The At-Odds Beliefs of Submitters
By AZHAR KHAN  

Those who call themselves Submitters have differences of beliefs. This is to be expected since we are human. Differences can be traced to the core beliefs of an individual submitter.

QURAN

The Quran is the Arabic Quran (26:95, 41:3) given to Prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago consisting of 6346 verses. God in His immense mercy provided us proof (74:30-35) that every word of the 6346 verses is His Proven word (14:27).

Belief in God dictates that we believe God. Thus, a worshipper of God alone will unhesitatingly accept that the Quran is the Statute Book (25:1, 2:185), fully detailed for religious law (6:114) and that God’s words in the Quran are COMPLETE (6:115).

HADITH

The only acceptable divine Hadith (narration) is the Quran itself (39:23, 45:6 & 68:44). Anything else is human made. God call His own Glorious words in the Quran as Hadith and forbids us to uphold any other Hadith (77:50, 7:185). No words (or Hadith) other God’s words can be a source of law (6:19, 10:37, 77:50, 6:114-115). GOD's word reigns supreme (9:40).

…… the above basics are unacceptable to quite a few submitters thus resulting in differences of opinion on various subjects since the source (Quran) is not the same for each.

QURAN REDEFINED

Some submitters consider Dr. Khalifa’s translation of the Quran (“Translated from the Original”) as the Quran and take any word from that translation cover to cover as a source of law. Thus subheadings, footnotes or appendices are a source of law for them. Others, in addition to the translation add audios, videos and writings by Rashad Khalifa as a source of law. This is in defiance of the Quran in which God’s words are complete and the only source of law.

HADITH REDEFINED

The traditional Muslims and some submitters do not accept the words of the Quran that the Quran is the best Hadith and only acceptable Hadith. The traditional Muslims take the words attributed to Muhammad as Hadith and follow those attributed words as a source of law.

Some submitters take the words of Rashad Khalifa not as Hadith but follow those words as a source of law. These submitters consider the word Hadith as lowly and believe that such a lowly word cannot possibly be used for Rashad Khalifa’s words; even though God uses the same word, Hadith, for His Glorious complete words in the Quran.

….. these submitters who have the above beliefs with a redefined Quran and a redefined Hadith hold their own conference with a reverence for MOC and his words, left, right and center. To them the translated words of the 6346 verses or the words of subheadings, footnotes, appendices, audios, or videos are one and the same as a source of law.

It should be added at this point that the numbered translated 6346 verses in Dr. Khalifa’s translation sufficiently portray the message in the Arabic Quran. Thus, the class of submitters who have redefined Quran and Hadith cannot defend their beliefs based solely on the translated verses by Rashad Khalifa.

It should also be pointed out that the primary discussion and the central point of this note is that the words of the Quran are the ONLY SOURCE OF LAW. When we give the message to a new person, we must give Rashad Khalifa’s translation which contains the embedded information of the miracle of the Quran as well as other embedded information, lest we be guilty of concealment.

STAGE TO STAGE (84:19)

Rashad Khalifa in various formats made it clear that (1) the Quran is the Arabic Quran given to Prophet Muhammad, (2) the translation was his translation (Rashad has repeated reference to ‘my translation’ in the newsletters); and (3) a constant reminder of , “don’t go by what I say, go by the Quran.”

Other than the submitters who have redefined Quran and Hadith as per above, there is a class of submitters who cannot accept that the mathematically Proven word of God in the Arabic Quran is the ultimate (only) source for religious law and/or is complete. Neither can they accept the uncompromising, “don’t go by what I say, go by the Quran” reminder by the messenger which is based on numerous verses of the Quran.

Rashad Khalifa’s words in his translation, newsletters, audios, videos and/or books are considered at an elevated level or inspired (by God) by these submitters. An outcome of calling the words ‘elevated’ or ‘inspired’ is that those words subsequently ‘interpret’ or ‘explain’. Thus, the messenger’s words by this process eclipse God’s complete words in the Quran. After all, why would one not accept God’s messenger’s explanation or interpretation? The problem with this conclusion is that there in nothing in the Quran which supports the point of view that the messenger explains or interprets the Quran. There are numerous verses in the Quran that state God explains the revelations but none about the messenger explaining the Quran. For some of us who were with the messenger, he was explicit, “All interpretation belongs to Satan”.

NOW THEN, WHERE WILL YOU GO? (81:26)

At some point in his/her journey in Submission, moving from the status (49:14) of submitter (Muslim) to believer (Mu’men) an ACCEPTANCE has to be made of God’s words in Quran which are complete and the only source of law.

Should you reach that point and remove the self-imposed shackles, you will only use God’s words to support any point of view. You will quote God’s words without the guilt of whether you quoted the attached subheading or footnote.

Prophet Muhammad had no duty except to deliver the Quran. God sent the great miracle of the Quran through His messenger, Rashad Khalifa, to remind us to go back to the Quran. Why is the human factor brought into the worship of God alone? Why would GOD give us ‘one of the great miracles’ so that we can be certain that every word of the infallible (10:37) Arabic Quran is the unaltered and proven word of GOD if He planned to replace it with fallible human words? Do you really think GOD would expect us to subordinate the complete words of God in the Arabic Quran to human words which you classify as interpretation, explanation, or revelation when no such support of this classification exists in the Quran?

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None of the above, in any way, means that any of Dr. Khalifa’s work should be cast aside nor does it mean that a thorough study of his should not be done nor does it mean that anyone should be discouraged from study of his works/ videos, etc. Nor does it mean, we study the Arabic Quran and set aside Dr. Khalifa’s translation.

It simply means, that when a point of view is advocated, can support from the words of the Quran be provided. The source remains the Quran (The Statute Book). Explanation does not become a source.

 

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