them write down all the present treatise.

The revised copy of this rough draft was written by a certain blessed person. Even though he was ignorant of such matters, we saw in the copy prepared by him a subtle and profound correspondence of the letters: there were six hundred and sixty-six alifs(1) written at the beginning of the lines in his copy. This number corresponds fully with the value according to the abjad of the title given to this treatise by Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), Ayat al-Kubra (The Supreme Sign), and thus demonstrates the suitability of this title for the treatise. We also understood this numerical correspondence to be an indication that this treatise is a flash derived from the light of the verses of the Qur’an for they are six thousand six hundred and sixty-six in number.

S a i d N u r s i

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(1) Alif: the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, written as a vertical stroke, and the numerical value of which is one. [Tr.]