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An American clergyman on a visit to Golra Sharif once raised this objection in Hazrat Pir Mehr Ali Shah's presence: “The Muslims claim that the Quran contains a reference to everything in the universe. Yet it makes no reference to Imam Hussain (R.A), even though it kept being continuously revealed during the first six years of the Imam’s life. This is a surprising omission, considering the supreme sacrifice that the Imam offered in the cause of Islam.

Hazrat asked the clergyman to quote any part of the Quran so that his objection could be responded to. When the latter recited Quran’s opening ayah before reading a substantive portion of the Quran, Hazrat asked him to stop there. He then drew the cleric’s attention to the fact that from the point of view of “Abjad”, the number of the various letters of the words totals to 786. Thereafter, he asked the cleric to note down the number of Syedna Imam Hussain’s name and related episodes of his life as follows:

The name, Imam Hussain 210
Imam Hussain's Year of Birth 4 (A.H)
Imam Hussain's Year of Martyrdom 61 (A.H)

The words "Karb-o-Bala" 261

The name Imam Hassan 200
Year of his Martyrdom 50 (A.H)
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TOTAL: = 786
786 means 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Hazrat thus demonstrated that a reference to Syedna Imam Hussain (R.A), his brother Syedna Imam Hassan (R.A), the years of their martyrdom etc. appeared in the very first verse of the Quran.

This discourse of Hazrat left the American clergyman amazed at the depth and breadth of the research that Muslim scholars and divine had carried out over the centuries into various aspects of their Holy book which they staunchly believed to be the Word of God Himself.