Questioner: My question is that why do the numerals 7, 8, 6 represent Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim?
Huzoor (rh): It’s wrong. We shouldn’t do it. Allah’s name should be written in full. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. People write long letters and they save their time in writing Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. What a shame.
Questioner: Thank you.
Huzoor (rh): As far as the why is concerned, how and why, number one, 7, 8, 6 represents the number of the letters used in Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. They are the letters of alphabet and each alphabet is given a number.
And like Abjad, Hawwaz, Alif is number one, Ba is number two, Jeem, Ja sound is number three and Daal is number four. Similarly Abjad, Hawwaz, Hey, Wowzay and so on and so forth. All these alphabets in Arabic and Urdu text are numbered like this. And sometimes these numbers are employed by the writer to denote something hidden. So in a cryptic language these numbers stand for certain messages. So the same has been used by the Holy Quran to convey certain messages in the muqattat as they are called, like Alif, Laam, Neem and so on and so forth.
So this is why people thought that it’s alright if instead of writing Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, you just add up the numbers of each letter and because it adds up to 7, 8, 6, so it’s alright, this means Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. If that is so, then alright, you don’t read the Holy Quran, add up the numbers of the entire letters and that would be Holy Quran. How stupid! The numbers stand for something else. It’s a completely different science. But they do not represent the verse and the meaning. So this is absurd. Instead of talking to your friends and people gossip for so long, just write a number and utter that number. And why not write a number in the letter and finish with it?
First number would stand for Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. The second number, the entire message. And then signature in numbers. It’s just stupid and meaningless. Ahmadis shouldn’t indulge in such nonsense.
