Very few people know that the last messenger from Allah was actually an American citizen. This article is a tribute to one of the most remarkable Muslim reformers of all time. This is the story of Rashad Khalifa (1935-1990), the messenger of the covenant and the founder of Submission, which is a new brand of Islam. This new strain of Islam is still being practiced in Tucson, which is his hometown in Arizona. Muslims deliberately avoid referring to Rashad Khalifa’s name or work for the reasons I shall explain later. However, his experience can be a useful tool in the hands of those who are interested in exposing Islam.

His life and discoveries

Dr. Khalifa has an Arab background and was born in 1935 in Egypt. He was a brilliant student and graduated with honours from university. Then he moved to the USA where he obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 1959, and then settled in America where he worked for the United Nations. From the very beginning, Khalifa demonstrated a deep interest in religion, in particular, in the Quran. He did not like the existing English translations of the Quran, so he produced his own translation, which is far easier to read and understand. Eventually, his interest forced him to give up his professional job to become a full time imam of his local mosque in Tucson/Arizona.

Rashad Khalifa was a computer genius in those early days of computing. He studied the Quran very carefully and subjected it to comprehensive computer analysis and claimed that everything in the Quran was built around the number 19. He produced a long list of mathematical formulae about the frequency of Quranic words and letters to support his conclusion that they are all multiples of the number 19. He used his ‘discoveries’ to explain the mysterious one or few letters verses in the Quran, which he explained on the basis of adding up to 19. He visited Libya and met Qhaddafi who was influenced by Khalifa’s ideas, however, that friendship did not last long, and Khalifa returned to America.

Khalifa must have been shocked by his discovery of the coincidences associated with the number 19, so shocked that he missed two crucial points. First, he missed to notice that he actually had to make changes to the Quran to make it fit well with his findings, second he missed to prove that similar coincidences can not be found in other books of similar size. Verification of his long and complicated mathematical lists is daunting to an average person, and will require long time to do even with today’s computers.

Then came the biggest surprise of it all: Khalifa claimed to have discovered that his own name is encrypted in the Quran, not once but 19 times! He was so impressed by himself that he claimed to be the messenger of Allah! His message, he claimed, was to purify the Quran from its inaccuracies and put Islam back on track. He sent letters everywhere in the Islamic world calling for Muslims to believe in him and follow his pure path of Islam, and many Muslims did exactly what he asked for.

Here are some sample translations of Khalifa where he has deliberately inserted his own in place of Muhammad. Compare his translation with the translation of other main stream translators, such as, Hilali and Khan:

25:56 (Rashad Khalifa): We have sent you (Rashad) as a deliverer of good news, as well as a warner.

25:56 (Hilali and Khan): And We have sent you (O Muhammad) only as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner.

36:3 (Rashad Khalifa): Most assuredly, you (Rashad) are one of the messengers

36:3 (Hilali and Khan): Truly, you (O Muhammad) are one of the Messengers,

42:24 (Rashad Khalifa): Are they saying, "He (Rashad) has fabricated lies about GOD!"? If GOD willed, He could have sealed your mind, but GOD erases the falsehood and affirms the truth with His words. He is fully aware of the innermost thoughts.

42:24 (Hilali and Khan): Or say they: "He has invented a lie against Allâh?" If Allâh willed, He could have sealed your heart (so that you forget all that you know of the Qur'an). And Allâh wipes out falsehood, and establishes the truth (Islâm) by His Word (this Qur'an). Verily, He knows well what (the secrets) are in the breasts (of mankind).

81:22 (Rashad Khalifa): Your friend (Rashad) is not crazy.

81:22 (Jilali and Khan: And (O people) your companion (Muhammad) is not a madman;

As a messenger of Allah, Khalifa gave himself the rights to introduce a number of fundamental changes to the Quran and Islam; he discarded all ahadith and sunna and called them un-Islamic. He introduced fundamental changes to Islamic rituals like prayers and hajj. His computer analyses of the Quran lead him to spot two satanic verses (9:128-129), which he immediately expunged from the original Qur’an. He also concluded that there are only three great messengers of Allah; namely: Abraham, Mohammed and himself.


Why Rashad Khalifa is significant?

For a long time, prophets, especially Islamic prophets, are a thought to be extinct. In the present world, the likelihood of coming across one of them would be like meeting one of the dinosaurs. We always wondered what could make a normal person to claim to be a prophet, we always wondered about the psychological nature of those who claimed to be sent by God. Some of us even wish if they could have the opportunity to travel through time and meet those prophets face to face to know the facts about them and about the people who believed them.

Khalifa lived in our time and provided us with a living example of the techniques of the making of a prophet. He believed he was genuine in his claim and was supremely confident of his message. He was a highly educated and well-informed, with exemplary dedication. Only a genius can produce a work like the one he produced, but he claimed to have been sent by God. There are many who believed him and still carry his message. There are striking similarities between Mohammed and Khalifa. Therefore, a careful analysis of his life might provide us with a clue about the personalities of Mohammed and those who believed him.

• Mohammed claimed that his message was to purify the previous religions, Khalifa also claimed his message was to purify the previous religions, including Islam.

• Mohammed claimed that his name was mentioned in the previous scriptures, the unbelievers denied. Khalifa claimed his name is mentioned in the Quran! The Muslims denied.

• Mohammed claimed the previous scriptures were manipulated, the Christians and Jews denied. Khalifa claimed the Quran was manipulated, the Muslims denied.

• Mohammed had sex with an under age girl, Khalifa was accused of sexually fondling an under age girl (later cleared by court)

Apart from these similarities, in all other respects, Khalifa was also a superior human to Mohammed. He was a very intelligent and dedicated person. He never killed or ordered the killing of any other person. He was a family man with only one wife. As it is cleaned from all the nonsense of sunna and ahadith, Islam of Khalifa is a far better Islam than the one introduced by Mohammed.

Why Muslims Hate Rashad Khalifa?

Currently, there are thousands of Islamist scientists and Muslim organizations whose only job is to propagate the myth of scientific miracles in the Quran. All such claims, without a single exception, have been easily refuted and proved to be scientific blunders. This makes one wonder why Muslims keep talking about that load of rubbish and deliberately avoid any reference to the coincidences associated with the number 19, which is far more impressive, and incorporate no scientific mistakes?

Muslim scholars will do anything to associate the Quran with a miracle that exists only in their imagination, but they couldn’t accept this one from Khalifa. Muslim scholars had to make a difficult choice, if they accept Khalifa’s claims then they have to accept that the Quran is not accurate and contain satanic verses. This is like shooting Islam right in the heart. Muslim scholars decided to go for the safer option, which is not to believe Khalifa.

The seventh century witnessed the rise of a number of prophets in Arabia, like Musaylama and Sijah. But Mohammed did not like competition, so he sent his followers to deal with his competitors. They killed them and then tarnished their images. In the twentieth century, repeating the history, and following Muhammad’s example, Mohammed’s followers were back with their daggers. They killed Khalifa in his hometown in Arizona and tarnished his image.

rawandi@googlemail.com