ANNEX I

INTRODUCTION:

1- The foul-mouthed Ibn-Hanbal-doctrine Sunnites used to accuse us, the founder of Quranism, of being a Shiite; Shiites themselves used to feel happy with our severe criticism of the Sunnite creed, proving that it has nothing to do with Islam, and they feel very content with our critique and analysis of the historical figures: Abou Bakr, Omar, and Othman. Yet, the Shiites who have read our writings have received a shock when our criticism reached their supreme deity, Ali Ibn Abou Talib, with the same neutrality, objectivity, and lack of glorification and sanctification to mortals. Hence, we have received via email Shiites' hate-mails and verbal abuse. This is a proof that refutes the accusation of the Sunnite Salafist fools against us that we are a Shiite. If the Sunnite Salafist fools have read our very first book published in print in 1982, titled ''Al-Sayed Al-Badawi between Truth and Mythology'', they would have made sure that we are as vehemently against the Shiite creed as against the Sufi and Sunnites ones. Al-Sayed Al-Badawi was a Middle-Ages Shiite spy in Egypt who has been deified after his death by Sufis, and his mausoleum is still visited, in a form of pilgrimage, in the city of Tanta, Egypt. Hence, our Quranist trend is clear in its stance against Shiite and Sufi creeds as well as earthly, man-made, fabricated faiths that has nothing to do with Islam. Our methodology is clear enough now in tackling objectively with historical figures and characters, regardless of how they are honored, revered, and worshipped by some people; as Islam is the Quran alone, not to be mixed with history, traditions, creeds, faiths, heritage, and civilizations of Arabs (who deem themselves as 'Muslims'). Such items are NEVER parts of Islam as a faith; rather, they are linked, with its dark and bright sides, to its fabricators, authors, and adherents. Likewise, all actions and deeds of 'Muslims' and Arabs in all centuries reflect and represent such persons, and NOT Islam per se. It is not our concern to judge the faith and belief of such historical figures; this is God's business, not ours. We do care to show and discuss their actions, especially deifying mortals, against the clear Quranic teachings of never associating other deities alongside with God. 

2- As for Shiites in particular, we have a long history of defending their human rights as oppressed people in Egypt and the Gulf monarchies; yet, they have verbally abused us once we have criticized their supreme God, Ali Ibn Abou Talib, as they assumed as if we were Shiite like them. For them, one has to worship and revere Ali as an heir to Muhammad and verbally abuse the rest of the caliphs, like Omar, Othman, and Abou Bakr. The Shiites forget the fact that the Quranic term ''People of the House'' does NOT refer to Ali and his descendants, but to the wives of Muhammad, and later on to any wives in households in generals. Hence, the Shiites worship Ali as a deity and supreme god in the way Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are being worshipped by Buddhists, Christians, and Sunnites. Moreover, such adherents of earthly creeds can never fell content unless one follows their creeds; this is asserted by God to Muhammad in the Quran: "The Jews and the Christians will not approve of you, unless you follow their creed…" (2:120).

3- We, Quranists, criticize and refute all faith notions of the Sufi, Sunnite, and Shiite creeds as they contradict real Islam, i.e., the Quran alone, and after the Quranic refutation of their notions, we respect the personal freedom of all human beings to choose their creeds and faiths, or even lack of them (i.e., atheism), as long as there is no compulsion in religion. We, Quranists, never impose our persons or our opinions on anyone and seek no reward at all from any one; we advocate and propagate online what we deem as the Truth, seeking religious reform and to clear the name of Islam from tarnished image and bad deeds of some persons who claim to be 'Muslims'. We, Quranists, are NOT infallible or never-erring thinkers; we consider ourselves as seekers of Truth, and we value objective constructive criticism of us, for our benefit, and feel thankful for it when it is offered.

4- Despite all of the above, most of the criticism directed to us is nonsensical, rarely objective, and consists mostly of verbal abuse and insults, as if such verbal abuse would relieve our foes whose false creeds have been shaken to the core and put to question using the Quran and logical thinking. Of course, we do not care to respond to such painful cries of people whose ailment has driven them to verbally abuse us within cyberspace instead of discuss our Quranist views. Of course, very few of them pose questions to us, and we have responded to them several times as their queries are repeated. We publish the queries and answers here about deification and sanctification of mortals, i.e., countless historical figures, for further elucidation and clarification.

Firstly: Hadiths of virtues of some companions are not taken into account by Quranists:

1- Of course, Quranists refuse to accept any of the so-called hadiths (sayings, deeds, and traditions ascribed to Muhammad decades after his death) as part of Islam. Yet, some of our critics try to refute our view of the Quranic forbidding of deifying, worshipping, venerating, and revering any mortals, as done with the so-called companions of Muhammad, by quoting hadiths that enumerate virtues of the four rulers/caliphs Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali. As far as Islam is concerned, it consists ONLY and exclusively of the Quran; we, Quranists, will never acknowledge the existence of any other sources/books that are written by mortals and forced on later generations as 'Islamic' thought. The only discourse we believe in as Islam is the Quran: "…Which discourse, besides this, will they believe in?" (7:185). "In what discourse, beyond this, will they believe?" (77:50). "…In which discourse, after God and His revelations, will they believe?" (45:6). Moreover, the so-called hadiths of virtues of the co-called companions are teething with predictions of the future in this world and in the Hereafter, whereas the Quran asserts repeatedly the fact that Muhammad never knew the future: "Say, "I am not different from the other messengers; and I do not know what will be done with me, or with you…" (46:9). "Say, "I do not say to you that I possess the treasuries of God, nor do I know the future…" (6:50). "Say, "I have no control over any benefit or harm to myself, except as God wills. Had I known the future, I would have acquired much good, and no harm would have touched me…" (7:188). Hence, in our historical research and analysis, we pay no heed to hadiths of any type, and those of virtues of some companions of Muhammad are no except to this Quranist rule. In fact, we do believe that fabricators and authors of such hadiths made them up within their intellectual wars against Shiites, who in turn made up their own hadiths, and this phenomenon of fabricating hadiths and attributing them to Muhammad decades after his death began earlier within Arab civil wars in Arabia shortly before the emergence of the Umayyad Dynasty/caliphate. Needless to say, all such Sunnite and Shiite hadiths contradict one another. In sum, fabrication of hadiths was a tool used in the intellectual wars and rivalry between Sunnites and Shiites. Let us discuss and analyze a prominent historical example. The inveterate liar, Abou Hurayrah, was the most famous narrator, or rather author and fabricator, of hadiths in Arabia. He used to fabricate hadiths to honor the Umayyads and the founder of their Dynasty, Mu'aweiya, and in response, Shiite narrators fabricated their own hadiths that urge the deification and sanctification of Ali and his progeny. This custom of fabricating hadiths to support any religious and political views went on by countless persons during the Abbasid and Mameluke caliphates. Shiites went on, on their part, to add up hadiths of their own as well to support their views and stances. Objective researchers in the field of history cannot possibly ignore such facts; fanaticism is the dominant tone in all such fabricated hadiths and stories. According to historical researchers, the nearest books written about the very first four rulers/caliphs (the ones before the Umayyad caliphate: consecutively: Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali) emerged in the First Abbasid Era, authored by famous historians like Al-Waqidi, Ibn Saad, and Al-Tabary. Other historians who came after them copied their works. Their volumes, however, contain obvious lies and falsehoods, about Ali and other figures, fabricated especially by making up hadiths attributed to Muhammad, as done by the historian and theologian Ibn Al-Jawzy in his book titled ''Al-Muntazim'' and by another inveterate liar of a historian Al-Sharif Al-Radi in his book titled "Nahj Al-Balagha".        

2- The book titled "Nahj Al-Balagha" was authored by the Baghdad-based Abbasid historian-cum-poet Al-Sharif Al-Radi (359-406 A.H.), who was an Alawite Shiite, (Alawite means worshipper and/or claim to be descendant of Ali's progeny), claiming to be a descendant of the Shiite Imam Kazim. In his book, he collected the sayings, deeds, and sermons attributed to Ali Ibn Abou Talib decades after his death. Shiites at the time used to ascribe any pearls of wisdom and aphorisms to their deity Ali to urge others to revere and honor him. Of course, as was typical of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Mameluke eras, such books contain indirect criticism to caliphs, rulers, governors, and princes at the time. In his book, Al-Sharif Al-Radi addressed his indirect criticism, ascribed to Ali of course as if he had said it (!), to the Shiite Buyyid Dynasty, who used to rule parts of Persia, but their being Shiites had never prevented them from persecuting some other Alawite Shiites who claim being descendants of Ali's progeny. Al-Sharif Al-Radi assumed that he could give them pieces of advice using Ali as the interlocutor/preacher of such advice, seeking reform. The age of Al-Sharif Al-Radi was filled with injustices and instances of oppression; hence, his writings came as a form of protest against the Buyyid Dynasty that controlled Baghdad and the Abbasid caliphate at the time, especially that the father of the poet Al-Sharif Al-Radi, whom Abou-Al-Nasr Bahaa Eddine called him the Only Pure One, was honored and respected by both the Abbasids and the Buyyids, and was the head of the one of Alawite sects, i.e. the Talibites (those who claim being descendants or followers of Ali Ibn Abou Talib), for five times; yet, he was persecuted by the Buyyids in his old age after he lost his eyesight, and was imprisoned in a fortress in Persia for a long time, until his release by another Abbasid caliph, who accompanied him to Baghdad. Thus, the poet's father was a victim of injustice and oppression. The Shiites consider the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi as if it were holy as the Quran (!), and many of them had written margins, footnotes, and interpretations added to it or in separate books, chief among such books is by Abou Al-Hadeed Al-Mu'tazali, who died at the beginning of the Mameluke Era in 656 A.H. As far as historical research is concerned, the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi is NEVER an authoritative book about history of Ali; rather, it reflects the cult of Shiites, and their cultural traditions and heritage in deifying Ali, as well as their age within the Buyyids Dynasty that controlled the Abbasids at the time. Hence, the poet's book reflects the Abbasid culture, language, and heritage of the time; it has nothing to do with Ali or any of the caliphs before him at all, with their Bedouin, simple, plain, and rudimentary stage of culture that of course lacked sophistication, complexity, and depth. Moreover, the caliphate of Ali was filled with belligerent events, leaving no room for preaching and endless speeches typical of times of peace to attentive disciples. Al-Sharif Al-Radi served his Shiite creed shamelessly during the Buyyid Dynasty rule in Persia and their control of Baghdad by asserting the Shiite hadiths ascribed to Muhammad, especially the ones vilifying Omar and Abou Bakr, leading Sunnite Ibn-Hanbal-doctrine theologians to try and refute the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi in their writings, by asserting the fact that 350 years difference in time between the assassination of Ali and the writing of the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi and that the author did not follow the ways of wiring and authenticating applied by the Sunnite writers, scholars, and theologians. This was ironic; Sunnite scholars themselves had fabricated countless hadiths ascribed to Muhammad centuries after his death, accumulated until at least the 10^th century A.H. Within the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi, he ascribed words and utterances to Ali directly with no series of oral narrators typical of Sunnite books. Hence, the Sunnite scholars refuted the book of Al-Sharif Al-Radi by refuting their own method of ascribing utterances to mortals who died centuries ago!

Secondly: The issue of one's rights and one's meritocracy between politics and religion:

1- The Shiites base their thought and creed notions on a falsehood: Ali deserved to be the first caliph who must pass on caliphate solely to his progeny, and Abou Bakr stole caliphate from him. Another falsehood on which the Shiite creed is based is the meritocracy of Al-Hussein, son of Ali, to be made the caliph instead of Yazeed Ibn Abou Sufyan, the Umayyad caliph. These two falsehoods are mere lies in terms of creed and politics; Islam has nothing to do with caliphate as a political system, as the Quran contains no political rules or way of ruling. As for politics, meritocracy and right are intertwined; no one had the right to rule by virtue of birth alone. Meritocracy and entitlement entails being strong enough and well-equipped with the proper means, power, acumen, intelligence, and political shrewdness. Briefly, one has to acquire the right to rule and lead a given nation by virtue of heroic deeds, patience, forming a state by gathering people around a leader, and defending this burgeoning state militarily. This is regardless of one's meritocracy, or the fact that one is entitled or deserves or not to be ruler. This is ABC of political life. For instance, Prophet Muhammad earned the right to form the city-state of Yathreb: he immigrated, defended the city, gathered and unified people around him, stood many tests, trials and tribulation, and managed to govern the inhabitants of Yathreb. Hence, this city-state of Yathreb was not a gift of God and His angels to Muhammad. Another modern example is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; although the Palestinians have the right to form a state of their own, they never struggle enough to attain this goal; rather, they wait for others to help them despite the fact that they never managed to convince others of their right. Zionists were more practical in their address to the international community, and they managed to earn the meritocracy and to plan and execute their will to establish the Hebrew state in Palestine.          

2- Within Islam, the Divine Truth and Right is the Quran itself: "With the truth We sent it down, and with the truth it descended…" (17:105). But what is deemed as right in the Quran needs to be preached and propagated in the correct, proper ways to deserve to be adhered to and to make it confront its deniers and haters; that is why God has ordered Muhammad to perform jihad by preaching the Quranic message: "So do not obey the disbelievers, but strive against them with it, a mighty struggle." (25:52). On the individual level, the Quranic right and truth is offered as a source of guidance, and human beings have to choose between guidance and misguidance, obedience and disobedience, and good deeds and sinning, bearing the consequences of either of the stances in the Afterlife: in Paradise or Hell. 

3- According to the above, we should evaluate the so-called companions in terms of faith and politics; there were some of them who are described in the Quran as good persons who deserve Paradise in accordance with their deeds and faith, which God knows and we do not, and some are described as bad ones deserving Hell in accordance to their deeds and lack of faith: "The Pioneers-The first of the Migrants and the Supporters, and those who followed them in righteousness. God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. That is the sublime triumph." (9:100). "Of the believers are men who are true to what they pledged to God. Some of them have fulfilled their vows; and some are still waiting, and never wavering. That God may reward the truthful for their truthfulness…" (33:23-24). "…This is the Garden of Paradise you are made to inherit, on account of what you used to do." (7:43). "Among the Desert-Arabs around you there are some hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of Medina too. They have become adamant in hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We will punish them twice; then they will be returned to a severe torment." (9:101). Hence, one's deserving to be among Hell or Paradise dwellers is based on one's deeds in this life; this applies to all human beings, and the so-called companions are no exception to this rule.  

4- We must never forget that the companions who participated in the Arab conquests, which were against Islamic teachings in the Quran and dragged the name of Islam into their conquests, are infidels who denied Islam: the Quran. They betrayed Muhammad after his death and chose glories of transient life instead of Eternal Paradise. That is why history mentions their names; as typical in historical accounts to mentions tyrants and to glorify their processions and deeds. Hence, tyrant caliphs are mentioned in history books, with their bloody deeds, massacres, and sins, deserving Hell with such atrocities as they invoked God's wrath. The Quran contains this verse about the punishment of killing the innocent: "Whoever kills a believer deliberately, the penalty for him is Hell, where he will remain forever. And God will be angry with him, and will curse him, and will prepare for him a terrible punishment. O you who believe! When you journey in the way of God, investigate, and do not say to him who offers you peace, "You are not a believer," aspiring for the goods of this world…" (4:93-94), the term ''believer'' here means an innocent peaceful person, not a Muslim; let alone killing millions of innocent people by Arab conquests companions/soldiers! In fact, the Arab conquests companions fought one another for transient possessions of the world, thus denying the Afterlife by their bad deeds and betrayed Islam. Hence, meritocracy to rule was NEVER attained by being faithful, devout, religious, etc. or by any text(s), promise, or right; rather, it is all about the struggle for loot and power. Those who succeed in such a race and reach the throne of rulers are those who managed to skillfully use all possible means, tools, money, efforts, allies, and agents. They managed to flatter, appease, coax, and bribe everyone in a pragmatic manner based on beneficiaries willing to assist a potential man who aspired to absolute power. Hence Mu'aweiya managed to use all acumen, shrewdness, plans, plots, bribery, and assassinations to attain his goal of becoming a caliph, while Ali failed as a statesman, pretending to seek the Afterlife while he fought for the throne and transient wealth. Ali was weak enough in dealing with his supporters to the extent that some of them deserted him, causing his defeat and assassination later on. Hence, there is no theocracy in Islam; the city-state of Yathreb was a state of direct democracy among its dwellers with no despotism or tyranny, as we have discussed in another book published here online on our website. Tyranny typical of Moses' Pharaoh is prohibited in the Quran; there is no such a thing in Islam as a ''deified imam'', the Shiite famous notion about Ali, who is divinely inspired and people must obey him blindly. Such falsehoods are indeed shameless rejection of Islam by the Shiites past and present; in sum, no one 'deserves' to be ruler by virtue of who they were by birth or connections: Ali did not deserve being a caliph; he was a failure politically speaking. Ali's being the husband of Muhammad's daughter has nothing to do with meritocracy; there is no holy family or holy offspring in Islam.  Hence, the Shiites failed in both politics and religion. A reminder: history is NOT religion, and religion is NOT history; we judge such historical figures as per historical accounts written about them. This has nothing to do with Islam at all.             

Thirdly: Were there good, righteous companions?

1- The Quran asserts that there were good, righteous, and pious ones; we cannot possibly deny this Quranic fact mentioned in several verses, but no historical accounts mention their names. The reason: the good ones, of course, had never participated in the sins and atrocities of Arab conquests. Typically, history never mentions but tyrants, war criminals, blood-shedders, and conquerors. Yet, on rare occasions, historical accounts of Arabia do mention good companions. Let us give an example of them below. 

2- Mus'aab Ibn Omeir: he was among the early ones to convert to Islam. Before his conversion, he used to be an affluent pampered lad doted upon by loving wealthy parents. Once he converted to Islam, his parents deserted him, and he was tortured and imprisoned to coerce him into forsaking Islam, but he never did that. He became penniless, and later on immigrated to Abyssinia, to return to Mecca later on, to immigrate to Yathreb city-state. History tells us that earlier, he was sent by Muhammad to convince Yathreb dwellers to convert Islam by preaching its teachings to them. So many men converted to Islam because of his endeavors. He was killed during the Battle of Uhud, while trying to defend Muhammad against a man who wanted to kill him in the battlefield. He held the banner of Muhammad and defended him by the sword until he was killed, and Qorayish thought that Muhammad was the one who got killed, but in fact, it was Mus'aab Ibn Omeir. He was so poor that they could not find a cloth to shroud him before burial, and people wept over him, and made him an example for those who deserted the glories of this transient world for the sake of God's cause. May God have mercy upon his soul. 

ANNEX II

 Some of the protests sent to us are summarized as follows: (…Why are you, Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, raking the mud of the historical accounts of the Prophet's companions? God says in the Quran: "That was a community that has passed; for them is what they have earned, and for you is what you have earned; and you will not be questioned about what they used to do." (2:134), and this means that we are not to discuss such history, unrelated to us…). We seize this opportunity to discuss the Quranic expression "that as a community…" as it is repeated throughout the Quranic text, with various different contexts, unrelated at all to the topic of the so-called companions. In fact, the demonstrative pronoun ''that'' refers to what is directly mentioned before it, not to something distant or far away from its context in a given text.

Firstly:

1- As for the verse: "That was a community that has passed; for them is what they have earned, and for you is what you have earned; and you will not be questioned about what they used to do." (2:134), it refers to a certain context about Abraham and prophets from his descendants, as we discern from the previous verses: "And Abraham exhorted his sons, and Jacob, "O my sons, God has chosen this religion for you, so do not die unless you have submitted. Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, and he said to his sons, "What will you worship after Me?" They said, "We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac; One God; and to Him we submit." "That was a community that has passed; for them is what they have earned, and for you is what you have earned; and you will not be questioned about what they used to do." (2:132-134).

2- In another context within the same Quranic Chapter 2, the Quran tells us to believe in all prophets, messengers, and divine books revealed by God and NOT to prefer messengers over one another, and this is a refutation of the claims of Jews and Christians to be the only guided ones as spiritual progeny of Abraham: "Say, "We believe in God; and in what was revealed to us; and in what was revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus; and in what was given to the prophets-from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we surrender."" (2:136). "Or do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs were Jews or Christians? Say, "Do you know better, or God?" And who does greater wrong than he who conceals a testimony he has from God? God is not unaware of what you do. That was a community that has passed. To them is what they have earned, and to you is what you have earned. And you will not be questioned about what they used to do." (2:140-141). Again, the context here of ''that'' refers to Abraham and his progeny. In fact, it is sad that Arabs who claim to be Muslims fell into the same trap into which Jews and Christians had fallen by preferring messengers and prophets over one another: that was the beginning of deification of mortals and disbelief in God's messages.  

3- ignoramuses among the Sunnite scholars quote a certain Quranic verse decontextualized to show they are right in their illogical and faulty sanctifying of Muhammad more than the rest of messengers of God: "These messengers: We gave some advantage over others…" (2:253). If we examine the context of this verse carefully, we will discern that the demonstrative pronoun ''these'' refers to other messengers mentioned in the previous verses, and their names do NOT include Muhammad. Even the rest of the verse 2:253 asserts this view. Let us quote the whole context here, mentioning messengers who were sent after Moses to the Israelites: "Have you not considered the notables of the Children of Israel after Moses? When they said to a prophet of theirs: "Appoint a king for us, and we will fight in the cause of God." He said, "Is it possible that, if fighting was ordained for you, you would not fight?" They said, "Why would we not fight in the cause of God, when we were driven out of our homes, along with our children?" But when fighting was ordained for them, they turned away, except for a few of them. But God is aware of the wrongdoers. Their prophet said to them, "God has appointed Saul to be your king." They said, "How can he have authority over us, when we are more worthy of authority than he, and he was not given plenty of wealth?" He said, "God has chosen him over you, and has increased him in knowledge and stature." God bestows His sovereignty upon whomever He wills. God is Embracing and Knowing. And their prophet said to them, "The proof of his kingship is that the Ark will be restored to you, bringing tranquility from your Lord, and relics left by the family of Moses and the family of Aaron. It will be carried by the angels. In that is a sign for you, if you are believers."" (2:246-248). ''And they defeated them by God's leave, and David killed Goliath, and God gave him sovereignty and wisdom, and taught him as He willed. Were it not for God restraining the people, some by means of others, the earth would have gone to ruin. But God is gracious towards humankind. These are God's revelations, which We recite to you in truth. You are one of the messengers.These messengers: We gave some advantage over others. To some of them God spoke directly, and some He raised in rank. We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear miracles, and We strengthened him with the Holy Spirit…'' (2:251-253).

Secondly: Demonstrative pronouns referring to meanings embedded within contexts:

 Sometimes, demonstrative pronouns in the Quranic text refers to something embedded or inferred within a certain context, but not mentioned explicitly; the following examples will explain this notion further. Moses used to carry a staff in his hands and God said to him: "And what is that in your right-hand, O Moses?" He said, "This is my staff. I lean on it, and herd my sheep with it, and I have other uses for it."" (20:17-18). Hence, the pronoun ''that'' in 20:17 is used in the style of the cataphora in order to refer to the staff that is not mentioned until the next verse 20:18. Another example is the reference of destruction of evil people of Thamood until their houses turned into ruins: "They planned a plan, and We planned a plan, but they did not notice. So note the outcome of their planning; We destroyed them and their people, altogether." (27:50-51). The demonstrative pronoun 'there' referring to their ruins shows that we are to draw lessons from the event: ''There are their homes, in ruins, on account of their iniquities. Surely in this is a sign for people who know.'' (27:52). Within the context of the story of Quaroon, we see a description of the Paradise dwellers: those who do not aim at superiority on earth nor seek to cause corruption. "And he went out before his people in his splendor. Those who desired the worldly life said, "If only we possessed the likes of what Quaroon was given. He is indeed very fortunate." But those who were given knowledge said, "Woe to you! The reward of God is better for those who believe and do righteous deeds." Yet none attains it except the steadfast. So We caused the earth to cave in on him and his mansion. He had no company to save him from God, and he could not defend himself." (28:79-81). And then in 28:83, we see that the demonstrative pronoun ''that'' confines Paradise to a certain category of people, to distinguish those who deserve it from those who deserve Hell: "That Home of the Hereafter-We assign it for those who seek no superiority on earth, nor corruption. And the outcome is for the pious." (28:83).

Thirdly: In most Quranic contexts, demonstrative pronouns refer to something mentioned before in previous verse(s):

1- In these verses and their context, "They say, "Are we to be restored to the original condition? When we have become hollow bones?" They say, "This is a losing proposition"" (79:10-12), we discern that the pronoun ''this'' refers within the discourse of disbelievers to the resurrection.

2- The demonstrative pronoun ''these'' refers here to the hopes of Jews and Christians that will be unfulfilled: "And they say, "None will enter Heaven unless he is a Jew or a Christian." These are their wishes…" (2:111).

3- "…fasting for three days during the Hajj and seven when you have returned, this making ten in all.…" (2:196). In this verse, the demonstrative pronoun ''this'' refers to the amount of days of fasting in relation to pilgrimage in certain cases.

4- "If a wound afflicts you, a similar wound has afflicted the others. These days We alternate between the people…" (3:140). In this verse, the demonstrative pronoun ''these'' refers to afflictions and tribulations in general.

5- Another example is referring to the discussions between Abraham and his people: "And his people argued with him. He said, "Do you argue with me about God, when He has guided me? I do not fear what you associate with Him, unless my Lord wills it. My Lord comprehends all things in knowledge. Will you not reconsider? And why should I fear those you associate with Him, and you do not fear associating others with God for which He sent down to you no authority? Which side is more entitled to security, if you are aware?"" (6:80-81). "That was Our argument which We gave to Abraham against his people…" (6:83). Another example is the response of God in 53:22 to the discourse of polytheists in 53:19-21: "Have you considered Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, and Manat the third other goddess? Are you to have males and God the females?" (53:19-21), "This is a bizarre distribution" (53:22).

6- This is another example of the demonstrative pronoun ''these'' referring to the distribution of people in the Last Day into two groups: in Hell and in Paradise: "On the Day when some faces will be whitened, and some faces will be blackened. As for those whose faces are blackened: "Did you disbelieve after your belief?" Then taste the punishment for having disbelieved.But as for those whose faces are whitened: they are in God's mercy, remaining in it forever.These are the revelations of God. We recite them to you in truth…" (3:106-108).

Fourthly: More examples of demonstrative pronouns that refer explicitly to previous verses and their contexts within the Quran:

 Pronouns referring to Paradise:

1- God in the Quran mentions figurative speeches to describe Paradise in a way to enable us to imagine its beauty, and the pronoun "this" refers to Paradise mentions before the pronoun in the same verse: "The likeness of the Garden promised to the righteous: rivers flowing beneath it; its food is perpetual, and so is its shade. This is the sequel for those who guard against evil, but the sequel of the disbelievers is the Hell-Fire." (13:35).

2- Another example of the pronoun ''this'' referring to Paradise mentioned in previous verses is as follows: "The Gardens of Eden, promised by the Most Merciful to His servants in the Unseen. His promise will certainly come true. They will hear no nonsense therein, but only peace. And they will have their provision therein, morning and evening. This is Paradise which We will give as inheritance to those of Our servants who are devout." (19:61-63).

3- another example about Paradise: "They will be served around with trays of gold, and cups. Therein is whatever the souls desire and what delights the eyes. Therein you will stay forever. This is the Garden of Paradise you are made to inherit, because of what you used to do." (73:71-72).

Demonstrative pronouns within Quranic stories:

1- In the Quranic Chapters 7 and 18, demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to Quranic stories of ancient peoples: "These towns-We narrate to you some of their tales. Their messengers came to them with the clear signs, but they would not believe in what they had rejected previously. Thus God seals the hearts of the disbelievers." (7:101). "And these towns-We destroyed them when they committed injustices, and We set for their destruction an appointed time." (18:59).

2- In the Quranic Chapter 28, God says the following about the abodes of disbelievers: "And how many a city did We destroy for turning unappreciative of its livelihood? These are their homes, uninhabited after them, except for a few. And We became the Inheritors." (28:58).

3- Such Quranic stories are about past events unknown before the Quranic revelations, as with the story of Noah: "It was said, "O Noah, disembark with peace from Us; and with blessings upon you, and upon communities from those with you. And other communities We will grant prosperity, and then a painful torment from Us will befall them."These are some stories from the past that we reveal to you. Neither you, nor your people knew them before this…" (11:48-49).

4- God says the following about their fright at the moment of their death and what did such peoples say: "How many guilty towns have We crushed, and established thereafter another people? Then, when they sensed Our Might, they started running away from it. Do not run, but come back to your luxuries and your homes that you may be questioned. They said "Woe to us; we were unfair.", and this continued to be their cry, until We made them silent ashes" (21:11-15).

Demonstrative pronouns as indication to God's creation in the universe as signs of His Omnipotence:

1- God refers to His creation as signs in the universe repeatedly in the Quran within the context of urging human beings to believe in God alone with no associates and in the Quran as the only discourse of God in Islam: "And in your own creation, and in the creatures He scattered, are signs for people of firm faith. And in the alternation of night and day, and in the sustenance God sends down from the sky, with which He revives the earth after its death, and in the circulation of the winds, are marvels for people who reason. These are God's Verses which We recite to you in truth. In which discourse, after God and His revelations, will they believe?" (45:4-6). The verse 45:6 is akin to a slap on the faces of followers of man-made, earthly, fabricated Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi creeds who believe in the so-called hadiths that have nothing to do with God and Islam.

Demonstrative pronouns as indication to digital miracles in the Quranic text: (separate letters as miraculous signs in the Quran):

  The digital miracles of the Quranic text, discovered by Quranists, show that God preserves the characters and special way of writing of the Quran, despite attempts to distort it. This is shown in separate Arabic letters within the very first verses of some Quranic Chapters, as indication to the verses of the Divine Book: the Quran; see 10:1, 12:1, 13:1-2, 31:1-2, 26:1-2, 27:1-2, 28:1-2, and 15:1-2.

Demonstrative pronouns as indication to Quranic parables:

1- God says in the Quran that those who worship and deify tombs and mausoleums into which the so-called saints buried are akin to the house of the spider; this alludes to the scientific fact that female spiders eat up the male ones after copulation, facts heeded and reflected upon by learned ones only: "The likeness of those who take to themselves protectors other than God is that of the female spider that builds a house; the most fragile of houses is the female spider's house, if they only knew." (29:41). "These examples We put them forward to the people; but none grasps them except the learned ones." (29:43).  

2- God says in the Quran the following about the hard-heartedness of polytheists, especially who deny the Quran by believing the devilish, Satanic hadiths: "Had We sent this Quran down on a mountain, you would have seen it trembling, crumbling in awe of God. These parables We cite for the people, so that they may reflect." (59:21).  

Demonstrative pronouns as indication to divine legislation laws in the Quran:

1- This example is taken from fasting legislations in the Quran: "Permitted for you is intercourse with your wives on the night of the fast… These are the limits of God, so do not come near them. God thus clarifies His revelations to the people, that they may attain piety." (2:187).

2- This example is taken from inheritance legislations in the Quran: "God instructs you regarding your children…" (4:11), "These are the limits of God…" (4:14).

3- This example is taken from legislations against alienating or estranging one's wife in the Quran and how to atone for this sin: "Those who estrange their wives by equating them with their mothers, then go back on what they said, must set free a slave before they may touch one another. To this you are exhorted, and God is well aware of what you do. But whoever cannot find the means must fast for two consecutive months before they may touch one another, and if he is unable, then the feeding of sixty needy people. This is in order that you affirm your faith in God and His Messenger. These are the ordinances and limits of God. The unbelievers will have a painful punishment." (58:3-4)

4- This example is taken from divorce legislations in the Quran: "Divorce is allowed twice. Then, either honorable retention or setting free kindly…If he divorces her, she shall not be lawful for him again until she has married another husband. If the latter divorces her, then there is no blame on them for reuniting, provided they think they can maintain God's limits. These are God's limits; He makes them clear to people who know." (2:229-230). "O Prophet! If any of you divorce women, divorce them during their period of purity, and calculate their term. And be pious before God, your Lord. And do not evict them from their homes, nor shall they leave, unless they have committed a proven adultery. These are the limits of God-whoever oversteps God's limits has wronged his own soul. You never know; God may afterwards bring about a new situation. " (65:1).

Lastly:

 We urge readers who hastily send us emails to try to contradict/refute us or pose several queries to us to wait and reflect deeply beforehand and to read our books and articles in their totality before they contact us via email.

ANNEX III

District of Belly-Dancers: In Response to our Rivals in Creed and Religious Thought:

Firstly: The Belly-Dancing Sheikhs

1- There are ''Ulama'' (i.e. religious scholars or theologians) who specialize in researching heritage and traditions of Muslims and researching the Quranic text, and this term covers as well scholars in natural sciences, history, and humanities. 'Ulama' is a term is a plural form in Arabic means literally knowledgeable or erudite scholars, and its masculine singular form is ''Alim'': scholar. Of course, there are intruders in the fields of religious and Quranic research and historical research concerning Middle-Ages ''Muslims'', and this type of bad scholars defend notions and theology of the forefathers and ancestors that contain deification of mortals and stones and locations as well as erroneous concepts linked to creed. Such scholars repeat the same falsehoods inherited from traditions and heritage books, volumes, and tomes, citing the same evidence and proofs shamelessly in an illogical manner, mixed with slander, verbal abuse, and threats addressed to deniers and questioners of ancestral traditions: like ourselves the founder of the Quranist trend and school of thought and reform. They even issue fatwas to kill reformers and questioners as apostates and renegades! They refuse to discuss any scholarly innovation and serious, hard research that require attention and discussion; they prefer fluctuating stances like belly-dancers!   

2- Within the Egyptian vernacular dialect of Arabic we love and admire indeed as our mother tongue, there is another important term: Alima (feminine singular form) means a belly-dancer, and its plural form is Awalim (i.e., belly-dancers). In our opinion, belly-dancing is the worst type of dancing and is often associated with lewdness and bawdiness. The reason: it depends on moving breasts, buttocks, and bellies in a sexual, provocative manner that would appeal to lustful men and would be repellant to reasonable men. History of Egypt tells us that there were even male belly-dancers despite its disgrace in mainstream Egyptian culture, as we read in the book of the Egyptian erudite history scholar Ahmed Amin (1886-1954) titled: "The Dictionary of Customs and Traditions and Expressions of Egypt". The same piece of historical information about the existence of male and female belly-dancers is found in the book of the French Egyptianized scholar Antoine Barthelemy Clot, aka Clot Bey, (1793-1868) titled: "A General Overview of Egypt". Those male belly-dancers were rumored to be 'passive' homosexual or rent-boys, despised by most Egyptians.

3- This old culture of male and female belly-dancers had its own rules and traditions, linked to lewdness and lusts and sometimes such practice went on due to the spread of sinners overwhelmed by carnal desires, and in some eras, this practice of belly-dancing kept a low profile, especially in Nasserite Egypt after the 1952 coup d'état until the late 1960s. As for the royal epoch of Egypt before 1952, there were certain Cairene districts known for their brothels and night clubs and cabarets of belly-dancing, especially Clot-Bey Street that used to be filled with licensed brothels in the 1930s and the 1940s in Cairo.  This street was named after the French Egyptianized scholar who made a renaissance in medicine studies in Cairo in the era of the ruler Muhammad Ali Pacha, who spread French culture in Egypt on all levels. When Great Britain occupied Egypt, they named the street of British-soldiers-filled licensed brothels after Clot-Bey to insult the French people in general as they occupied Egypt before the British. Within Nasserite Egypt, brothels and belly-dancing fell into disfavor as moral degeneration lessened due to the one dream unifying all Egyptians: Pan-Arabism. Even Azharite and Christian theologians and clergymen kept a low profile in public at the time. Once Nasser died and the unifying dream of Egyptian renaissance waned, faded, and withered away, people who psychologically suffered the shame and disgrace of the defeat of 1967 war (aka the Six-Day War), moral degeneration and both religiosity and religion-covered corruption came back with a vengeance to violently shake the Egyptian society, sponsored by oil-rich tourists from the Gulf monarchies. Extramarital sex with sex workers spread in Egypt alongside with religiosity, religious hypocrisy, overt religiousness, and the emergence of profiteering beneficiaries of the clique of sheikhs and clergymen from Al-Azhar institution and from outside it among Wahabi non-Egyptians coming to Egypt, especially from the KSA. Instead of Clot-Bey Street, Al-Haram Street (the Pyramids Street) was filled with unlicensed, hidden brothels night clubs of belly-dancing, patronized by Wahabi customers coming as tourists from the oil-rich Gulf monarchies since the 1970s. It is funny and ironic that such Wahabi corrupt, morally-bankrupt tourists, who can easily corrupt any location they visit or reside in, never visited the pyramids under the pretext that they symbolize paganism and this is against their 'Islam', whereas it was OK with them to visit brothels and night clubs of belly-dancers!          

4- Hence, the culture of belly-dancing has come back on several levels, by persons who sought speedy profits within the least amount of time possible, under a cover of religiosity that hides immorality and sinning. This culture of belly-dancing and corruption is still until now parallel to the religious clergymen who manipulate their earthly creeds to gain wealth and venal gains to secure their comfort. Both cultures of belly-dancing and spreading falsehoods as a religion are devilish domains moving people away from the righteous path to God. Yet, the sins of female belly-dancers are less in amount and degree in comparison to the profiteering and ill-gotten money of sheikhs and clergy who misguide others by being professionals in lying to God and ascribing falsehoods to Him and to Islam. If belly-dancers and sex workers provide carnal pleasure at a price, clergymen provide mental opium, Middle-Ages-Catholic-like indulgences, wrong concepts, and falsehoods that make one lose both this life and the Afterlife. Even belly-dancers and sex workers might repent, especially in their old age, while religious professionals in media and pulpits and in the press gain more ill-gotten money and their trade flourish more than ever when their hair turn grey with aging. In the Last Day, God might accept the repentance of a sex worker or a belly-dancer if they repent sincerely in a manner deemed acceptable to Him, but God NEVER forgives those who die as polytheists who used to worship mortals and books and things: "God does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives anything less than that to whomever He wills. Whoever associates any deities with God has devised a monstrous sin." (4:48). "God will not forgive that partners be associated with Him; but will forgive anything less than that, to whomever He wills. Anyone who ascribes partners to God has strayed into far error." (4:116). "It was revealed to you, and to those before you, that if you become polytheistic, your works will be in vain, and you will be of the losers." (39:65). Belly-dancers and sex workers might repent sincerely and be accepted by God, but God never guides whoever is a pro in misguiding others in terms of faith and religious beliefs: God tells Muhammad in the Quran: "Even though you may be concerned about their guidance, God does not guide those who misguide…" (16:37). Hence, sheikhs who claim themselves as Ulama (scholars) are in fact Awalim (belly-dancers), with a difference: they can never be guided, this is a hopeless case. They lie to God and scribe falsehoods to Islam with no sense of shame or disgrace. We believe that belly-dancers and sex workers are better than imams/clergymen of the Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi creeds in our modern age, especially the famous ones among the televangelists.   

5- The similarity, and difference, between Ulama and Awalim/sex workers is made clearer in our modern age than in the other centuries. Arabs descend more in deeper quagmires of immorality and corruption as much as clergymen/televangelists rise to stardom in their control of everyday life of citizens/believers; every stance and move entails a fatwa (religious edict or view)! Such televangelists (Ulama) control media and satellite channels and even social media now, with no competitors and rivals that vie for people's attention except belly-dancers (Awalim) and sex workers as well as erotic scenes in low visual arts. Hence, religious frauds go hand in hand with moral degeneration and immoral acts in general, with sins done openly or clandestinely according to one's social conditions, set of values, and degree of hypocrisy. Such sins of profligacy are perpetrated within a Sunnite cover of myths linked to the notion of intercession of saints/prophets to male and female sinners/fornicators in the Afterlife to allow them to attain forgiveness after their death, and such myths of intercession are daily propagated by televangelists and ignoramuses in pulpits of mosques, to the profiteering of white slaves, sex workers of all sorts, fornicators, and belly-dancers.     

6- Sheikhs and televangelists who are worse than belly-dancers and sex workers are categorized into two types; those who dance and circumambulate around fossilized idols/notions of their forerunners among their ancestors/forefathers of Middle-Ages theologians and scholars, and those who burn the incense and dance to glorify the tyrannical rulers in a given country. Both types are worse than sex workers and male/female belly-dancers; their dances sap their energy and lifetime to hypocritical flatter the current regimes and tyrants as well as to propagate polytheistic notions that deify mortals and things. Hence they have no time and energy left to read new research and innovative notions of religious reform, as they lack talent, reasoning capabilities, and mental faculties, of course. For them, it is sufficient only to repeat ancestral notions of Middle-Ages theology!  

7- Within a whole century of their irreligious jihad of misguiding the masses, the belly-dancing televangelists have managed to isolate Arab societies away from modern civilization of the 21^st century, making Arab societies re-live the 8^th and 9^th century A.D. until this very moment! Corrupt clergymen, and all of them are corrupt with no exception, stopped innovative thinking in religious matters, and hence, we have no Islamic thought modernized to cope with modern age, despite their endless media chattering and blabbering about the suitability and compatibility of the Quran with all times and climes and eras.

8- such belly-dancing sheikhs, clergymen, and televangelists in the Arab world, especially in Egypt, suddenly felt shaken to the core by the emergence of Quranism, a peaceful ''protestant'' reformist anti-clerical trend from within Islam, based on the Quran only as (sola scriptura) i.e. the sole book or scripture in Islam. Quranism, as a school of thought, is based on a scientific research methodology: to demolish centuries-old notions and fossilized concept of Middle-Ages religious thought and to rebuild Islamic thought based solely on the Quran and its terminology and notions. Thus, Quranists are iconoclastic free thinkers who destroy mythologies of the Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi creeds whose adherents insist on their being part of Islam while Quranists regard them as creeds that differ 100% from Islam: they are earthly, man-made, fabricated creeds unlinked and unrelated at all to the Quran; they are foreign to Islam and were imposed on it. Another element demolished by Quranists is disbelief in terms of behavior: i.e. aggressive terrorist demeanors and actions deemed by extremists as a form of jihad, but in fact it is terrorist aggressive actions against the innocent people. What Quranists are building is a Quranist vision proposed as an alternative view that asserts the higher values of Islam (i.e., the Quran alone) such as peace, justice, absolute freedom of thought, belief, creed, expression, and politics (i.e., direct democracy), mercy, charity, tolerance, human rights, and human dignity. The innovative unprecedented intellectual project and line of thought of Quranists reached a very important point in exposing the root of all evils of the three earthly man-made creeds imposed on Islam (the Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi once) and their sub-creeds of poisonous notions; via free discussion and critical reevaluation of such bad concepts based on one measure stick (the Quran) along with logical thinking, Quranists have discovered that the evil roots of the three manmade creeds are historical events of Arab conquests and the ensuing civil wars and persons involved in them. This led to fabrications of the endless sayings and oral traditions of the so-called ''hadiths'' ascribed falsely to Muhammad, as well as to fiqh (theology and quasi-religious jurisprudence) endless volumes and tomes that are deemed holy and sanctified despite their being based on human thought, NOT divine revelation. Such uprooting and raking endeavors and intellectual efforts exerted y Quranists have led the imams and mortal gods of the three man-made creeds to unite against Quranism and Quranists to quell and persecute them. They could not refute or confront us on the intellectual level. Yet, no dispute between us and them in basing our intellectual work on the Quran and historical accounts of heritage traditional books of Sunnites to assert our Quranism and they their Sunnite creed, but there is a vast difference between their dancing fluctuation and doubts and eagerness to please the mighty, the wealthy, the powerful, and the absolute rulers on the one hand, and our innovative approach toward a theory of understanding the Quran using its own contexts and terminology to deduce notions. That is why Quranists ignore attacks made on them and accusations leveled against them as 'apostates', 'infidels', and 'renegades', despite their poisonous calls and fatwas to exterminate Quranists by killing them all as heretics!         

9- We, Quranists, have two Quranic options to respond to our attackers and accusers; we may defend ourselves against their verbal abuse by verbally abusing them sometimes, or some other times by charitably forgiving them as we regard them as ignoramuses led like cattle by a blind shepherd, and both responses are urged in the Quran, with the second option preferred: "The repayment of a bad action is one equivalent to it. But whoever pardons and makes reconciliation, his reward lies with God. He does not love the unjust." (42:40). In addition, Quranists never reach the Sunnites' and Shiites' levels of verbal insults, the call to kill all Quranists all over the globe, and accusations of being rejecters and deniers of faith and of being heretics and apostates. The reason of our calm reactions to our attackers and detractors is our peaceful reformatory endeavor and intellectual jihad within cyberspace to clarify Quranic facts often forgotten, in order to give advice and admonish others to differentiate between 1) real Islam (the Quran) and 2) criminal behavior of terror and aggression and polytheistic notion, hoping to dispel and debunk myths of deluded and deceived millions before they die as disbelievers and polytheists without their knowing it. After Quranists clarify Islam as they see it, they leave others to decide and choose for themselves freely, waiting for God's judgment in the Last Day.  Our method is to preaching them using the Quranic methodology of guiding people: "Say, "O my people! Work according to your ability and so will I." You will come to know to whom will belong the sequel of the abode." The wrongdoers will not prevail." (6:135). ""O my people, do as you may, and so will I. You will know to whom will come a punishment that will shame him, and who is a liar. So look out; I am on the lookout with you."" (11:93). "And say to those who do not believe, "Act according to your ability; and so will we." "And wait; we too are waiting."" (11:121-122). "Say: "O my people, work according to your ability; and so will I. Then you will know. Who will receive a humiliating punishment, and on whom will fall a lasting torment." We sent down upon you the Book for humankind in truth. He who follows guidance does so for the good of his soul. And he who strays in error does so to its detriment. You are not their overseer." (39:39-41).

10- Those Azharite belly-dancing sheikhs, clergymen, and televangelists as well as their followers hold two silly, easy-to-refute points against Quranists, repeated ad infinitum ad nauseam since the late 1970s: 1) Are all current Muslims polytheists and disbelievers in deed, while Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour and other Quranists the only ones on the right side of true Islam?! 2) Why Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour and other Quranists propagate notions unsaid before by ancient imams?! Were all the ancient imams and scholars on the wrong and he and his Quranists the only ones on the right?!      

11- The basis of the two above-mentioned easy-to-refute asinine remarks/points held against Quranists is that the culture of those belly-dancing clergymen acknowledges and judges what is deemed ''apparently'' true by the stature of its teller/writer, NOT by the content and embedded meanings of what is being said or written regardless of its human source. For instance, if the Egyptian Wahabi sheikh Qaradawi uttered a word, it is deemed ''true'' due to his renown and sate of being sanctified in the Sunnite world, even if his word is against the Quran (i.e., the only book within Islam) and against logic and reason; the same applies to well-known authoritative Shiite imams, like Khomeini, in Iran, within the Shiite circles. Another striking example is Al-Bokhary in his books of falsehoods, when he claimed that Muhammad was obsessed with sex and women and he allowed fornication in some instances! Despite this falsehood against the Quran and Muhammad, Al-Bokhary is believed as infallible, sanctified, and deified by the Sunnites all over the globe! We refuted this and many other falsehoods of Al-Bokhary in our book published here online titled "The Quran Is Enough" and in our episodes/videos uploaded here titled "Exposing Salafism".  Thus, the major trouble within the Arab world and its religious habits is that truth is directly linked to imams/clergymen, dead or alive, within the creeds of the Sunnites, Shiites, and Sufis. When Quranist refute and debunk such falsities and myths by discussion and dialogue, they are accused as ''nobodies'' who are interfering in faith and attacking their ''Islam''! Yet, Quranists use logic and the Quranic verses in their refutations and discussions in all issues, but Quranists are always accused of ''contempt of religion'' and ''defamation of Islam'' a crime punishable either by years of imprisonment or by death at the hands of fanatics or the riff-raff! Sunnites, for instance, do not care to examine our Quranist views; what matters to them is NOT the content of what is being presented, but WHO is presenting these views! They think that the right views come ONLLY from a 'holy' sanctified person, dead or alive, deified by them!

12- Their logic in refusing Quranism is like the logic of disbelievers descried in the Quran; the disbelievers during the lifetime of Muhammad wondered why so humble a person would receive divine revelation of the Quran. They deemed as 'grand' only wealthy men like Abou Sufyan, Abou Lahab, and Al-Waleed Ibn Al-Mughira, the major criminals of their times! God mentions in the Quran their faulty logic: "They also said, "If only this Quran was revealed to a man of importance from the two cities."" (43:31). The cities here means Mecca and Yathreb, but within the Quranic terminology, the words 'city' and 'village' means any given gathering of humans in one location; i.e., any given society. Societies are often ruled by criminals and sinners among the affluent, arrogant, and haughty ones, who hate divine guidance and cast doubts on it if conveyed by humble persons; they begrudge the fact that God had not chosen them to guide others: "And thus We set up in every city its leading wicked sinners, to conspire in it, but they conspire only against themselves, and they do not realize it. When a sign comes to them, they say, "We will not believe unless we are given the like of what was given to God's messengers." God knows best where to place His message. Humiliation from God and severe torment will afflict the criminals for their scheming." (6:123-124). That was why the affluent ones felt contempt toward Muhammad during his lifetime, mocking his humble appearance: "When those who disbelieve see you, they treat you only with ridicule: "Is this the one who mentions your gods?"…" (21:36). "And when they see you, they take you for nothing but mockery: "Is this the one God sent as a messenger?"" (25:41). Thus, disbelievers of Qorayish had said to Muhammad what is being said to Quranists: (Who are you to talk in this unprecedented manner, opposing our ancestors?!), as we discern the same attitude in the following verse: "We never heard of this in the former faith. This is nothing but a fabrication.Was the message sent down to him, out of all of us?"…" (38:7-8). When Quranists quote the Quranic verses, they are attacked with the same logic of: ''We never read that our reverent ancient ancestral scholars had written such views!"  

13- The other point, about the views of the vast majority set against those of Quranists who constitute a minority in terms of the numbers of those who acknowledge the Quran as the Word of God, is refuted easily; the Sunnites have this myth of unanimous views that unite the Umma (i.e., literally, a nation: a Sunnite term that means Sunnites in general, as opposed to non-Sunnites), despite the historical fact that unanimity in any political or religious matter has never been achieved in the past or present within Sunnites, who waged several wars within the last 13 centuries, with dire consequences!

14- In fact, the number of those who consider themselves as 'Muslims' – or at least in ID cards – exceeds 1.5 billion persons all over the world, deemed as Sunnites, Shiites, or Sufis. The vast majority of them, as per Quranists, are misguided ignoramuses with polytheistic erroneous notions of faith. This fact is indeed asserted by God in the Quran; God describes most human beings as misguided in terms of faith and belief, and as rejecters of the divine truth and faith that they refuse to accept and reflect upon, and even most of those who believe in God ascribe other mortals deities to Him; they are polytheists even if they do not know it. This vast majority of human being is in Quranic terminologies described as ''Man'', ''the human being", and ''Humanity'', linked in several verses with denial of faith as opponents to God. We cannot hear quote all these verses; let us here quote one of them: God says to Muhammad the following: "If you were to obey most of those on earth, they would divert you from God's path. They follow nothing but assumptions, and they only conjecture." (6:116). This means that not only the vast majority of human beings are misguided ones, but also they tend to misguide others around them as well; they could have misguide and divert Muhammad himself if he were to obey them! Let alone ordinary believers! Would we believe this verse as God says nothing but the Truth, or would we choose to deny the Quran and ascribe falsehoods and lies to God as done by the belly-dancing sheikhs/clergymen and televangelists of Sunnites and Shiites?   

15- God describes in the Quran such corrupt inveterate liars of clergymen and their ancient imams as ''criminals'' who commit injustices against God Himself: "Who does greater wrong than someone who fabricates lies about God, or denies His revelations? The criminals will never prosper." (10:17). "Who does greater wrong than he who invents lies about God, or denies His revelations?..." (7:37). "…Who does greater wrong than he who invents lies and attributes them to God, in order to mislead people without knowledge? God does not guide the unjust people." (6:144). "…Who then does greater wrong than he who gives the lie to God's verses, and turns away from them? We will repay those who turn away from Our verses with the worst kind of punishment, because of their turning away." (6:157). God says in the Quran about the inveterate liars who ascribe falsehoods to God the following: "Who does greater wrong than he who fabricates lies about God? These will be presented before their Lord, and the witnesses will say, "These are they who lied about their Lord." Indeed, the curse of God is upon the wrongdoers. Those who hinder others from the path of God, and seek to make it crooked; and regarding the Hereafter, they are in denial." (11:18-19). These verses, of course, apply to belly-dancing clergymen of today and of the past. God promised His messengers and true faithful believers and witnesses with divine support: "Most surely We will support Our messengers and those who believe, in this life, and on the Day the witnesses arise. The Day when their excuses will not profit the wrongdoers, and the curse will be upon them, and they will have the Home of Misery." (40:51-52). We hope that we, Quranists would be among witnesses against our contemporaries in the Last Day.  

16- Those witnesses described in the above-mentioned verses are very few within human beings; likewise, those who believe truly in a manner acceptable to God and do good deeds accepted by God are a minority among humanity in general, as per the Quran itself: "…except those who believe and do good deeds, but these are so few…" (38:24). Such minority of people includes witnesses and non-witnesses, and they will be divided into two groups, both small in number, in the Last Day as per their faith and deeds: 1) ''the forerunners'' and 2) ''those on the right'', as per the Quranic Chapter  56: "And the forerunners, the forerunners, those are the nearest in the Garden of Bliss, a throng from the ancients and a small band from the latecomers…" (56:11-14). "…for those on the right, a throng from the ancients, and a throng from the latecomers…" (56:38-40).

Lastly:

This is the status of the vast majority and the small minority within human beings as per guidance, within Quranic facts. Once again, we pose the same question: Would we believe these verses as God says nothing but the Truth, or would we choose to deny the Quran and ascribe falsehoods and lies to God as done by the belly-dancing sheikhs/clergymen and televangelists of Sunnites and Shiites who brag of their being the vast majority of ''Muslims''? in fact, all clergy are the worst type of humankind all over the globe in our modern age. Our conditions nowadays in the Arab world assert the veracity of Quranic verses, as they represent absolute Truths, despite any lies revered and adhered to by those belly-dancing clergymen and televangelists.   

  The best discourse: "But whoever turns away from My Reminder, for him is a confined life. And We will raise him on the Day of Resurrection blind."He will say, "My Lord, why did You raise me blind, though I was seeing?"He will say, "Just as Our revelations came to you, and you forgot them, today you will be forgotten."Thus We recompense him who transgresses and does not believe in the revelations of his Lord. The punishment of the Hereafter is more severe, and more lasting." (20:124-127). God says nothing but the Truth.