Firstly, I commend you on your endeavor to increase your knowledge in God's religion thereby bringing yourself closer to God Almighty. I hope I achieve answering your question to your desire. However, I was not quite sure which parts of the Submitter's argument you wanted me to tackle. I have planned to address the major points as I feel that that would be sufficient for an answer. You have stated correctly that the Qur'an is the exact word of God and I hope you do not feel disheartened by those who claim otherwise. Before I try to answer your question I think it would be prudent to understand a little background on the Submitters and their ideologies.
The Submitters (also known as the Ninteeners or Khalifites) are a group organized by the late Rashad Khalifa. He caught the attention of many when he popularized the notion that the Qur'an had a "mathematical code" that he cracked using a computer. This "mathematical code" revolved around the "unique" number 19. He wrote books and even published several translations of the Qur'an; in these he stated the "miracles" he uncovered. Here are some examples of things that he and his followers claim constitute the miracle he discovered:
There are 114 Surahs in the Qur'an = 19 x 6,
The total number of verses in the Qur'an is 6346 = 19 x 334,
The word God ("Allah" in Arabic) appears 2698 = 19 x 142, etc...
All these "mathematical miracles" can be found on their website. Another feature of the Submitter's belief is that Rashad Khalifa is a messenger of God and that Satan is a "temporary god" on earth.
We have sent you (Rashad)[1] as a deliverer of good news, as well as a warner. (Rashad Khalifa Translation, 1989, Al Furqaan 25: 56)
Recall that your Lord said to the angels, "I am placing a representative (a temporary god) on Earth." They said, "Will You place therein one who will spread evil therein and shed blood, while we sing Your praises, glorify You, and uphold Your absolute authority?" He said, "I know what you do not know." (Rashad Khalifa Translation, 1989, Al-Baqarah 2:30)
There is a lot of information about them but I think this should suffice for our purposes of getting an idea about them and answering their claims regarding the Qur'an and the literacy of the Prophet Muhammad.
If we consider how important the number 19 is to the Submitters we notice that the slightest miscalculation can, and will, demolish their entire ideological foundation. Please keep in mind that the "miracle" must be preserved at any cost. Even if this means that words or entire verses of the Qur'an must be thrown out or changed in order to comply with their mathematical calculations. This is obvious in their attempts to throw out two verses (Al-Tawbah 9: 128 - 129) from the Qur'an and change some letters around.
Before we show these examples, we would like to remind the reader that during the research and study done by Dr. Rashad Khalifa of the mathematical structure of the Quran he had to change "two", 2, words in the latest edition of the Quran that broke the code of the "19 based" mathematical miracle of the Quran. Omar E. Sherif and Mohamed A. Elhennawy, Submitters Group Detroit, Michigan 5/29/2002
The clearest evidence of this manipulation is Rashad Khalifa's translation of the Qur'an published in 1981 and a revised translation published in 1989. Although he claimed that Surah Al-Tawbah 9: 128 - 129 were insertions by later scholars he kept them in his translation published in 1981. The word "Allah" is contained in verse 129 (in the 1981 translation):
If they turn away, then say: "God suffices me; there is no god except He; I trust in Him; and He is the Lord of the great dominion" (Rashad Khalifa's Translation, 1981, Al-Tawbah 9: 129)
His count of the word "Allah" (rendered "God" by him) in the entire Qur'an totaled 2698 = 19 x 142 in his 1981 published translation of the Qur'an. In his later translation published in 1989 he eliminates verses 128 - 129 of Surah Al-Tawbah yet he maintains that the total number of the word "Allah" is still 2698. Even the number of verses is affected by this inconsistency, as it is no longer divisible by 19. This is obviously a fallacy.
The Submitters reject all Ahadith in total, yet in their arguments for the alteration of the Qur'an they cite Ahadith which consist of questionable personalities in the chain of transmitters and even weaker historical data to prove their point. In other forms of evidence, the Submitters try to show the differences in writing. This truly amounts to nothing, as any basic reader of Arabic would know.
Replacing an Alif with a Yaa:
In the 'original' an alif in 5: 99 was replaced in the the {sic} modern Arabic version with yaa.
Arabic writing has many styles. The calligraphy of Arabic transforms many letters to look different, but the pronunciation is just the same. Even the Submitters will agree with this fact since they admit that the Qur'an is orally preserved from generation to generation. For instance, in the web pages you provided (see the example above) the Submitters contend that the letter "Alif" is replaced by "Yaa". Looking at the picture of the writing it may seem that they have a point, on the other hand anyone who can read Arabic understands that what they have construed as "Yaa" (without 2 dots on the bottom) is actually pronounced just as a short "Alif". Only the drawing of the letter changed not the sound, usage or meaning. These are fundamentals of the Arabic language, for them to ignore it is quite disturbing. Yet they insist on using these examples to show how the "scholars" changed the Qur'an around to justify Khalifa's two "corrections".
The Submitters claim that the Prophet Muhammad could read and write. As a matter of fact, they claim that the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Qur'an with his own hands. They start out by saying that because attempts were made at duplicating the Qur'an the "Scholars" conjured up the idea of making the Prophet illiterate. They claim that the "Scholars" wanted to put the idea across that an illiterate man could never have written the Qur'an which would make the whole thing even more miraculous.
Ignorant Muslim scholars of the first two centuries after the Quran could not understand the Quran's challenge to produce anything like it. They had no idea about the Quran's mathematical composition, and they knew that many literary giants could have composed works comparable to the Quran. The ignorant Muslim scholars then decided to proclaim Muhammad an illiterate man! They figured that this would make the Quran's extraordinary literary excellence truly miraculous. The word they relied on to bestow illiteracy upon the Prophet was "UMMY." Unfortunately for those "scholars," this word clearly means "Gentile," or one who does not follow any scripture (Torah, Injeel, or Quran)..." Rashad Khalifa
Unfortunately, the Submitters provide no evidence and cite no work for this theory. I agree with Rashad Khalifa's claim that "ummy" is the equivalent "gentile". However his statement, "or one who does not follow any scripture (Torah, Injeel, or Qur'an" absolutely befuddles me (emphasis mine). How was the Prophet not following the Qur'an? This is a blatant show of ignorance on the part of Mr. Khalifa.
The first revelation was "Read," and included the statement "God teaches by means of the pen" (96:1-4), and the second revelation was "The Pen" (68:1). The only function of the pen is to write. Rashad Khalifa
They use their interpretation of the Qur'an to claim that the Prophet was told to read (Iqrah) however the word in the context of the verse connotes "read out," or "say," or "pronounce." In other words the Archangel Gabriel tells Muhammad to repeat the words, not to read them from some book.
They then claim that numbers were written out in the Prophets time and since he was a merchant he knew numbers from "one to one thousand."
The Prophet was a successful merchant. The "Muslim scholars" who fabricated the illiteracy lie forgot that there were no numbers during the Prophet's time; the letters of the alphabet were used as numbers. As a merchant dealing with numbers every day, the Prophet had to know the alphabet, from one to one-thousand. Rashad Khalifa
What do numbers being written have to do with being able to read or write. Surely, the Submitters aren't claiming that the Arabs (merchants, traders) used receipts in trading.
In their final attempt the Submitters try to quote the Qur'an in support of their claims:
The Quran tells us that Muhammad wrote down the Quran - Muhammad's contemporaries are quoted as saying, "These are tales from the past that he wrote down. They are being dictated to him day and night" (25: 5). You cannot "dictate" to an illiterate person. The Prophet's enemies who accuse him of illiteracy abuse Verse 29:48, which relates specifically to previous scriptures.
Not only is the translation of this verse not accurate, but it absolutely disregards the context and the speakers in the verse. A better translation would be as under:
But the disbelievers say: "Naught is this but a lie which he has forged, and others have helped him at it." In truth it is they who have put forward an iniquity and a falsehood. And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening." (Al Furaqan 25: 4 - 5, Abdullah Yusuf Ali)
Clearly the verse does not state that the Prophet Muhammad was dictated to and then he wrote down the diction. It is also surprising that Mr. Khalifa attempts to point out that the "contemporaries" of Muhammad were only speaking a mere fact. What he omits is the fact that these "contemporaries" were the Kuf'far who claimed that the Prophet created the Qur'an and that it's not the word of God but mere ancient tales. Whether the Kuf'far were accusing him of writing it himself or not, the context was that the Qur'an was not inspired to the Prophet but rather that it was created by him. The Qur'an enlightens us by revealing that the Prophet Muhammad could not read nor write before the Qur'an was given to him. Rashad Khalifa disagrees but I don't know how anything else could be construed from the following words.
You were not able to recite a book before this [book came] nor were you able to write it. In that case indeed these deniers would have raised doubts. (Al-Ankaboot 29:48)
The theology of the Submitters does not adhere to Islamic doctrines. Their miscalculations, poor interpretation and severe devotion to a numerical (19) concept is completely alien to the teachings of Islam. And it is only to substantiate these alien concepts that they are even forced to propound the idea of adulteration and alteration in the Qur'an.
The Qur'an is the same word of God as was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad to spread to mankind.
I hope I have cleared up the issue
God knows best
Ronnie Hassan
February 13, 2003
