Why does Islam respect the number 786?

There is no significant of this number in Islam. When "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim" (In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Beneficient) converted to Abjad numerals, the sum appears as 786.

People uses this number as "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim". But this is illogical. There may be more than one sentence for the same number.

There is an example:

The King of a country (other than India/Hindustan) asked Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, “Why your name is Shah Jahan? (Shah==King, Jahan==World, /King of the World) You are not the Kind of the World. It should be Shah Hind (King of Hindustan)”

Shah Jahan Replied: “When you will convert Shaj Jahan to Abjad Numerals it will give the sum of 365, and you will find the same, 365, for Shah Hind. And I like the name Shah Jahan.”

Bismillahi Rrahmani Rraheem

I believe the numeral 786 has an intrinsic significance so far as the structure of the verse is concerned.

Semitic languages (Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Syrian) traditionally used to attach sequential as well as decimal numeric value to each of the alphabets in their script. Bismillahi Rrahmani Rraheem has 4 words and 19 letters. In the decimal system the total numeric value of these 19 letters comes to 786 as shown below.

BSM(3)=2+60+40=102

ALLH’(4)=1+30+30+5=66

ALRHMN(6)=1+30+200+8+40+50=329

ALRHIM(6)=1+30+200+8+10+40=289

TOTAL=102+66+329+289=786

The association of the verse with numeral 19 is indicated in Surah 74, Al-Mudaththir; Ayah 30,31 which translate as follows:

30.Over it are nineteen [angels].

31. And We have not made the keepers of the Fire except angels. And We have not made their number except as a trial for those who disbelieve - that those who were given the Scripture will be convinced and those who have believed will increase in faith and those who were given the Scripture and the believers will not doubt and that those in whose hearts is hypocrisy and the disbelievers will say, "What does Allah intend by this as an example?" Thus does Allah leave astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him. And mention of the Fire is not but a reminder to humanity.

Connecting these two verses with the 19 letters of Bismillahi Rrahmani Rraheem, it follows that anyone who earnestly starts with this ayah will be guarded from hell fire. A believer is amazed by the indestructibility of the mathematical composition of the verse involving 19.

1. Bismillahi Rrahmani Rraheem has 4 words and 19 letters with 786 as numeric total. Connecting the three numbers together, we get a digit 419786 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (22094x19).

2. The 4 words have number of letters as –word 1-3,2-4,3-6 and 4-6.Connecting sequence no. of word with number of letters, we get 13243646 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (697034x19).

3. The 1st word ends up with the 3rd letter, the 2nd word ends up with the 7th letter, the 3rd with the 13th letter and the 4th in the 19th letter. Connecting the sequence number of word with the position number of the ending letter of the word, we get a number 1327313419 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (69858601x19).

4. The total numeric value of word 1 is 102, word 2 is 66, word 3 is 329 and word 4 is 289. Combining word sequence number with the numeric value of each word, we get a number 110226633294289 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (5801401752331x19).

5. By combining the sequence number of the word with its numeric value and the number of letters in each we get 1-102-3,2-66-4,3-329-6 and 4-289-6. Connecting these sets we get,1102326643329642896 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (58017191754191600x19).

6. Add the number of letters in each word to its numeric value. We get word 1-3+102=105,word 2-4+66=70, word 3-6+329=335, word 4-289+6=295. Combining word sequence number to these added values, we get 110527033354295 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (5817212281805x19).

7. 1st word ends with a numeric value of 102, the 2nd word ends up a numeric value of 102+66=168, the 3rd word end up with a numeric value of 168+329=497, and the 4th word ends up with a total numeric value of 497+289=786. Combining we get, 1102216834974786 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (58011412367094x19).

8. The 1st word has 3 letters having a numeric value of 102 deriving from 2+60+40.The 2nd word has 4 letters having a numeric value of 66 deriving from 1+30+30+5. The 3rd word has 6 letters having a numeric value of 329 deriving from 1+30+200+8+40+50. The 4th word has 6 letters having a numeric value of 289 deriving from 1+30+200+8+10+40. Combining the number of letters in each word with its total numeric value followed by each letter’s numeric value, we get the number

310 226 040 466130305632913020084050628913020081040 which is perfectly divisible by 19(16327686340322647664890158951792138363843162160x19).

9. Putting the letter sequence number subsequent to its value for all 19 letters (eg:2-1,60-2,40-3……) we get a 61 digit number as 21602403143053065718309200108114012501311430152001681710184019 which is perfectly divisible by 19 (11369685864764771963642119533690790165421852644300536001x19).

These are some tests known to humans that indicate the intrinsic structural accuracy of the verse. If a word or letter is inserted or removed or their order is changed the mathematical accuracy of the composition gets disrupted and it no longer will be Bismillahi Rrahmani Raheem. The Quran challenges humans to create a Surah like that in the Quran.

23. And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah , if you should be truthful.(Surah Al-Baqra 2:23)

24. But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers. (Surah Al-Baqra 2:24)

Bismillahi Rrahmani Rraheem is the opening to any Surah. It is not humanly possible even with the help of supercomputers to compose a verse similar to this one with its number of letters a prime number and with such conforming structural integrity. If the opening verse cannot be composed, how one can create a Surah of multiple ayaths having multiple levels of meaning, intrinsic and explicit?.

And Allah knows best. Asthaghfirullah.

786 is probably the most popular number in the Indian subcontinent. Irrespective of which religion an individual belongs to, most of the people here consider this number as “holy” or “lucky”. While most of the people of other faiths would not really know the reason behind it, Muslims would understand the significance as this number is believed to be a shorter or numeric form of Arabic phrase “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” which literally translates into “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”. The question however that even most of the Muslims would not be able to answer is that how does 786 means Bismillah? How does “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” shortens up to 786?

The explanation behind this lies in the numeric or chronological order of the Arabic alphabet. For example, English Alphabet has 26 letters from A to Z. If you are to arrange these letters in a numeric order, then A would be number 1, B would be number 2, C number 3 and so on with Z finally getting assigned the number 26. The same way, there are two known ways of arranging the Arabic alphabet. One is Alphabetical method which also applies to all other alphabets of other languages. In this method, we put the letters in a certain order. Like the English alphabet is arranged as A,B,C,D …. Z. Here A always comes first and Z always the last. Same way, Arabic alphabet is arranged as Alif, ba, ta, tha etc where Alif always comes as the first letter.

There is however another and a lesser known method of arranging Arabic letters. This method is known as Abjad or ordinal method in which each letter of the alphabet has an arithmetic value assigned to it. This value necessarily is from one to one thousand. In this method, the letters are arranged in the following order, Abjad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Sa’fas, Qarshat, Sakhaz, Zazagh.

So if we are to look at the complete Arabic alphabet, the arithmetic values assigned as per the Abjad method are as follows:

origin-meaning-and-significance-of-786-in-islam

Alif – 1
Baa – 2
Jeem – 3
Daal – 4
Haa (small) – 5
Waaw – 6
Zaa – 7
Haa (big) – 8
Tau – 9
Yaa – 10
Kaaf – 20
Laam – 30
Meem – 40
Noon – 50
Seen – 60
Ayn – 70
Faa – 80
Saud – 90
Quaf – 100
Raa – 200
Sheen – 300
Taa – 400
THaa – 500
Khaa – 600
Thaal – 700
Dhaud – 800
Thau – 900
Ghayn – 1000

Hamza is not included in the table above because it has the same numeric value as Alif because it is the letter which marks the glottal stop in Arabic.

Based on the numeric values above, if we break “”Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” in arithmetic values, we would get the following numbers. We are taking all the letters used in the phrase and the arithmetic values assigned to it.
Baa: 2
Seen: 60
Meem: 40
Alif: 1
Laam: 30
Laam: 30
Haa (Small): 5
Alif: 1
Laam: 30
Raa: 200
Haa (big): 8
Meem: 40
Noon: 50
Alif: 1
Laam: 30
Raa: 200
Haa (big): 8
Yaa: 10
Meem: 40

If we add all these numeric values, the sum total would be 786 and that is how this number is used as a shorter or numeric form of the phrase “”Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim”

Interesting thing to know here is that this practice is not from the time of the Prophet nor mentioned in Quran. This arrangement of Abjad method was done much later, most probably in 3rd century of Hijrah during the ‘Abbasid period, following other Semitic languages such as Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean etc. This was merely the practice of some of our pious predecessors in India who decided to use the Abjad method and came up with the number 786. For rest of the world, this number holds no greater value or significance. It is something that Indians came up with and only people from Indian sub-continent or from the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh believe in.

Are you sure with the the Question itself? In Islam there is no number lucky (like 786/92) or unlucky (like 13/666), we as Muslims believe in in only in the decree of Allah Al Qadr the 6th pillar of Islamic faith.

You should also note that belief in al-qadar is not valid unless you believe in the four aspects of al-qadar, which are as follows:

1 – Belief that Allaah knows all things, in general terms and in detail, from eternity to eternity. Not a single atom is unknown to Him in the heavens or on earth.

2 – Belief that Allaah has decreed all things in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz, fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.

3 – Belief that the will of Allaah is irresistable and His decree is comprehensive, so nothing happens in this universe, good or bad, but by His will.

4 – Belief that all that exists was created by Allaah. He is the Creator of all beings and the Creator of their attributes and actions.

And lastly numeric letters is insignificant in Islam and regarded as innovation (bidah) .