After years of not being seen in public, he is apparently surfacing on the eve of the 6th anniversary of his Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Intelligence agencies have stated that Islamic terrorists like to mark anniversaries with attacks. As religious fundamentalists, they may even be motivated by Islam’s interest in numbers or numerology.
While the number 6 has little religious significance for Islamics, this Sept. 11 will mark an important number: 72.
That’s 72 months since the 9/11 strikes of 2001.
Could there be significance in that number?
We did some research on Islamic numerology and found that, indeed, 72 is a very significant number in Muslim culture:
· The Prophet Muhammad predicted that after his death, Islam would divide into 72 factions.
· According to the Koran, Allah has 72 angels guarding his throne.
· The warriors of Islam are rewarded with 72 “perpetual virgins” in paradise.
· At the important battle of Karbala in the year 680, tradition holds that there were 72 martyr-heroes fighting in the name of Husayn ibn Ali, Muhammad’s grandson, against a much larger force under the Umayyad caliph.
Could it be that al-Qaida has been preparing a major operation to commemorate the 72-month anniversary of 9/11?
Curiously, the number 72 figures prominently elsewhere. The Shemhamphorasch — which has many alternate spellings — is an epithet for a 72-letter name of God derived by medieval kabbalists from the Book of Exodus, by reading the letters of three verses in a specific order.
Another number significant to Muslims is “7.” The Koran contains approximately 25 references to seven, including the seven heavens and the seven periods of creation. The number is thought to be directly linked to the power of the divine, and figures into Islamic art, folklore, literature and rituals.
The date of the bombings in the London transit system was July 7, 2005 — or 7/7.
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