On Cursing Clergymen of All Types:
That Someone Joins the Muhammadans or the Christians Is None of our Concern; we Respect the Religious Freedom of Everyone
Published in January 11, 2020
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Firstly:
1- In the early 1980s, when we were a professor at the History Department, Al-Azhar University, in Cairo, Egypt, another professor came along with another man whom he introduced as a former Coptic Orthodox Christian man who converted to 'Islam' (or rather the Sunnite religion of Satan) and needed help. We never cared about this new 'convert'; we inwardly said to ourselves that the ocean does not need another fish and that the masses do not need another person to add to their too many troubles.
2- When we were imprisoned in Nov. 1987 within the first wave of arresting and persecuting Quranists in Egypt, we met in the prison cell a young man who converted to Christianity; he was hated and bullied by the other prisoners; we stood by him and defended his religious freedom, urging the other prisoners to let him be.
3- In the 1990s in Egypt, we were a human-rights activist and our endeavors included defending persecuted Copts; when we moved to the USA in 2001, our activism continued on a larger scale and within more freedom; we attended many conferences held by Copts inside the USA to defend the persecuted Copts in Egypt.
3/1: In one of these conferences, after we delivered our speech, a young man came to us; he introduced himself to us as the son of an Azharite professor/sheikh; he told us he converted to Coptic Orthodox Christianity; we told him that we respect his religious freedom; he gave us, as a gift, a book he authored titled (I Was Blind, But Now I See); we politely accepted this gift and we thanked him for it, but we never read this book.
3/2: In another conference held by Copts inside the USA, an Egyptian-Australian woman who converted to Coptic Orthodox Christianity and deserted her former Sunnite religion delivered a speech in which she verbally abused and insulted the Quran; we interrupted her and said angrily to the organizers of the conference that we came to them to defend persecuted Copts and not to hear the Quran being abused and insulted; we left the conference in anger; yet, the organizers of the conference hurried after us to beg for our return in order to deliver our speech about how the Quran sides with the persecuted ones and is innocent of persecuting Christians; we agreed to rejoin them on one condition: this woman must apologize through the microphone for her insulting the Quran. She did just that.
3/3: When controversy was raised years ago about an Afghani man who converted to Christianity, we wrote an article titled (To the Afghan who Converted to Christianity: Your Freedom of Choice Should be Respected); other articles of ours which were written in the same vein include: (Some Syrian Refugees Convert to Christianity); (A Call for Those Egyptians who Decide to Join the Muhammadans or the Christians: Convert in Secret); (Why Such Phobia Regarding Proselytization and Many Converts to Christianity). We have discussed such a topic in detail within other articles and books of ours which assert the absolute religious freedom as per the Holy Quran; yet, the topic is still hot and debates about it fill the cyberspace in the Arab world.
Secondly:
1- The problem still persists; Christian leaders and clergymen celebrate in the media any Muhammadans who convert to Christianity; the leaders and clergymen of the Muhammadans celebrate in the media any Christians who convert to their religion. Of course, converts in both parties assert their new allegiance, within media and conferences, by cursing their former religious affiliation and by being extremists within following their new faith. Such mutual animosity and fake rivalry go on until now; the reasons for this ghastly state of affairs are explored in the following points.
2- Such trade in religions by professionals/clergy began by the evil Sunnite motto of dividing the world into two warring sides or camps/realms: the house of peace (i.e., where 'believers' live) and the house of war (i.e., where 'infidels' live). This was the motto practiced and applied since the Arab conquests ascribed falsely and forcibly to the name of Islam which spread polytheism/disbelief since the reign of the first sinful caliph, Abou Bakr, until the era of the sinful Ottoman caliphs. Of course, obsequious & avaricious clergymen who seek money and power have been formed among both Christians and the Muhammadans. For centuries until now in the Arab world, people are mostly followers to the dominant clergymen (Shiites, Sunnites, Catholics, Orthodox,...etc.); those who oppose clergy are accused of heresy and apostasy; those who change their religion might face being put to death. Clergymen of Christians and those of the Muhammadans now vie for attracting as many converts from the other side in order to win them over to their own side!
3- Of course, Europe liberated itself from Christian clergymen and their unlimited power; religious extremism has remained hidden in Europe until revived and empowered by the emergence of Wahabism (which constitutes the revival of the extremist Sunnite Hanbali doctrine) and the bloodshed it has caused though most victims of Wahabism are among the Muhammadans themselves. Wahabism in the West and in the Arab world has turned many Muhammadans into extremists; this has brought about a measure of Christian bigotry and extremism as a reaction which resurfaces in the West whenever possible.
4- Quranists have emerged as a positive reaction; they preach absolute religious freedom as well as tolerance, fraternity, justice, all types of freedom, mercy, and peace; these are the higher Quranic values; they are shared by most human beings and by most religions worldwide; they should be the focus of any interreligious dialogues and not faith tenets which are bound to differ. Yet, it is a laughter-inducing fact that despite the apparent differences in the religions and deities of the Muhammadans and the Christians, they share the same notions which result in deifying mortals and things/items within different appellations, mottos, and labels. Of course, Quranists in their peaceful call for religious and political reform disbelieve in all mortal deities/gods (Muhammad, Ali, Hussein, Christ, Mary, 'saints',...etc.), and they curse and oppose all types of clergymen. Because Quranists stand against all types of tyranny, a media blackout is imposed on them; even some Christian extremists attack our person and all Quranists within the cyberspace. The stance of Quranists is similar to the man who, shortly before the first military attack in the first civil war among Muhammad's companions in the Battle of the Camel, read loudly some Quranic verses from a copy in the Quran in his hand to urge both warring parties to adhere to peace; yet, an arrow was swiftly thrown at him to silence him, and he died minutes before the battle.
5- Sadly, the culture of dominant clergymen makes some people misunderstand our person; they assume wrongly that Quranists are a sect, an organization, or a doctrine with its sheikhs/clergy and its followers. They assume wrongly that Quranists have clergymen like the types seen within terrestrial religions; this misunderstanding is common among non-Quranists despite the following facts.
5/1: We have written a lot that Quranism is a reformist, intellectual trend via cyberspace; we, ourselves, do not know most Quranists personally or face-to-face; we know them only through our Quranism website; we wished we could meet all Quranists worldwide in a conference inside the USA, but this was never possible. Besides, many Quranists write comments and articles on our website using pseudonyms (i.e., pen-names and aliases) because they fear being persecuted in their respective countries.
5/2: We have repeated in our videos and writings the basic rules and principles which govern our Quranist methodology and that we oppose, and differ from, all clergymen of all types. These basic rules are as follows: We never impose ourselves on anyone; we never impose our Quranist views on anyone; our ideas are our own ponderings which might be wrong or right and need to be corrected and constructively criticized all the time; we welcome corrections and feedback; we never pretend to own or monopolize the Absolute Truth; we write/say what we deem as right/true and we wait for the Lord God's judgment on our person and on those who oppose our religion (i.e., Qurnaism) on the Last Day; we declare those who contradict the Quran (i.e., the Muhammadans) as infidels and disbelievers in hope they would reform themselves, and this is not a call for murdering those who hold different religious stances/views; we quote the Quranic verses to support our views, and then, after much clarification, we respect the religious freedom for all human beings; these two verses summarize our stance: "And say to those who do not believe, “Act according to your ability; and so will we.” “And wait; we too are waiting.”" (11:121-122); we never seek rewards or wages from anyone; Quranists voluntarily help one another within their Quranism website as much as they can; we and other Quranists forgive, as much as possible, those who insult and verbally abuse us and those who persecute us.
5/3: We have repeated the following Quranic facts in our previous writings and we assert them further here.
5/3/1: Being (mis)guided is a personal responsibility; Islam has no clergy of any type at all; clergymen have nothing to do with Islam. The missions of any given State, within Islam, never include to help citizens enter into Paradise.
5/3/2: Human beings will be judged on the Last Day individually; we must bear this Quranic fact in mind all the time; it is asserted here: "There is none in the heavens and the earth but will come to the Dominant Lord as a servant. He has enumerated them, and counted them one by one. And each one of them will come to Him on the Day of Resurrection alone." (19:93-95); "“You have come to Us individually, just as We created you the first time, leaving behind you everything We gave you. We do not see with you your intercessors - those you claimed were your partners. The link between you is cut, and what you had asserted has failed you.”" (6:94); "The Day when a person will flee from his brother. And his mother and his father. And his consort and his children. Every one of them, on that Day, will have enough to preoccupy him." (80:34-37); "No friend will care about his friend. They will be shown each other. The criminal wishes he would be redeemed from the torment of that Day by his children. And his spouse, and his brother. And his family that sheltered him. And everyone on earth, in order to save him." (70:10-14).
6- Many email messages we receive are from victims of cursed clergymen of all types: some of such email senders are Christians, some others are troublesome Shiites, and few are either atheists or on the verge of atheism. We never know or guess what they desire to prove to themselves by challenging or insulting our person! They are always bent on denying/proving something or on making us acknowledge something; some feign being desirous to join Quranists but on one or more condition(s)! In every single case, our reply is the same: We never care if someone would convert to Quranism or not or to any other religion or to atheism. Anyone's being (mis)guided is none of our concern; their being guided will never benefit our person; their being misguided will never harm our person. We assert in our reply that absolute religious freedom is one of the basic faith tenets in the Quran; we never interfere in the religious freedom of others; we are never responsible for the fate of the souls of others; no one is responsible for the fate of our own soul. The Lord God will settle all disputes and religious differences of all human beings on the Last Day.
7- The strangest thing is that we continue to receive an avalanche of email messages from those who are toying with the idea of converting either to Quranism or to atheism. One of such strange messages is the following one from an ignoramus who confessed his ignorance but he is too arrogant and haughty to believe in the Quranic Truth; he seems to be joking with our person; his message is filled with spelling mistakes (in Arabic), and he is the victim of the culture of dominant clergymen; his style shows that he assumed that our person is a head of a sect or a group of clergymen! We copy this message from the fatwas section; this message and our answer can be found on this link: (http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=19269)
( Title: We Never Care to Guide Anyone
Question: … Dear Sir, … I'm not a thoroughly experienced or learned man; despite the fact that I find your Quranist trend to be nearer to the Truth as far as religion is concerned, I'm still skeptic and I find myself nearer to agnosticism, though I ardently seek to reach God ......... In fact, the more I read your archive of writings, the more I'm convinced that you are a 'good merchant' who knows the best way to display his intellectual merchandise to entice readers/viewers into buying into his ideas. I'm afraid I'm still wondering what 'true Islam' is. I feel extremely worried about my fate in the Hereafter. I desire that you tell me (within a detailed answer) what exactly drives you to be so convinced that Quranism is True Islam! Are you so sure that you are following the Straight Path?! … Thank you …
Answer:
We refuse your likening us to a 'merchant' of intellectual merchandise; we will never be deemed as such. Our project of reform is based on never imposing our views on anyone and to ascribe our views to ourselves while bearing full responsibility for them (http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=15303). We never ask for reward/praise or money from anyone and we forgive/pardon, as much as we can, those who insult our person. We never care to guide you or anyone else; we do not care if you are (mis)guided; it is up to you to decide for yourself whether you are convinced or will be denying the Quranic Truth. This is your own future in the Hereafter within full freedom; every human being is free to choose his/her destiny, as you know. We never care to be blamed by anyone; we are not keen on seeking to convince you (or anyone else) with anything; our mission is confined to expressing our reformist, Quranist views in our website within fatwas, articles, books, and YouTube videos. The only advice we can give you here is to ponder on our archive within a critical mind while imploring the Lord God to guide you to the Quranic Truth. Later on, you can decide freely for yourself if you will be a Quranist or not. Whatever your future choice might be, we do not care about anyone's fate in the Hereafter; we care only about our own fate on the Last Day.).
Lastly:
1- The Middle-East region shall remain the scene for extremism, fanaticism, and religious strife and animosity as long as clergymen of all types remain dominant in the Arab societies; their victims will increase with the passage of time; the power and authority of clergymen of the Muhammadans and the Christians must be curbed and curtailed as much as possible in order to preserve the life and dignity of the weak oppressed persons in both sides.
2- We address the following to all individuals: regardless of one's religious denomination and faith tenets/notions; one chooses for oneself freely while bearing full responsibility for one's religious choices before the Lord God, and not before any mortals, on the Day of Judgment.