, the
Qur'an is valid and true with or without any mathematical proofs.
Defending a religious belief or text in the way Akhtar has done,
involves an acceptance of Western secularism, and the worldview that
accompanies it. Secularism in this case is held up as the
yardstick by which reality is measured, and no counter-reality
exists. (1) Thus, in this case, it is seen necessary to find
logic at any cost, along with numerical patterns within the text, in
order for the Qur'an to be taken seriously and therefore 'proven' to
be sound. Another worldview would accept the Qur'an as a holy text
that is not in need of what appears to be a mad scrabble for
demeaning 'proofs'. The glory of the Qur'an in this worldview
lies in the raw power of the words which need no defence. They
can be analysed, discussed, and even questioned (honest disbelief
and questioning are not considered crimes in an Islamic system of
belief) but the concept of a need to 'prove' anything according to
another worldview and its standards would not even be considered.
In an alternative approach to the text, students of Qur'anic studies
would marvel at the subtle irony and sense of play that appears in
its pages (2). For example, in Sura 78 the root system of
Arabic verbs is used with great effect precisely because the nouns
have no correlation with each other, yet have contrasting meanings.
Full-breasted maidens/companions of equal age (atrab) in paradise
closely follow images of death and hell, they also contrast with the
dust of the grave (turab) in the last verse. The root t,r,b
acts as a thread linking disparate passages together. The
effect is outstanding the reader's mind is packed full of images,
which seduce, taunt, deride, and promise. He is taken to the
pinnacles of heaven, then cruelly cast to the torments of hell.
Earth is described as being created as 'a place of rest' or 'a
bosom'; night as our covering; mankind made in pairs; the earth full
of abundance. Love and sex, procreation and abundance
are woven within the tapestry of the text through the use of the
Arabic language and play on words. If there were any miracle,
any mystery in the text, it would be this: the sheer outstanding
beauty of the language of the Qur'an. The ability it holds to
move a man to tears, then to shock him with a sudden jolt of joy.
The message in Sure 78 is clear; it is not withheld needing some
computer expert to decipher it as Akhtar argues in the final section
of his book. It is this: we will all taste be fruit of our
deeds in the hereafter, and we have all been warned about this
fact. Sura 78 is one of thousands of such examples within the
Qur'an. The text merely has to be approached with an open
mind.
The second major flaw in
this book is Akhtar's obsession with the mathematical
structure of the Qur'an. Again, he and several others seem to
believe that unless something can be 'proven' scientifically, it is
not worth much. The Qur'an is forced into a numerical slot,
regardless of the fact that it does not fit that slot, and
never will. He believes that once enclosed, it becomes
'real' and acceptable to the West (and, sadly, to some
Muslims too); it is at last recognised for the scientific marvel
that it is. He ignores a couple of verses here and there, and
a few words that don't quite fit, and present and reader with
a scientific, logical mathematical 'marvel'. Now, at last, he
holds, the world will listen. The Qur'an is so complicated that only
a computer can decipher the code. Real logic was under Muslims'
noses all the time, they just weren't sophisticated enough to
understand it.
The numerical 'proofs'-
the culmination of the book - are found towards the end (pp.
336-362). This section is headed 'The Miracle', and is supposed to
prove beyond doubt that the Qur'an is a numerical mystery.
There is supposed to be a 'superhuman structure hidden in the
text' (p. 336). Numbers, letters, words and chapters are all
supposed to be part of a mathematical code based on the number
nineteen. This is a miracle that 'anyone, anywhere in the world,
could witness with the help of a computer'. (P.336) There are two
problems here; first, the code is only accessible to people with
computers so, if you don't have one, tough - the miracle is not
accessible to you. You can only read or recite the holy book (or
listen to it being recited) , and never really witness the true
depths of the text. The other problem here is the same as in the
linguistic section; if something doesn't fit - and a lot doesn't,
even with the help of a computer - Akhtar ignores it. 'The
miracle' lies in the number nineteen and only with the number
nineteen. Letters appear in multiples of nineteen, Sura
numbers plus the sum of their verses add up to multiples of
nineteen, too. Words that appears nineteen times are boldly put
forward as examples of the miracles. Words that don't quite
fit are not mentioned (e.g 'ilm' knowledge), which appears 105
times, or nabi (prophet) which appears 75 times). Suras which have
verses, or letters that add up to multiples of nineteen are
described with relish, those that don't are ignored. (P.338-9) The
'code' is merely an exercise in mathematical acrobatics. It would be
interesting to see a similar thing done to 'Pride and Prejudice'
or a Shakespearean Play. They would then, presumably, be labelled as
extra-terrestrial messages too. Akhtar devotes pages to
demonstrating the mathematical code. This section of the book is
difficult to read or follow. The columns from tables at the back of
the book are added, multiplied and mixed in various intricate ways
in order to come up with the number nineteen. This 'proof' is
not well presented, and I found myself battling against fatigue when
reading it. In some parts, it was presented as a remarkable fact
that numbers multiplied by nineteen result in a number that is a
multiple of nineteen. This is hardly the stuff miracle are made of.
In fact, the 'miracle'
of the number nineteen is something that has been seen before and
has been analysed and rejected by serious scholars (3) and Muslims
alike. The original protagonist of the theory, a Dr. Rahad Khalifa
eventually became deranged, believing that he alone could interpret
the Qur'an correctly, and that the prophet Muhammad had no role to
play in islam (4).
Finally, it needs to be
stressed that Akhtar's whole conceptual frame work is actually
western, orientated, and not Islamic. This is demonstrated not
only in his search for mathematical proofs but also in his view of
mankind as a whole. He is a firm believer in the 'advancement'
of humanity. We have, according to him, developed from
'primitives' and 'tribes' and are still developing. He writes
that people of the nineteen century were not as 'mature' as we are
today. (p.p.48,64) 'Animism' is described as 'the first stage in the
evolution of religion' , and was the religion of 'the isolated
tribal'. Higher forms of religion are polytheism, and, finally
monotheism. He seems to have swallowed darwinism
unquestionably, and applies it to the development of religion.
I find it hard to believe that people who live in tribal structures
such as Native Americans, Africans or Bedouin are 'primitive' , in
fact, the opposite can be claimed to be the case with Americans
beginning to realise how much they could have learned from the
original inhabitants of the land so long ago had they held a
different worldview. Interestingly, the Qur'an nowhere
describes any people as 'primitive'. It is held that there is
only one God, and that worshipping idols is wrong. People on
the last day be judged according to what they knew when alive, and
how they reacted to that knowledge (for example, Sura 17.71).
Akhtar however, leaves the reader in no doubt that he is acting
within the Western worldview, believing firmly in the
mechanistic view of society as an advancing developing machine.
Whilst decrying evolution in the book (p.116) Akhtar is
actually working within the system of belief that it created.
He even goes so far as to say that the Black Death was a positive
thing because it led to the world domination by Western powers.
He calls this a 'positive aspect' of the tragedy of so many deaths.
(p.117) It is astounding to read that Akhtar holds this view
in an age when even the West is feeling remorse about the horrors
prepetrated during the brutal colonial period. F. David Peat,
a scientist who is interested in Native American culture, writes in
his book Blackfoot Physics that, after contact with the West, 'We
see a dying people trying to find meaning in the terrible punishment
that had been imposed upon them. We see them struggling in the
face of explorers and settlers who bring with them alien worldviews
and values. Thus, a people who had obligations to renew the
land met people who believed in land ownership. A people who
believed in balance and the renewal of time met those who believed
in progress, control, accumulation, and linear time. Those who had
based their lives on consensus met treaties and hierachical
government. Those to whom justice was the return of harmony of
the whole group met adversarial trial and punishment.' (5) Western
civilisation is not seen as the peak of mankind's development but as
a source of the senseless annihilation of countless peoples.
Nowadays this worldview is also considered to be responsible for the
steady destruction of the planet as a whole. It is therefore
ludicrous that the Qur'an is seen as only being finally understood
from within this Western, totally non-Islamic, and frequently
aggressive system. The West is seen by Akhtar to be the
culture that provides Muslims with the means to crack the code.
The only concession to Islam is that a Muslim, Hamza, is delivering
the message to the world.
The book fails as an
explanation of the Qur'an's mysteries because it is written by
someone who finds it necessary to put the Qur'an into a logical
'slot', forcing it to conform to Western proofs and numerical codes.
It is also clear that a man who does not know much Arabic should not
be writing a book about the wonders of the language, and the
mysteries it holds. The Qur'an itself needs no defence, least
of all from a system of values and beliefs that are totally alien to
it, and which may just as easily reject it when some new scientific
theory comes along. Finally, even if Akhtar were correct, and
the numbers did in fact add up, making the Qur'an scientifically
'proven' and 'sound', it would make no difference to the lives of
millions of ordinary Muslims who thrill to its sounds daily.
The true miracle of the Qur'an lies in the powerful emotional and
spiritual effect it has on mankind. The following passage is a
moving example of the effect the Qur'an had upon an illiterate
woman. It is beyond science, beyond numbers and even beyond
words:
For a long time she
would allow her eyes to rest on the two open pages before her.
The letters in green ink from right to left, row beneath row, each
shape mysteriously captivating, each dot above or below a letter an
epitome of the entire scripture, each assembly of letters a group of
dervishes raising their hands in zikr, each gap between two
enigmatic shapes a leap from this world into the next, and each
ending the advent of the day of Resurrection. She would thus
see a thousand images in the procession of that script and would
move from vision to vision.
After spending much time
in just looking at the open book, she would then, with a strange
light glowing on her face, lift her right hand and with the right
finger start touching the letters of each line, then another line,
to the end of the page. What transpired between the book and
that touch, and what knowledge passed, without any meditation of
conscious thought, directly into her soul, only the Qur'an and the
strange reciter could know. The entire world stood still at
this amazing recital without words, without meaning, without
knowledge. With that touch a unity was established between her and
the Qur'an. At that moment she had passed into a state of
total identity with the word of God. Her inability to read the
scripture was her ability to hear once again: Read! Read, in the
name of thy Lord. (6)
Notes
(1) Ziauddin
Sardar and Merryll Wyn Davies Distorted Imagination (London: Grey
Seal Books 1990) p.6.
(2) Mustansir Mir, 'Humour in
the Qur'an', Muslim World vol. LXXXI July-Oct 1991, no. 3-4 pp.
179-193.
(3) Ziauddin Sardar,
Explorations in Islamic Science (London: Mansell Publishing Ltd
1989) pp. 37-42.
(4) Ibid. p. 40
(5) F David Peat, Blackfoot
Physics (London: Fourth Estate Ltd 1994) p. 124.
(6) Hasan Askari, Alone to
alone, 113, quoted in Discovering the Qur'an by Neal Robinson
(London: SCM Press Ltd 1996)
Gail Boxwell is
currently writing her PhD thesis on Qur'anic Arabic at the
Department of Theology and Religious Studies, the University of
Leeds, U.K.
^Top
Authour's Reply to Ms Gail's 'Desperately seeking logic'
Immaturity and ignorance
makes a person unnecessarily aggressive. Although Ms. Gail's review
highlights both, I must thank her for at least making an effort of
going through the book. She may not have been able to comprehend the
contents fully, still she seems to have tried.
As far as her
critical comments are concerned, she has accused me mainly on three
basic points:
'His book fails in three respects: firstly
because his knowledge of Arabic is virtually non-existent; secondly,
he is so intent on proving the existence of a mathematical code that
he fixes his results, overlooks exceptions to his
'rules' and totally
ignores any linguistic aspects of the text in the hunt for numerical
clues; thirdly, and more seriously, his book is also offensive
because it is a demonstration of worst form of Eurocentrism. The
Quran - according to Akhtar - is now 'understood' only because
clever western people have invented computers thus enabling Muslims
to at last unlock the secrets of the text. Centuries of Islamic
thought count for nothing compared to the marvels of the West.'
Eurocentrism or
Qurancentrism?
'Clever western people'
and 'the marvels of the West' indeed - the only thing I believe one
can marvel at is the aggressive absurdity of this sentence. In this
book, over twenty thousand words spread over 58 pages have been used
exclusively to point out how Quran has helped in the collection,
translation, and assimilation of existing knowledge of the world,
how it had guided and inspired philanthropists, scientists, workers
and other men of knowledge - to produce creative works, establish
learning centres, observatories, paper mills, hospitals, libraries
and other infra-structure, to make the environment conducive for
learning and development, and what was the extent and diversity of
creative work that followers of Quran produced getting inspiration
from it. Ibn Khaldun is specifically quoted (p. 263) as having
claimed that 3000 subjects had already been derived from the Quran
by 13th century. Moreover, I have also shown why this development
stopped, what were the myriad factors and components of the
interpreting machinery of Quran, the inherent safeguards in it that
were ignored, and how the outstanding works of Muslim scientists of
that era became the basic structure on which the present edifice of
science has been built. The aim of this presentation was to show how
Quran had guided the humanity from the time of its arrival, and how
it is still guiding the world, directly and indirectly, involving an
intricate pattern of chaos and order. One may or may not agree with
me, but to the best of my ability, I have avoided using
abstractions, generalities and element of faith as the basic
premise. Wherever possible, concrete examples have been provided to
remove innumerable misunderstandings, and the veils of prejudices
that hinder a non-believer from turning towards Quran. Now, after a
decade long effort on this subject, I would have accepted her
criticism gladly if she had accused me of Qurancentrism, but her
allegation of Eurocentrism has totally stumped me. It is almost
bizarre.
Problems with Arabic
language?
Another point, in
elaboration of which she is quite rude, aggressive and woefully
ignorant, pertains to the Arabic language.
'The Arabic language
is the central theme of Akhtar's book. Yet Akhtar destroys any
confidence the reader may have in him by getting his facts totally
wrong.. For the reader who knows any Arabic, it immediately becomes
clear that the very foundation of the book is flawed. This in turn
leads the reader to be suspicious of the contents of the book as a
whole..'
Ms Gail seems so intent
on demolishing the book with the little knowledge of Arabic she
possesses, that she does not realise that Arabic is not the central
theme of the book. The book lays down almost three hundred and fifty
arguments for Quran being the last message as well as the last
non-human messenger and the probability of 'further guidance'
emerging from the same text in different eras of the future. Out of
these three hundred and fifty arguments, less than twenty arguments
pertain to Arabic language. These arguments present several new
insights regarding this language, explaining why this particular
language was chosen as an ideal medium of communication for this
Message. But all new insights, by being inherently different from
established views, are bound to attract conflicting opinions. A
healthy debate on this topic is always welcome. Unfortunately Ms.
Gail's criticism is a bit too ridiculous for any serious
researcher's taste.
'Arabic is the language of the Quran, yet when describing the
letters of the alphabet, Akhtar does not describe Arabic at all, but
Urdu. He appears to be ignorant of basic differences between the two
languages, describing Urdu alphabets but labelling it 'Arabic'. It
is very much like a Spanish being described as English..'
This comment, coming from a
person who is working for her PhD in Arabic, is simply outrageous
and shows the entire Dept. of Theology and Religious Studies of
Leeds University in very poor light. The only thing to be
appreciated in this regard is her superb sense of composition as
within four compact sentences she was able to show that she neither
knows Arabic, nor Urdu, nor Spanish.
The alphabets I have
described are Arabic. The three alphabets with 's' sounds - Seen, Se
and Saad and the four alphabets with variations of z sounds
zal, ze, zo and zwad are all common to Urdu and Arabic. The
difference between Arabic and Urdu alphabets is that Urdu contains
seven more alphabets that are not present in Arabic. These Urdu
alphabets are pe, Te (It is different from te where 't' is
pronounced with a French or Italian accent instead of British
accent), che, Daal (This alphabet is also different from daal where
'd' is pronounced with a French or Italian accent), Rhe (In English
you cannot pronounce it correctly), zhe (This alphabet is also
difficult to pronounce and is rarely used e.g. Izhdeham), and gaaf.
Some foreigners, unable
to pronounce the variation of 's' sound in Se correctly, write it as
th (as in Othman), but that does not make it a rule. Moreover, out
of four alphabets with 'z' sounds, only zwad is pronounced by some
as 'dhwad', but that again does not reduce the number of alphabets
with 'z' sounds to one. Before firing off this review, she should
have checked the number and asked herself a question - what was the
crying need to have four alphabets in a language with only one
identical 'z' sound, unless these alphabets have subtle variations
of pronunciations understandable to natives of the language only.
Ironically her utter
ignorance corroborates and explains the Theory of Homonyms by
Muhammad Ahmad Mazhar, whose work I have quoted in this book. As per
his claim, foreigners to Arabic language, unable to differentiate
between subtle differences in pronunciation, unintentionally created
homonyms in their own language by importing verbs, starting with
similar sounding alphabets but having different meanings. Mr.
Mazhar's work is very extensive. He has compiled a dictionary of
almost six hundred words, tracing roots of verb from English,
French, German, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Greek, Russian, Persian,
Sanskrit, Hindi and Chinese to Arabic.
He is so keen
to discover some scientific order that he misses the meaning of the
text altogether; in looking for patterns, he ignores exceptions to
'the rule' and thus misses the stinging irony or humour of the
Arabic text.
Ms Gail forgets one
thing. Exceptions to the rule exist everywhere and on the basis of
exceptions patterns are neither identified nor rejected. Arabic
verbs do present a variety of meanings but one must not forget that
for one thousand years these people were ruling over three
continents, trading and interacting with diverse populations and
situations. The 'words' in such situations acquire
connotations. But if one studies closely, the relation between
different meanings of the same word becomes obvious. Take for
example the two words ghafar and kafar which means to cover or
conceal, and which she has cited as an example to prove that there
is no pattern. She has alleged that 'ghafar' can also mean to
forgive, whilst kafar is the origin of the word kafir or 'infidel'.
Now if one observes closely one can realise that covering or
concealing someone's fault is also forgiving and kafir is the one
who does something against the directive, covering and concealing
the guidance reaching up to him. Thus kafar is the most suitable
root word in this regard, showing that God is not unjust. He will
make a man accountable only with respect to the guidance reaching
him. And since, only God knows how much guidance exactly reaches a
person (as innumerable factors like environment, intelligence,
life's conditions and nature's predisposition etc., all given by God
Himself, affect this exercise), He is the best judge regarding how
much a man indulges in kufr or covers and conceals the guidance.
True, verbs
usually have a common theme (Here she is contradicting herself),
but this is by no means always the case. What is the connection
between being boring and being religious?
The connection is
obvious to anyone with a little humour and imagination. Evil has a
temporary attraction and that is why there is the concept of
accountability. Any man of religion who tries to keep someone away
from this temporary attraction, citing accountability in a life
after this life which he has yet to encounter, will surely be termed
boring by non-believers.
Akhtar then
steers into even more uncertain territory when he looks for links
between nouns constructed from these verbs. The example he gives is
laban, which means milk. He gives examples of other nouns that have
a similar root (l,b,n). Several of the words he lists do not appear
in Arabic dictionaries at all e.g. labain, lab'an. The words that do
appear have different meanings to the one he allocates to them. For
example, malban, which he claims means milk vessel..
I am at a loss to
understand which dictionaries our young researcher has consulted.
Leave alone standard dictionaries, even a simple one like 'A
Learner's Arabic-English Dictionary' by F. Steingass, contains these
words. The reason why I did not mention any dictionaries is because
the examples have been taken from the authoritative book 'Arabic,
The Source of all languages', mentioned in the Bibliography.
'Another example that he places in the same
list of words does not even derive from the same triliteral root -
malainat does not share the root letters l,b,n. Yet it is given as
an example of how the root system works. The use of a word from
another root is patently absurd in this case, because the whole
point of this section is to prove how Arabic words with the same
root are related. If the reader was uneasy with the mistakes
concerning the alphabet, these further errors totally undermine any
confidence in Akhtar's authority to be discussing the mystery of the
Arabic in the Quran. It is quite clear he knows very little about
it.'
Had Ms Gail not
been blinded by her urge to criticise the work so vehemently and
viciously, she herself would have realised that a typographical
error has turned malbinat (sharing the same root letters l,b,n) into
malainat, specifically since the word's meaning has also been given
along with. Secondly, she should also remember that the discussion
involves two different languages, and pronunciation of an Arabic
word into English cannot be translated precisely by each and every
compiler of dictionaries. Slight variations are likely to be
encountered. And thirdly, her contention that verbs of the same root
do not have any relation in meanings to each other, is totally
absurd. I had mentioned only seven words, while more than twenty
words from the same root, exist in the dictionaries related to the
same theme of 'milk'.
Problems with the
mathematical structure?
There are two
problems here; first, the code is only accessible to people with
computers so, if you don't have one, tough - the miracle is not
accessible to you?
This objection is again
absurd. Computer has been used only as a tool to analyse
mathematical correlation in words and alphabets of the text. Once a
mathematical structure has been identified, it can be seen by
anybody, unlike strange phenomena associated with the past
messengers, which were witnessed by only those that were present
close by. It is only to cross check it that a computer will be
required again, as paper and pencil were required to check
those indexes that listed the number of times important words had
occurred in Quran and which were compiled by men using only paper
and pencil.
The other
problem here is the same as in the linguistic section; if something
doesn't fit - and a lot doesn't, even with the help of a computer -
Akhtar ignores it. Words that appear nineteen times are boldly put
forward as examples of the miracle. Words that don't quite fit are
not mentioned. The code is merely an exercise in mathematical
acrobatics. It would be interesting to see a similar thing done to
'Pride and Prejudice' or a Shakespearean play. They would then,
presumably, be labelled as extra-terrestrial messages too.?
Her second
objection is as invalid here as it was in the linguistic section. It
should be understood clearly that a mathematical structure is
identified on the basis of statistical regularity only, which can
exclude the element of chance by a large margin. It is not necessary
that each and every alphabet of the Arabic language should conform
to the pattern, as it would be an impossibility. A hidden structure,
emerging from an old text, dictated orally over twenty three years,
is not an impossibility, it is only beyond a man's capability,
specifically since the number is a big prime number and is not
randomly selected. The Quranic text mentions it, fixing it as a
trial for unbelievers, in order that the People of the Book may
arrive at certainty, and the Believers may increase in faith, and
that no doubt may be left for the People of the Book and the
Believers.. Regarding a similar thing being done to 'Pride and
Prejudice' and labelling it as extra-terrestrial, my answer is, why
does not she do it, why presume only? It will be the surest way to
discredit this demeaning proof.
Why this structure was
rejected by Muslims and why I included it in the book:
Rashad Khalifa's
assertion regarding two verses of the Quran; his claim of being the
latest messenger; his outright rejection of Sunna as Satanic
innovations, his attempts to authorise interpretation of Quran, his
backtracking on several issues coupled with problems in the
identification of Arabic alphabets like aliph, and the discovery of
some manipulation in the structure, all these factors led to the
rejection of this otherwise brilliant structure. But it was done
without realising the gravity of its non acceptance, and its
influence as an objective argument par excellence. My purpose of
including it in the book, is the belief that this structure with all
its benefits, can be re-established by removing manipulations,
explaining anomalies and countering all assertions of Rashad Khalifa
plausibly. And my belief is that Ulema of the community are taking
extremely heavy responsibility upon their shoulders by detaching it
from the very obvious hint, mentioned in the text. Besides, the
structure should not be treated naively as a scientific marvel only,
meant to convince the west. Among its many potential uses mentioned
in my book, it can also solve a long standing problem related to the
existence of variant readings, which has always been used by
non-believers, to attack the integrity of Quran. The structure used
in conjunction with Qirat-e mutwatira and ancient manuscripts, like
the one at Tashkent, can solve this problem once for all. But, for
all this to happen, a positive approach is needed to analyse the
structure. Without involving the antagonism towards Rashad Khalifa,
a great researcher who fell later into the satan's trap, the
structure needs to be checked extremely thoroughly by statisticians
and linguists of repute and intelligence, to see what is the truth.
Some other objections of
Ms Gail
He is a firm
believer in the advancement of humanity. We have according to him,
developed from primitives and tribes and are still developing.
Yes, I am a firm
believer in the advancement of humanity and tribes did exist
initially instead of the present structure depending upon rural and
urban centres. But she misquotes me when she says we developed from
'primitives'. On the contrary, I have specifically mentioned that
Adam was given at his birth, the concept of the basic religion, an
ability to communicate, and the basic structure of a language.
He writes that
people of the nineteenth century were not as mature as we are today.
(pp. 48,64)
It is true. Pick-up
randomly the literature published in nineteenth century and compare
it with the present, you will yourself realise that with increasing
information and easy communication, the humanity is now better able
to see each other's view point.
Animism is
described as the first stage in the evolution of religion, and was
the religion of the isolated tribal. Higher forms of religion are
polytheism, and finally monotheism. He seems to have swallowed
Darwinism unquestionably, and applies it to the development of
religion.
As a reply to this
accusation, I can only say that her knowledge of English seems to be
at par with her knowledge of Urdu, Spanish and Arabic. The
statements she mentions are part of a dialogue where an expert on
religion explains the evolutionary theory of religion, propagated by
those who do not believe in the Creator factor and Divine origin of
revealed guidance. How can these thoughts be understood as belonging
to me when my whole book is an effort to prove the existence of
Creator factor?
'Quran can be seen as a book that does not
need any defence'; 'glory of Quran lies in the raw power of words' - such statements sound pleasing to the
ears, but, one must never forget that conflicting perspectives are a
reality and result in lot of misery around the world. Army of
persecutors in Bosnia, Palestine, Burma, and Kashmir, are not
students of Quranic studies who can marvel at the subtle irony and
sense of play appearing in its contents, but their leaders and other
men of intellect, who have influence in the world affairs, can be
convinced logically about the truth of Quran and futility of working
at cross purpose with God. With the present ease of communication
and the level of maturity, such a goal can be realised, however
distant it may look. But it is not a simple exercise. There are
barriers after barriers, of prejudice, ignorance, and
misunderstandings, related with every aspect of Quran. This book was
envisaged as an attempt to bring those queries and their answers
under one roof, in an interesting format and in the language which
would be comprehensible to a majority. It was not written to satisfy
one's ego or to convince Arabic speaking Muslims that Quran is
Divine. It was primarily written to invite those men towards Quran
who are not convinced about its Source being God, and thus miss out
on the benefits that could accrue from 'The Light' which is the
greatest gift of the Creator to humanity.
^Top
The Sunday
Observer
May 18th -24th, 1997
Should the sun hiccup...
"An expanding
shell of less energy from the sun's core was moving towards its
surface for the last million years. As the shell breaks through the
outer envelope, sometime in the 21st century, the sun's output dips
slightly. The shell is thin and the peculiar irregularity in the
solar machinery is not going to last long. Still, the event has
tremendous potential of menace, as even this thin solar hiccup has
the capability to push the planet towards a cold grave, from which
it had emerged only twelve thousand years ago..."
This scenario,
though spine-chilling, is fast becoming a reality. Temperature
changes all over the world has brought the spectre of ice age
disturbingly close. The Ultimate Revelations, one of the few science
fictions written in India, talks about the time when ice age
actually dawns on the world, and mankind - for once forgetting all
their differences-search for a solution. It's a matter of their
survival.
The book begins
with a young scientist, Hamza dreaming about a celestial phenomenon.
A ring of material tears from an intensely luminous gaseous talk,
whirling fast in the inky black space and expands outwards like
giant ripple. There follows a series of such dreams. About
tryannosaurus and dinosaurs - the early inhabitants of the earth -,
Noah's arc and the arrival of Buddha.
Running parallel
to this sequence of events is the dawning of ice age. This is how
the author describes it, "For the last million years, an expanding
shell of less energy produced at the sun's core, was working its way
towards the surface. Now it had just reached the outer envelope of
the sun. The shell was thin, and it was going to produce only a
small irregularity in the working of the solar machinery, just a
tiny hiccup on the solar scale, that was going to last for a mere
eight months of the planet earth... Owing to the peculiar condition
related with the earth's reflective capacity, its entire ecology lay
poised on a knife's edge so sharp, that even this small irregularity
had the capability to push the planet towards a cold grave.."
And what solution
does Akhtar present though his protagonist Hamza for this crisis? A
message given by extraterrestrial Intelligence in the actual past,
available on the planet, and revered by over six hundred million
people. The well-researched arguments presented relate to its time
and place of arrival, characteristics of the language, the contents
and the composition.
Akhtar claims that
this extra terrestrial message did not arrive randomly, but is
logically predicted though a cosmic design that links together- in a
single strand - all laws of nature, elements of change, accidents,
catastrophes and global creative impulses. A mathematical support
for the hypothesis is also provided in the book together with the
suggestion of a probable key to the ultimate code.
The Ultimate
Revelations is a gripping science fiction. The chapters describing
Hamza's dreams and the catastrophe caused by the advent of the ice
age are written in a lucid style.
Deepali Nandwani
^Top
The Times of
India
Feb 23rd, 1997
'In search of new meanings in Quran'
Jamshed Akhtar's
book The Ultimate Revelations is a clever amalgam of fact and
fiction. It is a search for layers of meaning in the Quran. Since it
goes on to imply and say new things, it is in the danger of being
misunderstood...
In the book. the
author pursues the line of thought that Quran may be a message sent
extra-terrestrially to the mind of prophet Mohammed and may have
layer upon layer of meaning... scientists like Hoyle and
Wickramsinghe had suggested in the past that the large amount of
'dark' matter seen in telescope as occupying outer space may
actually be organic formations capable of intelligent behaviour but
of sizes equal to billions of stars like the sun; in other words
that there were brain-like structures the size of an entire galaxy.
They suggested that the enormous 'brain' in outer space could act
like a demi-god. Akhtar does not mean by God any such contraption
nor does he imply that the Quran was sent by some creatures in outer
space. What he does seem to be implying is that if signals can be
sent to brains by creatures in outer space how much more likely it
is that a coded message was sent by God to Mohammed and if it is
allowed that new ages will be seeking the meaning according to their
preparedness, then why should it not be that there may be hidden
layers of meaning which can be known only at the time which is right
and proper to receive it.
Science has its
enigmas, and like religion, is based on a certain kind of faith; the
faith that the universe is, has been and will always be orderly and
that if we think hard enough we can know what that order is. In
fact, sooner or later, science and religion must overlap and
converge, as we understand science and religion better and better.
The Ultimate Revelations is cleverly cast in the form of a science
fiction because it is well known that science fiction of one
generation often becomes the fact of another generation...
As a literary work, the
book has both artistic as well as informative merit based on short
chapters, each containing summary accounts of successive episodes in
the historical record of the universe as described by science as
well as religion...
In short, the book is an
unique example of the new and popular style of writing called
'faction' a combination of some fact some fiction..
Habeebul H Ansari
^Top
'The Hindu'
Sunday, July 7,
1996
The Book News
Message from the
stars
Using the vehicle of
science fiction, Jamshed Akhtar presents his views on the search for
extra-terrestrial intelligence being pursued by astronomers all over
the planet in "The Ultimate Revelations".
In the book, Akhtar puts
on record arguments for one such "message from the stars" that is
not a future probability but is part on an actual past, available on
the planet. The arguments presented in the book relate to its time
of arrival, place of arrival, characteristics of the language, the
contents, the composition, presence of knowledge ahead of its time
in the text, mysteries involved in its arrival and its subsequent
effect on humanity.
A probability of
colossal quantum of "knowledge from stars" in the text, in coded
format, is presented with mathematical support. The book comes with
an invitation from the author to all to verify his arguments and
evidence, prove him wrong or help him in decoding the first layer of
message.
Anita Joshua
^Top
The Islamic Voice
Feb 23rd, 1997
Science fiction with a difference
It is early 21st
century. The shadow of destruction looms large over earth. The
danger of the impending ice age is so real that the scientific wing
of the UN has arranged a tele-conference to be telecast throughout
the world in a desperate search for a clue from anyone to counter
the threat. The time is too short for a long term strategy to avoid
the seemingly inevitable catastrophe. A help from the possible extra
terrestrial intelligence is probably the only solution in such a
short-time, a message from the space providing the vital clue for
survival. The message comes in the form of series of visions to an
Indian scientist. He witnesses the whole process of earth's
formation, the gigantic creatures of the Dinasour age, the building
of Noah's Arc, Buddha's delivering sermon to the monks, Moses
mounting over Toor hills for his Divine Appointment, Prophet
Zachariah winning the guardianship of Mary who was destined to give
birth to Jesus Christ, an ascribe of Qur'an reading a revelation to
the prophets companions, and finally the clue to the message
anxiously awaited by the world. The deduction from the visions was
that the message had already come to the world centuries ago and the
survival of humanity depended upon following the leads of the
Message. The scientist, with the help of a lead given by a scientist
in the 70's of the 20th century, produces before the world a miracle
of the message, an inherent mathematical structure in it which no
man could have incorporated.
'The Ultimate
Revelations' is a unique religion-science fiction, with a purpose
and therefore very different from other science fictions. The climax
of the novel is based on a divine mathematical structure in Qur'an
unfolded by an America based Egyptian UNIDO scientist Rashad Khalifa
in 1969. He produced more than a hundred examples of a 19 based
structure and gained an instant popularity in the Muslim world. But
the whole Muslim-Community was shocked, when he declared in 1973
that the structure worked only if the last two verses of Surah Tauba
(9:120,129) were deleted from Qur'an. Subsequently, he claimed the
mantle of prophethood and ultimately was murdered.. in 1990.
The author points out
that the Muslims while eulogizing him prior to 1973 for his great
service, did not take pain to verify his calculations and they
committed the same blunder again in outrightly rejecting his
hypothesis, when he disclosed that the miracle of Qur'an worked only
if two of its verses were deleted from it. More than 50 calculations
of the structure are true anyway, with those two verses included in
the Message. Why should we entirely seal a spoiled and misguided
genius' contribution? We should have taken a lead from him and
removed his anomalies.
The author by producing
some examples has shown that the miracle works both ways (with or
without two verses). Rejecting Rashad Khalifa's contention about the
two verses, he concludes that those two verses have a special status
and in fact are the key to other hidden meanings of the message...
There are many other
data, which in my opinion Rashad Khalifa has manipulated. There are
also many a debatable mode of calculations which he used to
discredit the two verses of Qur'an... All his data (for their
counts) and calculations (for many of their modes) need
verification. I agree with the author and congratulate him in
presenting Rashad Khalifa's theory anew for the undistorted facts in
the theory are of immense value. Innovative research by Muslim
scholars on these lines will beyond doubt prove to the world one of
the most amazing miracles of Qur'an to date. The author has
presented his theme in the form of a beautifully written novel.
Though, in the end of the book, the lengthy part of the descriptive
calculations tends to disturb its value as a novel. The absorbing
revelations of this portion, more than makes up for the loss in
technique.
The book is thoroughly
enjoyable for those whose subjects are science or religion. But even
if you are not interested in either of the above it may prove to be
an asset for your personal library for ready reference on a variety
of topics. The book contains encyclopaedic information on the cosmic
phenomena, the atmospheric impacts, the formation of planet earth
and the creations of Tyrannusaurus age, and many other subjects like
theory of evolution of Islamic Science, apart from detailed and
authentic information on Bible, and Qur'an.
Tariq Abdullah
^Top |
