Rashad Khalifa

Rashad Khalifa (1935-1990) was an Egyptian muslim who came to the United States as a student of biochemistry in 1959 and later became a citizen. He established an Islamic group called United Submitters International whose beliefs include the rejection of Hadith/Sunnah as a source of doctrine. For many years he was the Imam of a mosque in Tuscon, Arizona.

Starting in 1968, Khalifa believed that he had discovered an intricate numerical pattern in the text of the Qur'an involving the number 19. The pattern involves counting of words and letters, and calculations involving the numerical equivalents of the letters. He published several books on this subject. Initially well-received, Khalifa's claims became the subject of bitter controversy when he denounced two long-accepted verses of the Qur'an as false additions. Nor did it help when he used his patterns to establish his own historical importance alongside of Abraham and Muhammad. Several other muslims published detailed refutations, but the controversy continues.

On January 31, 1990, Khalifa was stabbed to death in his Tuscon mosque. It is commonly believed that an extremist group al-Fuqra based in Pakistan was responsible, but it is unclear whether this has been positively established.

• The mathematical structure of the Nobel Quran
• Y.Y. Haddad and J.I. Smith, Mission to America; Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America, University Press of Florida, 1993. ISBN 0813012163.
• R. Khalifa, Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle, Islamic Productions International, 1982.
• R. Khalifa, Quran: The Final Testament, Islamic Productions International, 1989.