United Submitters International

United Submitters International (also called the Submitters) is a reformist moderate Islamic religious community, and is a branch of Quraniyoon. It is inspired by the work 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 The Quran.[1]

The original group attended a mosque in Tucson, Arizona, which was founded by Dr. Rashad Khalifa in the United States. 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 31, 1990. On December 19, 2012, a jury found Glen Francis guilty of first-degree murder.[3] Prior to the Francis trial, James William, a member of the extremist group Al-Fuqra', based in Pakistan and led by Sheikh, Gilani was convicted of conspiracy in the slaying.[4]

Beliefs

Rashad's English translation of the Quran

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

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

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.

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. p. 536. ISBN 978-1-890825-00-3.
  3. ↑ 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 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

Submission websites

Submission Apps

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