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Yahweh in Quran & Islam The number 11 is very significant in Islam. 163. وَإِلَـهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ لاَّ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ 163. And your God is One God. There is no God but He, the Most Compassionate, the Ever-Merciful. (Quran 2:163) The declaration of the oneness of God in the above verse of the Quran, 2:163, is comparable to the following verse from the Old Testament (Torah) of the Bible: " Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4) In some versions of the Bible: " Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God; the Lord is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Notice that the Quranic verse number cited above, verse 163, is equal to the numerical value of the Arabic word الإسلام (Islam ) is: 1 + 30 + 1 + 60 + 30 + 1 40 = 163 . In the Torah (Jewish Bible), one of the names of God, is YHWH (YaHoWaH), commonly pronounced as Yahweh, Yahowah, or Jahovah. We, at discoveringislam.org , believe that Yahowah is mentioned in the Quran many times, such as in the above verse. Yahowah appears in the Quran as هُوَ . It is made up of two Arabic letters, the first letter of هُوَ can be pronounced as He or Ho (it is the 5th letter in the Arabic alphabet) and the second letter can be pronounced as Waw or Wa (it is the 6th letter in the Arabic alphabet). As a word, it is pronounced as HoWa. Most Muslims perceive it as a word which means He. This interpretation is fine, but it makes a lot of sense to additionally perceive it as two letters that refer to God. Thus, this word هُوَ (HoWa) in the Quran is the equivalent of Yahowah, or Jahovah in the Bible. The Hebrew letter "Ya" at the beginning of Yahowah functions exactly like the letter "O" that appears before the word "Israel" in the biblical verse displayed above: " O Israel: the Lord is our God" , so the letter "Ya" is not actually part of God's name. The fact that هُوَ refers to God and its first letter is the 5th letter in the Arabic alphabet and its second letter is the 6th letter in the Arabic alphabet means that 11 (= 5 + 6) is a number that represents God's name. Furthermore, the numerical value of the word الله (Allah or God) is: 1 + 30 + 30 + 5= 66 (66 is equal to 11 x 6, so it a multiple of 11) This explains why the number 11 is a very important number in the affairs of the universe. For example: - The solar cycle (or solar magnetic activity cycle) is around 11 years. - There is a difference of 11 days between the Hijri (lunar) calendar and the Gregorian (solar) calendar. - The number 11 represents God's punishment. The numerical value of each of the two words in the Quran used to refer to destruction or perishing is 11 : 600+200 +1+2=803 =8+0+3=11 خراب Destruction/ Devastation 5+30+1+20=56 =6+5= 11 هلاك Perishing
In this video, Christian Preachers explain the mystery of the letters W and H of Yahweh
------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- The following article present an alternative view regarding Yahweh in the Quran. It does not reflect our view, but provides an interesting analysis. Yahweh in the Quran By Ebrahim Saifuddin He is not associated with Discoveringislam.org ( Source: http://islam.thetruecall.com )
There are Christians who tend
to make a point that the Bible mentions in Exodus 3:14 that the name of God is
“Yahweh” or “Jehovah” (depends on where one puts the vowels) but this name does
not appear in the Quran. Hence they claim that the Quran cannot be the Word of
God and Prophet Muhammad (saw) cannot be a Messenger of God, because there is no
reference to the personal name of God which appears in the Old Testament 6823
times. YHWH
(Yahweh) in the Bible Let’s first read the concerned
verse in the Bible in context: Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say to
the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the
name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
– [Exodus 3:13-15] The Hebrew word that is
translated as “I AM” in English, is YHWH (known as the Tetragrammaton) which
commonly the Christians read as Yahweh or Jehovah but inserting vowels. The
Hebrew form of YHWH is as below: יהוה
The objection which Christians
raise is that as we see in Exodus 3:15, God says that this is his name forever
thus they say if Prophet Muhammad (saw) was a Messenger of Allah(swt) then he
should have made some reference to this personal name of God, Yahweh/Jehovah, to
prove that he is really a Messenger of God.
Yahweh/Jehovah, to prove that he is really a Messenger of God. “Yahweh” and “Jehovah” are two
pronunciations formed by humans much later. Although the
Jewish Encyclopedia
labels the word “Jehovah” to be a philological impossibility, the Christian
world tends to use this pronunciation till this day. Coming back to the
pronunciation of this word YHWH, the
Catholic Encyclopedia
brings it to our attention: “According to a Rabbinic
tradition the real pronunciation of Jehovah ceased to be used at the time of
Simeon the Just, who was, according to Maimonides, a contemporary of Alexander
the Great. At any rate, it appears that the name was no longer pronounced after
the destruction of the Temple.” Moreover we are also informed
by the same encyclopedia that “the modern Jews are as
uncertain of the real
pronunciation of the Sacred name as
their Christian contemporaries” [emphasis added]. Hence one thing has been made
apparent that neither the Jews nor the Christians know the true pronunciation of
this word. This word was considered to be ineffable by the Jews and thus with
time people lost the knowledge of its true pronunciation. Meaning of
YHWH (Yahweh) As it was made apparent that we
do not know how to pronounce the word “YHWH”, we must now look and understand
what this word means so as to get an understanding of the word itself. The
Jewish Encyclopedia
informs us that the meaning of the name “YHWH” is “‘He
who is self-existing, self-sufficient’, or,
more concretely, ‘He who
lives’” [emphasis added]. Hence in simplest
of terms “YHWH” means The Living and Self-Subsisting. Did Jesus
use the name YHWH? Up till now two things have
been made clear; the real pronunciation of the word is not available and that
the meaning of this word is “self-existing and self sufficient”, in short “He
who lives”. So now it must be established whether Jesus did use this name Yahweh
in any place. The only verse which Christendom can quote to prove that Jesus
used this word is in the Gospel of John which is as below: “I tell you the
truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
– [John 8:58] As we see that the verse
consists of the phrase “I am”, the Christians say that Jesus has used the word
YHWH. So let us take a look at the Greek version of the verse as we all know
that the biblical manuscripts with the Christian world are in the language Greek
although there is no concrete evidence that Jesus knew this language. The words translated as “I am” are: ἐγώ εἰμί Transliterated as: egō eimi Pronounced as:
eg-o' i-mee' So the words used here are “ego
eimi” which simply means “I am” – a means of designating oneself. Not only “ego
eimi” simply “I am” as one would use “I am” in their everyday talk in the
English language, “ego eimi” is no where near to the meaning of YHWH which is
seen above to mean The Living, Self Subsisting. So not only does this not sound
anything like the proposed pronunciation of the word YHWH, it does not even
carry the meaning of the word. Was “ego
eimi” used Exclusively by Jesus? The term “ego eimi” which
simply means “I am” is used in numerous places in the Bible and there are
instances when this term is used by people other than Jesus. Just to give a
quick example, the blind man whom Jesus cured uses the same words as well in the
Gospel of John: Some said, This
is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
– [John 9:9] Do note the deception which the
Christian world uses. In the Greek manuscripts there is no “he” in the text. The
verse ends at “I am”. The same phrase
“ego eimi”
is used in the Greek texts. Due to the absence of “he” in the biblical
manuscripts, “Young’s Literal Translation” provides the following translation
for the same verse: Others said --
`This is he;' and others -- `He is like to him;' he himself said, -- ‘I am
[he].' – [Young’s Literal Translation of
John 9:9] Notice that the term “he” is
placed in parenthesis because this word is not present in the biblical
manuscripts. Any form of term that is not in the text being translated should be
written in parenthesis to convey the meaning and not cause deception such that
people would believe that it is part of the original text. So by using the phrase “ego
eimi” was the blind man suggesting that he was YHWH? Obviously not and no
Christian would dare to claim that he was. So they why did he use the term “ego
eimi”? Simply because this word means nothing but the same as “I am” is used in
the English language. Similarly there are other
examples in the Bible which prove that this phrase “ego eimi” was not used only
by Jesus and it certainly does not hold the meaning of YHWH as seen earlier.
If, however Christendom wants
to claim that “ego eimi” refers to “YHWH”, the personal name of God, they have
to accept that when traveling from Hebrew to Greek, the word was not used as
“YHWH” (Yahweh) but an alternate word(s) was used “ego eimi” which was a
reference to the actual name YHWH. Does Quran
Make Any Reference to YHWH? So far we have learnt 4 points
which I will list so as to refresh all that we have learnt so far:
Thus we see that the Quran
should have a reference to the term YHWH rather than having the term “YHWH” as
the Quran was revealed in the Arabic and not the Hebrew. The golden question
thus would be was any such reference made to the term “YHWH” in the Quran or by
Prophet Muhammad (saw)? The answer is a definite “YES”.
We have learnt so far that the
meaning of the term “YHWH” is The Living, Self Subsisting and although the term
“Allah” is used in the Quran, this word simply means “The God”. However, we know that Islamic
teachings inform us of 99 names (attributes) of Allah (swt) and the Quran
informs us that to Allah (swt) belongs the most beautiful names and we can call
him by any of these beautiful names: He is Allah,
the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colours). To Him belong the
Most beautiful names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His
Praises and Glory: and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
– [Quran 59:24] Say: “Call upon
Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well): for
to Him belong the Most beautiful names. Neither speak thy Prayer aloud, nor
speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between.”
– [Quran 17:110] Thus we see that there are many
different names of Allah (swt), some of which I have listed below:
Just like these above-mentioned
beautiful names of Allah (swt) we also learn of two other names which are:
Hayyul-Qayyum
– The Living, Self-Subsisting YHWH – The
Living, Self-Subsisting Here it has been proven that
there is clear reference to the name YHWH in Islam which crumbles the Christian
stand that Islam has no reference to the name YHWH and thus Prophet Muhammad
(saw) is not the Messenger of Allah (swt). Stressed
Importance of Hayyul-Qayyum One of the verses which has
Allah (swt) referred to by the name Hayyul-Qayyum is in Ayat-ul-Qursi (The Verse
of the Throne). Ayat-ul-Qursi has multitude benefits but apart from
Ayat-ul-Qursi having its benefits, the verse with “Hayyul-Qayyum” mentioned was
referred to by Prophet Muhammad (saw) as the “greatest”: Ubayy b. Ka'b
said: Allah's Messenger (May peace be upon him) said: O Abu' al-Mundhir, do you
know the verse from the Book of Allah which, according to you, is the greatest?
I said: Allah and His Apostle (May peace be upon him) know best. He again said:
Abu'l-Mundhir, do you know the verse from the Book of Allah which, according
to you, is the greatest? I said: "Allahu La ilaha illa Huwal Hayyul
Qayyum." Thereupon he struck me on my breast and said: May knowledge be
pleasant for you, O Abu'l-Mundhir! – [Sahih
Muslim, Book 4, #1768] In another narration, Prophet
Muhammad (saw) heard the man use “Hayyul-Qayyum” in his supplication and the
Prophet (saw) said that he has supplicated using Allah’s Greatest Name:
Narrated by Anas Ibn Malik: I was sitting with the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) and a man was offering prayer. He then made supplication: O Allah, I ask Thee by virtue of the fact that praise is due to Thee, there is no deity but Thou, Who showest favour and beneficence, the Originator of the Heavens and the earth, O Lord of Majesty and Splendour, O Living One, O Eternal One. The Prophet (pbuh)
then said: He has supplicated Allah using His Greatest Name, when supplicated by
this name, He answers, and when asked by this name He gives.
– [Abu Dawood, Book 2, #1490] Yet another hadith to show the
importance stressed by Prophet Muhammad (saw) on the Hayyul-Qayyum: Narrated by
Asma' daughter of Yazid: The Prophet (pbuh) said: Allah's Greatest Name is in
these two verses: "And your deity is one deity; there is no deity but He, the
Compassionate the Merciful," and the beginning of Surah Al 'Imran, A.L.M.
"Allahu La ilaha illa Huwal Hayyul Qayyum."
– [Abu Dawood, Book 2, #1491] Conclusion
With the grace of Allah (swt)
it can be seen that is a clear reference to YHWH in the Quran. This reference is
much stronger than what the Christians claim to be a reference to YHWH in the
New Testament. The word “ego eimi” is in no way the Greek word for YHWH nor does
it hold the meaning of YHWH. However as seen, there is a clear reference to the
term YHWH in the Quran as well as the Hadith. The Quran gives us many
beautiful names of Allah (swt), some of which have been mentioned above, and a
Muslim can call upon Allah (swt) with any of his beautiful names unlike the
followers of the Bible who do not even know how to pronounce the ‘personal name’
revealed to them. Indeed much of the truth in those books is lost just like the
pronunciation of YHWH is lost and the Quran is sent to restore that which is
lost – The Criterion. The following video present an alternative view regarding Yahweh in the
Quran. It does not reflect our view, but provides an interesting
analysis. Hayyul-Qayyum as the equivalent of Yahweh
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