Very early in Arab history each of the 28 Arabic letters, rearranged in a certain order, was given a certain numerical value. Starting with 1, the ascending order reached the highest value of 1000. The rearranged letters were then grouped to form 8 words which could be easily memorized. Exactly what use they were put to in former times this writer is not sure. But it is possible that the system was used in sorcery and fortune-telling. In Seerat-ibn-Hisham for instance we find the Jews using it to predict the length of life of Prophet Muhammad (peace on him) and his religion.  (The tradition follows later). The Persians however, after their acceptance of Islam, put it to a novel use. They employed it in poetry to record dates of important events such as the birth or death of a prominent person. In elegy for instance, the last line or a hemistich gave out the date of death of the person when the numerical values of the alphabets in it were added together. Later when the system became known to Indians, they transformed it into an art. They composed verses which not only gave out the date down to the day and month but also invented many an artful way by which the verses could be forced on memory. For instance systems such as tamiah and takhraja in which the value of a certain letter or word has to be added or subtracted in order to arrive at the date. In some cases a certain rule stated in the earlier lines has to be employed in order to get the date. In another system known as taushih the values of the first letter of all verses in a poem have to be added to get the date. Again, incase of elegies, they gave the verse the character which the deceased possessed. If he happened to be a person of high repute who deserved the praise bestowed, the verses were given such character i. e., loftiness of style etc. But if the person happened to be of dubious character or an outright dilettante who achieved fame and popularity he did not deserve, then the poet maintained a style which announced clearly without employing direct criticism how the poet regarded him. The least in any case a poet would do is to give the verse a certain kind of queerness which made it easy to be remembered. Then there were poets, as there are still many in our times, who could work out date containing poetry extemporaneously and could face to face compete with each other.

The system was later expanded so as to invoke poesy not only on the occurrence of major events such as battles, constructions, publication of a famous book, but also such mundane affairs as the digging of a well in a village. The system was widely used too, two or three generations before us, in naming people in such a way that the numerical value of the letters used in the name of a person when added together gave the date of his birth (3) — a very useful thing no doubt in times when one was not required to fill in a dozen or more variety of forms every year which necessarily ask the date of birth.

The re-arranged letters and their numerical values are as under. Original number of the letters when placed in correct order is added for easy recognition since we do not have the facility to print Arabic script.

 

No. of Letter in correct order.	LETTER	VALUE
1	alif’	1
2	ba’	2
5	jim	3
8	dal	4
27	ha’	5
26	waw	6
11	za’	7
6	‘ha	8
16	ta’	9
28	ya’	10
22	kaf	20
23	lam	30
24	mim	40
25	nun	50
12	sin	60
18	‘a in	70
20	fa’	80
14	sad	90
21	qaf	100
10	ra’	200
13	shin	300
3	ta’	400
4	ta’ or tha’	500
7	ka‘ or kha’	600
9	dza!	700
15	dad or dhad	800
17	za’	900
19	gain or ghain	1000

 

The eight words are: abjad, hawwaz, hutti, kaleman. sa’fas, qarshat, takad, or (thakhadh) dazzag or (dhazzagh).

The ‘pe of Urdu and Persian has same value as ‘ba’ of Arabic, ‘te’ (as in ticket) the same as ‘ta’r ‘chim’ as ‘jirri, ‘dal’ (as in ‘day’) the same value as ‘dal’ (as in Vaud) in Arabic, re’ as vs’, ‘zze’ as ‘za’ and ‘gaf as ‘kaf’.

The tradition related by ibn Hisham is as follows :

Abdullah b. Abbas and Jabir b. Abdullah report that when Abu Yassir b. Akhtab passed by the Apostle who was reciting the opening verses of the chapter al-Baqara : “Alif. Lam. Mim. This is the Book about which there is no doubt. he went to his brother Huyayy b. Akhtab (both were powerful leaders of the Jews and perhaps enjoyed some religious hold also) and said : ‘Do you know what Muhammad has been reciting ?’ Huyayy expressed surprise when he heard the verses. Then he and his men went to the Prophet and asked him if what they heard was sent to him through Gabriel. When the Prophet said yes, he said “We do not know of any prophet before you who was told how long his kingdom and community would last?” Huyayy then went back to his people and said: “Alif is 1, lam is 30, and mim 40. That makes it 71 years. Now, are you going to adopt a religion which is to last for 71 years ? ” Then he went back to the Prophet and asked him if anything of a similar kind had again been sent to him. The Prophet said Yes, Alif. Lam. Mim. Sad.’ Huyayy said: ‘This is by God longer and (makes the matter) more complicated. ‘Alif is 1, ‘lam’ 30, ‘mim’ 40, and sad’ is 90. That makes it 161 years.’

Then the Prophet was asked similar questions in reply to which he said that he had also received Alif. Lam. Ra (231), Alif. Lam. Mim. Sad. Ra. (271) etc. Huyayy then said Your case seems to become unclear to me Muhammad ! I can’t say if your kingdom will last long or short’. Then Huyayy left him and went back to his people. His brother Abu Yassir asked him if the duration was not to be the grand total 734 years ? Huyayy’s reply was, ‘It is not clear’.

The dismay and final remarks of Huyayy make it evident that he was serious. (4)

Hereunder are some examples :

The total value of the letters used in Bismillahi-r- Rahmani-r-Rahim works out to 786, which some people in India and Pakistan like to use in place of the actual words for fear of desecration [5] M

The year of publication of ‘Muwadhdhah Quran’ (so far the best Urdu translation done by Shah Abdul Qadir is contained in its very title, ‘Muwadhdhah Quran’. . .. which works out to 1205 A. H.

The year of passing away of Muhammad Ali Jinah is in ‘Khuld-o-Pakistan dono /s Hya’ (Khuld : paradise)

On the death of Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, (the co-author of ‘Seeratun-Nabi’), famous Urdu poet Amjad Hyderabad! said in Persian:

” Sulaiman Sareer-e-ilm-o-hikmat
rawan shud sue ‘arsh-e-rabb-e-a ala
ba ab-e-dida salish nawishtam
‘alaihi rahmatullahi ta ala. ”

i. e.,

The King of knowledge and wisdom
Has left for the Kingdom of Lord Most High
With tears in eyes I record the event
Mercy on him be, 0 God Most High !

It will be seen in the above verse how artfully the poet has, while maintaining the rhyme and rythm, managed to:

1. mention the name of the deceased (Sulaiman, which is also the name of a prophet mentioned by the Quran as whom his Lord gave wisdom and knowledge);
2. mention the most important qualities by which the deceased was known: knowledge and wisdom ;
3. record his own personal grief;
4. send peace, as well as to
5. record the year of his passing away (1373 A. H ) within the prayer invocation ‘alaihi rahmatuliahi ta ala……..all
   within two simple, short and rich verses.

On Shibli’s death Khawja Azeezuddin Lakhnawi wrote an elegy the last verse of which is:

“Khast chun az sar-e-jan hatif guft
Mouivi-e-Shibii-e-Noamani raft. “

That is: “An unseen crier announced that the spring (head) of life is no more, (alas that) Moulvi Shibli Noamani has left. ”

The above is a difficult verse indeed in which the poet has used the system of takhraja. The correct year of death can only be obtained in this system by taking out the value of a certain letter indicated in the previous line. But in this case that letter has been cleverly hidden by the poet. It is the head of life (Sar-e-jan). Now Sar-e-jan or head of jan is ‘jirri of value 3. Take this out from the total of the last line and you get the year 1332 A. H. It should be noted how well the poet has fit in the rule to be applied later, at the same time deriving the meaning that Shibli was the fountain-head of (literary) life of his times.

Here is another example of takhraja :
A poet wrote an elegy on the occasion of the death of Gandhi, the last verse of which runs as follows.

“Phor Kar Nathu ki ankhen likh de fasH sal-e-fout
Chaibasa sad haif Gandhi zindadar-e-ashti.”

In the above verse, the eye of Nathu (Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Gandhi) requires to be broken in order to arrive at the correct date. i. e., the value of ‘he’ (do-chasmi ‘he’ of Urdu which resembles a pair of eyes) of Nathu is to be subtracted from the total of the second line to get the date. The year is recorded in Fasli calendar however. (A calendar in use only in some parts of India). The aggressive note of the verses (which runs through the whole poem) is meant no doubt to throw hints of the vicarious nature of the poet’s grief.

Following is an example of tamiah. In this system the value of a letter or word stated in the previous line has to be added to the next line to get the correct date.

On the publication of the famous book, Bagh-o-bahar, a poet said:

“Shajr ummid ka laya hai bar,
Y’ani matbu hua hai bagh-o-bahar
sal-e-taba’ iska dil-e-rangeen se
kaha gutcheen ne zahe bagh-o-bahar.”

i. e..

The tree of hope has borne its fruits.
That is, Bagh-o-Bahar has been published,
With a colourful heart sang its year of publication.
The flower-picker as he said: ‘Welcome O’Springtime !’

Now the year of publication is contained in the hemistich zahe bagh-o-bahar, but to it is to be added the value of the heart of rangeen (dil-e-rangeen) which is ‘gaf being the 3rd letter from any side {‘Kaf of Arabic :20). Total: 1 239 + 20:1 259 A. H. The beauty of composition will not be missed by any dil-e-rangeen. In two short, charming verses the poet gives us the complete picture of a spring-time garden flowering with joy.

Here is an example of how the poets played with words. On the death of Shah Abdul Azeez Muhaddis Dehlavi (Shah Abdul Qadir’s brother, both sons of Shah Waliyullah Dehlavi), the poet Mo’min wrote a beautiful elegy the last line of which is :

Dast-e-bedad-e-ajal se be sar-opa ho gae,
Faqr-o-din-o-fazl-o-hunar, lutf-o-karam, ilm-o-‘amal.”

The first line could be translated as: “The hands of merciless death have handicapped”. The second line is self- explanatory and will lose its beauty when translated into a language of the non-spiritualists.

In this example the poet has stated a rule in the first line which is to be applied to the last in order to get the year of death. The rule is : Cut off the heads and tails of each word appearing in the next line and add together the value of the remainder (abdomen). So that, of faqr you take only ‘qaf‘ (since 7a’ and ‘ra‘ are its head and leg) of din only ‘ya’ and so on. One cannot but acknowledge the genius of the poet who uses the words of praise so dexterously, states an arithmetic rule while doing so, uses only 3-letter words (totally 8) in the second line, records the correct year (1239 A.H) and yet maintains the rhyme and rythm.

Finally, a poem appearing in the July ’81 issue of “Qawmi Zaban” (Pakistan) can be cited as an example in which the rules of tamiah, takhraja, as well as taushih, have all been put to use. The poem is by Qudrat Naqwi and mourns the death of Maulana Imtiaz Ali Khan Arshi, the eminent librarian of Rampur (India) who passed away early this year.

The poem is entitled Mufaraqat-e-Arshi (The loss of Arshi) which itself gives out the year of the . Maulana’s death (1401 A. H.). It has 27 verses. By applying the rule of takhraja to the second verse (indicated), the year of death can also be obtained, as too on application of the tamiah rule, the last verse gives out the year of death. Finally, addition of the values of the first letter of each of the 27 verses (the rule is known as taushih), gives out the year as 1981.

Examples could be multiplied but we refrain because they are better appreciated in Urdu. Even the above verses will be understood better when written down and read in Urdu script—when they will reveal many other aspects of beauty and charm which we may describe in pages but will yet remain unappreciated. Even this article will have to be read many times over in order to be understood fully.

We can end this piece of writing with the general remark that it is purely a Muslim art the credit for the invention and development of which they share with no one else. In it has manifested the typical Muslim genius as it manifests itself in calligraphy, carpet – weaving, wood – carving, metalwork, embroidery, architecture and various other aits in some of which they have had no precursors and no successors. And we can add, that in all these forms of arts they were able to, as long as they remained true to the spirit of their religion and culture, reproduce a grace borrowed from their own lives, which can be rightly termed as ‘Islamic grace’. And undoubtedly too this grace, both in their lives and arts, they lost when they succumbed to the onslaughts of Western culture and thought.