Roots of Quranists

Was published in Arabic in September 13, 2015

Translated by Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

1- We have published before an article titled "The Salafist Epidemic in Algeria" to reply to two letters of fanatic Salafis who attacked us. Mr. Abdel-Wahab Al-Nawari, one of the Quranists got angry by one of the two letters and wrote this comment:"…this moron has related the Quranist trend to Al-Khawarij whose notions have been revived by Ahmad Khan in India, Ahmed Khan in India, Abdullah Chakralawi in Pakistan, and Ahmed-Eddine Al-Amritsary in India, and the latter is among the main founders of this doctrine so much like Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansoor, the spiritual leader of Egyptian Quranists... I would like that Dr. Mansoor would refute such claims that Quranists are like Al-Khawarij in his website and Facebook page…"

2- Of course, we thank our son Mr. Abdel-Wahab Al-Nawari and we will now show the true roots of Quranists:

Firstly: Prophet Muhammad was the first Quranist:

1- Prophet Muhammad was ordered in the Quran to adhere to the Quran only as the righteous, straight path. He will be questioned in the Day of Resurrection like any other mortals among his people living during his lifetime: "So adhere to what is revealed to you. You are upon a straight path.It is a message for you, and for your people; and you will be questioned."(43: 43-44).

2- Adherence to the divine book alone, along with performing prayers, is the divine definition to reformers in all ages: "Those who adhere to the Scripture, and practice prayer-We will not waste the reward of the reformers."(7:170).

3- Reformation using the Quran alone means using it to judge/refute/question all heritage knowledge and notions of all ancestors: "Shall I seek a judge other than God, when He is the One who revealed to you the Book, explained in detail?"(6:114).

4- Adherence to the Quran alone and rejecting the so-called fixed notions which are fossilized in the Salafist societies, that sanctify all heritage books and notions and traditions of ancestors, is dangerous to any current authority. Prophet Muhammad felt anxious regarding his mission to destroy fixed, old notions, using the Quran, due to the huge influence of the dominant clergy who held supreme power and authority at that time in Mecca. The Quran says: "A Scripture was revealed to you, so let there be no anxiety in your heart because of it. You are to warn with it-and a reminder for the believers."(7:2). We conclude then that the Quran told Prophet Muhammad not to feel any anxiety regarding spreading the message of the Quran to war all people.

5- All verses of the Quran are reminders to Prophet Muhammad and all believers; God tells us to follow the Quran alone without any further reference in matters of faith. This piece of advice is valid until the end of times, not just in the times of Prophet Muhammad. "Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord, and do not follow other masters beside Him. Little you recollect."(7:3). "This is My path, straight, so follow it. And do not follow the other paths, lest they divert you from His path. All this He has enjoined upon you, that you may refrain from wrongdoing."(6:153).

6- The holy Quran is the righteous path, and disregarding it for the sake of human-made written tomes and volumes is the sure way of error, difference, schism, and discord. Human-made creeds that claim to be Islam are fabricated in that by by Muhammadans who worship the Prophet as a god. The idea of fixed, ancient, infallible, inviolable notions is diabolical. These notions are held by their followers and propagators as false 'divine' revelation. This was mentioned in the Quran as a warning to us: "Likewise, We have assigned for every prophet an enemy-human and jinn devils-inspiring one another with fancy words in order to deceive. But had your Lord willed, they would not have done it. So leave them to their fabrications.So that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter may incline to it, and be content with it, and that they may perpetrate whatever they perpetrate.Shall I seek a judge other than God, when He is the One who revealed to you the Book, explained in detail?" Those to whom We gave the Book know that it is the truth revealed from your Lord. So do not be of those who doubt. The Word of your Lord has been completed, in truth and justice. There is no changing to His words. He is the Hearer, the Knower. If you were to obey most of those on earth, they would divert you from God's path. They follow nothing but assumptions, and they only conjecture." (6: 112-116).

7- While facing the majority of non-believers (Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufis) who adhere to other books, volumes, and tomes instead of the Quran and worship and deify dead men and women, real believers, i.e. the Quranists, stick to the Quran alone as per God's orders to Prophet Muhammad. The Quran describes itself as ''insights''. The Quran says: "Say, "This is my way; I invite to God, based on clear knowledge-I and whoever follows me. Glory be to God; and I am not of the polytheists "(12:108)."Insights have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees, it is to the benefit of his soul; and whoever remains blind, it is to its detriment. I am not a guardian over you "(6:104).

Secondly: The start of deviance away from the Quran and the emergence of earthly, human-made creeds fabricated by the Muhammadans:

1- We will publish soon a booklet on the subject of the emergence of earthly, human-made creeds fabricated by the Muhammadans. Here, we say in a nutshell that deviance from the Quranic Truth started very early in history. Once Prophet Muhammad died, his so-called companions started to invade other lands and nations and engaged in civil wars and internecine fights. Later on, they felt the urgent need to justify their aggression by legalizing it through the means of fabricating the so-called hadiths and traditions of the Prophet. This constituted an intellectual war against the Shiite creed as well. This was incited by wars of Ali Ibn Abou Talib vs. Muawaya Ibn Abou Sufyan. The agents of this intellectual war were Abou Hurayrah, Amr Ibn Al-As, Anas Ibn Malik. The latter especially was a traitor as they claim that he was the servant of Prophet Muhammad. We will discuss this character in a separate booklet in our website very soon.

2- The Shiite creed was the very first human-made creed to emerge that pretend to be Islam. The Shiites deify Ali Ibn Abou Talib and they fabricated hadiths to support their religious and political views and stances. Some of Ali's worshippers became renegades and turned against him. They are called in history Al-Khawarij; i.e., those who went out of the pact. They killed Ali. They became the terrorists who committed many massacres during the Umayyad caliphate.

Thirdly: Al-Khawarij members were not Quranists: 

1- They were among the Arab Bedouins who were among the most hypocritical and unbelieving people in Arabia. The Quran says about them to Prophet Muhammad: "The Desert-Arabs are the most steeped in disbelief and hypocrisy, and the most likely to ignore the limits that God revealed to His Messenger. God is Knowing and Wise.And among the Desert-Arabs are those who consider their contribution to be a fine. And they wait for a reversal of your fortunes. Upon them will fall the cycle of misfortune. God is Hearing and Knowing."(9: 97-98). So, some of those desert Arabs around the city of Yathreb were hypocrites conspiring against Prophet Muhammad and the believers. "You will find others who want security from you, and security from their own people. But whenever they are tempted into civil discord, they plunge into it. So if they do not withdraw from you, nor offer you peace, nor restrain their hands, seize them and execute them wherever you find them. Against these, We have given you clear authorization."(4:91). Prophet Muhammad never knew hypocrites around him: "Among the Desert-Arabs around you there are some hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of Medina too. They have become adamant in hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We will punish them twice; then they will be returned to a severe torment."(9:101). Many of those desert Arabs converted to Islam after their realization of the absurdity of worshipping stones and dead men. They realized as well how the Qorayish tribe made use of them in the rites of pilgrimage and the caravans of summer and winter. Among the Qorayish tribe, the Umayyads converted to Islam to protect their financial interests. Upon the death of Prophet Muhammad, the Qorayish tribe made pacts with the desert Arabs in Yathreb and when these pacts were breeched by the Qorayish tribe, many of the desert Arabs forsake Islam, and then re-converted to it when they were defeated by the Qorayish tribe. The tribe kept them busy by invasions directed to other countries. These invasions stopped temporarily during the caliphate of Othman, then the Umayyads controlled Othman and left desert Arabs penniless. Revolt against Othman ensued. Othman was killed. Ali Ibn Abou Talib became caliph. Civil wars ensued. Desert Arabs became the allies of Ali, the first Shiites. They weakened Ali by their huger for power and authority and riches. Some of them went against him and called themselves Al-Khawarij. Those killed Ali and caused many revolts against the Umayyads.

2- Those Khawarij could not theorize or propagate anything due to their Bedouin culture that made them akin to violence. Their non-stop fighting against the Umayyads did not spare time to form any ideology. They confined their thought to declare their opponents as unbelievers and rejection of anybody's rule except among themselves, claiming to apply God's word. This motto had no theories to support. It was just a pretext for their acts of violence, raids, stealing, killing, and destruction. Al-Khawarij came to an end by the fall of the Umayyad Dynasty.

3- Al-Khawarij used to go to suicide missions and claimed to spend nights in worship and prayers. They spent their days in killing and robbing in markets. They used to kill indiscriminately. Thank God they died out soon enough.

4- The Abbasids came with relative stability and intellectual momentum. All doctrinal thought propagators had enough time to theorize and write their volumes and tomes. Hence emerged the human-made creeds that all claim to be Islam: Sunnite and Shiite and Sufism. Shiites spread faster and were subdivided into other sub-creeds and doctrines. Shiites revived some ideas of Al-Khawarij. They created notion of "holy imams" as part of Islamic thought. They spread and propagated notions against the Sunnite doctrines: declaring perpetrators of evil deeds, as well as unjust rulers, as unbelievers, claiming that fatalism is the supreme rule in Islam; man is a puppet in the hands of fate and destiny, the Quran was created, evil deeds should be rectified by force and arms: the same notion of fanatic Sunnite Ibn Hanbal doctrine followers. Those ideas are not based on Al-Khawarij; rather, they were notions propagated by thinkers and theoreticians of the Abbasid Dynasty. So many thinkers and imams were bribed to propagate certain ideas at request.

5- The Second Abbasid Era came with full power and authority given to the fanatic Sunnite Ibn Hanbal doctrine followers in the caliphate of Al-Motawakil, and hence the persecution of Sufis, Shiites, and Al-Mu'tazala. Hence, any schools of thought related to Al-Khawaij notions dwindled. The Ibadi doctrine claimed to be reformers but hey fabricated their own hadiths. Al-Khawarij did not have what we call now Sunna or hadiths; they were revolting fighting rebels.

Fourthly: Abou Haneefa:

1- Abou Haneefa is a mysterious figure; he was an imam that so many ideas and notions were attributed to him after his death. His followers claim him to be a Sunnite who was a staunch believer in hadiths, and some followers of the fanatic Sunnite Ibn Hanbal doctrine claim that he denied the so-called hadiths altogether.

2- Abou Haneefa was considered a pioneer in his era of oral traditions. Nothing was written down during his lifetime. Yet, his ideas made him the imam of personal opinion to understand sharia laws in the Quran against those who fabricated hadiths in Yathreb. His line of thought is similar to Al-Mu'tazala who attached paramount importance to the mind before any texts. He revolted against the Umayyads and refused to accept oral traditions known as hadiths. Abbasids wrote down hadiths fabricated and propagated specially to support their caliphate that was established by massacres and sheer use of force. Abou Jaffer Al-Mansoor was an early Abbasid caliph who wrote down himself hadiths. Propagators of hadiths were servants and agents to the Abbasids who never tolerated Abou Haneefa's ideas of rationalism, liberty, justice, etc. and they spoke unfavorably against him to the caliph Abou Jaffer Al-Mansoor who eventually killed him in prison. Yet, two disciples of Abou Haneefa spread his doctrine and wrote it down and added false notions to serve the Abbasids. They even invented the fiqh of pragmatism that was used to ignore sharia laws of the Quran.

3- Abou Haneefa is considered by the Quranists to be a Quranist pioneer; he refused anything but the Quran.

Fifthly: Al-Mu'tazala:

1- It was a political group at first. They refused to mingle with others to get away from struggles between the early Umayyads and followers of Ali Ibn Abou Talib's progeny. They decided to engage in theological theorizing. Their five pillars were: justice, warning others of Hell, unity of God, there are levels between ''bad'' and ''good'' believers, and finally urging people to do good deeds and shun evil deeds.

2- At this early stage, there was nothing called Sunna. Al-Mu'tazala never cared for anything except reasoning using the human mind. They were persecuted along with Shiites and Sufis in the Abbasid caliphate of Al-Motawakil. They had to declare their belief in hadiths and Sunna to avoid being killed. Among Al-Mu'tazala was the famous writer Al-Jaheez, who died in 255 A.H. and was a contemporary of Al-Bokhary who died in 256 A.H. Al-Jaheez wrote in his books about his belief in Sunna and hadiths.

3- Al-Mu'tazala tried to explain Quranic verses to serve as proof to their notions. They were not Quranists at all. We have written about this before.

Sixthly: In Modern Times:

1- Mr. Ahmed Khan (1817:1898) was akin to Al-Mu'tazala in using the Quranic verses to serve as proofs to his notions. He used a small number of hadiths that he claimed to be true in his sermons. This makes him not among the Quranist. His enemies accused him of being a denier of Sunna and being a Quranist. In fact, he was a social and political reformer in India to oppose and resist British occupation by enlightenment and cultural renaissance and not by armed resistance. He aimed to marginalize the imams' authority of Muhammadans clergy. He established a university for that reason. His enemies were several people due to his reforms. He was like the former Azharite imam Muhammad Abdou in Egypt, who died in 1905 A.D.

2- Muhammad Abdou (1849:1905 A.D.) is the first Egyptian who attacked the Sunnite creed and proved its contradiction with the Quran. He tried hard to explain the long-forgotten facts of Islam based on the Quran alone. He is a pioneer Quranist thinker. He tried to undermine the Sunnite/Wahabi creeds and to build a new thought to understand the Quran better than before. His disciple Rasheed Reda was a traitor and an agent of Wahabism and the Saudi royal family. This traitor of Syrian origin established so many Wahabi societies in Egypt. He was the real originator of the terrorist MB with his disciple Hassan Al-Banna. Quranists emerged as a reaction to oppose and expose Wahabism to prove that it is against Islam. Quranists expose the falsehoods of Sunnite, Shiite, Sufi creeds by judging them against the Quran. We have published in our website a detailed research about Muhammad Abdou.

3-   Abdullah Chakralawi in Pakistan, Punjab Region, Lahore, was born in 1830 and studied hadiths and declared they are never part of Islam. He declared that the only book in Islam is the holy Quran as it is the only divine revelation given to Prophet Muhammad. He destroyed the Sunnite notions without building a strategy or a theory to understand Quranic notions and to explain Quranic facts.

Lastly:

We, Ahmed Subhi Mansoor, are a graduate of Azhar University from Egypt: the heart of Islamic nation. We started the route from the beginning by using the Quran as a yard stick to judge all traditions and human-made creeds that claim to be Islam. Our booklet titled "The Quran Is Enough" is unprecedented in its frankness and brevity. This booklet provides key notions of Islam – i.e. the Quran alone – and undermines the holy idols of Sunnites like Al-Bokhary books. Our second booklet titled "Narration of Hadiths" that destroys the very foundations of the Sunnite creed and its fabrications and myths while showing the real tenets of sharia law in the Quran. We have written other books and booklets on the subjects of Islamic notions and higher values of justice, mercy, equality, etc., political notions, Quranic notions, and historical accounts of unspoken-of facts of history of Sunnites and caliphates. The historical accounts are the very foundations of the human-made creeds that claim to be Islam. We have published several fatwas, research papers, opinions, and books on this website. We continue to tackle all important current and relevant issues. We ask God's aid and guidance to help others to know about real Islam. We seek God's reward in the Afterlife.