How to Spell Certain Words in the Quran

The usual approach to find out the correct spelling for certain words when in doubt is to use a dictionary. This is not the case for the Quran. Let us look at the letter ن" “ or “N” pronounced “NooN” in Arabic used in sura 68, which is the last initialed sura in the Quran. If you look at almost all published Qurans in Arabic, you note that it is spelled ن" “ or “N”. Dr. Rashad Khalifa argued that ن" “ or “N” should be spelled نو ن " “ or “NooN” so that it could then compensate for the total usage of the Arabic letter ن" “ in this sura, making the sum 133, and we know that 133 = 7 × 19.

Subsequently the Qurans published by him have the ن" “ spelled the same way as it is pronounced in Arabic, which is نو ن " “ or “NooN”.

Quran also has a literal way of correcting this spelling.

We remember that sura 68 was the second sura that was revealed and therefore, it was the very first initialed sura revealed. If we read this sura we note in verse 48 that it is mentioning the following person as the companion of the fish.

5317 2739 67 48 48

فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلا تَكُنْ كَصَاحِبِ الْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَى وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌ Therefore, be patient for your Lord’s judgment and do not be like the companion of the fish, as he called out in agony.

This verse is referring to the prophet Jonah, who is the very first prophet mentioned in the revelation order. This inevitably points us to the sura 21 called “The Prophets”. We read in verse 87;

2568 1106 3869 1915 87

وَذَا النُّونِ إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَتِ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ سُبْحَنَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّلِمِينَ And DhanNooN left outraged, and thought that We have no control over him, he then called from the midst of the darkness, there is no god except You, be you glorified, I have indeed committed injustice.

We see that in this verse, Jonah is referred to as “DhanNooN”, referring to sura 68 with the initial نو ن " “ or “NooN”. In Arabic, the letter “Dha” implies possession. It basically tells us he is the one mentioned in “NooN”. This literal relation tells that the correct spelling is نو ن " “ or “NooN” according to God’s design.