By the Even and the Odd
Quran Talk Blog · Article · December 30, 2024
In Sura 89, Dawn (Al-Fajr), God swears by the even and the odd.
89:3 By the even and the odd.
(٣) وَٱلشَّفْعِ وَٱلْوَتْرِ
The Quran is composed of 114 Suras (chapters) and 6,234 numbered verses. Summing the Sura numbers sequentially (1 + 2 + 3 + … + 114) gives a total of 6,555. Separately, the total number of verses across all Suras also equals 6,234.
Next, for each Sura, we add the Sura number to the corresponding number of verses in that Sura. We then check whether the resulting total for each Sura is even or odd. Remarkably, we find that 57 of these totals are even, and 57 are odd.
If we sum all the Sura + Verse totals for the chapters with even totals, the result is 6,234—the total number of verses in the Quran. Conversely, summing all the Sura + Verse totals for the chapters with odd totals yields 6,555—the total sum of all Sura numbers in the Quran.
Furthermore, the number 19 is a foundational aspect of the numerical structure of the Quran (). Therefore, it is worth noting that both 57 and 6,555 are exact multiples of 19: