God's title Possessor of the Highest Degree, found only once in the Quran at 40:15, and the gematrical value of the Arabic word rafii equaling 360, tied to the number 19 and its purposes in 74:31. Masjid Tucson's interfaith soup kitchen and scripture study group are reported, followed by 40 guiding principles of life drawn from the Quran by the Quranic Society of Malaysia.
God Almighty placed His mathematical miracle
in the Quran for His true believers to see and to assure them that the
Quran is His word. God provided us with various aspects of the miracle
within the mathematical miracle itself.
This is a report on one simple observation on the numerical structure
of the Quran. Yet, this seemingly simple miracle is a strong proof for
the total control of God Almighty on every letter and word in His Book,
which He calls the best hadith.
Only ONCE in the whole Quran that has 114 suras and 6346 verses did God
Almighty choose to call Himself “Possessor of the HIGHEST degree.”
Actually the whole verse goes like this:
(God) Possessor of the highest degree, and Ruler of the
whole dominion. He sends inspiration, bearing His commands, to whomever
He chooses from among His servants, to warn about the Day of Summoning.
40:15
The expression “Possessor of the highest degree” is Rafii
Al-Daragat in Arabic. The Arabic word Rafii means “the
Highest” in English. The word Daragat means “degree.”
What is the highest degree possible in geometry? As we all know it is
360. Is it then a coincidence that the gematrical (numerical) value of
the word rafii in Arabic is equal to 360? This means God is the
possessor of the highest
degree, the 360 degrees. There is no higher
degree than this.
Does this tell us something? God, Possessor of the highest degree, is
in control of every letter and word in His book. Where did the numerical
value of the word “Rafii” come from? The word Rafii consists
of four Arabic letters, Raa, Faa, Yaa, and
Ain. The numerical values of these letters are:
Raa = 200,
Faa =80,
Yaa =10,
Ain = 70.
The whole word adds to 360, where 200 + 80 + 10 + 70 = 360.
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Possessor of Highest Degree
Now we may appreciate better the names that God gave Himself in
the following verses:
He (God) is the Alpha, and the Omega. He is the Outermost,
and the Innermost. He is fully aware of all things. 57:3
God Almighty who controls the whole
universe has all the knowledge. He is the author of the Quran. He
numerically structured the Quran (83:9) based on the number 19 (74:30).
He gives us the reasons for this in verse 74:31, right after the
number 19 is mentioned in the previous verse:
(1) to disturb the disbelievers,
(2) to convince the Christians and Jews (that this is a divine scripture),
(3) to strengthen the faith of the faithful,
(4) to remove all traces of doubt from the hearts of Christians,
Jews, as well as the
believers, and
(5) to expose those who harbor
doubt in their hearts, and the disbelievers; they will say, “What
did God mean by this allegory?” God thus sends astray whomever
He wills, and guides whomever He wills. None knows the soldiers
of your Lord except He. This is a reminder for the people.
God surrounds everything and He possesses the Highest Degree. Glorified
is the One God, there is no god besides Him.
Atef Khalifa
Masjid
Tucson Activities
Soup Kitchen
We participate in an ongoing project to help feed the hungry in
our town in cooperation with Casas Adobes congregational church
and Congregation-or-Chadash Jewish group. This project
started over five years ago with soup kitchens every other month.
Then we started doing it every month in 1997. However, since May
1998, we were able to do a soup kitchen twice a month because of
the increased interest and contributions from the community by God’s
grace. Instead of feeding 300 people, we now feed 700 to 1000 homeless
and poor people. We use the kitchen facilities of Casa Maria, a
Catholic run operation in south of Tucson. We also use the
facility of Masjid Tucson to prepare
the sandwiches before hand since Casa Maria kitchen is very tiny
for the number of people that need to be fed. May God accept our
efforts.
Volunteers from the three communities run the soup kitchen. These
volunteers get together twice a month. They buy all the necessary
food for the soup kitchen. They prepare, cook and distribute the
food the next day at the Casa Maria’s kitchen facility. The
last month’s soup kitchen participation was on August 11 and
23. Hot meals and sandwiches were served to about 1000 needy people.
This month’s soup kitchen services will be on September 13th
and 26th.
Interfaith Study Group
An interfaith scripture study group has been on going at the ICS
Mosque since October 1997. The group started meeting at 7:30 p.m.
on the first Tuesday of every other month. So far these scripture
studies have been very fruitful and lively. During the study, each
group reads and discusses their scripture for about half an hour.
The Torah reading is directed by the Congregation-or-Chadash,
the Gospel reading is directed by Casas Adobes congregational church
members and the Quran reading by the participants from Masjid Tucson.
Soup kitchen and interfaith scripture group activities are coordinated
by Senobar Tafazoli.
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PEARLS OF WISDOM
40 Guiding Principles of Life
We have summarized the teachings of the Holy Quran into 40 principles,
arranging them, to the best of our knowledge, in an order of priority
given in the Quran. We hope that Muslims can easily order their
lives in that pattern and attain success. The numbers in brackets
refer to some of the Quranic verses stating each principle.
The above principles are prepared by the Quranic Society
of Malaysia: 80 Jalan Gajah, 11200 Tg. Bunga, Penang, Malaysia. Please
address all inquires on the subject to Kassim Ahmad at that address. His
e-mail is [email protected]
We welcome your articles as well as comments for the newsletter.
Please send them to ICS/Masjid Tucson, PO Box 43476, Tucson, AZ 85733,
USA. Electronic inquiries can be made through [email protected].
About this work
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Document
Author
International Community of Submitters
Publisher
International Community of Submitters / Masjid Tucson