Friday Sermon by dr Rashad Khalifa Rashad Proclaims His Messengership Abraham's Religion 1988 04
Transcript
0:00 أعوذ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ
0:07 بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
0:15 (36:1) يسٓ
0:20 (36:2) وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ
0:26 (36:3) إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
0:29 (36:4) عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
0:33 (36:5) تَنزِيلَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
0:42 (36:6) لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّآ أُنذِرَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَـٰفِلُونَ
0:53 (36:7) لَقَدْ حَقَّ ٱلْقَوْلُ عَلَىٰٓ أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
1:05 (36:8) إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا فِىٓ أَعْنَـٰقِهِمْ أَغْلَـٰلًا فَهِىَ إِلَى ٱلْأَذْقَانِ فَهُم مُّقْمَحُونَ
1:20 وَجَعَلْنَا مِنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَـٰهُمْ فَهُمْ (36:9) لَا يُبْصِرُونَ
1:39 (36:10) وَسَوَآءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
1:54 إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَخَشِىَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ بِٱلْغَيْبِ ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ (36:11) بِمَغْفِرَةٍ وَأَجْرٍ كَرِيمٍ
2:13 إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُوا۟ وَءَاثَـٰرَهُمْ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَىْءٍ (36:12) أَحْصَيْنَـٰهُ فِىٓ إِمَامٍ مُّبِينٍ
2:33 We praise God and we bear witness that there is no god except the one God.
2:40 And we declare that all devotion and all worship is directed to God Alone.
2:46 SURA 39
2:48 (39:3) أَلَا لِلَّهِ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْخَالِصُ
2:50 devotion and worship belong to God Alone.
2:56 Some of you probably saw this bombshell where
3:07 there is announcement that I have been commissioned a messenger of God.
3:20 And this is probably the most difficult announcement that I have ever come up with.
3:29 But something that I have known since1980 and you can see that
3:37 I was... I was coward. I was afraid to come up with it. I dreaded the time when I may have to announce it
3:50 because there is a general tendency to resent anybody saying...
3:58 I'm gonna use our own statement now but this is what the resentment is for.
4:03 Generally, people resent somebody saying: "I'm better than you" or what appear to be saying "I am better than you."
4:14 And even the Quran condemns such statement in SURA 4, God says "note those who exalt themselves. God is the One who exalts whomever He wills without the least injustice."
4:36 The resentment in this case results from two things: ignorance and idol worship.
4:47 Now, ignorance because the Quran teaches us that a messenger of God is not necessarily better than anyone else in the congregation.
5:01 In SURA 18 from verse 60 to verse 82, we see that God picked out one of the biggest messengers, Moses.
5:13 One that God said "I made you for Myself"
5:18 (20:41) وَٱصْطَنَعْتُكَ لِنَفْسِى
5:19 I made you for Me.
5:21 and in another place, God said
5:23 (20:39) لِتُصْنَعَ عَلَىٰ عَيْنِىٓ
5:25 I had you made before My eyes.
5:29 And we see in those verses that God sent Moses to one of Our servants
5:38 whom We bestowed, We gave mercy and knowledge
5:41 and Moses proved to be a lousy student.
5:44 So, this teaches us that a messenger of God is not necessarily better than anyone else in the congregation.
5:56 I can think of quite a few of you whom I consider better than me.
6:03 I see people and when I was their age, I used to go to the saints and ask for help.
6:11 I was an idol worshipper when I was that age.
6:15 Yet, here they are a lot younger. They have 20-year head start
6:21 compared to me and... so... This is the first thing. Ignorance causes this resentment.
6:28 Idol worship because the people idolize the messenger of God and they made him next to God.
6:36 They made him a god besides God.
6:38 So, when you mention the word "messenger of God," they are awed, you know.
6:44 But the truth is a messenger of God is, the Quran repeats, a human being like you
6:50 or in colloquial, local terms a flopster like the rest of us whom we can kid around and who can be silly.
7:02 What is more the Quran teaches that a messenger of God... if a person is picked out as a messenger of God, a commissioned messenger of God....there are kinds of messengers
7:14 does not even guarantee Heaven.
7:18 And we see this in SURA 39 verse 65
7:23 where it says "it has been revealed to you and to those before you that if you ever fall in idolatry,
7:31 all your work will be nullified and you will be among the losers."
7:37 So, a messenger of God does not even guarantee Heaven and this is why we see in SURA 21 verse 28
7:45 that the messengers are worried about their own neck.
7:49 We're all familiar with these verses
7:52 but the people who have either ignorance or idolatry in them, they resent an announcement like this.
8:09 If a person is picked as a messenger of God, it's a difficult job... it's a very difficult job
8:16 There is no material gain out of it. I certainly will not allow a single penny to enter my personal pocket because of this or because of religious reasons.
8:29 I'm not a professional religionist and I will not allow a penny to enter my pocket from religious activities
8:37 because then the motive changes and the Quran repeats, you know "stay with those who do not ask you for wages."
8:50 The Quran says in SURA 49... Quran gives us the criteria of who is better than whom.
8:57 and it say in Arabic
8:59 (49:13) إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ
9:00 The best among you is the most righteous.
9:03 It didn’t say the best among you is the messenger of God or the richest or the tallest or the most knowledgeable.
9:13 The best among you is the most righteous.
9:17 So, all these things will teach us that messenger of God is no big deal.
9:23 It is just a vehicle that God uses to communicate with us... a center of information.
9:35 And with it goes a difficult job, a very difficult job... the abuse, the slandering, the threats.
9:47 And God says....I believe it's in 42:51. Yes. In SURA 42, verse 51, God says that "no human being can communicate with God except through 3 ways.
10:06 Inspiration. Or from behind a barrier. Or through a messenger that through whom God spreads certain information.
10:17 So, people will know that this is reliable information. That this is from God.
10:22 We are people who follow the Quran, the whole Quran and nothing but the Quran.
10:26 Therefore, anybody, and this means anybody, who brings any information must conform to the Quran
10:33 the whole Quran, nothing but the Quran.
10:35 And if anyone, and underline anyone, comes up with any information that is not confirmed by the Quran, we tell him "forget it!"
10:46 We don’t accept it. So, the criterion is preaching, confirming existing scripture, the Quran and nothing else.
11:00 No innovations.
11:02 Now, we come to the question: Is it possible that we receive a messenger from God?
11:12 If you ask an average Muhammadan, they will tell you Muhammad was the last messenger. But they have no basis for saying this.
11:23 And the Quran gives us a precedent since Joseph, the prophet Joseph.
11:29 When he died the Quran teaches us that the people said "OK. That was the last messenger. We'll never see another messenger after that."
11:36 So, this is a human tendency.
11:38 And the Muhammadans claim that Muhammad was the last messenger. He's not.
11:43 In SURA 33, verse 40, God says "Muhammad was not the father of any of your men. He was a messenger of God and the final prophet."
11:55 So, here we see a distinction between prophet and messenger.
11:59 A prophet is one who delivers a scripture like Jesus, Moses, Muhammad. They're prophets.
12:07 And we see this clearly in SURA 3 verse 81 where God says that He made a covenant with the prophets that He will give them the scripture and wisdom."
12:17 So, here we have the definition of a prophet.
12:20 Then, God made a covenant with us - with you and me, with every human being... said then "when a messenger comes to you
12:29 confirming existing scripture." So, there's the definition of a messenger.
12:35 "When a messenger comes to you confirming existing scripture, you shall believe in him and support him."
12:43 God said "do you take... make a pledge with me?"
12:47 And we all said "yes, we do." And God said "you have thus born witness and I bear witness along with you."
12:58 Therefore, it is possible that there will be messengers after Muhammad. In SURA 7 verse 35
13:06 It says "O children of Adam, when messengers come to you reciting My revelations to you, those of you who believe are the successful ones."
13:20 This is SURA 7 verse 35. Obviously, it is for people after the Quran.
13:25 As a matter of fact, the verse begins by saying "O children of Adam." So, as long as there are children of Adam on this Earth, this verse is valid.
13:37 If messengers are coming after Muhammad, what do they look like? What will a messenger look like, after Muhammad?
13:45 Just think of any human being. What are his characteristics? You think he'll be walking on water or walk in the air or coming with 3 angels on each side or something.
13:54 He's just one of us, just a human being.
14:01 Some people came.
14:06 I wanna answer the question why. Why send a messenger?
14:10 Why does God send a messenger?
14:12 Why not just go the same way that people have been going?
14:18 Reading the Quran. Following the Quran.
14:23 Well, one important element is the test because of this covenant that we made with God.
14:30 What are we going to do if a messenger of God comes and says "Worship God Alone and forget about the human beings?"
14:39 Muhammad, Jesus, Moses or anybody.
14:42 You must devote yourself totally to God Alone.
14:48 One who will preach the Quran, God's proven scripture.
14:53 What are you going to do? Are we gonna scoff at him? Are we gonna help him morally? Are we gonna rally around him?
15:02 What are we going to do? A test.
15:06 Another test is the test of ego.
15:09 The Quran repeats they said "Oh, he just wants to be better than we are. He wants to be a leader."
15:16 And this is emphasized throughout the Quran.
15:22 You're gonna find some verses in here and there's... in SURA 17 verse 94, it says "what prevented many people from believing was that they said "you mean, God sent a human being to be a messenger."
15:41 and in SURA 64 verses 5 and 6, I'm gonna read them for you.
15:52 Did you not receive the news of those who disbelieved in the past? They suffered the consequences of their decision and deserved painful retribution. Why?
16:04 This is because their messengers went to them with clear revelations but they said "human beings to guide us?"
16:13 Thus, they disbelieved and turned away. God does not need them.
16:20 So, it's a tremendous test to accept somebody who says he is a messenger of God. There's an ego here. We're required to kill the ego.
16:34 And this applies to all of us. One of the requirements in the Quran.
16:40 The egotistic person will resent anything like this.
16:46 And will be deprived and God says, in the Quran, "I will divert from my revelations those who are arrogant."
16:53 (7:146) سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ ءَايَـٰتِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْض
16:57 "I will sent them away." God will actively send them away. So, this is something that we have to kill, the ego.
17:08 So, many people came and said they were messengers of God. Baháʼu'lláh was one of them. And Ghulam Ahmad of Pakistan said he was a messenger of God.
17:19 and Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader said he was a messenger of God.
17:25 But God made it mandatory that a messenger comes with proof, certain signs.
17:36 Moses brought all kinds of proofs. Saleh brought proofs. Jesus came with signs that he is authorized and sent by God.
17:48 And on that difficult day, a few days ago, when... I'm going to give you all details. I'm not gonna be mysterious and say I was told this and that
18:02 and leave it hanging. I'm going to give you... everything's is gonna be wide open in front of you and I will tell you exactly what happened
18:10 in time if the time doesn't help us now.
18:14 But this reminds me of the fellow... you've heard this... I told some of you at least this before... but this fellow was the most curious person in town
18:27 and he would just ask questions. He'd always ask questions. And one time, he was sitting in the bar or the pub or whatever the place is
18:36 and then comes in this man with one leg and he sits next to him and this very curious person... of course, he's curious, you know... "how did you lose your leg?"
18:48 He wants to know. And the man with one leg knows that he is the most curious person in town. He just died to know how did this fellow lose his leg.
19:01 So, he told... the man with the one leg told him, the curious fellow.... told the curious fellow. "I will tell you on one condition."
19:11 And he said "anything... anything... just tell me... anything.... just tell me what to do and I will do it. Just tell me... anything."
19:17 He said "you ask only one question and you don't ask any questions after that."
19:22 He said "OK. OK. I do it. Just tell me. How did you lose your leg?"
19:25 He said "it was bitten."
19:29 So, I'm sure that curious guy died on the spot because he couldn't ask any more questions.
19:35 So, I'm not going to be mysterious with you. I'm gonna tell you everything, gradually. But on that difficult day, when I realized that I must announce. I mean, I chickened out for 8 years, now.
19:56 I needed some signs and I was shown. I had some signs but I was shown a couple of additional signs on that day.
20:07 Now, I will share with you some of the signs that will assure all of us.
20:16 Now, the first sign, of course, is the mathematical miracle of the Quran which is very simple and people should have seen it in the last 1400 years.
20:27 Literally, thousands of scholars looked in the Quran and counted all its words, its letters, its vowels - those signs, little signs. They counted everything in the Quran.
20:38 But they never came up with the mathematical composition of the Quran.
20:44 BISMI ALLAH, 19 letters. The number of SURAs 19 times 6. The first revelation, 19 words. The last revelation, 19 words.
20:51 All these are simple things that they should have discovered. But God reserved this for a person called Rashad, as we see in the index of the Quran
21:02 page 320 which was printed one year before I was born, that index. It's a comprehensive index.
21:13 And on page 320, you'll see that the root word RASHADA is mentioned 19 times. And this is something that came to us from Turkey.
21:23 I didn't discover it. It was discovered and sent to us, as most of you know.
21:29 Now, the additional things... Now, I want to give you a piece of new information that shows you the awesome miracle of the Quran that was reserved until this time.
21:45 The word God, ALLAH, in the Quran is mentioned 2698 time. When you take every verse in the Quran, where you see the word ALLAH.... every verse... from verse 1 of SURA 1
21:57 and you add the numbers of verses, the total is 118123. These are the numbers of verses wherever you see the word God in here.
22:12 It's awesome. Because not a single verse was transplanted from its place. Not a single verse was changed.
22:23 And not a single word, ALLAH, was dropped out or added in the Quran. So, this is an awesome miracle that did not... was reserved for... God knew in advance
22:37 who is going to be fortunate enough or blessed with releasing this information.
22:45 Now, if you add all the verses in the SURAHs of the 19 RASHADA and the last name... the last name is also involved there. This is very embarrassing to me but I have to tell you this and share it with you.
22:59 But Khalifa is mentioned in the Quran twice. When you add all the SURAHs and verses, the total is 1369 which is 19 times 77.
23:14 You add all the SURAHs and verses where RASHADA and Khalifa are mentioned. Well, I was not content with that. I'm greedy.
23:21 I wanted specific Rashad Khalifa. Specific, Rashad Khalifa. And sure enough, you look up the.... Rashad is mentioned twice... Rashad. This is the way my name is written down.
23:32 It is mentioned in Quran twice in SURA 40 verse 29 and verse 38. The Khalifa... they are twice in the Quran. One of them is a bad one and the other's a good one.
23:46 The bad Khalifa is Satan which is in SURA 2. And the human Khalifa which is specifically mentioned in Quran in reference to David, the prophet,
23:58 one of our favorite prophets, the Psalms.
24:02 And this Khalifa is mentioned in SURA 38 verse 26. So, if you add the SURAHs and verses connect it with Rashad and the human Khalifa
24:14 the total is 171. 19 times 9. So, in other words, you look at every angle and you can see that the signs are connected with the mathematical code.
24:31 Now, I will explain to you in detail at another time when we have time. But, this is the religion of IBRAHIM, as we see in the last verse of SURA 22.
24:44 (22:78) مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ
24:46 This is the religion of your father Abraham. He is the one who named you Muslims before.
24:50 Muhammad brought the Quran.
24:52 And yours truly was blessed with bringing the proof.
24:57 I was blessed with the proof of the Quran and the secrets of the Quran.
25:03 When you add Ibrahim, Muhammad and Rashad... The gematrical values of the 3 names.... This is all detailed here... The total is 855 which is 19 times 45.
25:15 And 45 happens to be my age in 1980 when I was told for the first time...And again I will.... I promise you I'll explain to you how, but 45 in 1980, which is also
25:30 1400... exactly, 14 centuries after Muhammad who was told, in the Quran, that he will have 7 pairs. 14 centuries, among other meanings of the 7 pairs.
25:43 So, it is very tight evidence and it suits the age of... computer age.
25:53 Now, the secrets of the Quran....the Quran... I mentioned this because it explains to you the revolutionary ideas that I used to come up with once in a while
26:05 or the crazy ideas if you wanna call them that, like the end of the world. It is very clear in the Quran but it was not shown before. It's a secret in the Quran.
26:16 God knew when the end the of world will be and he put it in his final message. And we are the generation that was destined to know, to get this secret out of the Quran.
26:29 And like the idea that drove a lot of people crazy that anybody who dies before the age of 40 goes to Heaven. "How can they go to Heaven when they are 35 and they are awful bad?"
26:41 "Put them in Hell." We are mean. Human beings are mean. There was so much opposition to that idea, it's not even funny.
26:50 And it is not coincidental that Latifah hands... Carole... Caroline hands Otis a button, this button here.
27:01 Today, was it? Did she give it to you today? ...yesterday? Yesterday. And he comes to me 5 minutes before, before the KHUTBAH to give me this button
27:11 which says "everything up to the age of 40 is just rehearsal." I thought she made the button, but she didn’t.
27:23 Where did you get it?
27:24 Carole: I don’t know.
27:29 I was in a shop but I don’t know what shop I was in.
27:33 The messenger: Oh... Oh...but you picked it up in a shop. You were shopping and you saw that.
27:36 Carole: Yeah, and I saw it and I said Alhamdullilah.
27:38 The messenger: OK. So, it's not coincidence, you know. God spreads his information in many different ways, ways and means.
27:48 Another... other secrets of the Quran that we've been enjoying in the last 10 years... Oh, the ZAKAT. Now, this is new.
27:59 And I'm gonna tell you about it now and you will have to do it, as of now, immediately. The ZAKAT... The ZAKAT is being done wrong all over the Muslim world.
28:11 Now, here is the true ZAKAT from the Quran in SURA 6 verse 141. Yes, it is 6:141.
28:26 You remember... You're gonna remember this verse because it says when you harvest the crop, give the ZAKAT on the day of harvest.
28:34 You remember that? On the day of harvest.
28:38 OK. Well, we are not farmers. We don't harvest wheat and barley or anything. But we harvest paychecks every two weeks or so.
28:49 That's our harvest. The day you receive your harvest, the day you receive your paycheck, you take out 2.5% and you give it to people that you know who are in need.
29:05 It makes so much sense... I mean, how come we didn’t think of this, you know, all the time? That makes so much sense and it is from the Quran and it will correct
29:16 the method of ZAKAT that is dominant in the Muslim world because the people that we know who need help, they need it now.
29:24 They are hungry now. They can't wait for a year like they told us in the past.
29:33 You get 10 dollars, you take out 25 cent. 2.5%. Is it 25 cent? Yeah.
29:42 Now, if it is impractical to give 25 cents to somebody you know, you can keep it and accumulate it for a couple of weeks or a month
29:50 until it is a reasonable amount, then you give it that month. Don't go beyond a month.
29:56 You give it to the somebody you know personally, according to the system of the Quran, your parents first, your relatives next, the orphans and the people who need it in that order.
30:07 Any money, any net income that you get, you take 2.5% because God says. Chances are this 2.5% that you have in your check are illegitimate, illicit.
30:20 Get rid of it. It is called purifying your money. You spend most of your time sleeping on the job or something. Yet, you get...
30:33 Yet you get the check, you know. So, God says this is the way, you purify your income. Take it out, immediately. Also, who's gonna keep track of one year?
30:53 So, God has his ways. This is one of the secrets of the Quran. We're gonna... We reap these benefits. Among the secrets of Quran that we've enjoyed in the last 10 years are the correct method of
31:05 the SALAT prayer.
31:12 I wanna... We're running out of time. So, TUBU ILLA ALLAH, repent.
31:26 ALHAMDULLILAH WA ASHHADU AN LA ILLAHA WAHDAHU LA SHARIKA LAH
31:30 We devote our worship and our devotion to God Alone. No human beings.
31:36 There's a SURA in Quran that says when God's victory comes and support and you see the people entering God's religion, God's true religion
31:48 in throngs, in great numbers. And this is what is happening now. This SURA is 19 words, consists of 19 words and the first verse is 19 letters.
31:59 This is our SURA. And this is... and so far, this bombshell... the reaction has been positive.
32:06 People have been calling me from everywhere in the world saying "I'm calling to say I believe."
32:13 And when that difficult day came and I was a coward and I was saying this thing here may cause my own children to disown me. They may say "you're a crazy man. Get out of here."
32:30 And as I will tell you in detail. I cried. I fell prostrate. I was fired. I was fired. And I cried. I fell prostrate and I begged.
32:40 And when in my heart, I became solid and I said "I will do it at any cost even if I lose my own children, my own friends, I will do it."
32:50 Then, I was restored, as I will give the details. I give you. But the reason I'm mentioning this SURA, the victory, is that... I went
33:04 I mean, there's unanimous, unanimous positive reaction to it from everybody... people here who read it and I went... I was very careful talking to Beth
33:16 as we were... 3 o'clock in the morning and I told her "guess what, Beth?" I have to this and this and this and I was very careful diplomatic.
33:28 And then she's casually drinking her tea and she says "I knew that all along, dad. I support all the way."