The controversial American preacher and founder of GuideUS TV, Yusuf Estes, has responded clearly to claims about his teachings, that he rejects what is written in the mushaf being the actual Quran. He has denied these accusations and explained that he was grossly misunderstood, and that he really meant that translations and explanations of the Quran do not share the same ruling as the Quran itself.
However, the explicit words of Yusuf Estes himself, explaining what he means, clearly disprove this contrived and deceitful explanation. He stated on one of his programs on his own personal TV channel, GuideUS TV:
When I’m speaking about the Quran, I’m talking about the Quran fee lughat al-‘arabiyyah, which means: in the Arabic, the original. I’m not talking about a translation. I’m not talking about some interpreter’s ideas, concepts, or feelings. We’re talking about the actual words themselves in the Quran.
Quran, the word Quran, translates to English as a speech or a recitation. It does not mean a book. The word book in Arabic is kitaab. And we DO say that the Quran is the Kitab of Allah, from the Kitaab Allaah, the Book with Allah, yes. But the actual Quran, when we’re talking about Quran, we mean the Speech of Allah, which has been passed down to human beings…
Source: A GuideUS TV program entitled “Uniqueness of Quran” (1/2), uploaded by GuideUS TV to Youtube at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTd6OFRSh8o&list=UUwT9iY6LZJwusfHUAH8FpMw&t=4m5s (at precisely 4:05).
Later, in the same lecture (20:15), he confirms this teaching, saying:
And when we refer to the Quran thats written down, we don’t actually call this the Quran.
The belief that the written mus-haf is not the actual Quran is the deviant belief of the Lafthiyyah Sect of the Jahmiyyah Cult, whom Ahlus-Sunnah consider disbelievers due to this belief. Yusuf Estes has taught this belief for about a decade, with the most explicit expressions possible. After months of being requested to repent and rectify these horrific errors of apostasy, he remains silent, passing up opportunity after opportunity to support the spread of academic clarifications, while he chooses to continue promoting himself and his TV channel, GuideUS TV.
Just recently, at the annual ICNA convention in Chicago, Yusuf Estes requests the audience to clap for him in appreciation of his websites and other dawah efforts! This is what he chooses to do with his opportunities to address the people. He continues to spread false teachings and deceitfully cover up for his serious errors, not resembling at all the actions of someone of sincerity in the Religion of Islam. May Allah guide him and help him to rectify the wrongs he has committed in the name of Islam.
Please be aware of the deceptive tactics of GuideUS TV’s founder, Yusuf Estes (and Huda TV’s “Imam of America!”), as he struggles to run from the responsibility of correcting a decade’s worth of teachings from the Jahmiyyah Cult.
Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (d.310), the great early scholar and author of the famous Tafseer (Quranic Explanation) – may Allah have Mercy on him – , said:
كَلَامُ اللهِ _ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ _ غَيْرُ مَخْلُوقٍ كَيْفَ كُتِبَ، وَكَيْفَ تُلِيَ، وَفِي أَيِّ مَوْضِعٍ قُرِئَ، فِي السَّمَاءِ وُجِدَ أَوْ فِي الأَرْضِ، حَيْثُ حُفِظَ، فِي اللَّوْحِ المَحْفُوظِ كَانَ مَكْتُوبًا، أَوْ فِي أَلْوَاحِ صِبْيَانِ الكَتَاتِيبِ مَرْسُومًا، فِي حَجَرٍ نُقِشَ، أَوْ فِي وَرَقٍ خُطَّ، فِي القَلْبِ حُفِظَ، أَوْ بِاللِّسَانِ لُفِظَ، فَمَنْ قَالَ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ أَوِ ادَّعَى أَنَّ قُرْآنًا فِي الأَرْضِ أَوْ فِي السَّمَاءِ سِوَى القُرْآنِ الَّذِي نَتْلُوهُ بِأَلْسِنَتِنَا وَنَكْتُبُهُ فِي مَصَاحِفِنَا، أَوِ اعْتَقَدَ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ أَوْ أَضْمَرَهُ فِي نَفْسِهِ، أَوْ قَالَ بِلِسَانِهِ دَائِنًا بِهِ، فَهُوَ بِاللهِ كَافِرٌ، حَلَالُ الدَّمِ، وَبَرِيءٌ مِنَ اللهِ، وَاللهُ بَرِيءٌ مِنْهُ
“…The Speech of Allah, the Mighty and Honored, is not created, no matter how it is written, no matter how it is recited, no matter where it is recited, whether it is found in the heavens or on earth, wherever it is memorized, whether it is written in al-Lowh al-Mahfooth (Preserved Tablet) or drawn on the boards in children’s classrooms, whether it is engraved on a stone, written on a paper, memorized by heart, or recited verbally. Whoever says otherwise, or claims that a Quran on earth or in the heavens is not the same Quran we recite with our tongues and write in our mus-hafs, or believes otherwise, whether he hides it or speaks openly with it as his Religion, such a person is a disbeliever in Allah, subject to capital punishment. He is free from Allah, and Allah is free from him…”
Source: Sareeh as-Sunnah (p.18), published by Daar al-Khulafaa’, 1st ed., 1405, see also: Sharh Usool I’tiqaad Ahlis-Sunnah (1/206)
Please review the following informative publication and help raise awareness about his deviant teachings by reading and recommending it:
Yusuf Estes And the Quran 