In Defense of Rashad Khalifa against Slanderers

who try to divert the argument through adhominem attack and defamation

Edip Yuksel
13 February 2005

Damnare:

You have found an old “allegation” from a newspaper to slander and defame Rashad Khalifah, whom you hate to your bones. Through your posts on this forum and your chat conversations, it is obvious to me that you hate Rashad because he invited you to follow the Quran alone by rejecting to worship your religious leaders and prophets through associating them to God in law-making and intercession. You could not show sufficient bravery and wisdom to question the religion you have inherited from your parents.

Your adhominem attack is clear and your intention is not clean. You know it well that the allegation you are trying to propagate did not survive the scrutiny of the court. Otherwise, a person committing rape should have been convicted by the court. The court found no evidence of allegation. You appear to be very good in digging dirt about people. But, why you failed to find any conviction about Rashad Khalifa on this matter?

You know that the allegation was false, but you act as if you are an honest person accidentally subjected to these allegations, got confused and needing clarification. In a previous private conversation, I informed you about the real story but you laughed and told me that you would go a head and post defamatory news about Rashad.

Well, I will clarify the issue for those who have good intention, but are expecting a clarification. First, to establish foundation, I will tell a little about my personal relationship with him:

After rejecting the polytheistic religion of my parents, I became a target in my home country. I lost my best-selling author title, popularity, and I became radioactive. When I received death threats and experienced physical attack to my life from fanatic people who shared the same faith as you do, I decided to immigrate. Before that, Rashad had sent me an invitation letter together with his promise of helping me regarding boarding and other necessities. So, I had gotten visa with no problem. When I arrived to the airport at New York, the officer there extended my visa without even I asked him.

Initially, I lived in a room adjacent to Masjid Tucson, and then Rashad rented an apartment for my wife and me. I spent one year in Masjid Tucson working with Rashad, until his assassination by a Sunni terrorist group, and during that year, I spent almost every day of the week with him in the Masjid, from morning prayer until night prayer. I also had a round trip together with him driving a car from Tucson to Vancouver, and back. I was working on the Turkish translation, reviewing his revision of his translation, discussing our differences, writing articles for the monthly bulletin, once a while giving Friday sermons, participating in discussions with Sunni and Shiite visitors, interviewed by TV stations or journalists… In 1989, I participated in an international conference held in Chicago by Sunni scholars, on the Finality of Prophethood. They had sent an invitation to Rashad to be their audience! Rashad asked me represent him there. He prepared a special issue of the Muslim Perspective to be distributed there. I wrote the “19 Questions For Muslim Scholars” to hand out to the participating scholars.

The hosts of the conference mistreated me without justification. I submitted the 19 Questions to the scholars on the panel. The young organizers immediately gathered around me, physically pushing me out from the conference room. This is their routine reaction to criticism to their dogmas. So, I spent my time in the lobby talking to their youth, who were curious about what I had to say. This made them furious; but could not ask the police to stop me hanging around in my hotel’s lobby. Later, I learned that they had further plans to hurt me in my hotel room. Thank God, a black sunni muslim, whom I did not know personally, came to me in hurry and took me out from the hotel before they performed their plan.

During this one-year period, I had observed great integrity, wisdom, dedication, bravery and camaraderie from Rashad. He was a great friend, teacher and at the same times a humble student of the Quran. I loved him very much, as I loved my father, even more; but I never accepted his opinion on the Quran or on any other issues like some people did; I always checked for myself and occasionally disagreed with him. My discussions and arguments with him, unbeknownst to me, created some enemies from his secret worshippers who were then incubating in their cocoons.  In fact, several days before his assassination, I had an intense argument with him in front of the community, and afterwards we did not talk to each other for several days, until he came to me apologizing for his words. Those who know the nature of our relationship know well that I never treated him as a cult leader, but as a friend, a mentor, and a partner in jihad. In fact, in the front page of a copy of his translation, which he gave me as a gift; on top of his signature, he called me his brother in jihad.

I can write many pages regarding his strength, skills, good character, integrity, faith, trust in God, intelligence, charitable acts, etc. However, during my one year working with him I also witnessed some human weaknesses and traits. For instance, I saw tears coming from his eyes and his belly shaking from laughter; I witnessed him making continuous corrections in his understanding of the Quran; I found him usually insisting that his understanding of a particular verse was more accurate than of mine, and occasionally he accepted mine. Once he disappointed me by uttering the four-lettered word S..T, when a police officer stopped me, while we were driving to California (I had temporary driving permit, then; and I am a puritan). Furthermore, he continuously irritated my sense of strict accuracy whenever he was praising every food he was cooking for us in Masjid’s kitchen by saying “This is the most delicious food in the world!” (Ironically, years later, I started saying the same thing and now my son is getting irritated of hearing so many MOSTs). One more thing: He liked mangoes very much and when he would eat them, he would make a mess. Surely, these are all trivial errors or perceived errors. But, I think, one error or weakness was outstanding: he was very kind to people around him and he could not tell those who were excited with a so-called discovery of mathematical miracle, “What you have discovered has no mathematical significance,” or “Please give up using calculator to discover mathematical miracles; you have no clue about math and probability.” I remember criticizing him frequently for his liberal attitude on this issue for not discouraging those innumerate miracle-hunters.

During my one-year close work with him, I never noticed him treating women inappropriately or any flirtatious behavior with anyone. We were very close. One day he told me about his past work in American Muslim student association. He was one of the founders of Islamic Center or Mosque of Tucson. However, in 1970’s, he started questioning hadith and consequently discussing this issue with his close friends in that mosque. The straw that broke the camel’s back was his rejection of Stoning-to-death penalty for adulterers. He found it anti Quranic and barbaric. His friends immediately ask him to cut his relationship from the Center.

Soon, he purchased an apartment complex on lot 114 on the corner of Euclid and 6^th Avenue, by the University of Arizona, about a mile from the Islamic Center. However, soon he found himself been accused by a young Mexican girl. He had no doubt, that she was paid and hired by his former Sunni friends to defame him. I had plenty reason to believe him, since I knew him and also I knew his enemies. Sunnis had fabricated many lies about me too, from being a member of Moon Cult to being paid by CIA or Israel, etc.

Now, you are chewing over the same false accusation, which was fabricated by the believers of stoning-to-death practice, a practice that relies on the authority of hadith books that narrate the most ridiculous stories, such as a group of monkeys stoning an adulterer monkey, or a hungry holy goat eating the stoning verse after Muhammad’s death and abrogating from the Quran…. There is no doubt, your animosity towards Rashad is because of his rejection of making those garbage teachings a part of his religion. Throughout history, Mushriks have slandered, attacked, tortured, and even killed those who dedicated themselves to God ALONE by rejecting Satan and his polytheistic doctrines. You and your comrades are no different from those Arab mushriks who tried everything, including false accusations to defame and deter Muhammad from promoting monotheism. What you brought was rejected by the court but you and your gang help bring some verses of the Quran to life again. No wonder the verses do not specify names:

24:11 A gang among you produced a big lie. Do not think that it was bad for you; instead, it was good for you. Meanwhile, each one of them has earned his share of the guilt. As for the one who initiated the whole incident, he has incurred a terrible retribution.

24:12 When you heard it, the believing men and the believing women should have had better thoughts about themselves, and should have said, “This is obviously a big lie.”

24:13 Only if they produced four witnesses (you may believe them). If they fail to produce the witnesses, then they are, according to GOD, liars.

24:14 If it were not for GOD’s grace towards you, and His mercy in this world and in the Hereafter, you would have suffered a great retribution because of this incident.

24:15 You fabricated it with your own tongues, and the rest of you repeated it with your mouths without proof. You thought it was simple, when it was, according to GOD, gross.

24:16 When you heard it, you should have said, “We will not repeat this. Glory be to You. This is a gross falsehood.”

24:17 GOD admonishes you that you shall never do it again, if you are believers.

Addendum

I never approved many of Rashad’s mathematical manipulation in the footnotes of his translation regarding his messengership. However, my faith in his mission was primarily based on the following objective and subjective facts:

1. His clarity and sensitivity regarding monotheism.
2. His insight to the Quran.
3. His courage and honesty.
4. His not asking money for his work.
5. His discovery of the prophesized miracle of the Quran.
6. The root of his name been mentioned in the Quran 19 times, and interesting implications in verses where the root of his name is mentioned.
7. My discovery of the time of the end of the world from the Quran without knowing his method.
8. His happy and cheerful personality against all kinds of rejection, false accusations, threats, etc.
9. His patience and dedication in his struggle.
10. My personal interaction and discussions with him.

I can add several more reasons, but now I need to go home.