Qur'anic 1844

I have been reading a Ph.d dissertation by Stephen Lambden. I found

an interesting account from the Islamic traditions relating on how

1844 = 1260. I have never seen this outside of the Biblical numbers

that are often talked about in Daniel.

Here is what Lambden recounts from Imam Baqir (5th 12ver Shi'a Imam):

the fifth (or the sixth) Imam (AbO Ja'far) Muhammad al-Baqir (d. c.

126/743) as cited by al-AyyashT (fl-9th-10th. cent.

CE) in his TafsTr as transmitted by AbO LabTd al-MakhzOmT:

0 Aba LabTd! There is abundant knowledge (ilmaa jamm an ) in the

isolated

letters of the Qur'an (al-huraf al-qurian al-muqat ta'ah)for God,

exalted be He,

sent down [the quri anic revelation] "Am., Lam, MT177 (A+ L+M). This

Book" [Q.

2:1-2a] and Muhammad rose up until his light was made manifest and his

word

was established. He was born on a day when there had elapsed 103 years

from

the seventh millennium (al-alfal-sabi)... (Fay() al-KashanT, Tafsir al-

Safi, 1:77-

8; MajlisT, Bihar 2 52:106).

It is indicated here that the year 6,103 AM had been reached at the

time of Muhammad's birth (c. 570 CE)....

The 7 th (6103) tradition of the 5th Imam (cited above) continues as

follows:

There is not among the disconnected letters a letter which will find

its realization

save there should rise up a Qa'im ("Arisen from the progeny of [Barn]

Hashim...

The "A" (al-alit) is one; the "L" (al-lam) is thirty, the "M" (al-

mTm)forty and the

"Sad" (Sad) ninety which [abjad numerical value] amounts to 161 years.

Then

came to pass the emergence of Husayn son of 'Ali [ 3rd Imam 171 usayn;

d.

61/680]. "Alif, lam, mTm ("A"+ "L"+ "M") Allah (God)." So when its

period came

to pass there rose up a Qa'im of the progeny of 'Abbas nigh

'Alif+Lam+MTm#Sad (Q sOra 7; total = 161] and there rose up our Qa'im

nigh

their termination in Alit+ Lam+Ra' (= Q. sora 13; total = 231). So

understand

[this]! Pay heed [memorize]! and keep it secret!" (cited from the

Tafsir

sAyyashi in Majlisi, Bihar 2 52:106).

On the basis of such traditions the Bab', BA* and subsequently Baha'T

apologists

understood the value of the qur'anic isolated letters from A-L-M [-S]

(Q. 2 [ 3]) up till A-L-M-R

(Q.13) to be indicative of the time of the advent of the Qa'im or MO

di (= the Bab). These seven

sets of isolated letters from Q.2 (Baqara, Cow) until Q. 13 (Ra'ad,

Thunder) compute to yield

: 71 (Q2) +71 (Q.3 )+161 (Q.7)+ 231 (Q.10) +231 (Q.11)+ 231(Q.12) +271

(Q.13), totalling

1,267. This is understood to indicate lunar years AH for the Bab

initiated his mission in Shiraz

on May 22'1 1844 or in the year 1260, seven years away from the figure

1,267 (cf. B*

P.DalS:47) By backdating 1,267 seven years or commencing at the time

of the public mission

of Prophet Muhammad (- 7 AH/ c. 615 CE?) the result is 1260 AH when

the Bab initiated the

Babi religion in Shiraz, Iran. Aside from this 7 year adjustment the

Bab also frequently dated

the origins of the Islamic era to the ba'tha ("Call to prophethood")

of Muhammad which he

reckoned as being 10 year before the Hijra (P.Bay. 11:7; IV:14, 16,18;

V1:7,8,13; K.PanjS:319,

etc).

This year 1260/1844 or thereabouts is of great significance in the

BabT-Baha'T

millennial and cyclic scheme cryptically indicated in certain of the

hurüfat al-muqatta'a

(Isolated letters) (B* INBMC 98:35ff; BA* L. 171 urufat). In this

connection BA* writes in his L.

ljurafat al-muqatta'a, (c.1857)

Then know that on another level God intended by these [qur'anic

isolated] letters

(al-hurafat) the mysteries indicative of fulfilment (asrar ila

nihayat)by means of

which he alludes to the period of concealment of the [eschatological]

Beauty (al-

jamal) behind the pavilions of Glory such as is evidenced in the

recorded traces

of the [twelver] Imams of the Criterion (= Qur'an), [thus, for

example, the words]

"With the expiration of Alif- Lam - MTm - SW (Q.[2] ) through Alif-

Lam - MTm

-RS' (Q.13), the MandT shall arise" .. (L. tiurafat, mss. 15).

pg. 26-30, SOME ASPECTS OF ISRA'TLIYYAT AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE BABI-

BAHA'I INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE