In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful…

Controversial American preacher Yusuf Estes, considered “astray, leading others astray” by the scholars of Islam, gives the Muslims even more reason to be warned of him and his teachings. He adds yet another horrific utterance to the long list of statements reviving the beliefs of the ancient Jahmiyyah cults, as documented on this website:

• The Quran is not a book that you hold in your hand.
• The Quran is only the recitation when you recite it.
• The Quran in written form is not preserved by Allah. [YouTube]
• What is written in the mus-haf is NOT the Quran, it only represents the real Quran.
• The Quran is “gone” when you stop reciting it.

Now, we have discovered that Yusuf Estes has been teaching that the Quran is not even on this planet! In a lecture delivered in Cairo, Egypt on May 14, 2012, he stated:

Now, Quran, I told you we’d talk about the word Quran, and I’ll be finished. Quran, we already mentioned about “qa-ra-ah”, the root, we know it means ‘recite’. It is a recitation. It is NOT a book on this planet. It is a book ‘fee lowin mah-footh’ [in a preserved tablet], Allah said in the Quran. Where is it? With Allah. This book cannot be touched, that’s the meaning of the ayah where it says, wherein it tells you that none shall touch it but the purified. You know what that means?  Some people said it means you have to have wudhu [ablution]. [pauses, seems to laugh slightly…]

If this is the case, you’ve got to understand it in Arabic, it said, ‘Nobody is gonna touch it.’ The meaning is: It will not be touched by any except the purified. And I have watched non-Muslims pick up the mus-haf in many places. Did you ever see a non-Muslim pick up a mus-haf? Huh? So, that would disprove the ayah if you said it means that. A’oothu billah! Think about it. The meaning, go deeper. Read the verses right before it, its talking about the malaa’ikah [angels]. None can touch it except those who are purified, not those who purify themselves, it doesn’t say that. The word ‘tahoor’ is used to refer to the malaa’ikah, not a piece of paper with writing on it. Because, and you know this, some people could make mistakes when they write it down, yes or no? But you can’t make a mistake when you recite it in front of Muslims because somebody is going to stop you and go, “WHOA!”

Source: A lecture entitled “The Greatness of Islam”. Uploaded to YouTube [here and here, at about 44 minutes] [MP3 of quote]

Important Commentary:

Al-hamdulillah, much clarity has been spread in the English language recently regarding the basic Muslim beliefs about the Quran. This statement of Yusuf Estes, that the Quran is “not a book on this planet” is yet another horrible mistake from this misguided preacher. The Muslims of Ahlus-Sunnah have always agreed that the Quran, the Book of Allah, is found recited on human tongues, memorized in human hearts, and written by human hands in our mus-hafs. The early scholars of Islam considered violations of this belief to be outside of Islam.

Imam Ibn Jareer at-Tabari (d.310), the great scholar of the Quran and its explanation, stated:

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…” (Sareeh as-Sunnah, p.18)

That is because the Messenger of Allah (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) referred to the written mus-haf as the Quran, and all of the Companions continued to refer to the written mus-haf as the Quran itself, without any differing about that among them. Narrations that show this basic belief in Islam with its evidences have been documented and made available for study in the following concise e-book:

The Written Mus-haf is Actually the Quran [PDF]

Furthermore, detailed clarifications about the misguided teachings of Yusuf Estes have been compiled in another more explanatory e-book:

Yusuf Estes and the Quran [PDF]

May Allah protect the Muslims from straying away from the beliefs that will give them safety and stability in this life and the Next.

Written by: Moosaa Richardson