A1L30M40. These letters/numbers play an important role in the mathematical system of the Quran based on code 19. See 74:1; 1:1; 2:1; 13:38; 27:82; 38:1; 40:28; 46:10; 72:28.

You might have noticed that we translated the reference of the verb "GHaLaBa" differently than the traditional translations. Instead of reading the verb in 30:2 as "ghulibat" (were defeated) we read as "ghalabat" which means just the opposite, "defeated." Similarly, we also read its continuous/future tense in the following verse differently. The prophecy of the verse was realized in 636, four years after the death of Muhammed, when Muslims confronted the army of Byzantine Empire around Yarmuk River, in one of the most significant battles in history. Under the command of Khalid bin Walid, the Muslim army beat the Christian imperial army of four or more times their numbers. The six-day war, Yarmuk, occurred in area near the Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea, which are located in the lowest land depression on earth, 200-400 meters below sea level.

The orthodox reading and translation of the verse, reflects an interesting historical conflict and is a prime example of the abuse of a divine book to justify nationalistic wars and imperialistic ambitions. By changing the verse's original reading to the opposite, the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties were able to depict Persians as the major enemy. Thus, they justified aggression against Persian Empire.

Marriage must be based on mutual love and care between man and woman. Maintaining and improving love and care requires steady attention, compromise, respect and patience. One spouse should not try to control or suppress the individuality or identity of the other. Marrying through arranged marriages, without the bride and groom seeing and meeting each other, is against God's law in nature, since God must have had a purpose to create man handsome and woman beautiful. Our brain considers the geometric average or the composite of all faces we see as a visual measure for attractiveness. God did not design the package to be ignored at the time it is needed the most. Indeed, physical attraction is mentioned as a main factor in marriage (33:52; 24:30). For divorce, see 2:226 and 4:137. For celibacy, see 57:27.

In the past, and even in the present, some paranoid majorities banned the language of minorities, because of their differences in color, race, or culture. Totalitarian or racist regimes that ban the language and identity of a group will suffer the consequences of fighting against God's signs. The tradition of changing the names of converts to Arabic names was a diabolic invention started centuries later as an expression of Arab nationalism and cultural imperialism. See 33:5; 49:13.

See 25:47.

For attributes of God, see 59:22.

Accepting God alone as the only Lord and the only Master is a fact that can be attained through philosophical inquiry. However, the weaknesses and ignorance we learn throughout our life cover that innate faculty. See 7:172.

The clerics who introduce this imam's sect or that imam's sect as God's system are convicted with this verse. History bears witness that professional religious leaders are the most ardent enemies of God and monotheism. Each messenger or prophet, found the greatest opposition to their message from the religious leaders of their time. See 23:53.

Prophet Muhammed was neither Sunni nor Shiite. He was a monotheist, a muslim, a peacemaker, a peaceful submitter to God alone. All other prophets and messengers before him were also monotheists and muslims. All monotheists, starting from Adam until the end of the world, belong to one group. The Quran strictly condemns sectarian division and tells us that power struggle and idol-worship as the source of sectarian division (6:153; 98:4; 21:92; 23:52; 2:285).

The sectarian division came after the departure of the prophet Muhammed. Mostly, out of tribal and political division. When there was a power struggle between Ali, Muhammed's son-in-law, and Uthman, Muhammed's father-in-law, people were divided. Uthman was a weak leader, and unfortunately history shows that he was favoring his tribe (Umayyad) and hiring them to key government positions. This corruption created resentment in other tribes and resurrected the tribal conflict that was almost eradicated by the light of the Quran.

After Uthman, though Ali was elected as the fourth Caliph (president), soon he was assassinated. Ali ruled only for two years. The division among tribes turned to a bloody strife. There were basically two parties. The party who supported Ali and his two sons, Hassan and Hussain, and those who sided with the Umayyad dynasty. The former, started calling themselves Shiite of Ali (Ali's Party) and the later, which was joined by some former Ali supporters, called themselves Ahl-i Sunna (Followers of Tradition). The history of sectarian conflict is a horrible power struggle. The Ummayads turned the federally secular republican that was established by the prophet Muhammed in Yathrib (today's Medina) into a theocratic monarchy. The kingdom of Umayyad committed many atrocities. The most memorable one is their massacre in Karbala; they killed Muhammed's grandson Hussain with his 72 supporters in a dessert near Baghdad.

The division between the Shiite and Ahl-i Sunna grew and transformed into religious and theological matters. Here I will focus on Shiite, since we have numerous times referred to Sunni sects and their distortions. The early Shiites were generally righteous people. They were against nepotism, tribalism and corruption. However, the following generation went to extreme and lost the original noble goal. They turned to a cult who identified themselves with Ali and his descendants and they started worshiping them by giving them authority in designing and defining God's religion. Their clergymen fabricated doctrines thereby sanctifying the descendants of the Prophet Muhammed; they claimed infallibility for the descendants of Muhammed through Ali and Fatima. Volumes of false stories were fabricated to promote this cult. God was no more the focus. Instead, the so-called imam-i masumin (innocent imams), became the focus.

Shiite mosques display the names of those twelve idols and Muhammed besides God's name. Little bricks made of dirt from Karbala is used to put one's forehead on during sala prayers. Some pricks contain inscriptions with the names of their idols besides God: Allah, Muhammed, Ali, Fatima, Hassan and Hussein. Sunni mosques, on the other hand, display the names of five (four Caliphs and Muhammed) or seven (four Caliphs plus Hassan and Hussain plus Muhammed) idols besides God's name. The fight between the sects boils down over the non-common idols, as it is the case between Protestants and Catholics. Shiite clerics distorted the meaning of some verses, such as the meaning of 42:23 to establish authority besides God for the descendants of Prophet Muhammed. In Iran now there are thousands of mullahs with black turbans claiming and enjoying this privilege.

After the disappearance (the death) of the 12th Imam in a lost battle with the Sunnite faction, Shiite scholars fabricated stories around his disappearance. He was not dead according to those stories, but he was alive somewhere in a cave. When the right time comes he would return to lead Shiites to an ultimate victory against Sunnis. This story which was initially fabricated to preserve the spirits of the Shiite party, turned into a mythology with the passing of time. Despite centuries, the members of the Shiite cult are still waiting for the return of their 12th imam, the imam who went into hiding in a cave after he lost the battle! Researchers can easily trace the source of this mythology to the teaching of St. Paul who made up a story about the return of Jesus Christ. Denying the death of leaders is a cult syndrome and is one of the signs of idol worshipers; they cannot survive without their idols.

The followers of the Shiite sect developed tact of survival under the oppression of Sunni rulers. This tactic is known as "taqiyya" (hiding one's faith). Shiite clergymen distorted the meaning of 3:28 which permitted believers to hide their faith when they were weak and threatened by their enemy. They broadened this permission and turned it to a lifestyle. Furthermore, they turned this permission to an obligation. Throughout history, the followers of Shiite sect developed a hypocritical religious life even there was no compelling reason to do so. Waiting for the return of 12th imam coupled with this religious mask (taqiyya) turned the Shiite masses to obedient constituencies. They survived under Sunni and oppressive Sultans, Kings and Shahs with no claim for religious governance. However, Ayatullah Khomaini, a charismatic leader, modified this traditional belief. He claimed that even in the absence of the 12th Imam, his substitute could still act and fight against the enemy. With several other minor theological tinkering he released the long locked anger into demonstrations against Reza Shah's corrupt and oppressive regime. The taqiyya erupted like a volcano. Unfortunately, the revolution did not live up to its promises regarding freedom and justice; it devolved into another corrupt and oppressive system. The ousted Shah was replaced by an infallible mullah, the Velayet-i Faqih, with much greater authority: in the name of revolution, in the name of imams, in the name of the lost imam, and in the name of God. The monarchy turned into a mollarchy!

As for the Sunnis, they also fabricated many hadiths to justify their history filled with corruption and injustice. They even justified the atrocities of Umayyad dynasty by choosing silence over the early conflicts between Ali and Uthman and later Muawiya. They fabricated religious amnesty and immunity for every corrupt and cruel sahaba (Muhammed's comrades) or tabeen (the comrades of those comrades). Even the drunken murderer of prophet's grandson, Yazid, the governor of Damascus, was given religious immunity against criticism.

You can find many similarities and differences between Sunni and Shiite sects. In fact, there are more than a dozen Shiite sub-sects which they differ greatly in religious matters and there are dozens of Sunnite sub-sects which also differ significantly. Nevertheless, today only four Sunni sects and a few Shiite sects survive. Their common characteristic is that all hate to accept God's word alone as their religious guide and invoke the names of saints and intercessors in their prayers. They all follow conjecture and fabricated sectarian hadiths to justify their dogmas, complicated rituals and backward practices.

See 12:87; 15:56; 39:53; 41:49.

Just as we cannot hear or understand a radio broadcast via a radio with dead batteries, or with its switch off, or not being tuned to the correct wavelength, similarly we cannot hear or understand God's message if we do not use our reasoning faculties, and if we do not open our minds to new ideas.