Evidence before confidence
Validation methods
A single “verified” label can hide important differences. This site records whether a source was inspected, whether a computation was reproduced, whether the result depends on a corpus or classification, and what its known limits are. These dimensions show what was checked without claiming more certainty than the evidence supports.
How we verify: worked examples
Each example is joined to a canonical claim record. Open a record to inspect its stable ID, derivation, and limitations; click its dot to inspect the bibliographic source records.
● Verified · top five roots
a-l-h (God, 2,851), q-w-l (say, 1,722), k-w-n (be, 1,390), r-b-b (Lord, 980), a-m-n (believe, 879).
Source trace. Leeds Quranic Arabic Corpus, Kais Dukes 2009–2017, GPL-licensed. Dictionary interface at corpus.quran.com. Full top-10 with per-root citations on Numbers and Roots. One primary source; independent triangulation possible via any Qur'anic concordance.
● Verified · Farahi's Mufradat and Niẓām
Hamiduddin Farahi, Mufradat al-Qur'an and Niẓām al-Qur'an. Foundational to the coherence-based reading school.
Source trace. Primary: Farahi's own Mufradat al-Qur'an and Niẓām al-Qur'an. Independent secondary corroboration: Mustansir Mir, Coherence in the Qur'an: A Study of Islahi's Concept of Nazm in Tadabbur-i Qur'an (Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1986, ISBN 9780892590650) — a scholarly monograph devoted to showing that Islahi's nazm method, and by extension the coherence-based reading school, descends directly from Farahi's Mufradat and Niẓām. Two independent sources agree; full citations on Sources.
~ Nuanced · y-w-m (day)
Root y-w-m occurs 405 times under the Leeds corpus's root annotation. Claims of 365 or 475 use different selections of surface and compound forms; they are not results reproduced here.
Why it stays Nuanced. The 405 total is recomputed from the cited Leeds root annotations. The often-repeated 365 and 475 totals use other, usually unstated selection rules; no inspected source or reproducible procedure for them is presently in this site's evidence record. They are mentioned only to show why the unit and inclusion rule must be declared, not as verified alternatives. Detail on Numbers.
● Verified · mercy travels with forgiveness
The root r-ḥ-m (mercy) co-occurs with gh-f-r (forgiveness) in 91 verses — its most frequent verse-mate by a wide margin (its next-closest partner shares 37).
Source trace. Counted from this site's bundled
verse-level co-occurrence tables (data/cooccurrence/),
derived from the Leeds Quranic Arabic Corpus v0.4 — recomputable
from the data we ship. r-ḥ-m and gh-f-r share 91 verses; r-ḥ-m's
next-closest partner shares 37, and the pairing is also the top
result from gh-f-r's side (91), so it is not an artefact of one
root's raw frequency. The count is descriptive: it shows the two
ideas are voiced together, not what any verse means. Open either
root on Roots to see its co-occurrence
network.
● Verified · hapax legomena
12,004 surface forms (out of 18,993 unique forms) occur exactly once in the Qur'an. 395 roots (out of 1,642) occur exactly once.
Source trace. Computed directly from the Leeds
Quranic Arabic Corpus v0.4 word-form and root tables, which are
bundled in this site's own data/morphology/ files —
so the claim is recomputable by anyone, from the data this site
ships, without trusting us. Note what recomputability proves:
that the figure is faithfully derived from the cited corpus.
Its correctness inherits the corpus's own annotation accuracy
(see the corpus note on
How it works). Published on
Numbers at Study depth.
● Verified · a two-source claim
547 roots appear only in Meccan surahs; 198 appear only in Medinan surahs.
Why two sources. This claim combines the Leeds corpus (which roots occur in which surahs) with the Cairo 1924 edition's Meccan/Medinan classification. The badge cites both; click it to see the pair. A nuance rides along: a handful of surahs are classified differently in other traditions, so the boundary counts can shift by a few under other schemes — the claim on Numbers carries that note beside it.
~ Nuanced · "this world" and "the hereafter"
A popular claim holds that "this world" (al-dunyā) and "the hereafter" (al-ākhira) each occur exactly 115 times. At the root level the counts are not equal: d-n-w occurs 133 times and a-kh-r 250 times. The 115/115 parity holds only for particular surface forms under one counting rule.
Why it stays Nuanced. The often-repeated "115
each" figure counts specific surface forms (such as the definite
al-dunyā and al-ākhira) under one selection rule.
At the level this site computes — the triliteral root — the counts
differ: d-n-w appears 133 times and a-kh-r 250 times (a-kh-r also
carries senses like "last" and "other"), both verified from the
Leeds corpus and recomputable from
data/roots-summary.json. We report the honest root
numbers and note that a matched count depends entirely on which
forms one chooses to count — the same caution the y-w-m example
makes. This site does not endorse numerical-parity claims it
cannot reproduce.
Triangulation prompts
These prompts are optional discovery aids for locating sources or competing formulations. Their output must never become site content, a citation, or an authority. Inspect the primary artifact yourself, record its locator, and independently reproduce any computation.
Prompt 1: Verify a root count
Using only verifiable academic sources (Quranic Arabic Corpus at corpus.quran.com, Tanzil text, Lane's Lexicon, Penrice's Dictionary of the Koran, or peer-reviewed Qur'anic studies journals), how many times does the triliteral root [INSERT ROOT, e.g., r-ḥ-m] appear in the Qur'an? Distinguish (a) root occurrences, (b) surface form occurrences if relevant, (c) any counting variation between sources. Cite each source. Do not estimate; if uncertain, say so.
Prompt 2: Verify a numerical claim
The following claim about the Qur'an circulates widely: [INSERT CLAIM]. Investigate with academic rigor. (1) What counting rule does it use? (2) What do alternative counting rules yield? (3) What is the academic position, citing peer-reviewed sources? (4) Is the claim broadly accepted, or are there nuances? Provide direct citations.
Prompt 3: Verify Islahi-school content
In Amin Ahsan Islahi's Tadabbur-i-Qur'an (Lahore: Faran Foundation), what is the stated 'amud (central axis) of Surah [INSERT NUMBER AND NAME]? Provide the Urdu phrasing if available, the English translation if accessible (e.g., Shehzad Saleem at al-Mawrid), and the volume and page reference.
Prompt 4: Verify chronology
For Surah [INSERT NUMBER], what revelation order is assigned by each of: (1) Cairo 1924, (2) Nöldeke-Schwally 1909, (3) Bell 1937, (4) Sadeghi-Goudarzi 2012? List each ordering's position number and qualifications. Cite the source for each.
Prompt 5: Verify iltifat
Does Qur'an [INSERT VERSE] contain an instance of iltifat (grammatical shift in person, number, addressee, tense, case, or structure)? If yes, describe and cite Abdel Haleem's 1992 BSOAS article or other peer-reviewed sources. If borderline, state that.