|
ANSWERS TO POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
- In the section entitled "How It All Adds
Up," I give the transliterated Hebrew spelling of the
name Mohammed. How can I explain this transliteration
when the modern Hebrew version of the name has no
Yod?
Yes, there is no Yod (Yud) in the modern Hebrew
version of the name. However, that is not to say that the
name St. John saw in his vision (circa A.D. 95), and
recorded as 666 in Revelation 13:18, did not have a Yod
in it. Since the grapheme Yod has both consonantal and
vowel qualities, it may be, at times, phonetically
pronounced somewhat similar to a "long" English e (accent
macron) and, at other times, like a "short" English e
(accent breve). In addition to Yod having consonantal
and/or vowel qualities, it can even be quiescent. To be
sure, the subscript vowel points used as vowel cues in
modern Hebrew were not used by the ancients. Hence, it is
reasonable, and defensible, to include Yod as the sixth
grapheme/phoneme in "Mohamed." Since that name did not
originate in ancient Hebrew, modern Hebrew cannot claim
to accurately represent its purest graphemic form (nor,
for that matter, can modern Hebrew accurately reproduce
all phonemes associated with the ancient Yud and its
various dialectical forms). Moreover, modern
transliterators do not always do a good job; just think
of how horribly far the modern English "Solomon" is from
the ancient Hebrew "Shlomo."
- Mem usually has a value of 40 associated with it.
Why have I assigned a value of 600 to it?
First, what I list as having a value of 600 is
a final Mem, not an initial Mem (which always has a value
of 40). When I lived in Chicago some years ago, I
researched this in the Asher Library at the Spertus
Institute of Jewish Studies. There, I found a Kabbalistic
(Qabbalistic or Cabbalistic) precedence for assigning a
numerical value of 600 to a final Mem. This is further
substantiated in Kabbalah by Charles Ponce (Quest
Books, Wheaton, 1978, page 33, ISBN 0-8356-0510-8),
which, incidentally, I purchased at Spertus.
- Why do I have the name Mohammed written
backwards?
It is my belief that the name Mohammed was
given to St. John in cryptographic form. Writing
backwards (which is to say, writing letters in reverse
order) has long been a way to mask, or hide, words and
messages from casual observers, which I believe was the
intent of the Holy Spirit in the identification of the
name that is numerically identified as 666 in
Scripture.
- Does it make a difference in Gematria (Hebrew or
Jewish kabbalistic numerology) if the Hebrew form is
transliterated from the English spellings "Mohammed" or
"Muhammed?"
No, although there is a phonemic difference
between the "long o" sound (accent macron as in
"Mohammed") and the "oo" sound (diphthong "oo" as in
"Muhammed"), there would be no numerologic difference
between the Hebrew transliterated forms of "Mohammed" and
"Muhammed" (provided, of course, that the "vav" or "waw"
is still there). To be sure, the modern Hebrew form of
the word, regardless of English transliteration, is still
written with a "vav" or "waw." That there is a difference
in vowel points between the "long o" and "oo" phonemes in
Hebrew does not change the numeric value of the grapheme
so cued (in this case, "vav"). More specifically,
although the vowel point "cholem" would be used in the
transliterated form of "Mohammed" and the vowel point
"shuwreq" would be used in the transliterated form of
"Muhammed," the indicated "vav" or "waw" is present
either way and would still have the numeric value of 6
(six).
- What about the double letter "m" representation in
"Mohammed?" Does this require that a double grapheme
"mem" be used when that word is transliterated from
English to Hebrew?
No, the use of double letters in English or
other languages that use the Roman alphabet was
instituted more as a convenience for lexicographers,
compositors, publishers, and linguists who desired
convenience in dividing words by syllables or who wanted
to emphasize that a particular sound was sustained as a
bridge between two vowel-based syllables (syllables are
always vowel-based).
- How can I contact the author?
You may contact him by writing: Dr. Joseph A.
Pearson, P.O. Box 7469, Phoenix, Arizona, 85011,
USA.
GO TO ... | Table of
Contents | Next Section |
Copying Guidelines |
|