During the past fourteen centuries, traditions, customs, superstitions and innovations have crept into Islam. Gradually, these innovations came to be vested with religious solemnity to such an extent that anyone who questions them finds himself regarded as the dangerous innovator and heretic.
Islam today is like a precious jewel that is buried under piles upon piles of man-made innovations. Our aim is to purge out the innovations, and present the jewel of Islam (Submission) to the world.
To Save The Muslim Ummah, We Must Return To Obeying The Prophet
Despite severe differences that plague the Muslim Ummah – sectarian, tribal, political and economic differences – even military conflicts and vicious wars – there is one thing that the Muslims unanimously agree upon: That the Qur’an is the word of God that was uttered by the final Prophet Muhammad.
Every Muslim on earth regardless of sect, race, color, and language believes that Qur’an was uttered by the honorable messenger, upon inspiration from God, and that God has guaranteed its preservation and protection from the slightest distortion, addition or loss.
“Surely, we have sent down this message, and surely, we will preserve it” (15:9).
This fact – that the glorious Qur’an is God’s message to the world which was uttered by the Prophet Muhammad – is affirmed in Qur’an by the strongest oath:
The Qur’an affirms that disobeying God and His messenger incurs humiliation, defeat, misery, and shame both in this life and in the Hereafter.
If we can rid our minds of the traditions, innovations, superstitions, and inherited ideas that were injected into our religion, and return to God and His messenger, we would realize that the present decline of the Muslim Ummah is the direct result of disobeying the Prophet.
What helped Satan in misleading the Muslims is that the blatant disobedience of the Prophet takes the shape of loving the Prophet very much. As a rule, anything that exceeds its limits, becomes the exact opposite. When love exceeds the limits, it becomes hatred. Our love of the Prophet has exceeded the limits, until it turned into real hatred in the form of love. This is of course what Satan did to the Christians; they love Jesus so much that he disowns them on the Day of Judgment (5:117 and the Gospel of Mathews 7:21-23).
One of the most flagrant examples of our excessive love of the Prophet which turned into direct disobedience can be illustrated by studying Verse 285 of Sura 2.
Is this what the Muslims say or do today?
Do the Muslims obey this powerful injunction that “We shall not make any distinction among God’s messengers” and that “We hear and we obey“?
Do the Muslims obey God and His messenger?
AN INVITATION TO ALL MUSLIMS: OBEY GOD AND THE PROPHET
The object of worship is God ALONE. The Muslims, however, have been preoccupied with their idolization of the Prophet in much the same way as the Christians’ preoccupation with Jesus. The only difference being that the Muslims are not aware of their idolatry.
In the process of exalting and idolizing a dead, powerless, and totally unaware human being (see 39:30), the Muslims have disobeyed the Prophet, and forgot the only one who created them, the only one who is eternally in control, the only one who provides for them, the only one who terminates their life, the only one who will resurrect them, the only one who will call them to account, and the only one who will place them in Heaven or Hell.
The function of every messenger has been defined in Qur’an as delivering the message LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH (there is no god except God) (see 21:25). Now, let us put things in perspective. Our Creator informs us that Qur’an is the only utterance by Muhammad to be upheld as THE ONLY SOURCE OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING (Quran 6:19 and 69:38-47). This is affirmed by the strongest oath in Qur’an:
Now that we see that Qur’an is decreed by God, through the Prophet’s mouth, as THE ONLY RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS UTTERED BY MUHAMMAD, let us examine the Muslims’ daily disobedience of the Prophet.
The wise and fortunate Muslim will readily give up his inherited customs and religious ideas in favor of God’s commandments that came out of the Prophet’s mouth. The unfortunate ones, on the other hand, would stubbornly adhere to what they found their parents and scholars doing:
Here is the first among many daily transgressions by the average Muslim against God and the Prophet:
EXALTING THE PROPHET AGAINST HIS WILL
It is of course deliberate, and extremely significant that the statement “WE HEAR AND WE OBEY” comes immediately after the statement “WE MAKE NO DISTINCTION AMONG HIS MESSENGERS.” For it is a glaring fact of life in the Muslim World that the Muslims have defiantly declared “WE HEAR, BUT WE DISOBEY.” It is a fact of life in the Muslim World that the Muslims commit gross distinctions among God’s messengers by exalting Muhammad over and above all the rest. They bestow extravagant attention on the Prophet Muhammad, while neglecting all other messengers of God. Certainly, if Moses were alive today, and he walked the streets of Cairo, Tehran, or Karachi, he will never hear any Muslim declare: “ASH-HADU ALLA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH, WA ASH-HADU ANNA MOSES RASOOLUL-LAH.” The same would be observed by the Prophet Jesus, or Jonah, or Saleh, or Lot, or Solomon, or any other messenger.
This blatant disobedience of the commandments that came out of the Prophet Muhammad’s mouth is so deeply engrained that the average Muslim is now literally unable to say “LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH (there is no god except God) by itself, without adding the name of Muhammad somehow. Moreover, they readily flunk the Qur’anic criterion that distinguishes true Muslims from false Muslims:
Who Are We As a Group?
According to the Quran, the name of our religion is Submission, and we are submitters. The Quran says that the only religion approved by God is Submission. If you want to know who belongs with us, and who does not belong with us, first you have to know what defines our group. We do not define ourselves based on common scripture, like the protestant churches and the Quranist organizations, or based on common leadership, like the Catholic Church and the Shia organizations, or based on common tradition, like the Sunnis and the Orthodox Churches, or based on common ethnicity, like the Jewish organizations. We do not define ourselves based on common nationality like the Russian Orthodox Church, or Anglican Communion, or Turkish Diyanet, or Egyptian Ministry of Endowment, or Uzbekistani Muslim Spiritual Directorate, or Evangelical Church of Germany, or Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs. We also do not define ourselves based on political views, like the Progressive Muslims or the Liberal Christians, or the Christian Right, or the Islamists. We also do not define ourselves based on common doctrine, like the Baptist Church or the Methodist Church, or the Seventh Day Adventists Church. We do not even define ourselves based on common belief. We do not call ourselves ‘believers’. The Quran tells us not to do that.
We define ourselves based on common worship. This is the only criterion which makes sense to define a religious organization, because God says in the Quran, “I did not create the humans except to worship Me,” to worship God. And if you have a common way of worshiping God, like us, then you have absolutely no reason to divide, and you are with us.
So, if you want to know whether you belongs in our group, you have to ask yourself three questions:
- Who do you worship?
- When do you worship?
- How do you worship?
If all the answers are the same as ours, then we belong in the same group. If you say, “I worship God. I worship Him at Dawn, Noon, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. I worship him exactly like Abraham worshiped Him.” Then, you belongs in our group. We worship together. Forget the division, even if your religious doctrine is different, even if you have strange beliefs, even if you have different political views, even if you understands the Quran differently. If you have the wrong beliefs, you are wrong. But, we don’t define our group based on belief. We define our group based on worship. Submission is a form of worship, not a form of belief. Belief is between you and God, and it is not part of Organized Religion.
Membership
To be with us, you do not need to change your name, nor get baptized, nor get circumcised, nor get uncircumcised, nor declare your belief in any messenger, nor declare your disbelief in any messenger, nor declare any kind of belief. Your belief is between you and God. You do not need to join any app, nor join any social media group, nor declare your loyalty to anyone. To be a member of this organization, according to the Quran, you only need to fulfill two requirements:
- Observe the Contact Prayer, and
- Give the Collective Obligatory Charity.
Now, because these are collective religious rituals, you are responsible to do them, and prove to the others that you do them. You prove to the others that you do the Contact Prayer by attending the Friday Congregational Prayer once a week, and you prove to the others that you give the Obligatory Charity so that other submitters can see that you belong with them. So, if you do these two, you are with us. If you do not do these two, you are out. Moses and Muhammad excluded anyone who did not give the Collective Obligatory Charity and did not do the Contact Prayer. On the other hand, Moses and Muhmmad did not exclude from the community anyone for having the wrong opinions, but God will exclude them on the Last Day. Of course, if you are in, and you do evil deeds against us, we will pressure you to pay a compensation equitably. However, if you do not do these two, you get kicked out, regardless of how good you are. Simple. These are the two religious rituals which determine who is part of the community and who is not part of the community. No people should have the right to decide who gets in and who gets expelled in religion. It is determined only based on these two religious rituals. And this is very clear in the Quran.
Chapter 9, verse 11 says – and this is the main verse of this video – It says:
“If they repent and (1) observe the Salat (Contact Prayers) and (2) give the Zakat (Collective Obligatory Charity), then they are your brethren in religion. This is how we explain the revelations for people who know.”
So, organized religion is two things:
- Attending Jumu`ah COLLECTIVELY and
- Giving Zakat COLLECTIVELY.
The rest of the religious aspects, like fasting and Hajj are personal. They are obligatory, but personal. They are part of religion, but not part of Organized Religion, which why we find them mentioned separately in the Quran, while Salat and Zakat are almost always mentioned together.
Why should you organize with us?
You should organize with us because God orders you to organize. Here is what God says in the Quran:
“O you who believed, when you are told, “Organize in the cause of GOD,” why do you become heavily attached to the material things? Have you chosen this worldly life in place of the Hereafter? The materials of this world, compared to the Hereafter, are nil.” (9:38)
“Unless you organize, He will commit you to painful retribution and substitute other people in your place…” (9:39)
“You shall readily organize, light or heavy, and strive with your money (collective charity) and your lives (collective prayer) in the cause of GOD. This is better for you, if you only knew.” (9:41)