In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Ever-Merciful…
In a recent private sitting in late 2013, controversial American preacher Yusuf Estes defends himself and his beliefs about the Quran, exposing more of his most recent ideas about Allah’s Book. His host, Dr. Jumaa Sallam, prompts him, asking him to be clear about his beliefs on the Quran. He responds by saying:
Yusuf Estes: See, its a book. Allah said its a book. The Quran is a book with Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Its “fee lowhin mahfooth” [in a preserved tablet]. That’s the complete and total Book of Allah. From it comes this what we call recitation. Allah recited it. To who? Jibreel. And Jibreel recited it to who? To Muhammad, sallay salaam. And when he came to him, he didn’t say to him: “Read.” He said, “Iqra.” And you say, “What’s the difference?” Well, one is English. Was there any English at the time of the Prophet, sall-salam? Nope, not until the year 1066 when the Normans invaded the Saxons in what we call “Angland” today. And from there came “Anglish”, English.
So forget about it. Why are you using a word that didn’t exist? So what happened? Over a hundred years ago, and I have proof from the literature, Alice in Wonderland is the famous Disney version of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll…
[Yusuf Estes then strays from topic to topic, from Alice in Wonderland, the history of the English language and its evolution, etc. His host -AGAIN- asks for a clarification on the topic of the Quran.]
Dr. Jumaa: Al-Quran al-Kareem (the Noble Quran) comes from al-Lowh al-Mahfouth (the Preserved Tablet). In Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree)…
Yusuf Estes [interrupts]: “Oh, no, wait, let’s look at the translation as the problem, in today’s word. What happens after Surah Fatihah? Na’oothu billahi minash-Shaytaanir-Rajeem, we always seek refuge with Allah before we recite Quran. [reads the opening of Surah al-Baqarah…]
“Thalik al-kitabu la rayb” Stop. What does that mean in English? [They reply, “No doubt.”] No, no. “Thalik al-kitabu la rayb” [One of the people says, “THAT is a book, no doubt.”] You’re the first person that ever got it right. [“What?” the person asks.] Hold on, don’t say anything else, be quiet. What is “thalik al-kitabu la rayb” – what does it mean? [“This is the book…”] Now, see, that’s the mistake. Did you hear what he said? [“This is the book…”] Uh-huh, and what did you say? [“That is the book…”] What’s the difference? “This” is something close by, “hatha“. “That” is something far away. Yes or no?
[Raises his voice:] “THALIK AL-KITABU LA RAYB!” If I’m holding it in my hand, why am I saying, “Thalik al-kitab”? I would say, “HATHA”! Yes or no? You know Arabic, or no? I mean, if you don’t know, say I don’t know!
But I’m talking about the one who came to Islam, doesn’t really know, and wants to find something wrong with anybody who’s trying to do some good for Islam. Who knows why they would do that?
But when you say, “thalik,” you said: THAT! [points to far away] Why “that”, why not say “this”? Because Allah is saying it to the Angel Jibreel. And the angel Jibreel is saying it to the Prophet salla-salam. So why not say “this” – what’s coming out of my mouth, this, this, this, “HATHA“, is from Me. “Hatha” is from Me. Huh? Suppose I give you something, “hatha” is from me, right? This is from me, right? Why “thalik“? Because the Book with Allah can have no doubt in it. And Quran that we know is coming from that. That’s the point.
The thing, the issue, that they tried to make out of it is saying that we’re saying that the book is not the Quran, and that’s not what we said. The book you hold in your hand is “mushaf“. Right? From “suhoof“, which means scripture. Actually it means: parchments, rolled scriptures, right? So, if I’m saying that this is Quran, I mean that what I have in my hand has the Arabic letters written in it, so you know how to recite the Quran. Does that make sense, or no?
Dr. Jumaa: For me, it makes sense, but what we study and are teaching others, and Imam as-Suyuti in his book, Al-Itqan fee Uloom al-Quran, he said, according to the ayah, the word naz-zala and an-zala in the Quran…
Yusuf Estes: “Allah sent down…”
Dr. Jumaa: Exactly, in the Laylat al-Qadr We sent the whole Quran, from al-Lowh al-Mahfooth to Bayt al-‘Izzah, to the House of Dignity, in our samaa’, our heaven. We don’t have any doubt about that. OK, then, in 23 years, nazala (sent down)… different time, different year, day, night…
Yusuf Estes interrupts: Absolutely, there is no problem…
Dr. Jumaa: No doubt about that, right shaykh?
Yusuf Estes: There is no problem…
Dr. Jumaa: Khalas, we solved the problem then.
Yusuf Estes: Not only there’s no doubt about it, but all we’re doing is making a distinction, not about how did it come, or how it was distributed, because its still Quran, [pauses] when its recited. [dead silence] But if you said, “Well, these were pieces of paper that came down out of the heavens,” prove it. Pieces of paper didn’t come down, did it?
Dr. Jumaa: No.
Yusuf Estes: Thank you. Its not anything written until we pick up the pen and we write it. So the pen, what was the first thing Allah created, do you know?
[Discussion changes focus slightly and then returns to the topic…]
Yusuf Estes: So the point behind this is that the pen is going to write everything. Where did it write?
Dr. Jumaa: Al-Lowh al-Mahfooth, the book of decree.
Yusuf Estes: Exactly, and that book has no doubt in it.
Dr. Jumaa: 100%.
Yusuf Estes: And from it is coming Quran. That book, from it, is coming the recitation.
Dr. Jumaa: That’s it, yes. No doubt about this.
Yusuf Estes: OK! And I never said anything different than this.
Dr. Jumaa: I’m talking about, you know…
Yusuf Estes: Yeah, and then when it was recited to Muhammad sai-salam, the first thing that came was this word, “Iqra“, recite. Read, if you want to go back 100 years ago, its still right. But if he said, “Read,” and he said, “I don’t know how to read,” that’s not what he said. He said, “Ma ana bi qari,” I am not a reciter. That’s what he said. You could say he’s not a reader. But you wouldn’t be meaning about paper and ink, you would be meaning he’s not a reader, like 100 years ago, was a reader. But today, how many Muslims are taking the English as though it was the Quran?
So when I’m holding a book in my hand, which has Arabic and English in it, and I’m saying, “This is not THE Quran,” do you know what I meant? What did I mean? [“Its got explanation and other words…”] Yes.
Plus, when we say, we’re trying to communicate to non-Muslims, this is for non-Muslims. Then think. Think about it. If you said that it has no doubt in it, and we know nobody can mess with it, nobody can mess with it, but I’ve been working in the prisons for years. And every time I go to the prison, they want to look at all the stuff that I have in my pockets. And they will pick up the Quran…
[Part 2 ends here and part 3 begins…]
…Like this [shaking something with his hands]. And the lady will pick it up, she works there as her job, and maybe you know its her time of the month. I’m not happy with her picking it up and doing this, but I can’t say anything, otherwise they will make a huge problem. Right?
So I asked scholars about the question. I didn’t make this up by the way. They said: “OK, number one, its English.” I said: Yeah, but its Quran. They said: “In that way, yes. But its not something you want to make an issue out of.” We don’t want to, we take care of it, even in English, we even take care of the Bible, HELLO! The Bible, we don’t dishonor the Bible, do we? Never! I would never accept that somebody would step on the Bible, kick the Bible, drive over it with their car, shoot it with a gun.
And those same people, those so-called Christians, who do these things to Quran, they don’t realize that we have more honor for their book than they do for their own book. Because they’ll lay it on the floor. We don’t want to lay our book on the floor…
[Discussion shifts to various shows of cultural respect.]
…So, its sad when somebody wants to make a story out of something that they’re just totally misinterpreting. We know the Quran is recitation, comes to Muhammad, “Iqra…” [begins reciting Surah Alaq]
Dr. Jumaa: Kalam Allah, the Word of Allah, the Speech of Allah.
Yusuf Estes: Its clear – what Allah is talking about. He wants you to recite something. And so the Prophet salla-salam said, “I’m not a reciter.” Then, we is asked again, and by the way, they criticized this too. When the angel Jibreel alayhis-salam, is hugging Prophet Muhammad, salla-salam, so much he can’t breathe, then he released him. Then, he grabbed him again. He can’t breathe, he released him. He hugged him again, he can’t breathe, he released him. Now, if that’s all you know of the story, maybe you can accept the way that one of these attacks come to us. They said, “Oh, why? Look at this! This angel is trying to hurt him. Trying to kill him, scaring him.” And they’re trying to draw pictures of Jibreel, looks like Shaytan! Arrhhh! Yaahhhrr! Like this, what are you doing?
I asked scholars about this. You don’t know, so ask. How many times I say that every day? you don’t know, you ask. Well, ask them. They said its from enthusiasm. Jibreel alayhis-salam was so excited to see Prophet salla-salam, to finally get to hug him, because he knows about him since Adam talked about him. So he’s excited. And Allah let him embrace him.
And Prophet sallay-salam didn’t say, “Oh, I was scared of him.” He said later he was afraid, but what was he afraid of? He was afraid he was going crazy. How, how could Allah choose me to be His Prophet? And his wife reassures him: “No, its because you are honest, trustworthy, everybody believes in you, and don’t be afraid of being a prophet.” He’s not going to be afraid to go back in the cave! Come on man, they tried to make it like a horror story! They watch too much TV! Yea? You know, Night of the Living Dead! Ahhhh! [laughter]
No, I’m not trying to be funny, I’m just saying: This is sad, because the things that we’re saying, and, uh, but, you know what the good news is? Let them continue because they’re giving me a lot of free advertising. Because every time somebody not Muslim goes to YouTube to look it up, they see the real story that we said, and they go, “Hmm, that does make sense.” So, al-hamdulillah...
Source: “Shiekh Yusuf Estes Explanation About Source of Quran” (Part 2 and 3), as uploaded to YouTube by his host, Dr. Sayed Jumaa Sallam. [ YouTube: Part 2, Part 3 | SafeShare: Part 2, Part 3 ]
Important Commentary:
1. Yusuf Estes confirms his beliefs once again, that the Quran is with Allah, in Lowh Mahfooth (the Preserved Tablet). As is understood from his many speeches on the topic, he believes the Quran is exclusively there, and not here on earth at all. He refers to the mushaf as Quran, but he explains that to mean merely: “a representation of the Quran, not the real Quran.” This is the belief of some of the early sects of the Jahmiyyah Cult. The scholars of Islam hold this belief to be outside of Islam, as proven clearly in the book: The Written Mushaf is Actually the Quran (PDF).
2. Yusuf Estes clings to his linguistic claim that “thalik” (that) refers to something far away, and thus the Quran must be far away from us, not something close which we can touch. It has reached Yusuf Estes over a year and a half ago that Allah has described the Quran as both “thalik” (that) and “hatha” (this). Refer to the following Quranic passages which refer to the Quran clearly as “hathal-Quran” (this Quran): 6:19, 25:30, 43:31. This obviously flawed trick on words has already been refuted in some of our previous clarifications.
3. Yusuf Estes has not repented, and he still holds to the same Jahmi falsehood. From the first two points, as well as the trademark Jahmite argument about “ink and paper”, as well as his statement, “Its still Quran, when its recited,” all prove that he has not given up the same Jahmite teachings that have been warned against extensively for over a year and a half now.
4. Yusuf Estes continues to demonize his critics as people who do not know about Islam, and all they want to do is harm the people who are doing good things for Islam, etc. This is a very bad habit which only leads him into more evil. Instead of correcting his clear mistakes, with dignity and self-respect, he seeks to distract those concerned about him by unjustly slandering his critics. This habit has been observed in a previous Jahmi-leak video as well. View it here: [ YouTube | SafeShare ]
5. Yusuf Estes is very uptight and frustrated about the criticism against his false beliefs. He does not like to be questioned about them. This can be seen in how he interrupts his host and scrambles to change the subject so many times. However, it is much better for Yusuf Estes to undergo some discomfort now in this life, in hopes that he might clean up his polluted beliefs, before meeting Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, with the filth of the Jahmiyyah in his record, and in the records of those who blindly followed him.
As long as Yusuf Estes persists in spreading these false beliefs of the Jahmiyyah, he and his followers will always find someone whom Allah brings forward to counter them and refute them -in sha’ Allah-, since the Religion of Allah has not been left as a playground for ignorant entertainers to play about with it however they wish. And Allah knows best.
Written by: Moosaa Richardson
Please read and recommend the following important e-book:
Yusuf Estes And the Quran 