There are indications that many Muslims are deserting the mainstream Islam to the less known Islamic sect called the Quranyon. Any observer of the religious debates in the Middle East, whether in the printed press or the Internet, must notice the growth of this rather new Islamic sect under the name of the New Ahnaf. Even the once extinct Islamic sect known as Almutazella seems to have been resurrected in some Middle Eastern countries. These new groups are currently neither well organized nor influential and probably will never be, but their rising number is significant because it reflects the deepening cracks in the Islamic structure.

The Quranyon and the Sunna

The Quranyon build their argument on the false assumption that the Quran is Allah’s preserved word and, therefore, is infallible. They claim the Quran is a complete book; therefore Muslims do not need any other sources of information. In effect, they promote an essentially different brand of Islam based only on the Quran. Although they promote themselves as Islamic reformers and defenders of the Quran, but to the other Muslims, they are simply heretics. 

The Quranyon have full knowledge of Mohammed’s history (Sira) and his example (Sunna), but their knowledge leads them to a laughable conclusions. In effect, their argument goes like this: ‘because the history of Mohammed is disgraceful, and because his ahadith (deeds and sayings) are filled with nonsense, then these ahadith must be wrong!’ This is like saying ‘because all the available evidence incriminates the suspect, then all the available evidence must be wrong! This back to front irrational analysis is not unique to the Quranyon but common among Muslim scholars in general and reflects the extent of damage that Islam inflicts on human wisdom.  

By rejecting the Sunna, the Quranyon free themselves from the impossible task of defending Mohammed’s conduct. They are aware that the charges against him, like the ones published in FFI and IW are indefensible because they are based on authentic Islamic sources. Having denied the most authentic Islamic sources, the Quranyon have one answer to all the charges against Mohammed, which is: ‘it is all history, so it may not be true’.  The Quranyon may not be aware of it, but their intense inclination to deny the Sunna, is an indirect admission from them that Mohammed is a liability rather than an asset to Islam.



The Quranyon and the Quran

The Arabic word Qurani (Quranist) relates to the Quran, a group of Quranists is called Quranyon. The Quranyon are extremely happy to be given a name that relates them to the Quran. It gives them some protection against the inevitable charges of being infidels. Their association with the Quran gives them a false sense of security; after all it is not easy to describe people who believe in the Quran as infidels.  

 

Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour - Leader of the Egyptian Quranist movement (in exile of course)

It looks bizarre that the Quranyon reject the Sunna because they believe it shames Islam and Mohammed but they are happy to accept the Quran. Any objective reading of the Quran reveals as many absurdities in it as in the Sunna, if not more. So why are the Quranyon happy to defend the Quran?

To explain such a strange attitude let us take the hypothetical example of a thief who is confronted with a rather blurred video footage for him while shoplifting in a supermarket. The video footage may be a little blurred yet clear enough to prove the crime. The thief then uses that slight lack of clarity in the footage as a basis for his defense, he might claim that he wasn’t shoplifting or that it wasn’t him at all.

The Quran is an ambiguous book filled with repetitions and contradictions. In various chapters of the Quran there is enough nonsense to prove its gross inanities. The Sunna’s role is to clarify the Quran and puts it in focus, thereby highlighting further its absurdities. This is why the Quranyon prefer to read the Quran without the Sunna; they prefer some darkness to give them a free hand to articulate the language to come up with the meaning that suits their desires.

A Quranist organization follows the rules of the Quran and judges by the Quran, doing this with logic, intelligence and careful scrutiny of the book. They do not follow or try to apply what they don't understand. This Quranist organization of People Pro-God understands that the fasting of the month of Ramadan does not necessarily consist in following the Islamic or pre-Islamic calendar and fasting during a month called Ramadan, rather it is fasting 30 days in a period of constant or intense heat, no matter what the location or time. (source)

Hmmmmm..... It looks like plain heresy don't you think?

IIn their efforts to preserve the Quran, the Quranyon are not ashamed to present some of the most stupid argument. Their rationalization for explaining the Quranic blunders by creating an entirely new meaning for the Quranic verses goes like this: “Because the obvious meaning of the verse is logically wrong and unacceptable, then it cannot be the meaning intended by the Quran!” They even claim that the Quran has its own Quranic (not Arabic!) language to justify their extraordinary interpretation of its blunders! This may explain why this trend appeals to some dissatisfied Arab Muslims who are not ashamed to violate all the rules and principles of their language to justify the Quranic errors. They find in such false cosmetic repairs a comfortable compromise that allows them to believe in Islam without having to believe in its absurdities.

Muslims consider the Sunna as complementary and explanatory to the Quran. This is quite true. However, acceptance of the Sunna leaves the Quranyon with little room to practice their skills in distorting the language. The Quranyon cannot apply their skills of language trickery to the ahadith because these come in different books and in different wordings, which denies the Quranyon their only weapon of language falsification to come up with their desired new meaning.  



A Quran only Islam

The Quranyon like to be seen as Muslim intellectuals (although the two words should not come together) and Islamic reformers. Their desperation to present Islam as a modern and civilized religion forced them to adopt a strategy of self-deceit to accept the Quran and self-deceit to believe that the rest of Muslims will accept them.

 

Bahais also tried reforming Islam only to become victims of  masacres and purges. Today most of the Bahais live outside Islamic paradises

The Quranyon’s claims about the unreliability of Sunna because it reached us through history is another laughable argument.  It must have escaped their minds that everything about Islam, from the Quran to Mohammed’s history and his Sunna, have all reached us through the same history. The Quran was written by humans, kept by humans and collected by humans. The Quranyon cannot dispute the fact that Caliph Uthman, who ordered the writings of the official four state copies of the Quran, did so to avoid the problems caused by the existence of too many different versions. Indeed, Uthman ordered all other copies of the Quran to be destroyed because they were dissimilar from his version. The burning of the other copies has outraged many important figures in Islam, like Ibn Masoud, who refused to recognize Uthman’s official version of the Quran.

The Quran repeatedly asks the Muslims to follow Mohammed’s example (Sunna). If the Quranyon discount the Sunna then they have to answer the important question: How can Muslims follow Mohammed’s example if they do not recognize that example?

The Quranyon are not a well-defined group and they do not all agree on clear and recognized teachings. They even accuse one another of being infidels! By definition, the Submitters are Quranyon, but are branded as infidels by all the others. Probably the only thing the Quranyon have in common is their rejection of the Sunna and their determination to justify the Quranic blunders at all costs. However, a Quran only Islam looks so weird to be recognized as Islam at all. Although the Quran is Islam’s holy book, but the bulk of the religion is made of Sunna. All the details of Islam like how to perform the prayers are completely distorted by the Quranyon because they are only briefly mentioned in the Quran. For example, in the case of prayers, they only recognize three prayers rather than five, which they perform differently from the mainstream Muslims.

In reality, The Quranyon make fundamental changes to the core issues of Islam, in other words they introduce Bidaa (innovation) on a major scale, which is a lethal sin in Islam. Their practice has precedence in Islamic history, like the members of Al-Mutazela group who were completely eradicated during the Abbasid dynasty. The current violence between the various Islamic sects is another reminder of the non-existent Islamic tolerance. Indeed some Quranyon have already been murdered on the basis they were infidels in disguise.

 

The Quranyon’s state of mind is another sad demonstration of the damage that Islam can inflict on the human mind. These people have spotted more than enough of the Islamic garbage to wake them up to the fact that Islam is just a mad man’s cult. Instead of leaving Islam, they embark on a desperate process of self-deception because their confused minds cannot imagine that life can exist outside Islam.

The rising number of the Quranyon reflects the damage control being carried out by some Muslims to conceal the deepening cracks in Islam. But these are cosmetic and superficial repairs and can never hold the structure together for long.  We must also keep in mind that not all the Quranyon truly believe in what they say. Many unconvinced Muslims think of this group as a safe sanctuary from the real Islam. Some of the Quranyon reject the Quran soon after they reject the Sunna, and continue their journey to enlightenment and freedom.  Indeed many of the Quranyon only pretend to be so to stay legally alive in the Islamic societies. The current apparent Islamic tolerance to their existence may not be long lasting. Probably the reason they are left alone is because they are considered as a disillusioned group of non-practicing Muslims who will eventually return to the circle of Islam.