Rashad Khalifa

Rashad Khalifa (November 19, 1935–January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist who founded United Submitters International. He was assassinated in 1990.

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Life

Khalifa immigrated to the United States in 1959, where he earned a Ph.D in biochemistry. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen, living in Tucson, Arizona.

Khalifa worked as a science adviser for the Libyan government for about one year, after which he worked as a chemist for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, then became a senior chemist in Arizona's State Office of Chemistry in 1980. Khalifa's son Sam Khalifa played Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He founded the religious group called United Submitters International (USI), a group which considers itself to be the true Islam, but prefers not to use the terms "Muslim" or "Islam," instead using the English equivalents of the Arabic: "Submitter" or "Submission." Submitters believe Khalifa was a messenger of God.

Specific beliefs of the USI include the dedication of all worship practices to God alone, upholding the Qur'an alone, and rejecting the traditional hadith and sunnah as fabrications and lies attributed to Muhammad by his enemies. For many years he attended Masjid Tucson in Arizona.

Mathematical analysis of Qur'anic text

Starting in 1969, Khalifa used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Qur'an. In 1974 he claimed that he discovered an intricate numerical pattern in the text of the Qur'an involving the number 19 mentioned in chapter 74 of the Qur'an.

Khalifa's research did not receive much attention in the West. The first comment appeared in Scientific American of September 1980, p. 22. Martin Gardner wrote of Khalifa's initial publication in the West: "It's an ingenious study of the Quran." Gardner later wrote a more extensive review of Khalifa and his work.^[1]

Three years later the Canadian Council on the Study of Religion reported in its Quarterly Review of April 1983 that the code Khalifa discovered is "an authenticating proof of the divine origin of the Quran."

Many popular magazines and newspapers in the Muslim world reported his discoveries. Khalifa's first publicized report appeared in the Egyptian magazine Akhersa (January 24, 1973). Updates of his research were subsequently published by the same magazine (November 28, 1973 and December 31, 1975). Many other magazines and newspaper articles by and about Khalifa appeared throughout the world in many languages.

Beliefs

As early as 1976 he became the target of criticism when he made claims that appeared heretical according to traditional Muslims - such as:

• Hadith (oral) and sunna (actions) were invented and attributed to Muhammad, they are innovations. Hadith are condemned Khalifa claimed, in the Qur'an, by name (in passages which others interpret using the ordinary meanings of the words, not the Islamic technical meaning. "Hadith" means "sayings." He cited:
  • [45:6-7] These are GOD's revelations that we recite to you truthfully. In which Hadith other than GOD and His revelations do they believe? Woe to every fabricator, guilty.
  • [33:62] This is GOD's eternal (Sunnat Allahi) system, and you will find that GOD's (Sunna) system is unchangeable.
• Removal of two allegedly fabricated verses from the Qur'an (9:128-129), on the grounds that they allegedly break word frequency patterns of multiples of 19, as well as anomalous treatment of them in well-known hadith regarding the collection of the Qur'an.
• The religion must be devoted to God ALONE and thus, he claimed, should proclaim the correct Shahada (testimony of faith): "I bear witness that there is no god except God" (omitting the traditional "Muhammad is the Messenger of God.")
  • Additionally, he claimed, adding the name of Muhammad to the Shahaada or using in the prayer violates the repeated Quranic commandment to "make no distinction among any of God's messengers" Quran 2:285. (The word used translated by Khalifa as "distinction," means "a serious breach or schism.")
• Declaring that Muhammad was the last Prophet, but not the last Messenger, Quran 33:40. (The definition of Muslim scholars is that all messengers are prophets, but not all prophets are messengers - However Khalifa used the Quranic definition; anyone sent from God is a messenger, he can be an angel messenger or a human messenger Quran 22:75, the human messenger is also called prophet if he is given a scripture, in other words he becomes messenger prophet, Quran 19:51. Khalifa then claimed to be a Messenger of God, specifically the so-called "Messenger of the Covenant" mentioned in Quran 3:81 and Bible Malachi 3:1.

Criminal Charges

In October, 1979, Rashad Khalifa was accused of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual contact with a minor. The accuser, a 16-year-old-girl, testified at a hearing that Khalifa sexually molested her while recruiting her for a United Nations Aura research project. There was no evidence of intercourse found when the girl was examined at a local hospital; however, Justice of the Peace James P. West ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold Khalifa for trial on the charges.^[2]

Assassination

On January 31, 1990, Khalifa was murdered at Masjid Tucson. He was stabbed 29 times and his body drenched in xylol but not set alight. Although nobody has been convicted of his murder, James Williams, an alleged member of the Jamaat ul-Fuqra organization, was convicted of conspiracy in the slaying.^[3] Williams disappeared on the day of his sentencing and could not be found.^[4] In 2000, however, Williams was apprehended attempting to re-enter the United States and sentenced to serve 69 years in prison. His convictions were upheld on appeal by the Colorado Court of Appeals except for one count of forgery.^[5][6]

CBS News reported that Muslim extremist Wadih el-Hage was "connected to the 1990 stabbing death of... Rashad Khalifa [who] was hated by Muslim extremists [that were] opposed to his teachings. His murderer was never caught, but El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination 'a good thing.'" ^[7]

References

1. ^ The numerology of Dr. Rashad Khalifa - scientist, Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept-Oct, 1997
2. ^ "Tucson man faces trial in alleged rape of teen", Tucson Citizen, 1979-10-06, pp. 2B. 
3. ^ Eric Anderson, Slain Islamic leader was outspoken; Khalifa's teachings from Tucson angered Muslims worldwide, Denver Post, 21 October 1993, p21.
4. ^ Dick Foster, Extremist is 'not to be found'; Little hope held of finding Fuqra fugitive, Rocky Mountain News, 25 February 1994, p8.
5. ^ People v. James D. Williams, (Colo. App. 01CA0781, Aug. 7, 2003) (not selected for official publication)
6. ^ Attorney General Announces Sentence (html). Colorado Department of Law (03/16/2001). Retrieved on 09/29/2007.
7. ^ Terrorists Take To Arizona (html). CBS Worldwide Inc (10/26/2001). Retrieved on 09/29/2007. “El-Hage has also been connected to the 1990 stabbing death of a Tucson mosque leader. Rashad Khalifa was hated by Muslim extremists opposed to his teachings. His murderer was never caught, but El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination "a good thing."”

Resources

• R. Khalifa, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions International, 1982. ISBN 0-934894-30-2
• R. Khalifa, Quran: The Final Testament, Islamic Productions International, 1989. ISBN 1-881893-03-0
• R. Khalifa, The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World, Islamic Productions International, 1981. ISBN 0-934894-38-8
• R. Khalifa, Quran, Hadith, And Islam, Universal Unity, 2000. ISBN 1-881893-04-9.
• Y.Y. Haddad and J.I. Smith, Mission to America; Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America, University Press of Florida, 1993. ISBN 0-8130-1216-3.