Rashad Khalifa

Rashad Khalifa
Born (1935-11-19)November 19, 1935
Egypt
Died January 30, 1990(1990-01-30) (aged 54)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Nationality Egyptian-American
Occupation Biochemist
Known for United Submitters International
Children Sam Khalifa and Beth Bujarski

Rashad Khalifa (Arabic: رشاد خليفة‎; November 19, 1935 – January 30, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International, a reform branch of Islam. His teachings, some of which depended on numerological analysis of the Quran, were opposed by Traditionalist Muslims. He was assassinated on January 31, 1990.

A suspect, Glen Cusford Francis, also known as Benjamin Phillips, was identified in 2006 through fingerprints and DNA testing. After an investigation, he was extradited as a suspect in 2009 from Canada to the United States. His trial started in December 2012. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.[1]

Life

Khalifa was born in Egypt on November 19, 1935. He obtained an honors degree from Ain Shams University, Egypt, before he emigrated to the United States in 1959. He later earned a Master's Degree in biochemistry from Arizona State University and a Ph.D. from University of California.[2] He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and lived in Tucson, Arizona.[2] He was married to an American woman and they had a son and a daughter together.

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. He next worked as a senior chemist in Arizona's State Office of Chemistry in 1980.

He was central to the founding of the United Submitters International, (USI), an offshoot reform Islamic group.[3] He coined the phrase "Final Testament" in reference to the Quran.[4]

Doctrine

Khalifa said that he was a messenger of God but not a prophet, and that the archangel Gabriel "most assertively" told him that chapter 36, verse 3, of the Quran, "specifically" referred to him.[5][6] His followers refer to him as God's Messenger of the Covenant.[7] He promoted a strict monotheism and was a prominent Quranist, rejecting the hadith and sunnah as fabrications attributed to Muhammad by later scholars. Some Muslims objected to his interpretations.

He wrote that the Quran contains a mathematical structure based on the number 19. Starting in 1968, Khalifa used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Quran. In 1974, he claimed that he had discovered a mathematical code in the text of the Qur'an involving the number 19. The details of this analysis are available in his book, Quran, the Final Testament.[8]

Khalifa's research did not receive much attention in the West. In 1980, Martin Gardner mentioned it in Scientific American.[9] Gardner later wrote a more extensive and critical review of Khalifa and his work.[10]

Khalifa's first published report in the Arab world appeared in the Egyptian magazine Akher Sa'a, in January 1973.[11] Updates of his research were subsequently published by the same magazine later that year and again in 1975.[12][13]

Criminal charges

In October 1979, Khalifa was falsely accused in Tucson 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 research on the human aura. There was no evidence of intercourse found when the girl was examined at a local hospital. Justice of the Peace James P. West ruled there was probable cause to hold Khalifa for trial on the charges.[14]

Assassination

On January 31, 1990, Khalifa was found stabbed to death inside the Masjid (Mosque) of Tucson Arizona, his place of employment.[15] He was stabbed multiple times.

Nineteen years after the murder, on April 28, 2009, the Calgary Police Services of Canada arrested Glen Cusford Francis, a 52-year-old citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, on suspicion of killing Rashad Khalifa.[16] Investigators in Tucson learned that Francis, who was going by the name Benjamin Phillips, had begun his studies under Khalifa in January 1990. Phillips disappeared shortly after the slaying,[16] and was said to have left the country. An investigation revealed Phillips and Francis were the same man when the police analyzed fingerprints found in Phillips' apartment. A specialty unit of the Tucson Police Department progressed in its investigation in 2006 and in December 2008, and was able to use DNA testing on forensic evidence from the crime scene to tie Francis to the assassination.[17] In October 2009, a Canadian judge ordered Francis's extradition to the United States to face trial.[18]

The trial for the murder began on December 11, 2012. On December 19, the jury, after a three-hour deliberation, found Glen Francis guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison.[19]

Prior to the Francis trial, James Williams, an alleged member of the Jamaat ul-Fuqra organization, was convicted of conspiracy in the slaying.[20] Williams disappeared on the day of his sentencing and could not be found.[21] In 2000 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.[22][23]

CBS News reported that Muslim extremist Wadih el-Hage was "connected to the 1990 stabbing death... El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination 'a good thing.'"[24] If he was involved, Khalifa would be possibly the first American to be killed by an operative of Al Qaeda in the United States.[25]

Bibliography

  • Miracle of the Quran: Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets, Islamic Productions, St. Louis, Missouri, 1973.
  • The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World, Renaissance Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1981.
  • Qur'an: The Final Scripture, Islamic Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1981.
  • Qur'an: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1982.
  • Qur'an, Hadith and Islam, Islamic Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1982.
  • Qur'an: The Final Testament, Islamic Productions, Tucson, Arizona, 1989.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jamie Komarnicki (26 December 2012). "Ex-Calgarian faces life for 1990 murder of U.S. imam". Edmonton Journal. p. A.7.
  2. 1 2 "Submission (Islam): Rashad Khalifa (Messenger of the Covenant), summary and facts". www.masjidtucson.org. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  3. ↑ Rashad Khalifa (September 1989). "Why the name change" (PDF). Submission Perspective. 57: 1.
  4. ↑ Quaranic Sciences - Page 277, Abbas Jaffer - 2009
  5. ↑ Appendix 2, Authorized English Version of the Quran, Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D.
  6. ↑ "Appendix 2, God's Messenger of the Covenant". www.masjidtucson.org.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-03. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  8. ↑ Khalifa, Rashad. Quran, the Final Testament.
  9. ↑ Gardner, Martin (1980), Mathematical Games, Scientific American, September 1980, pp16–20.
  10. ↑ "The numerology of Dr. Rashad Khalifa" - scientist, Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept-Oct, 1997
  11. ↑ Akher Sa'a magazine, Egypt, January 24, 1973.
  12. ↑ Akher Sa'a magazine, Egypt, November 28, 1973.
  13. ↑ Akher Sa'a magazine, Egypt, December 31, 1975.
  14. ↑ "Tucson man faces trial in alleged rape of teen". Tucson Citizen. 1979-10-06. pp. 2B.
  15. ↑ Pipes, Daniel (Apr 28, 2009; updated Dec 24, 2012). "Finding Rashad Khalifa's Killer". Daniel Pipes. Retrieved 16 July 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. 1 2 Massinon, Stephane (April 30, 2009). "Calgary police nab suspect in imam killing". National Post. The National Post Company. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  17. ↑ Slade, Daryl (May 22, 2009). "Fugitive held in slaying of American imam denied bail". The Vancouver Sun. Canwest Publishing Inc. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  18. ↑ Martin, Kevin. "Calgary suspect closer to trial for U.S. murder". The Calgary Sun. Sun Media. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  19. ↑ Komarnicki, Jamie. "Calgarian faces life sentence for 1990 murder of controversial U.S. imam". Calgary Herald. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on 2012-12-28. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  20. ↑ Eric Anderson, "Slain Islamic leader was outspoken; Khalifa's teachings from Tucson angered Muslims worldwide", Denver Post, 21 October 1993, p21.
  21. ↑ Dick Foster, "Extremist is 'not to be found'; Little hope held of finding Al-Fuqra fugitive", Rocky Mountain News, 25 February 1994, p8.
  22. ↑ People v. James D. Williams, (Colo. App. 01CA0781, Aug. 7, 2003) (not selected for official publication)
  23. ↑ "Attorney General Announces Sentence". Colorado Department of Law. 2001-03-16. Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  24. ↑ "Terrorists Take To Arizona". CBS Worldwide Inc. 2001-10-26. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 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. El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination "a good thing."
  25. ↑ "Arizona Was Home to bin Laden Sleeper Cell". s3.amazonaws.com.

Resources

  • R. Khalifa, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions International, 1982. ISBN 0-934894-30-2
  • R. Khalifa, , Authorized English Translation
  • R. Khalifa, , Authorized English Translation
  • 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.
  • A.Y. Musa, Hadith as Scripture (Palgrave, 2008) ISBN 0-230-60535-4
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