I sure am glad that I attended this great lecture in the East Zone conference that was held in Philadelphia this April. It was based on the wondrous text of the Holy Quran and how to think of Ayahs in a totally different light. The speakers were not only extremely eloquent but gave fascinating perspectives on the Quran that opened the mind and reinforced the faith in our hearts.

I’ll just share a bit of what I learnt in a particularly intense session. The speaker was explaining to us how the text of the Holy Quran was beautiful in all dimensions. To explain his point, he asked the audience to refer to Surah Anbiya Ayah 33 (21:33). In the Ayah, the following phrase is mentioned : “kullu fee falak” (كل فى فلك) which is translated by Yusuf Ali as “ALL (THE CELESTIAL BODIES) swim along, each in its rounded course”.

You must be thinking – “So?”. Well, lets take a closer look.

First, break up “kullu fee falak” into its individual letters (huruf). We get the following: Kaf , Lam, Fa , Ya, Fa, Lam, Kaf  (ك ل ف ى ف ل ك)

Now, notice how the phrase is actually a palindrome i.e. reads the same backward and forward.

But much more fascinating than this phrase being a palindrome is how it visually depicts its own meaning. Notice how ‘Ya’ is in the “centre” and all the other letters (huruf) form an orbit around it just like how our planets act in the solar system ! Have a look:

kullufeefalak

And as we already know, that the sun itself (centre celestial body) is moving about in an orbit so everything about the statement is consistent with modern science :D

When the speaker explained his point, I just stared at the screen not understanding what had happened. But then the the visual image clicked in my mind and my eyebrows were leaping out of my face.Needless to say, this little token of insight brought a wide smile to my face and also a sudden renewed wave of love for the Holy Quran. Absolutely beautiful.