![]() The lunar number fourteen (at the same time the numerical value of Tdhd, surah 20 and one of the Prophet’s names) and twenty-eight, the full lunar cycle and the number of the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, are well known. The heptagonal fountain in the Isma’ili Center in London well expresses the importance of seven. Seven plays a significant role in the Isma’ili community, where prophets and their representatives, the prophetic cycles, and most aspects of life appear in heptads. The mystical path leads through seven steps or valleys. ![]() Seven is important in the hajj ceremonies (the sevenfold tawaf, running seven times between Safa and Marwa, stoning Satan three times seven), and in Sufism where heptads of saints appear. ![]() Their names are often written on amulets as a protective formula, especially appropriate in amulets shaped like a hand with its five fingers. Four, the number of universal order, is reflected (perhaps coincidentally) in the four righteous caliphs, the four schools of law, and the four legal wives five appears in the five pillars of Islam, the five daily prayers, and in the group of the Panjtan, the five holy persons Muhammad, Fatimah, `All, Hasan, and Husayn. Actions and formulas are often repeated three times because the Prophet reportedly practiced threefold repetitions. The same device could be applied to date books thus the Urdu story Bagh va bahar (Garden and Spring) shows by its very title that it was completed in AH 121’7/1803 CE.Īs in other cultures, certain numbers occur frequently in Islamic belief and practice. To display the date of a building by means of a fitting Qur’anic dyah or a line of poetry was common in the Persian world until recently. However, the recent attempt of a Muslim numerologist to prove with the help of a computer that the entire Qur’an is based on the number nineteen was rejected by the orthodox-perhaps because nineteen is also the sacred number of the Baha’is it is the numerical value of the word wahid, “one.”Īs letters and numbers are interchangeable, numerologists could invent clever chronograms: when Stalin died, a Turkish theologian composed a chronogram stating “Satan was cast into Hell” that gave the hijri date of his death. This custom, very common in earlier days, is still practiced in some countries. By assigning each letter of the Arabic alphabet a number (alif= I, h=5, etc.) Muslims could easily derive dates from the sacred scripture by means of adding the values of the letters of key words or important phrases. The science of interpreting numbers in a mystical or magical sense was very popular in the traditional Islamic world. This final stage was called Qiyamah.NUMEROLOGY. This would be without cult or law but would consist in all creatures praising the creator and recognizing his unity. The last Imam of the sixth period however would not bring about a new religion or law but would abrogate the law and introduce din Adama al-awwal ("the original religion of Adam"), as practised by Adam and the Angels in paradise before the fall. The seventh and last Imam in any period would then be the Natiq of the next period. The Natiq and Wasi are in turn succeeded by a line of seven Imams, who would guard what they received. While the Natiq was concerned with the rites and outward shape of religion and life, the inner meaning was entrusted to a Wasi (Representative), who would know the secret meaning of all rites and rules and would reveal them to a small circles of initiates. The seventh day, corresponding to the Sabbath, is the cycle in which the world comes out of darkness and ignorance and “into the light of her Lord” (Quran 39:69), and the people who “laboured in fulfilment of (the Prophets’) command” are rewarded. Old Ismaili doctrine holds that divine revelation had been given in six periods (daur) entrusted to six prophets, also called Natiq (Speaker), who were commissioned to preach a religious law to their respective communities.įor instance, Nasir Khusraw argues that the world of religion was created in six cycles, corresponding to the six days of the week. ![]() ![]() The number seven plays a general role in the theology of the Ismā'īliyya, including mystical speculations that there are seven heavens, seven continents, seven orifices in the skull, seven days in a week, seven prophets, and so forth. Numerology is an element of Ismailis belief the idea that numbers have religious meanings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |