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His line to God

1/ 9/2002

A MANCHESTER teenager has spent his life savings on a phone number he believes has connected him to God.

Sulayman Ahmed, aged 19 has paid £5,000 for the mobile phone number 0786 786 786 7. The sequence 786 has great significance for Muslims because it traditionally stands for: "In the name of Allah".

Devout Muslims utter the phrase in Arabic almost every time they embark on a new task or venture. Since he's had the number student Sulayman says he's become more religious, avoided a prison sentence and has done better at university.

Some friends have urged him to sell it but Sulayman has spurned the lure of a financial killing.

"It would be like selling my religion and I don't want to do that. The number is important to me and I don't want to profit from it," he said.

Sulayman says he discovered the existence of the phone number in a mysterious way. He started dialling an 11 digit mobile number using the 786 sequence and to his surprise someone answered. It was a white non-Muslim man from London.

Sulayman explained the significance of the number and asked if the the number was for sale. The man claimed others had rung him offering up to £4,500. Sulayman topped this with a £5,000, bid which was accepted. He travelled to London to pay the man in cash. He dismisses those who claim he has been 'had'.

"People might think that I've been ripped-off for going all the way to London and paying £5,000 for it but I would have paid more if I had to. Since I have the number my luck has changed dramatically. For example I appeared in Crown Court on traffic offences and was sure I would be sent to prison but I got community service instead.

"Before I got the number my life was going nowhere. I was hanging round with the wrong crowd, getting in trouble with the police and my mind was not focused. Now I concentrate on what I want for the future. I'm doing better at university because my confidence has grown."

Religion has come back into his life too. "I feel much more spiritual", he said: "I try to read namaz five times a day and I go to the mosque. I never use to do that but since I got the number I want to become a good Muslim."

A religious expert told Asian News that historically 786 stands for "In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful".

"It is an Arabic phrase used constantly by believers. It begins 13 of the 14 chapters of the Quran and when Muslims write letters they frequently put 786 at the top of the page. There is nothing wrong in this boy purchasing the number especially if it brings him peace and contentment."