Joseph Smith and Rashad Khalifa

 

Joseph Smith and Rashad Khalifa

Dr. Rashad Khalifa reminds me of Joseph, the late 19^th century prophet who claimed to receive a call from God and founded the Later Day Saint movement. Both Dr. Khalifa and Smith were considered heretics from their respective religions, although they claimed to be restorers of their pure messages. This is enough to make for an interesting discussion but what else can we say? The point of the following is not to demean Joseph Smith or the Later Day Saint movement in any way. My discussion is limited to common Mormon mythology that floats around the internet. I invite our Mormon friends to point out an mistakes here.

Joseph Smith was heavily attacked by his antagonists during the prophet’s life time. The production of the Book of Mormon was considered a fraudulent and the claim of witnesses Golden Tablets was dismissed as laughable by his enemies. Christian apologists and atheists continue to discuss these things today. Joseph Smith lived at a time when print media was available so we have good insight into the life of this 19^th century figure who inhabited early America. I read one biography of Joseph Smith called “No One Knows My History” by Fawn Broadie. The book is highly informative but critical of the 19^th century prophet’s claims. A more recent biography was written by Dan Vogel called “Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.” Vogel is not a believer but is critical of Broadier’s take on Smith’s carer. The author believes Broad dismissed Smith’s own religious yearnings in his career, and Smith was in her view just a conman. Instead, Dan Vogel characterizes Joseph Smith’s work as a “pious fraud.” In other words. Joseph Smith did intently lie to create the Book of Mormon, Abraham and other claims. But Joseph Smith did believe in his overall prophetic claim and mission. Such a person could not be considered a conman so easily because he claimed to be doing God’s work and really thought he was engaged in pleasing God. Dan Vogel sees his book on Smith to take a mild approach towards understanding the prophet that avoids those extremes. (For a Mormon view of Joseph’s smith’s life you can read :Rough Stone Rolling by Dan Bushman.)

A Pious Fraud

Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s will be put by most people in the category of ‘Pious Fraud” as well. My own research on Dr. Khalifa’s works demonstrated to be that he intentionally deceived people a number of times. The number 19 “miracle” theory is a case in point. Most of the Muslim world has dismissed the 19 miracle claim, rightly so. There are some people that believe that claim a certain degree of math “miracles” in the Qur’an but the interesting thing is that even they believe Dr. Khalifa manipulated the numbers. There are ex- followers/ submitters who noted that Dr. Khalifa lied to make the numbers “work” but at the same time duped himself to believe these claims. Lomax, an internet personality well known in the Quran-only community back in the 1990s, 2000s, characterized Dr. Khalifa as a pious fraud in fact. It would be silly to claim that Dr. Khalfia did everything he did to gain money and fame. The Egyptian doctor certainly had a belief in Divine providence helping his mission.

Restorationism

Joseph Smith’s call is classified by historians of early American religion as part of the Restorationism. There were a number of churches in early 19^th Century America that claimed the current churches fled from the truth of Christianity and that they needed to return to the New Testament. William Campbell was the most well known of such theologians and his students eventually founded the modern Churches of Christ. They argued that baptism by a full immersion was necessary for salvation. They also argued for minor features of the New Testament Church such as acapella music. For them, the use of organs was an innovation. Interesting though is that Cambell called for less emphasis on creeds. Although he believed in the Trinity and other aspects of orthodox theology, Campbell believed they were sound because the doctrines were based in the bible, not because “church fathers” came up with them.

Joseph Smith’s call was also that of a “restoration” but much more different, radical and strange in comparison to the Campbellites. Joseph Smith taught that the true New Testament Church must have prophets and bishops because the prophet believed these were part of the original church. Cambell was adamant that prophecy ended with Christ. The church established by Joseph Smith is supposed to be the True Christianity restored. But he also taught that God was once a man, and that mankind can become gods in addition to several esoteric practices revolving around temples.

Fawnie Broad’s biography mentioned the confusion of Joseph Smith’s family as they joined different churches based on who came to town to conduct a revival meeting. When Joseph’s older brother died, a Presbyterian minister conducted the funeral and said the older Smith was condemned to hell for not being a Presbyterian. Later when Joseph Smith experienced the first vision he was told by the entity in the experience, to ignore the other churches because they are all “abominations” in the sight of God.

Rashad Khalifa preached a radical type of restoration to with regards to islam. Khalifa taught that his conception of islam was based on the “Quran alone” and that there was no room for hadith. While various individuals have long criticized the way hadith was used, Khalifa created an ideology that dismissed hadith outright. Khalifa and his followers believe that common Islamic practices such as sunnah prayers, certain jurisprudential rules were all foreign to islam. He also taught a radical form of anti-idolatry which identified the mere saying of names (other than God) as idolatry and thus condemned the majority of the worlds muslims to hell.

Both Khalifa and Joseph Smith had accounts of a first vision. The first vision is what typically initiates a call to evangelize the masses. Joseph Smith gave different accounts of his first vision. In one account he meets the angel Moroni but in another account he meets God the father and Jesus. The discrepancy between the different accounts is a matter of interest for Mormon faithful and scholars. It is also a source of controversy. Dr. Khalifa did not claim he had a visionary experience until many years after it occurred. Dr. Khalifa related during the time of his messengership in the 1980s that he experience a vision during the Hajj trip in 1974. In the visision Khalifa went to heaven in a somewhat reministent journey like the Prophet and met different prophets on the way. Dr. Khalifa said he did not understand the meaning of the vision until God revealed it to him years later.

The most interesting comparison between Rashad Khalifa and Joseph Smith is that they were both considered frauds prior to their prophetic mission. In fact Smith and Khalifa both engaged in practices considered quack business and were reprimanded for it in their past lives. Joseph Smith engaged in money digging, an old quasi magical practice that involved dowsing for money. Smith told his neighbors that there were buried treasures and he would accept payment to find them. Joseph Smith and his friends were arrested by the police and “convicted” in the sense that someone in the 19^th century would be convicted. The outcome of the trial Joseph Smith was defendant in was to have Smith expelled from his home. Joseph Smith’s past life in dowsing practices are pointed out by critics of the church.

Rashad Khalifa once lived in Libya as a bio-chemist and claimed to the Libyan government that he had the ability to change the country’s oil reserves into protein. Basically Khalifa claimed he could use the developed protein as animal feed which would in turn produce meat that could be used for export. When a fellow Egyptian colleague questioned Khalifa on his methods, Rashad ended up fleeing Libya as a result. In the case of Joseph Smith, he was convicted for quackery. Khalifa was never convicted and managed to flea Libya after he was questioned about his pseudo scientific practices. In both cases the two prophets fled their current places of residence and later claimed their prophetic missions elsewhere.

A comparison could be made about the scandals with women that both prophets faced in their life time. Joseph Smith faced accusations of polygamy during the height of his career. Although Smith denied polygamy publicly, the practices were conducted in secret along the lines of other esoteric practices the church engaged in. Today the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints acknowledges and justifies the polygamy of their church fathers (although they prohibit the practice today.) There are a few Mormon sects, who follow the line of Joseph Smith the third or other Missouri based churches, that deny Joseph Smith ever practiced polygamy. The biggest polygamy scandals occurred at the end of Smith’s life when they concerned polyandry. Some of the women were considered under age. In fact prior to the height of polygamy, Joseph Smith allegedly had an unfair with Fanny Algar, a teenage maid in the Smith household. Later Mormon historians claim that Fanny Algar was really a polygamous wife however so the word “affair” is unjustified in their view.

Rashad Khalifa never promoted polygamy although it is permitted in Islam. Khalifa wrote that polygamy could only be practiced in certain conditions. There was however an incident in the late 1970s in which Khalifa was accused of sexually assaulting a minor during another pseudo scientific practice testing human “auras.” Khalifa was never convicted from the allegations however.

Both Khalifa and Smith are considered martyrs by their respective followers but of course their detractors deny this. The notion of Joseph Smith being a martyer is attacked for example by critics because he had a gun battle during his final moments in the Illinois prison. Smith also took out a Jupiter Talisman and used a Masonic symbol for help in an attempt to save his own life. Our point however is not to affirm or deny anyone’s claim to martyrdom. Khalfia was murdered in a stabbing and the police found a gun on his body which he carried at the time.