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