United Submitters International

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United Submitters International (also called the Submitters) is a reformist moderate Islamic religious community, and is a branch of Quraniyoon. It follows the teachings of Rashad Khalifa. Submission is a religion whereby one recognizes God’s absolute authority, and reaches a conviction that only God possesses all power; no other entity possesses any power that is independent of Him. The natural result of such a realization is to devote one’s life and one’s worship absolutely to God alone. This is the First Commandment common to all three scriptures: Old Testament, New Testament and Final Testament (The Quran).[1]

The original group attended a mosque in Tucson, Arizona, which was originally founded by Dr. Rashad Khalifa in the United States of America. The Submitters can now be found throughout the world.[citation needed] Khalifa is regarded by some in this movement as God's messenger of the Covenant, who claims to be prophesied in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Quran.[2] The majority of Muslims consider this view as heretical.

Dr. Khalifa was assassinated on January 31st 1990. On December 19, 2012, a jury found Glen Francis guilty of first-degree murder.[3] Prior to the Francis trial, a person named 'James William' who is in the extremist group Al-Fuqra', based in Pakistan led by Sheikh Gilani [citation needed] was convicted of conspiracy in the slaying.[4]

Beliefs

  • All worship should be dedicated to God alone.
  • No human beings should be mentioned in prayer; this constitutes shirk (idolatry).
  • The Qur'an is the last scripture revealed by God to man and is the ONLY source of religious guidance for all muslims.
  • Islam as the world knows it today has been corrupted beyond recognition by adherence to hadith and sunnah
  • Rashad Khalifa was the consolidating and purifying Messenger of the Covenant prophesied in the Bible (Malachi 3:1-21, Luke 17:22-36, & Matthew 24:27) and in the Qur'an (3:81)
  • God put an authenticating code in all His scriptures, including the Qur'an, based on the number 19
  • The number 19 represents God's signature of one God or "Wahd" in Arabic which has a numerical value of 19.

Submitters describe themselves as Muslims who submit to God alone and follow Quran alone. A Submitter can be defined as a person who submits to the will of God. The state of Submission, which can only take place between the person and God Almighty, is considered to be the only acceptable form of worship by God. (3:19, 85). Therefore, Submission is not just a name of a religion; rather it describes one’s devotion to God alone.

Rashad's English Translation of the Quran in English

Rashad Khalifa also translated the Quran in modern, easy to understand, English. His authorized English version of the Quran can be found online.

Rejection of hadith and sunnah

Academics and scholars in the Western tradition have long taken a jaundiced view of hadith (see hadith and sunnah, historiography of early Islam), believing that many of the "traditions" are later inventions. Khalifa was notable for being both a practicing Muslim and an absolutist rejector of hadith and sunnah. He argued foremost that hadith and sunnah were condemned by the Qur'an Alone ideology. He also argued that the hadith and sunnah were not credible, and that much of the elaborate structure of religious and family law, sharia, erected on the basis of the hadith, was not binding on Muslims. Indeed, he argued that the Qur'an alone was sufficient as a basis for Islam. His ideas have clearly had some influence, even outside his group of Submitters, but it would be difficult to quantify it. He promoted the slogan: The Qur'an, the whole Qur'an, and nothing but the Qur'an

Rejection of two verses

While Khalifa'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, Khalifa denounced two long-accepted verses (Sura 9:128–129) of the Qur'an as later interpolations. He claimed that the numerical patterns he found in the Qur'an showed the verses to be false . He 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 under the early caliph Uthman ibn Affan. Furthermore he argued that those two verses are labelled as Meccan in a sura usually accepted as Medinan.

As God's Messenger of the Covenant

The controversy surrounding Khalifa deepened when he informed his followers that he was the Messenger of the Covenant, prophesied in the Bible (Malachi 3:1-21, Luke 17:22-36, & Matthew 24:27) and the Qur'an (3:81), sent to purify and consolidate all God's messages into one.

Khalifa distinguished between "messengers" and "prophets" , arguing that prophets brought down scriptures from God while messengers did not. He considered Muhammad to be the final Prophet (delivering the final scripture; Qur'an) but not the last messenger. He proclaimed that every prophet is a messenger but every messenger is not necessarily a prophet.

Changes To The Five Daily Contact prayers (Salat)

Khalifa claimed that it was wrong to mention any name besides the name of God in any of the worship practices, including the salat, or daily prayer, and the shahadah, or confession of faith. The usual forms of prayer and confession mention Muhammad. Removing Muhammad's name was not well received by other Muslims. Khalifa argued that mentioning the name of any powerless human being in any of the worship practices was idolatry, or setting up partners beside God.

The Quran's Mathematical Code – the number 19

Khalifa discovered what he believed was the Qur'an's mathematical code . The Submitters believe that the Quran is characterized by a unique phenomenon never found in any human-authored book. Every element of the Quran is mathematically composed — the suras, the verses, the words, the number of certain letters, the number of words from the same root, the number and variety of divine names, the unique spelling of certain words, the absence or deliberate alteration of certain letters within certain words, and many other elements of the Quran besides its content. According to the Submitters, there are two major facets of the Quran's mathematical system: (1) The mathematical literary composition, and (2) The mathematical structure involving the numbers of suras and verses. Because of this comprehensive mathematical coding, Submitters believe that the slightest distortion of the Quran's text or physical arrangement is immediately exposed.

References

  1. ↑ Khalifa, Rashad (2007). Introduction, from Quran : The Final Testament : Authorized English version. Tucson, [Arizona]: United Submitters International. p. 536. ISBN 978-1-890825-00-3. 
  2. ↑ Khalifa, Rashad (2007). Appendix 2, from Quran : The Final Testament : Authorized English version. Tucson, pa[Arizona]: United Submitters International. ISBN 978-1-890825-00-3.  Unknown parameter |ges= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ Komarnicki, Jamie. Calgary Herald (Postmedia Network) http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Calgarian+faces+life+sentence+1990+murder+controversial/7743101/story.html |url= missing title (help). Retrieved 2013-01-15. 
  4. ↑ Eric Anderson, Slain Islamic leader was outspoken; Khalifa's teachings from Tucson angered Muslims worldwide, Denver Post, 21 October 1993, p21.

Further reading

USI websites

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