The Counter, who numbers everything (al-Muḥṣī)

Start with what we know

Start with something we know. Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us: it is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

Glance at a handful of things and you can see about four at once. Beyond that, we count one by one, and lose count.

Episode 2

In nature

In 2024 scientists showed that crows can plan and produce from one to four calls on cue (Liao and others, Science).

Episode 3

At our best

The Gaia telescope has catalogued nearly two billion stars. The stars of the observable universe we can only estimate: up to a million million million million.

Episode 4

The Break

Take away counting one by one, estimating, error bars, running out of time. We estimate the stars. Al-Muḥṣī counts them, and names them. The Psalm says the same: “He counteth the number of the stars; He giveth them all their names” (Psalm 147:4, JPS 1917).

Read: 19:94; 72:28.

From the tradition: 'Whoever enumerates them (aḥṣāhā) enters Paradise' (Bukhari 7392); Ibn al-Qayyim's levels of aḥṣā: words, meanings, calling on Him by them.

On screen

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Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 19:94; 72:28; 14:34; Ps 147:4; Isaiah 40:26; Luke 12:6–7.
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Ps 147:4; Isaiah 40:26 'sends out their host by count'; Luke 12:7 'the very hairs of your head are all counted'. Strong.
In the universe: ESA Gaia star catalogue.
In nature: Ants: about 20 quadrillion ants (Schultheiss et al., PNAS 2022).
In people: The census: humanity's largest counts are still samples and estimates.
In science: Avogadro's number; large-number estimation; the mole.

Living it

Count blessings, knowing (14:34).

Its kind

Act: something done: mercy shown, provision given, a prayer answered.

In the Qur'an: 19:94; 72:28 (verb aḥṣā)

Count the stars, if you can

Abraham (peace be upon him) was old, and he and his wife had no children. In the Torah, he spoke to God about it plainly: what good is any reward, if I have no one to leave it to?

God brought him outside, into the night, and said: “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them.” Then: “So shall thy seed be.”

Abraham could not count them. On a dark night in the desert you can see a few thousand stars with the naked eye, and they seem endless. Today we know there are hundreds of billions in our galaxy alone. But the point was never the arithmetic. A man who could not count the stars was asked to trust the One who could, and the Torah says he did: “he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

Jews, Christians and Muslims all count themselves among the children of that promise. Their numbers now run into billions, more than any one person could count, as Abraham was told.

What each faith says

Read:

Judaism

“Lift up your eyes on high, And see: who hath created these? He that bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name”
Isaiah 40:26 · JPS 1917

The prophet Isaiah tells people to lift their eyes to the night sky and ask who made it. It is the One who brings out the stars like an army, by number, and calls each by name. In Judaism counting can itself be an act of worship. For forty-nine nights between Passover and Shavuot, Jews count the Omer aloud, one day at a time, with a blessing.

There is a tenderness here too. To be counted is to be noticed. The book of Numbers takes its English name from the census of every family in the wilderness.

Christianity

“But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:7 · WEB

Jesus used counting to calm fear. Sparrows were sold five for two small coins, he said, and not one of them is forgotten by God. Then he went further: even the hairs on your head are counted.

For Christians the point is not that God keeps a ledger, but that nothing about a person is too small for God's care. A human head has about a hundred thousand hairs. No one else has ever counted yours.

Christians count in prayer too. Catholics pray the rosary, a loop of beads holding five ‘decades’ of ten Hail Marys each. Orthodox Christians pass a knotted prayer rope through their fingers, one knot for each Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

Islam

“Verily He knoweth them and numbereth them with (right) numbering. And each one of them will come unto Him on the Day of Resurrection, alone.”
Qur'an 19:94-95 · Pickthall (1930)

The Qur'an uses the verb aḥṣā, to count fully, for God's knowledge of everything: “That He may know that they have indeed conveyed the messages of their Lord. He surroundeth all their doings, and He keepeth count of all things.” (72:28, Pickthall). The same verb appears in a famous hadith. God has ninety-nine Names, and whoever ‘counts’ them (aḥṣāhā), in the sense of learning them, understanding them and living by them, will enter Paradise (Bukhari 7392).

Muslims also count in worship, often on prayer beads: thirty-three times ‘Glory be to God’, thirty-three ‘Praise be to God’, thirty-four ‘God is greatest’. And the Qur'an says the one count we can never finish is our blessings: “And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him, and if ye would count the bounty of Allah ye cannot reckon it. Lo! man is verily a wrong-doer, an ingrate.” (14:34, Pickthall).

Same and different

All three faiths say God numbers the stars and knows each person individually, and all three use the image of the night sky over Abraham. All three also count in worship: the Omer, the rosary, the tasbīḥ beads. They differ in emphasis. In Christianity, being counted is above all a sign of the Father's care. In Judaism it is a sign of covenant belonging. In Islam it is a sign of exact knowledge, including the reckoning of our deeds, which each person will face alone.

A moment to reflect

Is there something in your life you have stopped counting because it felt like too much?
Does the idea of being exactly counted by God feel comforting, or uncomfortable? Why?
If you tried to count your blessings for one day, where would you lose count?

Watch

ESA's Gaia mission, which has measured nearly two billion stars, rewrites the history of the Milky Way.

The Billion Ant Mega Colony and the Biggest War on Earth · Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell Plays on “The ant who warned her people” →

Kurzgesagt on ant super-colonies with billions of members: counting at a scale we cannot picture.

How scientists redefined the kilogram by fixing a constant: one of the ways we turned counting into measurement.

Do it together

families / schools / neighboursStar count night

On a clear, dark night, look at the constellation Orion and count how many stars you can see inside its four corner stars. Compare counts between gardens, streets and villages, then read Genesis 15:5 and Isaiah 40:26. The countryside charity CPRE runs a national Star Count each February you can join.

families / faith groupsThe blessings jar

For one week, everyone drops a dried bean into a jar for every blessing they notice. At the end, try to remember what each bean was for. Read Qur'an 14:34 and talk about the ones you lost count of.

families / schools / faith groupsForty-nine days

Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews count the Omer each night, many ticking off a printed chart. Make a 49-day chart for something you want to build up slowly, such as a kindness, a skill or a habit, and count it aloud each evening.

faith groups / schoolsBeads, three ways

Ask a Catholic, an Orthodox Christian and a Muslim to bring a rosary, a prayer rope and a tasbīḥ, a string of prayer beads. Each shows how their beads are used and what is said on them. Notice what counting does to a prayer.

Go deeper

Schultheiss and others, The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth, PNAS 2022 · paper
CPRE: dark skies and the national Star Count · article
Genesis 15 (JPS 1917) on Sefaria · scripture
Qur'an 19:93-95 with translations · scripture
Luke 12 (WEB) on Bible Gateway · scripture

Sources (6)

About 20 quadrillion ants, from 489 studies; biomass exceeds wild birds and mammals combined: Schultheiss and others, PNAS 2022
'Count the stars, if thou be able'; 'he believed in the LORD': Genesis 15:5-6, JPS 1917
'Whoever counts them (aḥṣāhā) enters Paradise': Sahih al-Bukhari 7392
'He has counted all things in number': Qur'an 72:28
Counting the Omer, 49 days: Leviticus 23:15-16
Average human scalp has about 100,000 hairs: Britannica, Hair

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