The Number 40

The number 40 is repeated in Islam a lot of times. Only Allah knows the answer, but out of the information gathered, the following data was compiled on the number 40.

1. The Prophet (PBUH) revealed his Prophethood at the age of 40 year as instructed by Allah (SWT).
2. Musa (Alahi Salam) traveled for 40 years in the desert.
3. Musa spent 40 days on Mount Sinai where he received the 10 commandments.
4. Prophet Ibrahim spent 40 days in a fire and lived because Allah made the fire like flowers.
5. Prophet Yunus was in a whale's mouth for 40 days.
6. On the 40th Ayat of Surah Baqrah Allah changes the topic.
7. Forty was the number of days that Prophet Ilyas spent in the wilderness before God appeared to him in a cave on Mount Horeb.
8. Forty was the number of days that Prophet Isa was tempted in the desert by Satan.
9. Muhammad (PBUH) was praying and fasting in the cave for 40 days.
10. Muhammad (PBUH) then had 40 followers to spread the religion of Islam.
11. Prophets Dauud and Suleiman each ruled for forty years.
12. Regarding the flood that Noah encountered, it is said that for forty days water continued to pour from the heavens and to stream out over the earth.
13. Prophet Isa walked the desert and fasted in the wilderness for forty days.
14. There is also a hadith from Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) that the prayers of a person who gossips would not be accepted for forty days and nights. ( Al-Kafi, Vol. 6, p. 400)
15. Imam Ali has narrated from Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) that one who memorizes and preserves forty hadith relating to their religious needs shall be raised by Allah (SWT) as a learned scholar on the Day of Resurrection.
16. It is said that a person’s intellect attains maturity in forty years, everyone according to his own capacity.
17. It is believed that one who assists a blind man for forty steps becomes worthy of entering heaven.
18. Imam Baghir has said: “The prayers of someone who drinks wine are not accepted for forty days.”
19. Believers have also been encouraged to devote themselves to God Almighty for forty days to see the springs of wisdom break forth from their hearts and flow from their tongues.

 Anyone out there to add on to the above? Feel free and let us educate each other.