Rashad Khalifa

Rashad khalifa was an Egyptian Muslim who moved to the United States as a student of biochemistry in 1959 and later become a citizen. He established an Islamic group called United submitter international whose beliefs include the dedication of all worship practices of God alone and the rejection Hadith/Sunnah as a source of doctrine. For many years he was Imam of a mosque in Tucson, Arizona.

Starting in 1969, Khalifa used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Quran. In 1974 he claimed to have discovered an intricate numerical pattern in the text of Quran involving the number 19 mentioned in the surah 74. He published several books on this subject.

Khalifa was initially well received throughout the Muslim world, but became the subject of bitter controversy when he made several claims that appeared heretical according to the mainstream opinion of both the Sunnite and Shiite schools of thought.