Friday Sermon by: Alban Fejza, Online Congregation Director
Summary:
In this message, Alban Fejza congratulates Quran-alone followers for using the Quran as their only religious source, explains why they keep splitting into ever smaller groups, and shows from the Quran that unity comes from agreeing only on the Contact Prayer and Zakat, inviting them to join the submitters.
Video Transcript:
Praise be to God. There is no other god except God.
Our dearest Quranist, or Quran-only follower: congratulations on being among the few people in the world who have realized something extremely important. You have realized that the only religious book for our religious decisions should be the Quran. This is a fundamentally important truth, which we believe and appreciate. The Quran-alone method is the correct method of approaching religion, the correct process of religious thinking. It’s actually the sister method of the scientific method. The scientific method is the tool through which we find the truth about material things, the things of this world, using only a specific set of collected data, while disregarding all hearsay. Similarly, the Quran-alone method is the tool through which we find the truth about religious things, the things of the other worlds, using only the Quran as the set of data, or information, while disregarding the hearsay and opinions outside of it.
In theory, both these methods are perfect, but when people try to apply them in practice, they encounter some challenges. The challenge with the scientific method is that, to do science with a limited budget, scientists have to simplify their studies, and they often end up having to reach conclusions from data which are not detailed enough. On the other hand, religious students have fully detailed data, the Quran, but their challenge is that, because of so many details, they do not have sufficient time, sufficient brain power, sufficient will or sufficient sincerity to cover all of it, and more often than not, they reach conclusions without complete coverage of the Quran.
This creates problems, because when Quran-alone followers reach conclusions without covering the whole Quran, they reach conclusions by covering different parts of the Quran and different parts of the Quranic truths, because each of them notices different things in the Quran and pays more attention to some truths than others. Then the conclusion which one individual reaches from the Quran is different, at least partially, from another’s, and now we have two individuals who understand the Quran differently, snowballing into a bigger problem later.
Let’s take an example to see how this happens. In Sura 2, verse 278, the Quran prohibits what is called “riba” in Arabic. One group of Quran-only followers has reached the conclusion that riba is all types of interest. A second group has concluded that riba is only interest above 20%. A third group has concluded that riba is only the percentage of interest above inflation. A fourth group has concluded that riba is only the interest charged to the poor who are seeking a loan to avoid poverty, and that it does not include interest charged to a non-poor person taking a loan for other purposes. A fifth group has concluded that riba is only the interest charged by one individual to another, but not when state-approved banking institutions do it. A sixth group has concluded that riba includes charging interest to others, but does not include being charged interest by others. A seventh group has concluded that riba and interest are two completely different things. An eighth group has concluded that it is riba only if the total amount repaid is more than twice the loan which was received.
All of these eight groups will actually show you a verse or two, or the meaning of an Arabic word or two in the Quran, or some kind of analogy, or the context in which the verse occurs, on which they based their conclusion. Yet they still reached different conclusions, because their knowledge of the Quran was partial due to their time limitations. They based their conclusions on some verses, but not on all the verses of the Quran. As a result, eight Quranist groups are created just from this issue. If we add another issue to the discussion, each of those eight groups would reach about eight other conclusions, and now we would have about 64 separate Quranist groups. Then another issue is discussed, and then another, and then another, and after six issues are opened for discussion, the Quranists are split into 262,000 groups, basically each individual ending up alone by himself.
So what is the solution to this practical problem? Should we just force other Quran-alone followers to understand the Quran as we do, and go against verse 2:256, which tells us that there should be no compulsion in religion? Should we hide the conclusions which we reach from the Quran just so that we can fit within a group of Quran-alone followers, in which case we wouldn’t be Quran-alone followers at all, because we would be giving other people’s opinions priority over what we ourselves are convinced we have found in the Quran? Should we constantly dispute with one another, and go against verse 8:46, which tells us not to dispute with one another? Or should we solve this issue like the Sunnis, by writing an official set of books on how to understand the Quran, basically creating new Hadith, and then we wouldn’t be Quran-alone followers anymore, because we would rely on other books? Or should we solve it like the Shia, by choosing an official line of leaders who would then tell us how to understand the Quran, which again would not let us be Quran-alone followers anymore?
So what is the solution? Well, guess what: the solution to this problem is already written in the Quran. According to the Quran, we, the Quran-alone followers, should seek to reach agreement between us on only two things, while on the rest of the religious issues we don’t have to agree. It would be nice to agree on everything, and we would if everyone were a perfect believer, but it’s totally okay if we don’t, because every human being today is a partial believer, as the Quran itself predicts in verse 42:14. So let everyone have their own opinion, because that is not going to divide the community if we stay connected through those two things.
So what are those two things on which we must reach a common agreement? They are, one, the Contact Prayer, Salat, and two, the obligatory charity, Zakat. These are the only two things on which we should reach agreement in order to consider each other part of the same religion. This idea is found in many verses of the Quran, like verse 9:11, for example. Verse 9:11 says that if they, the idol worshipers, turn away from idol worship, which the Quran-alone followers have already done, and they, one, do the Contact Prayer, Salat, and two, give the obligatory charity, Zakat, then they are your brothers in religion. They belong to the same religion. So the Contact Prayer and the obligatory charity make us part of the same religion, part of the same religious group, and then it’s fine if we have differences of opinion on other issues.
Even David and Solomon had a difference of opinion about something, as we see in verse 21:79, but it didn’t divide them, because at the end of the day they still went together to do the Contact Prayer, Salat, and collected the Zakat in one common pool, to spend it in the cause of God. So it’s forgivable if we have different opinions on other issues, because not all of us have the time, the patience, the knowledge, and sometimes even the readiness or the complete sincerity, to analyze every issue to the point of reaching a complete understanding of it. Verse 73:20 in the Quran tells us to simply read the portions of the Quran which we find easy, which means that not all people will be able to read and understand the Quran completely. As a result, they will not have a completely correct opinion about many issues, but that’s fine. The verse says that God has pardoned you; He knows that some of you may be ill, and others may be busy with business, seeking God’s provisions, and so on. It again says that it’s okay to just read whatever portion of the Quran you can, basically a partial understanding of the truth, but then it says: as long as all of you do the Contact Prayer, Salat, and give the obligatory charity, Zakat.
There’s another verse which conclusively confirms this idea. Verse 98:5 says that nothing else was asked of those who were given the scripture, which includes those who are given the Quran, except to worship God sincerely, devoting the religion to Him alone, and, one, to do the Contact Prayer, Salat, and two, to give the obligatory charity, Zakat; this is the perfect religion. So the perfect religion is the one where you do not demand that others agree on other issues, except to do the Contact Prayer, Salat, and give the obligatory charity, Zakat.
If we think of it the other way around, this means that just because someone uses the Quran alone as you do, and agrees on some other issues, that doesn’t make him your friend. He’s only your friend if he uses the Quran alone and does the Contact Prayer as you do, and does the Zakat as you do. Verse 5:55 in the Quran says that your only friends, your only allies, the only ones who are in the same group as you, are God and His messenger and the believers who observe the Contact Prayers and give the obligatory charity, and they bow down. This unites the community of believers through a specific, divinely authorized, Quranic method. You can get an idea of how this works, because one of the Contact Prayers, according to the Quran, is the Friday prayer, which is used as a tool to keep the community united. You can even translate it into English as the uniting prayer, or the congregational prayer. This is what keeps the congregation intact. So if you are a true Quran-alone follower, please stop seeking unity through other means. It’s just the Contact Prayer and the Zakat, and this will unite us.
By the way, being united is not optional; it’s an obligation in order to succeed. According to verse 3:200, the believers must be united in order to succeed. So the Quran-alone followers cannot succeed unless they are united, and they cannot be united unless they agree to unite through the Contact Prayer and the obligatory charity only, while letting everyone have the freedom to decide for themselves about other issues. And in order to be able to agree to have united Contact Prayers and united obligatory charity, we first have to agree on the correct common form of the Contact Prayer, Salat, and the obligatory charity, Zakat.
And guess what: you are very lucky, because for the first time in history, we have been able to extract all the details of the Salat and the Zakat directly from the Quran, all of them. You can find them in two of our videos. The links to both videos are below, in the video description. So please watch those two videos in full, where you will be able to see all the details of the Contact Prayer, directly from the Quran, in one video, and all the details of Zakat, directly from the Quran, in the other video. And then please write to us, so you can join our community.
Joining our community is an obligation if you are a believer, because in verse 18:27, God is directly talking to the Quran-alone followers, and then in the next verse, while still speaking to the Quran-alone followers, God says, “You shall force yourself to be with those who worship their Lord day and night,” basically, those who do the Contact Prayer. So, to be a complete Quran-only believer, you must also apply this verse, which tells you to join us, who do the Contact Prayer correctly. There are many verses which tell us to stay united, do the Contact Prayer together, and have the Zakat system together. The Quran says that our community is one united community. You cannot be separate from the community and still think that you are following the Quran alone. The Quran tells you to be part of the community of the submitters.
Verse 41:33 in the Quran tells you to be one of the submitters. It doesn’t tell you to be a submitter on your own; it tells you to be one of the submitters, one person in a larger community of the submitters, the only community of the submitters. There can only be one community of the submitters, according to verse 21:92, and we are that community. The submitters are the best, and the only officially authorized, community of Quran-alone followers. Verse 3:19 says that the only religion approved by God is Submission. And to join Submission, to be a submitter, since you are already a Quran-only follower, all you have to do is do the Contact Prayer as we do and give the obligatory charity as we do. You are free to think differently on other issues, but regarding Salat and Zakat, you have to do them like us, and, when available, with us, so that you can be part of the best community of Quran-alone followers. We, the submitters, are the best community of Quran-only followers.
So again, to learn how to do the Salat and the Zakat, please watch the two videos linked in the video description below, and then, once you learn them, please contact us as soon as possible to join us. Or, if you have any questions, you can contact us through our email address and our WhatsApp number, which are also given in the video description below. We are looking forward to hearing from you, and peace be upon you.