Praise be to God. There is no other god except God. The video above shows a monkey “washing” clothes. Now the question is, “Does the monkey understand what he is doing?” How can we know whether the monkey understands that he is washing clothes, or maybe he is just imitating the movements of other people, when he saw them doing the same thing?” Actually, there is a very easy way to know that. You just give him clean clothes, and see if he will wash them. If he will also wash the clean clothes, obviously he does not understand why he is doing what he is doing. He is just imitating. So, he is actually not following the instructions of the humans. He is just imitating. And the difference between true following and imitating is that you understand why you do what you do, and the only way to prove from the outside the difference between following and imitating, is to change the circumstances in such a way that the old reasons do not apply anymore, and if the monkey still does it, he is just imitating, but if he stops because now the old reasons do not apply, then he is truly following.
In a similar way, God distinguishes the imitators from the followers by changing the circumstances. And those who were just imitating will keep on doing the same thing, while those who were truly following will adjust their behavior to the new circumstances – of course, only the parts where the reason for that behavior does not exist anymore.
And imitation in religion is widespread across all religions. For example, the Jews who emigrated to Eastern Europe and Russia, they adopted the Russian warm hat suitable for winter.
Now, their descendant imitators, the Ashkenazi Jews will use that hat, even in warm weather, and there is no reason for it. Why? They are just imitating.
Or for example, have you seen how the Christians carry the cross?
It really has nothing to do with Jesus. It’s how Romans crucified the people during that time, all the who disobeyed the empire. So, unless you are about to be executed by Romans, you have no reason to carry the cross. So, the Christians are not following Jesus when they are doing that, they are just imitating him.
Or for example, you might have noticed how some arrogant Muslim men carry a dark ring in their right hand.
They are imitating Muhammad. But Muhammad had a reason for it. He needed a stamp when he became a city leader in Medina, so that people can verify which letters were sent by Muhammad, and to keep the stamp constantly with him, he considered it reasonable to keep it as ring, kind of like a key fob for your keys, which helps you not to lose your keys. But, almost all the leaders of any city during that time had a ring stamp. But, nowadays, what are Muhammadan imitators doing with that kind of ring? They have no reason for it just like that. They are just imitating. Muhammad had a practical reason for it, while they have no reason for it. And this is not just imitation, but also arrogance, because they are acting like kings, when they are not even servants.
Or for example, you might have noticed some imitators of Rashad Khalifa. They will spend a lot of time counting things in the Quran. Well, Rashad counted the letters because he was a research scientist. That was his professional specialty and strength. Why the people who are not research scientists try to count other things? Imitators. Just imitators. Bad imitators. Are they going to waste their life counting, when they could spend that time to worship God? Actually, the Quran calls the counting a sin in verse 18 of chapter 70. Had Rashad not discovered the Mathematical Miracle of the Quran, his counting would have been a sin, and he accepts that he was possessed by the devil when he was doing that. He said that he was in Satan’s pocket when he was doing that. But God redeemed him. So, unless you discover something new, and that’s almost never, your counting is a sin. The counting is only justifiable by the discovery, just like counting of money is justified at the moment of trade, but counting your money when you are not trading or doing business is a sin. A very minor forgivable sin, but still a sin.
Here is an example of dumb unnecessary counting. On a post on Facebook on the 18th of April 2022, saying that Tomorrow will be 4/19, the 19th of April, and because the Basmalah has 4 words, and 19 letters, he is hoping for something big tomorrow. Really? And you know what, eight people liked this post. And we hereby officially can declare these people dumb. Officially dumb. Dumb intellectually and religiously, both. Dumb intellectually because any person who is willing to use his mind can easily conclude that there is no logical connection whatsoever in that message, and dumb religiously because by claiming that there is some kind of deeper meaning in human made months. April is human made. It’s a fake month. Ramadan is a true month, but April is a fake month. If you think that you can find some kind of sign within that, you are actually trying to compete with the Mathematical Miracle of the Quran, and this is religiously a contradiction, because here in the cover of this book Rashad wrote about the Mathematical Miracle that it is “impossible to imitate.” But this guy is trying to imitate it. So, he is a liar. He is against Rashad’s message. If a miracle could be repeated and imitated, it wouldn’t be a miracle. Just think about it. If a miracle can be repeated, was it really a miracle? Miracles are only proofs because no one else can repeat them. So, all these people who are trying to imitate the Mathematical Miracle of the Quran, all of them are against it, because if you managed to repeat it, then it was not a miracle, and if you did not truly repeat it, then you are just an imitator who does not know what he is doing. And these people are causing harm, because how are we going to invite people to verify that the Mathematical Miracle of the Quran proves that the Quran is from God, when the next thing he can tell us is “I saw something similar on Facebook, so what’s the big deal?” So, this is why it is wise to stay away from these imitators. They will only hurt the cause.
So, let’s not be imitators. Let’s be followers of the truth from our Lord, chapter 47, verse 3
Followers of the religion of Abraham. chapter 2, verse 135.
Followers of God’s revelations, chapter 2, verse 170
Followers of the straight path, chapter 6, verse 157
Followers of God’s guidance, chapter 20, verse 123
Followers of the best path, chapter 39, verse 55