Rashad Khalifa

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Rashad Khalifa

Photo taken in 1989
Born November 19, 1935(1935-11-19)
Egypt
Died January 31, 1990 (aged 54)
Nationality Egyptian-American
Occupation Chemist
Known for Numerology, Islam
Religious beliefs United Submitters International (Islam)
Children Sam Khalifa

Rashad Khalifa (Arabic: رشاد خليفة; November 19, 1935–January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist who founded United Submitters International. He was assassinated in 1990.

Contents

[edit] Life

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Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

Khalifa immigrated to the United States in 1959, where he earned a Ph.D in biochemistry. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen, living in Tucson, Arizona.

Khalifa worked as a science adviser for the Libyan government for about one year, after which he worked as a chemist for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, then became a senior chemist in Arizona's State Office of Chemistry in 1980. Khalifa's son Sam Khalifa played Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He founded the religious group called United Submitters International (USI), a group which considers itself to be the true Islam, but prefers not to use the terms "Muslim" or "Islam," instead using the English equivalents of the Arabic: "Submitter" or "Submission." Submitters believe Khalifa was a messenger of God and refer to him as God's messenger of the covenant as prophesied in the Quran and bible after which today's corrupted religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, will simply die out, and "Submission" will prevail.

Specific beliefs of the USI include the dedication of all worship practices to God alone, upholding the Qur'an alone, and rejecting the traditional hadith and sunnah as fabrications and lies attributed to Muhammad by his enemies. For many years he attended Masjid Tucson in Arizona.

[edit] Mathematical analysis of Qur'anic text

Starting in 1969, Khalifa used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Qur'an. In 1974 he claimed that he discovered an intricate numerical pattern in the text of the Qur'an involving the number 19 mentioned in chapter 74 of the Qur'an.

Khalifa's research did not receive much attention in the West. The first comment appeared in Scientific American of September 1980, p. 22. Martin Gardner wrote of Khalifa's initial publication in the West: "It's an ingenious study of the Quran." Gardner later wrote a more extensive review of Khalifa and his work.[1]

Many popular magazines and newspapers in the Muslim world reported his discoveries. Khalifa's first publicized report appeared in the Egyptian magazine Akhersa (January 24, 1973). Updates of his research were subsequently published by the same magazine (November 28, 1973 and December 31, 1975). Many other magazines and newspaper articles by and about Khalifa appeared throughout the world in many languages.

[edit] Criminal Charges

In October, 1979, Khalifa was accused of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual contact with a minor. The accuser, a 16-year-old-girl, testified at a hearing that Khalifa sexually molested her while recruiting her for research on the human aura. There was no evidence of intercourse found when the girl was examined at a local hospital; however, Justice of the Peace James P. West ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold Khalifa for trial on the charges.[2]

[edit] Assassination

On January 31, 1990, Khalifa was murdered at Masjid Tucson. He was stabbed 29 times and his body drenched in xylol but not set alight. Although nobody has been convicted of his murder, James Williams, an alleged member of the Jamaat ul-Fuqra organization, was convicted of conspiracy in the slaying.[3] Williams disappeared on the day of his sentencing and could not be found.[4] In 2000 Williams was apprehended attempting to re-enter the United States and sentenced to serve 69 years in prison. His convictions were upheld on appeal by the Colorado Court of Appeals except for one count of forgery. [5][6]

CBS News reported that Muslim extremist Wadih el-Hage was "connected to the 1990 stabbing death of... Rashad Khalifa [who] was hated by Muslim extremists [that were] opposed to his teachings. His murderer was never caught, but El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination 'a good thing.'" [7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ The numerology of Dr. Rashad Khalifa - scientist, Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept-Oct, 1997
  2. ^ "Tucson man faces trial in alleged rape of teen", Tucson Citizen (1979-10-06), pp. 2B. 
  3. ^ Eric Anderson, Slain Islamic leader was outspoken; Khalifa's teachings from Tucson angered Muslims worldwide, Denver Post, 21 October 1993, p21.
  4. ^ Dick Foster, Extremist is 'not to be found'; Little hope held of finding Al-Fuqra fugitive, Rocky Mountain News, 25 February 1994, p8.
  5. ^ People v. James D. Williams, (Colo. App. 01CA0781, Aug. 7, 2003) (not selected for official publication)
  6. ^ "Attorney General Announces Sentence" (html). Colorado Department of Law (2001-03-16). Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  7. ^ "Terrorists Take To Arizona" (html). CBS Worldwide Inc (2001-10-26). Retrieved on 2007-09-29. "El-Hage has also been connected to the 1990 stabbing death of a Tucson mosque leader. Rashad Khalifa was hated by Muslim extremists opposed to his teachings. His murderer was never caught, but El-Hage, who was indicted for lying about the case, called the assassination "a good thing.""

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Resources

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