Rashad Khalifa Has Imperfections
While Rashad Khalifa was a great human being in general, he is not perfect.
In short, Rashad the man is different from Rashad the messenger. And the truth is that Rashad the man has made some incorrect statements.
- Hence, this is why a Muslim should never idolize any human being like he is some perfect saint who never makes a mistake, even if that human being is a messenger.
In 1985, Rashad has made a number of guesses about the future, such as King Fahd being the last Saudi king, in response to someone from the Saudi elite class attempting to bribe Rashad with money, and because of the Saudi Arabia’s rejection of Rashad’s invitation to follow Quran alone and very basic facts involving the Quran’s 19-based mathematical composition, and other transgressions they have committed to try to stop people from knowing about the 19-based mathematical composition.
- I recall a Quranic study video in which Rashad said he wrote a book called “The Perpetual Miracle of Muhammad” to teach about the Quran’s 19-based miracle, but some group of people from Saudi Arabia once forced his book to be sold out, then burned away all the copies of the book they purchased, even though he made sure to put “miracle of Muhammad” in the title.
Because of such actions by the Saudis, Rashad believed this was like declaring war on God Himself, thus he predicted God will make Fahd the final Saudi king as part of the punishment for the Saudis.
He didn’t say such a prediction was made based on special knowledge of the future, but the prediction was based on the “word of God” (Quran).
- “Based on the word of God, that He forsakes those who forsake Him, and humiliates those who declare war on Him, I herein predict that Fahd shall be the FINAL SAUDI KING.” (Muslim Perspective, May 1985)
- Of course, Fahd was not actually the final Saudi king.
Rashad also predicted that if the governments throughout the Middle East (such as Iran and Saudi Arabia) mock and scoff at his official invitation to them to be part of his proposed “United Islamic Nation” (a worldwide “ummah” or community of people dedicated to following and teaching the Quran alone, of which every Quran-alone Muslim is automatically a member), then their governments will fall because the Quran in 11:38-39 says that God will mock those who mock Him, and give them a painful retribution, and verse 17:81 says falsehood will vanish and be replaced with the truth, and because 3:26 states that God grants and takes away sovereignty from whoever He wills. (Muslim Perspective, September 1985).
- Rashad also predicted, based on verse 9:126, that if governments whom he invited to be a part of the United Islamic Nation rejected his offer, they will be replaced, and fall at a rate of three governments every two years.
So Rashad has made several predictions, not based on divine revelation, but based on his flawed understanding of the Quran, which did not come true (such as Fahd being the last Saudi king). He explicitly denied special knowledge about the future, saying that God gave the world glimpses into the future in the final message (Quran), and that Rashad’s predictions are only based on what is in the Quran:
- “THESE ARE GOD’S PROPHESIES AND DECREES IN HIS FINAL MESSAGE. Despite these clear assertions, we expect the enemies of God to exhibit total blindness and declare that we are fortelling the future. ONLY GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE. AND HE HAS GIVEN THE WORLD CERTAIN GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE. It is NOT we who foretelling the future.” (Muslim Perspective, September 1985 edition)
This is exactly why anything beyond whatever revelation Rashad was given to convey is his own understanding, and his own understanding or independent reasoning (known as ijtihad in Arabic) is not guaranteed perfection.
In fact, in a Quranic study session, Rashad said he accepts corrections to his work and at times deliberately lets himself make mistakes (meaning he does not always double check or triple check his statements to see if he may be mistaken before making those statements) just to show people that he can make mistakes despite being a messenger, and to prevent people from wanting to idolize him.
But if you let Rashad’s human flaws and mistakes cause you to disbelieve in his messengership, then you are falling in the trap that many disbelievers fall into, by rejecting their messengers for being humans like them, and having some of the same human flaws as they do.
- [17:94] And nothing prevented the people from believing when the guidance came to them, except that they said, “Has God sent a human messenger?“
In short, anything Rashad says beyond what was revealed to him and the Quran should be taken with a grain of salt (meaning one should be careful not to accept it unless they can verify it fo
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