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{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=2|Content=1|Language=2|References=1}}
{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=3|Content=3|Language=4|References=3}}{{Infobox Person|name=Rashad Khalifa (رشاد خليفة)|image=RashadK2.jpg|birth_date=November 19, 1935|birth_place=Egypt|death_date=January 31, 1990 (aged 54)|death_place=Tucson, Arizona, U.S.|death_cause=Assassinated by former student|occupation=Biochemist, numerologist|notable_works=''Miracle of the Quran: Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets'',<br>''The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World'',<br>''Visual Presentation of the Miracle''}}
'''Rashad Khalifa''' (رشاد خليفة‎; November 19, 1935–January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International. From him originated the claim that the [[Qur'an]] is full of [[Islam and Miracles|miracles]] related to the number 19. He was assassinated by one of his former students (a Muslim) on January 31 1990.
 
'''Rashad Khalifa''' (رشاد خليفة‎; November 19, 1935–January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International, which promoted a heterodox [[Quranism|Quranist]] interpretation of Islam. Khalifa was responsible for popularizing the theory that the [[Qur'an|Quran]] is replete with [[Word Count Miracles in the Qur'an|numerological]] [[Islam and Miracles|miracles]] related to the number 19. He was [[List of Killings Ordered or Supported by Muhammad|assassinated]] by his former student Glen Cusford Francis (a.k.a. Benjamin Philips), a traditionalist radical, on January 31, 1990.
 
==Personal life, education, and career==
Rashad Khalifa, born in Egypt in 1935, obtained an honors degree from Ain Shams University in Egypt before emigrating to the United States in 1959. In the States, he completed a Master's Degree in biochemistry at Arizona State University and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside. Khalifa acquired U.S. citizenship, married an American woman, and had two children with her, a daughter, Beth, and a son, Sam.
 
Khalifa worked as a science adviser for the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for about a year. After this, he worked as a chemist for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Next, in 1980, he worked as a senior chemist for the Arizona State Office of Chemistry.
 
==Religious activism==
As a Quranist, Khalifa promoted the doctrine that the Quran was sufficient for understanding Islam and that the hadith, which he considered later inauthentic additions to Islam, were a corrupting influence which had to be purged for the rejuvenation of the religion.
 
Khalifa coupled his belief in the sole-usefulness of the Quran with his doctrine of the Quran's miraculous mathematical / numerological relationship with the number 19. He maintained that the integration of the number 19 into the entirety of the text and structure of the Quran made it impervious to alteration and unassailably divine in origin, unlike the hadiths, which were irreversibly corrupted. Using his numerology, Khalifa determined that all of the Quran was perfect save two verses which, not fitting his numerological model, must have been inauthentic additions to the Quran and thus had to be removed.
 
To promote his religious sect, Khalifa founded the United Submitters International (USI) and opened a Mosque in Tucson, Arizona (ICS Masjid Tucson).<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.masjidtucson.org/|title=ICS / Masjid Tucson Website|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523163436/https://www.masjidtucson.org/}}</ref>
 
===Publications===
Khalifa authored several books promoting his views during his lifetime, including:
 
*''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.
 
==The Rashad Khalifa verses==
[[File:Quran The Final Testment.jpg|thumb|right]]
[[File:Quran The Final Testment.jpg|thumb|right]]
==Rashad Khalifa Verses==
Below is a list of verses of the [[Qur'an]] in which Dr. [[Rashad Khalifa]] believed he was implied as the final messenger of [[Islam]]. It also lists verses which were removed by Khalifa from his own translation in order to make it conform with the alleged numerical code.


All verses quoted are taken from Rashad Khalifa's own translation.
===Verses said to predict his prophethood===
Rashad Khalifa believed certain verses in the Quran implied his status as the true final messenger of [[Islam]], rather than [[Muhammad]]. Rashad Khalifa produced his own translation of the Quran where these verse were interpolated with direct reference to himself. The quotations listed below are taken from Rashad Khalifa's translated edition of the Quran.


====Qur'an 13:30====
====Qur'an 13:30====
Line 40: Line 63:
{{quote | [{{Reference archive|1=http://almubin.tripod.com/rashad.htm|2=2013-08-31}} Qur'an 81:22] |Your friend (Rashad) is not crazy.}}
{{quote | [{{Reference archive|1=http://almubin.tripod.com/rashad.htm|2=2013-08-31}} Qur'an 81:22] |Your friend (Rashad) is not crazy.}}


===Deletions===
===Verses deleted due to numerical error===


All verses quoted are taken from Yusuf Ali's translation.
Two verses in the Quran, according to Khalifa, were erroneous and not part of the Quran because they did not meet the mathematical criteria of the miracle of 19, as he had delineated it. Khalifa therefore removed these two verses from his translated edition of the Quran.


====Qur'an 9:128====
====Qur'an 9:128====
Line 53: Line 76:


==Criticism of Rashad Khalifa==
==Criticism of Rashad Khalifa==
===Pseudoscience===
In 1997, Martin Gardner, an American mathematics and science writer, published an article in the ''Skeptical Inquirer'' which extensively reviewed and debunked Khalifa's mathematical pretenses about the Quran.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/1997/09/the-numerology-of-dr-rashad-khalifa/|title=Notes of a Fringe Watcher: The Numerology of Dr. Rashad Khalifa|author=Martin Gardner|publisher=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=21 (5)|number=5|publication-date=September/October 1997}}</ref>
===Deception===
Individuals online claiming to know him have accused Khalifa of multiple fraud.
{{Quote|[http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/58654 Discussion board post from DanielPipes.org from someone who claimed to know him personally]|It is amazing to discover that a once colleague and ex Egyptian country-man Rashad Khalifa, self-proclaimed "a Messenger of Covenant ", had fooled many naive people. I personally knew Khalifa since we both were Egyptian graduate students of agricultural sciences in USA, 1959-66 in both Arizona and California; in Cairo 1966-68 as researchers at both the Ministry of Agriculture and Ein-Shams University; in Tripoli, Libya, 1975-76, as a professor at Triploi University (myself) and researcher at the Arab Institute for Development (Khalifa).
Khalifa was a master of deception, lying and exploitation all his life. He claimed to be a chemist while the official certificates for Bsc, from Ein-Shams Univ, Cairo, Msc from Univ of Arizona, Tucson, and PhD from Univ of California, Riverside, all state he was an agriculturist-horticulturist, with a specialty in plant physiology, as myself. He defected from Egypt 1968 under the pretext to accompany his American wife for a family visit but never returned to fulfill obligations toward our country as preconditioned within the terms of our government scholarship to study abroad. While in Libya, he was contracted as a self-claimed chemist to turn Libya into a protein-rich and exporter country by converting its vast oil resources to animal protein. He never did that, while he abused the good-well of the Libyans delivering TV speeches on ISLAM!
Suddenly, Khalifa the false chemist turned into a Muslim scholar/theologian deciphering a mysterious divine code of Qur'an based on absurd numerical calculations. He fooled some Muslim countries, particularly Libya and Saudi Arabia from which he received huge amount of money. Khalifa was a typical Jim Jones type misleading and abusing naive followers.}}
===Raping a minor===
In October of 1979, Khalifa (who was then aged 43, married with two children) was accused of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual contact with a minor.
{{Quote|{{cite web quotebox|url= http://wikiislam.net/wiki/File:Rk_Tucson_Citizen.gif|title= Tucson man faces trial in alleged rape of teen|publisher= Tucson Citizen|author= |page= 28|date= October 6, 1979|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}|A Tucson man was ordered yesterday to stand trial on charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual contact with a minor, after a 16-year-old-girl testified that he raped her while supposedly recruiting her for a United Nations research project.
After listening to the alleged victim and a police detective during three days of testimony, Justice of the Peace James R. West ruled that there was probable cause to hold Rashad A. Khalifa, 43, for trial on the three charges.
According to the girl, Khalifa recruited her to do research on the aura, a luminous radiation that supposedly surrounds the body, and met her Sept. 3 at an East Side office for that purpose.
The girl said Khalifa asked her to remove her clothing so that it wouldn't interfere with her aura and after massaging several parts of her body, he proceeded to have sexual relations with her.
The girl admitted to defence attorney David S. Hoffman that she did not try to leave, and explained that she was confused and scared.
During the hearing, Hoffman also said that there was no physical evidence of intercourse found when the girl was taken to a hospital for an examination.
But West said he found sufficient evidence in the fact that Khalifa admitted to the police that he had manipulated the girl's breasts during his research and in circumstances under which Khalifa obtained the office.
Police Detective Michael D. Garigan told West that his investigation showed that Khalifa got the key to the office from the building manager just a few days earlier, by saying he wished to show it to friends interested in office space while the manager was out of town.
Deputy County Attorney John W. Dickinson said later that investigators are trying to locate other possible subjects who may have been recruited.}}
==Assassination==
===The killing===
On January 31, 1990, Rashad Khalifa was found dead, having been stabbed 29 times and doused with flammable liquid, inside the mosque he founded in Tucson Arizona. Initially, a man by the name of James Williams was convicted for conspiracy in the killing of Khalifa. Williams was an alleged member of the terrorist Jamaat ul-Furqa organization. Williams, however, disappeared on the day of his sentencing in 1994, only to be apprehended in 2000 and sentenced, this time, to 69 years in prison.
19 years after the murder, in 2009, 52-year-old Glen Cusford Francis (a.k.a. Benjamin Phillips) was arrested on suspicion of having killed Khalifa. Following arrest, Philips was extradited from Canada to the United States, where he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Philips had been a student of Rashad Khalifa starting in January 1990 and disappeared after the killing. His arrest came about when his two identities were understood to belong to the same person.
===Celebration of assassination by mainstream western clerics===
====Bilal Philips====
Bilal Philips—a popular Saudi-educated Salafist Islamic preacher, scholar, and writer who tours Western countries—celebrated the assassination of Rashad Khalifa, the manner of its execution, and prayed for the reward of its perpetrator in the hereafter. Philips is now banned from Australia, the UK, Germany, Kenya, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Denmark. In the United States, he was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but has nonetheless been allowed to live in the country. Philips has lived for some time now in Canada. Most recently, he moved to Qatar.
{{Quote|{{citation|author=Bilal Philips|title=About Rashad Khalifa the Dajjal|publisher=YouTube|date=March 29, 2007|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0qi1xZFH4g&ab_channel=IslamStudios}}|The followers of Rashad Khalifa, they call themselves Submitters International [...] back in the 70s they claimed to have discovered the mathematical numerical miracle of the Quran [...] people were amazed, he became very popular in the MSA [Muslim Students Association], the MSA took him all around the country giving lectures. [...] Then, by 1979, at a conference--I think it was held in Morocco--he announced very confidently that from his calculations of the multiples of 19 and its intricacy in the Quran that he was able to determine the exact date of ''Yawm al-Qiyamah'' [The Day of Judgement] [...] Muslims now had to back off. Because, of course, if anyone claims they have knowledge of ''Yawm al-Qiyamah''--when the Angel Jibreel asked the prophet, peace be upon him, "When is the final hour?", he [Muhammad] said, "I don't know any more than you do!"--this was the prophet peace be upon him, and here is Rashad Khalifa saying "I know when the exact date of ''Yawm al-Qiyamah'' is"! And after that he just went from bad to worse--after that, he denied the sunnah altogether. [...] The next thing we know, he claimed, by the mid-80s, he claimed that he found from his mathematical calculations that two verses in the Quran were false! [...] Then by the late-80s, he claimed--what else--prophethood! He said, "I am the messenger of Allah, the 19 proves it." [...] '''Alhumdulillah ["all praise be to God"], [in] 1991, some brave brother went and assassinated him.''' He was assassinated in Tucson, Arizona. They found him in the morning, dead, stabbed to death--with his gun, he had his gun with him. And he had predicted, before that, that nobody would kill him. '''Because he was a false prophet of Allah, so this was actual proof to finish him off--he was assassinated. They looked high and low to find who it was [who assassinated him], but, alhumdulillah, whoever did it did it the right way--not telling anybody. [*laughs*] This thing had to be done. You do it, you're the only one who knows about it. Mashallah ["thus has God willed"]. May Allah give him paradise [*audience replies "ameen", or "amen"*]. So, that was the end of Rashad Khalifa.''' [...] And of course, you know, Rashad Khalifa, when he denied sunnah and everything else the religion became his own interpretation. In their mosque--I can't even call it a mosque really-- in Tucson, Arizona--let's call it a temple--in their temple, the men and women prayed side-by-side [...] The women, they don't wear hijab, they wear short sleeves [...] Sometimes, when he was not there, his wife used to lead salah [prayers] [...] '''In other words, he made his own religion. So somebody like that, we don't consider him to be--or that group, Submitters International, or the Ahmadiyya, or the Qadiyanis, Ghulam Ahmad's followers--we don't consider them to be a part of Islam.'''}}
== Relevant scripture ==
=== Quran 74:26-31 ===
{{Quote|{{quran-range|74|26|31}}|Soon I will drive him (into) Hell. And what can make you know what (is) Hell? Not it lets remain and not it leaves, Scorching the human (skin). '''Over it (are) nineteen.''' And not We have made keepers (of) the Fire except Angels. And not We have made their number except (as) a trial for those who disbelieve - that may be certain those who were given the Scripture and may increase those who believe (in) faith, and not may doubt those who were given the Scripture and the believers, and that may say those in their hearts (is) a disease and the disbelievers "What (does) intend Allah by this example?" Thus does let go astray Allah whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none knows (the) hosts (of) your Lord except Him. And not it (is) but a reminder to (the) human beings.}}


==See Also==
==See Also==


{{Hub4|Rashad Khalifa|Rashad Khalifa}}
===External links===
 
*[https://19.org/blog/bilal-philips/ Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, a Hoaxer or a Murderer? - An Investigation into the Killing of Rashad Khalifa] (19.org) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20201107143110/https://19.org/blog/bilal-philips/ archived])
*[https://noor.kalemasawaa.com/english/ac/rk_cult_exposed.htm The Rashad Khalifa Cult Exposed]


[[Category:Qur'an]]
==References==
<references />

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Rashad Khalifa (رشاد خليفة)
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

Born November 19, 1935
Egypt
Died January 31, 1990 (aged 54)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Assassinated by former student
Occupation Biochemist, numerologist
Notable works Miracle of the Quran: Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets,
The Computer Speaks: God's Message to the World,
Visual Presentation of the Miracle

Rashad Khalifa (رشاد خليفة‎; November 19, 1935–January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International, which promoted a heterodox Quranist interpretation of Islam. Khalifa was responsible for popularizing the theory that the Quran is replete with numerological miracles related to the number 19. He was assassinated by his former student Glen Cusford Francis (a.k.a. Benjamin Philips), a traditionalist radical, on January 31, 1990.

Personal life, education, and career

Rashad Khalifa, born in Egypt in 1935, obtained an honors degree from Ain Shams University in Egypt before emigrating to the United States in 1959. In the States, he completed a Master's Degree in biochemistry at Arizona State University and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside. Khalifa acquired U.S. citizenship, married an American woman, and had two children with her, a daughter, Beth, and a son, Sam.

Khalifa worked as a science adviser for the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for about a year. After this, he worked as a chemist for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Next, in 1980, he worked as a senior chemist for the Arizona State Office of Chemistry.

Religious activism

As a Quranist, Khalifa promoted the doctrine that the Quran was sufficient for understanding Islam and that the hadith, which he considered later inauthentic additions to Islam, were a corrupting influence which had to be purged for the rejuvenation of the religion.

Khalifa coupled his belief in the sole-usefulness of the Quran with his doctrine of the Quran's miraculous mathematical / numerological relationship with the number 19. He maintained that the integration of the number 19 into the entirety of the text and structure of the Quran made it impervious to alteration and unassailably divine in origin, unlike the hadiths, which were irreversibly corrupted. Using his numerology, Khalifa determined that all of the Quran was perfect save two verses which, not fitting his numerological model, must have been inauthentic additions to the Quran and thus had to be removed.

To promote his religious sect, Khalifa founded the United Submitters International (USI) and opened a Mosque in Tucson, Arizona (ICS Masjid Tucson).[1]

Publications

Khalifa authored several books promoting his views during his lifetime, including:

  • 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.

The Rashad Khalifa verses

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

Verses said to predict his prophethood

Rashad Khalifa believed certain verses in the Quran implied his status as the true final messenger of Islam, rather than Muhammad. Rashad Khalifa produced his own translation of the Quran where these verse were interpolated with direct reference to himself. The quotations listed below are taken from Rashad Khalifa's translated edition of the Quran.

Qur'an 13:30

We have sent you (O Rashad) to this community, just as we did for other communities in the past. You shall recite to them what we reveal to you, for they have disbelieved in the Most Gracious. Say, "He is my Lord. There is no god except He. I put my trust in Him alone; to Him is my ultimate destiny."
Qur'an 13:30

Qur'an 13:38

We have sent messengers before you (O Rashad), and we made them husbands with wives and children. No messenger can produce a miracle without GOD's authorization, and in accordance with a specific, predetermined time.
Qur'an 13:38

Qur'an 25:56

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

Qur'an 34:28

We have sent you (O Rashad) to all the people, a bearer of good news, as well as a warner, but most people do not know.
Qur'an 34:28

Qur'an 34:46

Say, "I ask you to do one thing: Devote yourselves to GOD, in pairs or as individuals, then reflect. Your friend (Rashad) is not crazy. He is a manifest warner to you, just before the advent of a terrible retribution."
Qur'an 34:46

Qur'an 36:3

Most assuredly, you (Rashad) are one of the messengers.
Qur'an 36:3

Qur'an 42:24

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.
Qur'an 42:24

Qur'an 81:22

Your friend (Rashad) is not crazy.
Qur'an 81:22

Verses deleted due to numerical error

Two verses in the Quran, according to Khalifa, were erroneous and not part of the Quran because they did not meet the mathematical criteria of the miracle of 19, as he had delineated it. Khalifa therefore removed these two verses from his translated edition of the Quran.

Qur'an 9:128

Now hath come unto you a Messenger from amongst yourselves: it grieves him that ye should perish: ardently anxious is he over you: to the Believers is he most kind and merciful.
Quran 9:128

Qur'an 9:129

But if they turn away, Say: "Allah sufficeth me: there is no god but He: On Him is my trust,- He the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme!"
Quran 9:129

Criticism of Rashad Khalifa

Pseudoscience

In 1997, Martin Gardner, an American mathematics and science writer, published an article in the Skeptical Inquirer which extensively reviewed and debunked Khalifa's mathematical pretenses about the Quran.[2]

Deception

Individuals online claiming to know him have accused Khalifa of multiple fraud.

It is amazing to discover that a once colleague and ex Egyptian country-man Rashad Khalifa, self-proclaimed "a Messenger of Covenant ", had fooled many naive people. I personally knew Khalifa since we both were Egyptian graduate students of agricultural sciences in USA, 1959-66 in both Arizona and California; in Cairo 1966-68 as researchers at both the Ministry of Agriculture and Ein-Shams University; in Tripoli, Libya, 1975-76, as a professor at Triploi University (myself) and researcher at the Arab Institute for Development (Khalifa).

Khalifa was a master of deception, lying and exploitation all his life. He claimed to be a chemist while the official certificates for Bsc, from Ein-Shams Univ, Cairo, Msc from Univ of Arizona, Tucson, and PhD from Univ of California, Riverside, all state he was an agriculturist-horticulturist, with a specialty in plant physiology, as myself. He defected from Egypt 1968 under the pretext to accompany his American wife for a family visit but never returned to fulfill obligations toward our country as preconditioned within the terms of our government scholarship to study abroad. While in Libya, he was contracted as a self-claimed chemist to turn Libya into a protein-rich and exporter country by converting its vast oil resources to animal protein. He never did that, while he abused the good-well of the Libyans delivering TV speeches on ISLAM!

Suddenly, Khalifa the false chemist turned into a Muslim scholar/theologian deciphering a mysterious divine code of Qur'an based on absurd numerical calculations. He fooled some Muslim countries, particularly Libya and Saudi Arabia from which he received huge amount of money. Khalifa was a typical Jim Jones type misleading and abusing naive followers.
Discussion board post from DanielPipes.org from someone who claimed to know him personally

Raping a minor

In October of 1979, Khalifa (who was then aged 43, married with two children) was accused of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual contact with a minor.

A Tucson man was ordered yesterday to stand trial on charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual contact with a minor, after a 16-year-old-girl testified that he raped her while supposedly recruiting her for a United Nations research project.

After listening to the alleged victim and a police detective during three days of testimony, Justice of the Peace James R. West ruled that there was probable cause to hold Rashad A. Khalifa, 43, for trial on the three charges.

According to the girl, Khalifa recruited her to do research on the aura, a luminous radiation that supposedly surrounds the body, and met her Sept. 3 at an East Side office for that purpose.

The girl said Khalifa asked her to remove her clothing so that it wouldn't interfere with her aura and after massaging several parts of her body, he proceeded to have sexual relations with her.

The girl admitted to defence attorney David S. Hoffman that she did not try to leave, and explained that she was confused and scared.

During the hearing, Hoffman also said that there was no physical evidence of intercourse found when the girl was taken to a hospital for an examination.

But West said he found sufficient evidence in the fact that Khalifa admitted to the police that he had manipulated the girl's breasts during his research and in circumstances under which Khalifa obtained the office.

Police Detective Michael D. Garigan told West that his investigation showed that Khalifa got the key to the office from the building manager just a few days earlier, by saying he wished to show it to friends interested in office space while the manager was out of town.

Deputy County Attorney John W. Dickinson said later that investigators are trying to locate other possible subjects who may have been recruited.
"Tucson man faces trial in alleged rape of teen"
Tucson Citizen, p. 28, October 6, 1979, http://wikiislam.net/wiki/File:Rk_Tucson_Citizen.gif. 

Assassination

The killing

On January 31, 1990, Rashad Khalifa was found dead, having been stabbed 29 times and doused with flammable liquid, inside the mosque he founded in Tucson Arizona. Initially, a man by the name of James Williams was convicted for conspiracy in the killing of Khalifa. Williams was an alleged member of the terrorist Jamaat ul-Furqa organization. Williams, however, disappeared on the day of his sentencing in 1994, only to be apprehended in 2000 and sentenced, this time, to 69 years in prison.

19 years after the murder, in 2009, 52-year-old Glen Cusford Francis (a.k.a. Benjamin Phillips) was arrested on suspicion of having killed Khalifa. Following arrest, Philips was extradited from Canada to the United States, where he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Philips had been a student of Rashad Khalifa starting in January 1990 and disappeared after the killing. His arrest came about when his two identities were understood to belong to the same person.

Celebration of assassination by mainstream western clerics

Bilal Philips

Bilal Philips—a popular Saudi-educated Salafist Islamic preacher, scholar, and writer who tours Western countries—celebrated the assassination of Rashad Khalifa, the manner of its execution, and prayed for the reward of its perpetrator in the hereafter. Philips is now banned from Australia, the UK, Germany, Kenya, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Denmark. In the United States, he was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but has nonetheless been allowed to live in the country. Philips has lived for some time now in Canada. Most recently, he moved to Qatar.

The followers of Rashad Khalifa, they call themselves Submitters International [...] back in the 70s they claimed to have discovered the mathematical numerical miracle of the Quran [...] people were amazed, he became very popular in the MSA [Muslim Students Association], the MSA took him all around the country giving lectures. [...] Then, by 1979, at a conference--I think it was held in Morocco--he announced very confidently that from his calculations of the multiples of 19 and its intricacy in the Quran that he was able to determine the exact date of Yawm al-Qiyamah [The Day of Judgement] [...] Muslims now had to back off. Because, of course, if anyone claims they have knowledge of Yawm al-Qiyamah--when the Angel Jibreel asked the prophet, peace be upon him, "When is the final hour?", he [Muhammad] said, "I don't know any more than you do!"--this was the prophet peace be upon him, and here is Rashad Khalifa saying "I know when the exact date of Yawm al-Qiyamah is"! And after that he just went from bad to worse--after that, he denied the sunnah altogether. [...] The next thing we know, he claimed, by the mid-80s, he claimed that he found from his mathematical calculations that two verses in the Quran were false! [...] Then by the late-80s, he claimed--what else--prophethood! He said, "I am the messenger of Allah, the 19 proves it." [...] Alhumdulillah ["all praise be to God"], [in] 1991, some brave brother went and assassinated him. He was assassinated in Tucson, Arizona. They found him in the morning, dead, stabbed to death--with his gun, he had his gun with him. And he had predicted, before that, that nobody would kill him. Because he was a false prophet of Allah, so this was actual proof to finish him off--he was assassinated. They looked high and low to find who it was [who assassinated him], but, alhumdulillah, whoever did it did it the right way--not telling anybody. [*laughs*] This thing had to be done. You do it, you're the only one who knows about it. Mashallah ["thus has God willed"]. May Allah give him paradise [*audience replies "ameen", or "amen"*]. So, that was the end of Rashad Khalifa. [...] And of course, you know, Rashad Khalifa, when he denied sunnah and everything else the religion became his own interpretation. In their mosque--I can't even call it a mosque really-- in Tucson, Arizona--let's call it a temple--in their temple, the men and women prayed side-by-side [...] The women, they don't wear hijab, they wear short sleeves [...] Sometimes, when he was not there, his wife used to lead salah [prayers] [...] In other words, he made his own religion. So somebody like that, we don't consider him to be--or that group, Submitters International, or the Ahmadiyya, or the Qadiyanis, Ghulam Ahmad's followers--we don't consider them to be a part of Islam.
Bilal Philips, About Rashad Khalifa the Dajjal, YouTube, March 29, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0qi1xZFH4g&ab_channel=IslamStudios 

Relevant scripture

Quran 74:26-31

Soon I will drive him (into) Hell. And what can make you know what (is) Hell? Not it lets remain and not it leaves, Scorching the human (skin). Over it (are) nineteen. And not We have made keepers (of) the Fire except Angels. And not We have made their number except (as) a trial for those who disbelieve - that may be certain those who were given the Scripture and may increase those who believe (in) faith, and not may doubt those who were given the Scripture and the believers, and that may say those in their hearts (is) a disease and the disbelievers "What (does) intend Allah by this example?" Thus does let go astray Allah whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none knows (the) hosts (of) your Lord except Him. And not it (is) but a reminder to (the) human beings.
Quran 74:26-31

See Also

External links

References

  1. ↑ ICS / Masjid Tucson Website (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20210523163436/https://www.masjidtucson.org/ 
  2. ↑ Martin Gardner, Notes of a Fringe Watcher: The Numerology of Dr. Rashad Khalifa, 21 (5), Skeptical Inquirer, September/October 1997, https://skepticalinquirer.org/1997/09/the-numerology-of-dr-rashad-khalifa/ 
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