United Submitters International
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The United Submitters International (USI) is a religious group founded by Rashad Khalifa. Submitters considers themselves to be adhering to true Islam, but prefer not to use the terms "Muslim" or "Islam," instead using the English equivalents: "Submitter" or "Submission." Submitters believe Rashad was a messenger of God hence depart themselves from Muslims.
Specific beliefs of the USI include: the dedication of all worship practices to their opinions about God, claiming to uphold the Quran alone, and rejecting the Islamic traditionalist hadith and sunnah attributed to Muhammad and the majority of Muslims. The main group attends "Masjid Tucson" [1] in Arizona, USA.
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[edit] Central beliefs
- God alone possesses all power; no other entity possesses any power that is independent of Him.
- The Qur'an is the literal word of God and His final message to humanity.
- The Qur'an is words of God and the only source of religious guidance while Hadith and Sunnah are fabrications by men falsely attributed to prophet Muhammed against his will.
- Hadith and Sunnah are tools of the devil to misguide humanity from true values of Islam found in the Quran alone.
- All worship must be devoted to God alone; no human beings play any role as partners or intercessors at God
- All worship practices must be devoted to God alone; no other name and no human beings(Muhamad, Mary or Jesus or Saints) may be mentioned besides the name of God in proclaiming faith or during prayer
- Islam as the world knows it today has been corrupted beyond recognition by adherence to hadith and sunnah, which in their opinion are falsely attributed to Muhammad
- Rashad Khalifa was the consolidating and purifying "Messenger of the Covenant"
- God put an authenticating code in all His scriptures based on the number 19
[edit] Numeric patterns in the Qur'an
Between 1968 and 1990, Submitters used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Qur'an. In 1974, one of the submitters, Rashad Khalifa claimed that he discovered an intricate numerical pattern in the text of the Qur'an involving the number 19. He claimed that this pattern was beyond "probability", and was a miracle.
The verse 74:30 states, "Over it is nineteen".
It is a Math Miracle [2] authorized by God and can be proven and verified.
[edit] Criticism
Critics of the code argue that the method of counting is arbitrary and that it is impossible to verify the counts given by Rashad. There is no record of any respected mathematician as having accepted that the code is "beyond probability" as is often claimed; similar claims have been made for the Torah[1] and the Bible.
The simplest and most withering criticism that can be leveled at Rashad Khalifa's counts is that he uses several methods of interpreting, adopting each as needed as he goes through the text. For example, if counting 19 letters does not bring a sensible "meta-meaning" to the text, then 19 words might, or 48 letters, or 48 words. There are many other methods of exegesis shown in Rashad Khalifa's Quran: The Final Testament, none applied in any consistent pattern.
[edit] Rejection of hadith and sunnah
Submitters follow the Qur'an alone, arguing that it is complete, perfect, and fully detailed yet reject two verses of it. Appendix 12 of their translation of the Qur'an reads:
"The Prophet's sole mission was to deliver Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but Quran (3:20; 5:48-50, 92, 99; 6:19; 13:40; 16:35, 82; 24:54; 29:18; 42:48; 64:12). Delivering the Quran was such a momentous and noble mission that the Prophet did not have any time to do anything else. Moreover, the Prophet was enjoined in the strongest words from issuing any religious teachings besides the Quran (69:38-47). He was even enjoined from explaining the Quran (75:15-19) - God is the only teacher of the Quran (55:1-2) and the Quran is the best Hadith (39:23 & 45:6). These Quranic facts are manifested in the historical reality that the words and actions (Hadith & Sunna) attributed to the Prophet did not appear until the second century after his death." Muslims believe that the Messenger Muhammad (Peace and blessings be on him) understood the Quran and lived by it. Muslims reject Rashad's claim by pointing out that The Messenger Muhammad (Peace and blessings be on him) delievered the message in all aspects of his (Peace and blessings be on him) life and is a living example of the correct understanding of the Quran. Hence in reality there would be no contradiction when following his (Peace and blessings be on him) example if one truly wanted to follow the Quran.
[edit] Rejection of two Qur'anic verses
While Rashad's early publications claimed that the numerical code he saw in the Qur'an confirmed that the Qur'an was perfectly preserved, errors were found in his earlier counts. In the end, to keep the counts of certain critical words, Rashad denounced two verses (Sura 9:128–129, the last two verses of that Sura) of the Qur'an claiming that the numerical patterns he found in the Qur'an showed the verses to be false. Muslims criticize this point for the reason that Rashad doesn't believe that The Book is from God. They also point out how Rashad used verse (3:81) as a valid verse to refer to himself, [when it is actually referring to Messenger Muhammad (Peace and blessings on him)], but then Rashad rejects verses (9:128-129) which also refer to Muhammad. Rashad also pointed to a tradition found in Sahih Bukhari, that these verses were only found in one version of the ninth sura when the Qur'an was compiled and standardized (Bukhari, vol. 6, book 61, number 509). While Hadith is considered forbidden as a source of religious teachings, Submitters considered it can be a useful source of history to derive a lot of information about historical events and local customs and traditions during the early centuries of Islam. Therefore Rashad also cited it without understanding it along with numerical calculations to argue their case for the rejection of two Qur'anic verses.
[edit] Claiming to be a messenger of God
Controversy surrounding Rashad deepened when he declared himself a fallible human while also being messenger of God which is a contradiction. He claimed to be the Messenger of the Covenant, allegedly prophesied in the Bible (Malachi 3:1-2) and the Qur'an (3:81), sent to purify and consolidate all God's messages into one, supported by the claimed "mathematical miracle" of the Quran. Although proof against this claim by Muslims is that when the verse (3:81) of the Quran is read in context, it is actually refferring to Messenger Muhammad (Peace be on him) and how the believers should make a covenant with him if they are indeed believers. The verse calls the believers to bear witness to him being the Messenger (Peace and blessings be on him), meaning the testifcation of faith in God is true when one testifies to the Messenger Muhammad as well (Peace and blessings be on him). It is no coincidence when Muslims also point out verse (3:78) in their criticism of Rashad's claim about verse (3:81); if one reads (3:78) which is a few verses before (3:81), it points out that there are section of the People of the Book who distort The Book with their tongues and who do not believe, which is an indicator just prior to the verse (3:81) which Rashad distorted by claiming to be a Messenger.
[edit] Prayer
Submitters believe that it was wrong to mention any name besides the name of God in any of the worship practices, including the contact prayer and the testimony of faith. The usual forms of prayer and testimony includes mentioning the name of Muhammad. Submitters argue that mentioning the name of humans in the worship practises is idolatry, or setting up partners beside God. Although this is what they believe they come under criticism of this claim from Muslims who refer to the Quran as proof against their claim. Among these proofs Muslims cite the verse (33:56) that makes the point that, God and the Angels send blessings on the Prophet (Peace and blessings be on him) and then addresses the believers to send blessings on him (Peace and blessings be on him) and to salute him (Peace and blessings be on him) with respect.
[edit] Further reading
- Rashad Khalifa (1982) Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions International. ISBN 0-934894-30-2
- Rashad Khalifa (1989) Quran: The Final Testament, Islamic Productions International. ISBN 1-881893-03-0
- Rashad Khalifa (1981) The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World, Islamic Productions International. ISBN 0-934894-38-8
- Rashad Khalifa (2000) Quran, Hadith, And Islam, Universal Unity, 2000. ISBN 1-881893-04-9.
[edit] Websites of Submitters
- Submission.ws (Submission WebSite)
- Submission.info (organization website)
- Masjid Tucson (organization website)
- submission.org
- God's mosque.org (Q&A using Quran alone)
- QuranAlone.com (Dr. Rashad Khalifa's video sermons and unaltered works)
