Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Cover Stories
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Ancient Kemet and the Afterlife
When talking about ancient Egyptian views on 'death', it’s worth noting that the ancient Egyptians carefully distinguished between two different senses in which a person could be dead, and two different senses in which a person could be alive.
On the one hand, a person could live a physical life or die a physical death. Then there was a social mode of existence, which the Egyptians saw as primary. One could die physically, but still be alive socially, or one could be alive physically, but nevertheless be dead socially.
The Egyptians saw the Self as being defined by the web of relationships within which it was immersed. It had no independent existence outside of those relationships. The more fully connected to others someone was, the more fully alive he or she was, and the more isolated a person was, the more fully dead he or she was. To the people of Kemet, the state of being alive depends on the extent to which a person is recognized by others as being alive: it is a status.”
Consequently, life and death were not a dichotomous pair. We today tend to think of someone as being either alive or dead, with no middle ground, which is an outgrowth of our view of life and death as more or less exclusively biological states of being. For the ancient Egyptians, however, there were varying degrees of aliveness and deadness. When one’s body died, some amount of connectivity with one’s society in the physical world, and therefore some amount of life, was lost. But the same effect could be created by simply withdrawing from other people.
One’s status as a ‘living’ being or a ‘dead’ being - depended on two things more than any others; first, the quantity of connections one maintained with other people, and second, the quality of those connections – that is, how highly regarded one was by one’s family, friends, community, and society as a whole.
For those who had already undergone physical death, their continued status as living beings depended on how many people remembered them, and how fondly they were remembered.
EIGHT ASPECTS OF THE SELF
To the Ancient Egyptians, their soul, their being, was made up of many different parts. Not only was there the physical form, but there were eight immortal or semi-divine parts that survived death, with the body making nine parts of a human.
The Khu or Akhu
The Khu is referred to as the ‘being of light’ or luminous being. The Khu illuminates the personality and this, the personality cannot function. It is the light of consciousness itself.
The shining one, divine consciousness with the all and beyond. Multitask in all nine dimensions. “Akh to heaven, khat to earth.”
“Sit and be.”
Sahu
Eternal guardian.
The Immortal Body- Feet grounded, heart open, head clear and as expansive and embracing as space . To become godlike while still alive. Spiritualizing one’s physical body to become vessel for higher aspects of personality.
Sekhem
The life forces, Sekhem and find our way home, through the energies as ether on into the boundless universe as cell life forms beings. Sekhem – Chi, energy from the root seat.
Will power, life forces. When tapped into and unleashed it dissolves all obstacles in its way. The power of determination.
Ba
The higher self; free as a bird. A soul connection between the individual soul and the universal (divine) soul. The unlimited aspect of self.
Ab
Heart conscience, intelligence, desires. The seat of the still, small voice. Ma’at weighs within. Let us embrace what we are. Gives direction.
“The conscience (ab) of a man is his own God.”
Ren
Vibration/sound. Need a name to be addressed to and related to. Vibrational connection to the web of life.
Attunement to the natural forces and fields within us and around us through each awakening, moment. Time does not move; time is now.
Ka
Spiritual double. Ka= embrace. Charisma, personal power. When you die you go to one’s Ka (earthly memories). Holographic connection to the soul. Actually the physical personality is a projection of the astral body. Character. It’s the first form of the soul most readily available to us. First step to energy field and multiple dimensional self, resonances, family.
Khatbit
The shadow of a man, it could partake of funerary offerings and was able to detach itself from the body and travel at will, though it always was thought to stay near the Ba.
Khat
the mortal body; Ability to hold light.
The physical form, the body that could decay after death, the mortal, outward part of the human that could only be preserved by mummification.
Monday, August 9, 2021
The Manden Charter
Social Organization
- Article 1: The Great Mande Society is divided into sixteen clans of quiver carriers, five clans of marabouts, four groups of "nyamakalas" and one group of slaves. Each one has a specific activity and role.
- Article 2: The "nyamakalas" must devote themselves to tell the truth to the chiefs, to be their counsellors and to defend by the speech the established rulers and the order upon the whole territory.
- Article 3: The five clans of marabouts are our teachers and our educators in Islam. Everyone has to hold them in respect and consideration.
- Article 4: The society is divided into age groups. Those born during a period of three years in succession belong to the same age-group. The members of the intermediary class between young and old people, should be invited to take part in the making of important decisions concerning the society.
- Article 5: Everybody has a right to life and to the preservation of physical integrity. Accordingly, any attempt to deprive one's fellow being of life is punished with death.
- Article 6: To win the battle of prosperity, the general system of supervision has been established to fight against laziness and idleness.
- Article 7: The sanankunya (joking relationship) and the tanamannyonya (blood pact) have been established among the Mandinka. Consequently, any contention that occurs among these groups should not degenerate the respect for one another being the rule. Between brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, between grandparents and grandchildren, tolerance should be the principle.
- Article 8: The Keïta family is nominated reigning family upon the empire.
- Article 9: Children's education behooves the entire society. The paternal authority in consequence falls to everyone.
- Article 10: We should offer condolences mutually.
- Article 11: When your wife or your child runs away, stop running after them in the neighbour's house.
- Article 12: The succession being patrilinear, never relinquish power to a son when one of his father's brothers is still alive. Never relinquish power to a minor just because he has goods.
- Article 13: Never offend the Nyaras (the talented).
- Article 14: Never offend women, our mothers.
- Article 15: Never beat a married woman before her husband has tried to correct the problem.
- Article 16: Women, apart from their everyday occupations, should be associated with all our managements.
- Article 17: Lies that have lived for 40 years should be considered like truths.
- Article 18: We should respect the law of primogeniture.
- Article 19: Any man has two parents-in-law: We have to hold them in respect and consideration.
- Article 20: Do not ill treat the slaves. We are the master of the slave but not the bag he carries.
- Article 21: Do not follow up with your constant attentions the wives of the chief, of the neighbor, of the marabout, of the priest, of the friend and of the partner.
- Article 22: Vanity is the sign of weakness and humility the sign of greatness.
- Article 23: Never betray one another. Respect your word of honor.
- Article 24: In Manden, do not maltreat the foreigners.
- Article 25: The ambassador does not risk anything in Manden.
- Article 26: The bull confided to your care should not lead the cattle-pen.
- Article 27: A girl can be given in marriage as soon as she is pubescent without age determination.
- Article 28: A young man can marry at age 20.
- Article 29: The dowry is fixed at 3 cows: one for the girl, two for the father and mother.
- Article 30: In Mande, divorce is tolerated for one of the following reasons: the impotence of the husband, the madness of one of the spouses, the husband's incapability of assuming the obligations due to the marriage. The divorce should occur out of the village. (The French version published in 1998 does not include this article, but splits article 34 into two, numbering the intervening articles differently).
- Article 31: We should help those who are in need.
Of Goods
- Article 32: There are five ways to acquire property: buying, donation, exchange, work and inheriting. Any other form without convincing testimony is doubtful.
- Article 33: Any object found without a known owner becomes common property only after four years.
- Article 34: The fourth heifer born is the property of the guardian of the heifer. One egg out of four is the property of the guardian of the laying hen.
- Article 35: One bovine should be exchanged for four sheep or four goats.
- Article 36: To satisfy one's hunger is not robbery if you don't take away anything in your bag or your pocket.
Preservation of Nature
- Article 37: Fakombè is nominated chief of hunters.
- Article 38: Before setting fire to the bush, don't look down at the ground, raise your head in the direction of the top of the trees to see whether they bear fruits or flowers.
- Article 39: Domestic animals should be tied during cultivation and freed after the harvest. The dog, the cat, the duck and the poultry are not bound by the measure.
Final Disposals
- Article 40: Respect kinship, marriage and the neighborhood.
- Article 41: You can kill the enemy, but not humiliate him.
- Article 42: In big assemblies, be satisfied with your lawful representatives.
- Article 43: Balla Fassèkè Kouyaté is nominated chief of ceremonies and main mediator in Manden. He is allowed to joke with all groups, in priority with the royal family.
- Article 44: All those who will transgress these rules will be punished. Everyone is bound to make effective their implementation.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
'Ilm Al Yaqiyn
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Famous Racists in History: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
Marcus Garvey already exposed the curious oversight with regard to Marx' famous work 'The Communist Manifesto.' Garvey was aware that ‘The Communist Manifesto’, written by Karl Marx and Friederich Engels in 1847, incredibly, does not even mention the massive enslavement of African people, which was still going on at that time and was a serious issue.
However it has now come to light that...
in a letter to Engels, in reference to his socialist political competitor Ferdinand Lassalle, Marx wrote: "It is now completely clear to me that he, as is proved by his cranial formation and his hair, descends from the Negroes who had joined Moses' exodus from Egypt, assuming that his mother or grandmother on the paternal side had not interbred with a nigger. Now this union of Judaism and Germanism with a basic Negro substance must produce a peculiar product. The obtrusiveness of the fellow is also nigger-like."
Engels shared Marx's racial philosophy. In 1887, Paul Lafargue, who was Marx's son-in-law, was a candidate for a council seat in a Paris district that contained a zoo. Engels claimed that Lafargue had "one-eighth or one-twelfth nigger blood." In a letter to Lafargue's wife, Engels wrote, "Being in his quality as a nigger, a degree nearer to the rest of the animal kingdom than the rest of us, he is undoubtedly the most appropriate representative of that district."
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Is Orthodox Islam True Islam? Parts 1 & 2

The explanation is in the article below, along with all of the evidence.
"Loving ‘Ali is believing, hating ‘Ali is hypocrisy.”10
And finally, after returning from Mecca during a pilgrimage Muhammad stopped over 20,000 of his followers near a pond called Ghadir Khumm, he delivered a sermon in which he said ""O Muslims! I am a mortal like any of you, and I may soon be summoned into the presence of my Lord. My most precious legacy to you is the Book of Allah and the members of my family, as I have told you before. Now listen to this with attention that I am the Master of all of you - of all Believers. All those men and women who acknowledge me as their Master, I want them to acknowledge (at this point he held Ali's hand and lifted it high over his head) Ali also as their Master. Ali is the Master of all those men and women whose Master I am."11

But rather than squabble over the meaning of a word, we can do what is necessary to understand the event, which is to look at its context. The first thing to note is that once Muhammad decided to stop at Ghadir Khum, he called for all those who had gone ahead to come back and he waited for those trailing behind him to catch up. He then had a pulpit made of camel saddles. In addition to raising Ali's hand in front of the crowd, after his declaration, Muhammad also took off his turban and gave it to Ali. Afterward Muhammad and Ali went to Ali's tent and there, on Muhammad's orders, Ali received the congratulations of the Muslims who acclaimed him as Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful).
Among these well-wishers was Umar b. Khattab who said, "Well done Ibn Abi Talib! Today you became the leader (mawla) of all believing men and women."13
Muhammad's hope was that this young man, Ali who he had groomed since he was a child, and personally taught not only the apparent meaning of each revelation of the Qur'an, but the esoteric meaning as well, would be a living repository of knowledge and guidance in the generations to come. It was undisputed that besides Muhammad, no one knew and understood the Qur'an better than Ali Ibn Talib. This understanding was also bourn out in the nobility, generosity and charity of his manners and behavior.
"The Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632, did not leave a definite successor. When the news of the Prophet's death came out, many Muslims were confused and stunned. 'Umar himself was so overcome with emotion that he drew his sword and declared, "If anyone says that the Messenger of Allah is dead, I will cut off his head."
Having shrugged off the shocking news of the Prophet's death, Muslims realized that they need someone to fill the position of leadership amongst them.
Many wonder if Abu Bakr wasn't chosen by consensus why did so many accept his leadership? The answer is complicated but we can consider this for now: 1) Among the Ansar there was an old rivalry between the Banu (tribe) Aws and the Banu Khazraj, (which is another primary reason they were meeting - to determine how they would govern themselves now that Muhammad was no longer leader of the city. When Umar presented Abu Bakr as caliph (successor), Bashir ibn Sa'd, the leader of the Aws, also took Abu Bakr's hand as caliph. This was because the Aws feared that if any of the Khazraj were elected they would remain in power and mistreat them (the Aws). 2) Umar then took charge of securing the pledge of allegiance in the streets of Medina with the help of the Banu Aslam a fierce, loyal tribe who also supported Muhammad. So with the domineering personality of Umar, backed by the Ansar and Banu Aslam -many pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. 3) There were many who refused to give bayah (allegiance) to Abu Bakr. Sa'ad Ibn Ubaydah, the elderly leader of the Khazraj refused to pledge loyalty to Abu Bakr. Umar pressed Abu Bakr to get the pledge by force, but after a discussion with other Ansar it was decided to leave him alone. He was assassinated in Syria soon after Umar became Caliph in 637. The historian Al-Yaqubi mentions in Tarikh al-Yaqubi:
‘Ali and his group came to know about Saqifa after what had happened there. At this point, his supporters gathered in Fatimah’s house. Abu Bakr and Umar, fully aware of ‘Ali’s claims and fearing a serious threat from his supporters, summoned him to the mosque to swear the oath of allegiance. ‘Ali refused, and so the house was surrounded by an armed band led by Abu Bakr and Umar, who threatened to set it on fire if ‘Ali and his supporters refused to come out and swear allegiance to Abu Bakr. The scene grew violent and Fatimah was furious. 22
Although many mainstream narratives will suggest how important leading the prayer is in this case, the truth is that there is a long standing tradition that any believing man can lead others in prayer. It is no exalted position of honor. For example, Abu Hurayra reports that the Apostle of God said that:

Shrewdly, Abu Bakr knew that the bedouin tribes of Arabia were independent and fierce warriors so with every victory over a tribe he conscripted them into his growing army as they attacked any tribe who refused to pay allegiance to him.
"Most of the Arabs who went out of Arabia, after the death of the Prophet, were not Islam's missionaries. They were plain conquerors. Most of them lacked the knowledge of Islam, and they lacked interest in spreading Islam. Most of them were born and bred in the pagan tradition, and they had been fighting against the Muslims only two or three years earlier."
Anything related to Muhammad's clear instructions to look to Ali in order to understand Islam has been dismissed as Shia nonsense, although the whole narrative above -including the quote about the two weighty things- all come from so called 'authentic' Sunni sources. Hundreds of thousands of hadith have been fabricated, we will discuss this in detail in the following part of this article, but I used the hadith and sira (biographical history) about these events because they have been attested to by a number of independent sources and because they go against the interests of the Sunni narrative and therefore tend to be more credible.32
So by rejecting Muhammad's direction to look toward his family as the guides preserving his message and legacy, Orthodox Islam instead took to relying on a growing and often fabricated body of Muhammad's alleged sayings and practices (hadith) to define their own version of 'Islam', eventually even raising the hadith to the level of Qur'an, and ultimately higher. [This is not to say that the Hadith cannot be used as history or as pieces of evidence from which to draw a reliable picture of history together. (History being defined as what probably or most likely happened in the past.) If nothing else, hadith can give insight to what the people who actually wrote them, or fabricated them, were thinking. They should fall under the same scrutiny as other evidences of history which would include analyzing the text, checking it for its relationship to science, other artifacts of history, probability and reality. And we should always keep in mind that hadith fall under the broad category of hearsay. Hearsay is not allowed in court except under a few exceptions because it is by nature unreliable and cannot be verified by the person initially making the statement.]
This will be discussed in Part Two.
"[T]he Qur’an needs the Sunnah more than the Sunnah needs the Qur’an. As Imam al-Awzaa‘i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
In pre-Islamic Arabia, the term sunnah referred to precedents established by tribal ancestors, accepted as normative and practiced by the entire community.
This was pointed out by author, Kassim Ahmad:
"It is unreasonable and unthinkable that Allah would ask the Muslims to follow the prophet's personal mode of behavior, because a person's mode of behavior is determined by many different factors, such as customs, his education, personal upbringing and personal inclinations. The prophet's mode of eating, of dress and indeed of general behavior cannot be different from that of other Arabs, including Jews and Christians, of that time, except regarding matters which Islam prohibited. If the Prophet had been born a Malay, he would have dressed and eaten like a Malay. This is a cultural and a personal trait which has nothing to do with one's religion. So were the methods of the Prophet's wars and his administration of the Medina city-state. The weapons he used, such as swords, spears, arrows and shields, were in accordance with the prevailing technology. Today, with the development of modern weapons, the Muslims obviously cannot fight with the medieval weapons used by the Prophet, although they must emulate his staunch faith in God and complete adherence to God's teachings."

The early Muslims did not immediately concur on what constituted their Sunnah. Some looked to the people of Medina for an example, and others followed the behavior of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
In this early period of Islamic history, no body of Islamic positive law had yet come into existence, and the first qadis therefore decided cases on the basis of the only guidelines available to them: Arab customary law, the laws of the conquered territories, the general precepts of the Qurʾān, and their own sense of equity. This is exactly what the Qur'an advises.
There are around 750 verses in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena. Many verses of the Quran ask mankind to study nature, and this has been interpreted to mean an encouragement for scientific inquiry, and the investigation of the truth.
Qur'an 3:190 “Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand."
Hailing from Gaza, Palestine, Imam Shafi was a prodigy and a student of Imam Malik in Medina. According to tradition, he had memorized the Qur'an at a very young age as well as Imam Malik's book the Muwatta. He then became obsessed with hadith and took to writing them anywhere and in any way he could. He said, he dedicated himself to hadith.2 He served as a jurist and a governor in Najran, Yemen. He also traveled to Baghad and Egpyt. During his travels Shafi experienced first hand that although reasonable decisions were being made by judges', the decisions very often disagreed with each other.
Shafi's solution was this: only the prophet Muhammad's Sunna (as opposed the sunnah of local customs and the "sunnah" of earlier Companions) had any authority. Nothing could supersede or set aside a tradition properly authenticated, which could be traced back to the prophet himself.
By his assertion of the supremacy of hadith, Shafi placed it on par with the Qur'an itself, and when he made it the authoritative interpretation of the Holy, Qur'an he, in effect, gave it a higher authority. Shafi emphasized the final authority of a hadith of Muhammad, so that even the Quran was "to be interpreted in the light of traditions (i.e. hadith), and not vice versa."4
As noted by Anjouar Majid, "after Muhammad ibn Idriss al-Shafi`i (d. 820) succeeded in elevating the Prophet’s life to a status of sacredness comparable to that of the Koran, everyone rushed to come up with a hadith to support his views or lifestyle and to criminalize difference of opinion."
Historian Alfred Guillaume pointed out, [i]f an individual or a group or sect wanted to establish its right to its beliefs or practices, it had to furnish proof that the prophet had authorized its course of action or attitude. In consequence, an enormous number of hadith soon found their way into circulation, and it soon became apparent that forgery on a large scale was at work everywhere."7
Before and especially after Shafi, the forgery of hadith grew exponentially. According one source, Ibn Hanbal reported that there were over 7 million `authentic' hadiths and that he had writtien at least a million of them.8 If this were true, then working for 23 years at a pace of 18 hours a day, seven days a week, the Prophet would have had to produce one hadith every 77 seconds. There would definitely have been no time left at all for the Prophet to have done anything like living his life and carrying out his mission as a Prophet.
But mainstream Orthodox Sunni Islam still asserts this position that the Sunnah (hadith) are on par with the Qur'an.
One may wonder, 'why'?? In light of what's written in the Qur'an and Muhammad's own banning of hadith himself (as recorded in the very hadith they supposedly adhere to), how can they justify this? We will go through all of the arguments Sunni's use to uphold hadith below. Many are the exact same arguments Imam Shafi made 1,200 years ago. These arguments were weak then and they prove to be even more patently weak and fallacious now. Here they are:
1. The Lifted Prohibition
Considering the Qur'an asserts itself as the only revelation to be followed- "These are the verses of Allah which We recite to you in truth; Then in what hadith after Allah and His verses will they believe?" Qur'an 45:6 And considering according to the hadith itself, Muhammad actually ordered that people not write down any hadith: “Do not write down anything from me except the holy Quran and those who have written must erase it,” 9
What could Sunnis come along and say after this? They assert that Muhammad didn't want anything written down because he didn't want anything to get mixed up with the Qur'an. And that once most of the Qur'an was written he lifted the ban and allowed hadith to be written. They point out that the full hadith goes on to say, "narrate to others what you hear from me, and whoever deliberately attributes a lie to me; he should prepare his seat in the fire."10
Also, it does clearly show that Muhammad didn't revere the authority of these traditions because obviously he would have known that any sayings he made that weren't written down would get lost or distorted over time - as has happened anyway. Further, there are reports from Abu Huraira that the Prophet Muhammad forbade the writing of hadith and Abu Huraira had only been a companion of the Prophet during the last two years of his life when most of Qur'an had already been revealed 21 years earlier.
It is narrated from abu Hurayrah who has said, “The holy Prophet (S) came to us when we were writing down Hadith. He asked us, ‘ what is this you are writing?’ We replied, “These are the matters that we have heard from you.” He then said, ‘Do you want a book other than the book of Allah? The nations before you were destroyed only for what they had written along with the book of Allah."12
We also see in history that all of the so-called rightly guided Caliphs from Abu Bakr to Ali Ibn Talib prohibited or restricted the writing of hadith. This goes to show the prohibition was never lifted or that if it was his closest companions never heard of it. Abu Bakr burned them; Umar burned them and actually jailed three men for spreading hadith.13
History bears this prohibition out. Hadith historian Joseph Schacht has pointed out: “There is not any evidence of legal traditions (Hadith and Sunna) before Year 722 A.D. in Islam and we can conclude that the Sunna or hadiths of the Prophet is not the words and deeds of the Prophet, but apocryphal material dating from later."14
2. The Good Example
The question is, how are the hadith revealed scripture or how is the Sunnah of Muhammad binding to the point where they define what Islam is or isn't? The defenders of hadith will use Qur'an 33:21 as proof we are supposed to follow the Sunnah of Muhammad, as recorded in hadith.
Orthodox Sunni Muslims never mention obeying other Messengers besides Muhammad, although a major tenet of Qur'anic Islam is that we make no distinctions between any of the prophets.
Qur'an 2:136 "Say, "We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to him we are Muslims."
4. The Qur'an and the Wisdom
Qur'an 62:2 "He it is Who raised among the inhabitants of Mecca an Apostle from among themselves, who recites to them His communications and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, although they were before certainly in clear error."
Qur'an 2:231 (in part) "And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and the Wisdom by which He instructs you."
This argument comes directly from Imam Shafi. He interpreted the Arabic word hikmah (Wisdom) in above verse, and in similar verses, as meaning `sunna' or `hadith.' "In his major work, al-Risala, he stated:
So, God mentions His scripture, that is the Quran, and wisdom, and I have heard from those who are knowledgeable in the Quran — those whom I agree with — say that wisdom is the traditions of the Prophet. This is the same as the Word [of God Himself]; but God knows better! Because the Quran is mentioned, followed by Wisdom; then God mentions His blessing to mankind by teaching the Quran and wisdom. So, it is not possible that wisdom means other things than the traditions of the Prophet ... (Emphasis added).
Shafi`i's interpretation of the word hikmah as meaning the Prophet's tradition cannot but give rise to grave doubts. Was he justified in doing so? He did not produce any support from the Quran for such an interpretation. He merely reported the view of "experts" whom he concurred with. Who these "experts" were and what their reasons for advancing such a view Shafi`i did not say. In the quotation above, we notice that Shafi`i jumped from a statement of the status of 'probability' to a statement of the status of certainty without giving proper proofs to enable the probable view to achieve the status of certainty. This is unacceptable in any scientific discourse." 16
The seven oft repeated verses are verses from Surah Fatiha which are repeated with each rakah during each of the prayers. However, by Shafi's logic these would be two different things although we know that Al Fatiha is not a separate entity from the Qur'an but is contained within the Qur'an - just as Wisdom is contained in the Qur'an.
This is the same wisdom mentioned here:

The answer to this question is direct and simple: the same way prayer had been maintained before the compilation of hadith; by tradition and custom. It is not as though all prayer stopped after Muhammad died in 632 A.D.
Qur'an 2:135 "[In part] Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Abraham, the upright, and he was not one of the polytheists."
And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground."
So based on the Qur'an's teachings, the answer to the question "how do we pray?" is simply - to Allah alone.
Here's the dilemma, the Qur'an states that it is complete and explains everything.
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
"Narrated Humran: (the slave of 'Uthman) I saw 'Uthman bin 'Affan asking for a tumbler of water (and when it was brought) he poured water over his hands and washed them thrice...then he washed his face and forearms up to the elbows thrice, passed his wet hands over his head and washed his feet up to the ankles thrice."
Which one do we follow? These are all graded Sahih (good, authentic).
“Do they not ponder on The Qur’ān? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.” (Qur’ān 4:82)
Here's another example, regarding where to place one's hands during Qiyam (standing positon).
(Ibn Abi Shaiba Vol. 1 Pg. 390 The chain of narrators is authentic, Atharus Sunan)
Ash-Shawkani said, there is nothing in this chapter thats more authentic than the Hadith of Waa’il ibn Hajar. Classed as Sahih by al-Albaani in Tahqiyq Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah (479) also in Al-Bayhaqi.
As far as the children and the grandchildren of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) are concerned, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) never held his hands on his belly/chest while praying.22
Before the hadith were the main source of Sunnah, Imam Malik of Medina would base his Sunnah on the practices of the people of Medina where Muhammad lived. Imam Malik, regarding the clasping of hands, “I don’t know of that in the obligatory prayer”.23
Al-‘Allamah Muhammad Hassan Najafi says in Jawahir al-Kalam: “It was said about ‘Umar that when they brought him the prisoners from the non-Arabs (‘Ajam), they did Takkatuf (placing right over left) in front of him, so he asked about it and they told him that they did this as a sign of submission in front of their Kings, so he saw that it was good to do it for Allah in prayer.
Al-‘Allamah Najm-ul-Deen al-Tibsi says in Al-Irsaal wal-Takkatuf bayn al-Sunnah wal-Bid’ah pg.18-19:
There is evidence that this position of holding hands on the chest in prayer is a very ancient Persian tradition. Many statues of priests standing in that position have been discovered in the area of Mesopotamia. It was a sign of respect.

So what did scholars did when faced with of all of the variations and contradictions in the supposed sunnah and Sahih "authentic" hadith literature, is say that all of these (contradictory) practices are 'permissible.' This distracts from the original question as to whether the Prophet Muhammad actually prayed one particular way or another.
The bottom line is that if Muslims wanted to record how to pray for future believers, they would have simply had to pen a prayer book so the practice wouldn't be forgotten and then ask muslims to follow it, not because the instructions come from the heavens, with divine authority but rather for the sake of uniformity and common practice. (Essentially all Muslims learn prayer from personal instruction or from prayerbooks anyway). Further, even if hadith were 'needed' for prayer how does that validate all the other nonsense, the impossible prophecies, fantasy and irrelevant rules and minutiae contained in the hadith?
The Prophet said "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease."
The Prophet ﷺ would take so much care to seclude himself that Al-Mughīrah ibn Shu’bah said, “I was travelling with the Prophet. When he needed to relieve himself, he went far away from me." Tirmidhi 20.
But this never stopped the hadith narrators.;..and the contradictions continue...
Qur'an 4:105 "Surely We have revealed the Book to you with the truth that you may judge between people by means of that which Allah has taught you; and be not an advocate on behalf of the treacherous."
"Indeed I am leaving two things among you, to which if you hold yourself, you will never astray: the book of Allah and my ahl al-bayt (household), my 'itra (family). [Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, hadith:3876]

We read in 53:4 the words: "Inn huwa ila wahyun yuha" 53:4. Which is translated as "It is but a revelation that is revealed" or "it is but an inspiration being inspired." The word "huwa" (it) is a key word in this verse. The word 'it' in English does denote a gender. The word 'it' could refer to a masculine or a feminine noun equally. However, in Arabic the word "huwa" refers to the masculine, while the word 'hiya' refers to the feminine. The word "huwa" in this verse refers to the Quran which is masculine in gender.
"take what the messenger gives you and abstain from what he forbids you-"
is referring to the booty of war recovered which the messenger was to distribute to those in need. It's not referring to a book of his alleged sayings and actions. We also know this is true because he didn't give us the hadith. They weren't mentioned in the Qur'an except to say the Qur'an was the best of hadith or that after the Qur'an what hadith would we believe? There is not a single hadith in current existence that anyone can point to which was clearly authorized by Muhammad.
"One difference between history and imaginative literature ... is that history neither anticipates nor satisfies our curiosity, whereas literature does." [Guy Davenport, "Wheel Ruts," 1996]
So if this is so clear and obvious, why do so many muslims and the overwhelming number of Islamic Scholars adhere to the Sunni doctrines and dogma?
The answer to this question is rooted in the political dynamics in which Sunni Islam arose. This dates back to the period of the Early Abbasid Empire (9th Century) around two hundred years after Muhammad's death. As with many empires, explorations into nature and science yielded many incredible technological advances beneficial to the ruling administration. The Haruwn Al- Rashid, the fifth Abbasid Caliph employed scholars to translate Greek, Chinese, Sanskrit and Persian works in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Astronomy, Philosophy, Geography, and other disciplines into Arabic. With these works, Al Rashid built his imperial library. Over time the center of the empire, Baghdad, became a haven for scholars from all over the world. The quest for scientific achievements accelerated during the reign of Al Ma'mun, the seventh Abbasid ruler. He converted Baghdad's imperial library into 'The House of Wisdom", and thus established a formal center of learning. Well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship, al-Ma'mun promoted the 'Translation Movement', the flowering of learning and the sciences in Baghdad, and the publishing of al-Khwarizmi's book now known as "Algebra". As time passed the accumulation of knowledge flourished greatly throughout the realm.

As mentioned above the Mu'tazilites were the primary collective school of thought during this early period of Abbasid rule. They were influenced by Greek rationalism and the philosophy of Aristotle in particular in terms of using logic to discover truth. The Mu'tazilites maintaned the importance of man's creative free will, the unity of Allah and the rational understanding of the Qur'an.
In the year 833AD, Al Ma'mun, a scholar himself, impressed by the Mu'tazila doctrine and intending to centralize religious authority in the caliphate, tried to impose Mutazilism as the official creed of his realm. To this end, he imposed minha (an inquisition), under which those who refused to profess their allegiance to Mu’tazilism were punished by flogging and imprisonment.
Although being banished, beaten, imprisoned, and tortured for years, Ibn Hanbal outlasted three khalifs, eventually becoming a popular folk hero because of the strength of his convictions. The minha caused upheaval in Baghdad, and in 847, the new Caliph, Al Mutawakkil seeking popular support for his rule, let Ibn Hanbal out of prison and supported increasingly popular Sunni doctrines. As noted by Jonathan Brown,
"[Mutawakkil] brought the leading Sunni scholars out of prison and sent them to the great cathedral mosques of Baghdad. There they narrated hadiths to the crowds, reciting their full isnads back in time through the chains of great scholars to the Messenger of Allah...Although they began as a small conservative and ideologically xenophobic network of scholars obsessed with collecting and evaluating Hadith, the Sunni mantra of the primacy of 'revealed text' over reason would attain a paramount place among the populations of cities like Baghdad.---Seated in sprawling mosques in Baghdad, Isfahan and Samarkand, narrating the words of the prophet to their enraptured audiences, the Sunni scholars had terrifying popularity among the masses." 27
Ultimately, there was a backlash against Mutazilism which was now associated with the cruelties of the minha. Yet, over time though the Abbasid Empire began to destabilize. But this did not hinder the intellectual process. Since education and art had become part of the fabric of Islam, many of the powerful regional dynasties continued their patronage of scholars. As a result, brilliant intellectuals emerged all over the Islamic world. Among them was Al Farabi, a scientist,philosopher, cosmologist, mathematician, music scholar and jurist who wrote in the fields of political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and logic. Ibn Haytham, the father of optics and the modern scientific method who was also a philosopher, theologian, physicist, astronomer, and mathematician. Many of the great minds of the islamic golden age were also fierce critics of the literal interpretation of the Qur'an. For example Al Biruni, who calculated that the earth revolved around the sun and rotated on its axis, challenged the literal creed by Ibn Hanbal by insisting that it was essential to question everything including from religion to philosophy.
In 1011, the twenty fifth Abbasid Caliph, Al Qadir condemned critical thought and ordered his subjects to distance themselves from the philosophers and free thinkers of the Mutazila. Al Qadir outlawed the Mutazila creed and endorsed the theology of the Ashari as well as the jurisprudence of Ibn Hanbal. This is despite the fact that Allah through Muhammad in the Quran requires the faithful to think and reflect. Historians believe that the decree by Qadir was based on the unstable political situation. He believed that the Ashari predestination would stabilize the realm and make the common folk more content with the injustices, famine and corrupt authorities because these were supposedly part of "Allah's plan." Whereas the Mutazilites asserted of the primacy of human free will which inspires critical thought, which Al Qadir believed tended to incite rebellions and political unrest. To enforce his policy Al Qadir passed a law of apostasy, making it easier to condemn and punish dissidents, skeptics and minorities. Muslim rulers altered the curricula of state regulated (Madrassas) schools. Under these circumstances the Mutazila teachings gradually disappeared from the educational system while the Ashari sources focusing on Shariah law, Fiqh, Arabic, Hadith scholarship, grammar, Quranic recitation, etc., became the basis of mainstream Sunni Islam. Al Qadir's reign lasted fifty years.
The Mutazila had been banned for political reasons, but pockets of Mutazila still existed all over the muslim world. This was a time of confusion and political fragmentation in the Muslim world.
People were in need of divine revelation. And Asharite Al Ghazali stepped up to the forefront. He believed that violence could not subdue the rival Mutazila school. It required the battle of intellect. As such in one of his most acclaimed works, "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" Al Ghazali argued that rational thought was incompatible with Islamic teachings. Scientific study useful as long as it was pursued for religious purposes. Religious studies he considered paramount because the brought people closer to Allah. He supported reason only to the extent he could use it as an instrument to undermine his opponents. His work sealed the attitudes the attitudes towards science in the Islamic world. Academics considered him the most influential figure in Islam after Muhammad. He further fostered conservative, literal Ashari beliefs into the mainstream culture of Islam.

Centuries earlier the Mu'tazila had lit the flame of enlightenment and had paved the way for a vibrant and innovative community of scholars. Some of the greatest minds in the world came from this movement. They demonstrated the potential for the seemingly boundless capacity of the human mind for learning, ingenuity, growth and creativity. But following Ghazali, in the Islamic world, the human mind was stifled and only the literal words of the Qur'an were to be studied ...but not their implications. It is key to note that this outcome was largely the result of political considerations.
The relationship between state and religious authority can sometimes be obscure. The political authorities supported traditionalist thought in order to subdue the population and keep them from thinking, while the conservative scholars in alliance with the authorities increasingly regulated almost every aspect of their behavior through the Sunnah.

"We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth from whatever source it comes to us, even if it is brought to us by former generations and foreign peoples. For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than the truth itself."
From this point on (ca.1200), students of these traditionalist orthodox schools were taught "mainstream" Islam without ever being taught how this version became mainstream. As pointed out by Albert Hourani in The History of the Arabs:
"Those who studied fiqh in the Madrassa also studied the basic tenets of religious belief, although the process by which they had evolved and the ways in which they could be defended do not seem to have played a large part in the curriculum. By the time the system of schools was fully grown, the great discussions through which the Sunni creed has been defined had largely come to an end." 29
So over time it was assumed that Sunni Islam was the official standard of Islam, although for over 300 years after the death of Muhammad it had not been.
Limiting Human Thought
Sunni Muslims are responsible for closing the minds of a large segment of humanity for over 1000 years. They have done this through a number of means. Besides effectively limiting study and investigation among muslims to so-called "religious" matters as noted above, I will point out four additional doctrines (among many others) that stifle the thought of those who follow the way of Sunni Muslims, all of which are far off base from anything Muhammad taught in the Qur'an. Keep in mind this is all part of Sharia or a legal system that has become an essential component of orthodox Islam although there is no mention of such a legal system of Sharia in the Qur'an or during Muhammad's time. These doctrines came about two hundred years or so after the Islam in the Qur'an had been completed.
Qur'an 5:3
"This day have I perfected for you your diyn ('religion') and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a diyn."
Keep in mind most of Sunni Islam was invented by jurists who were working with the caliphate to uniformly apply a legal system on the populace of its dynastic territory. Somehow this body of law became identified as synonymous with the 'religion' (diyn) or with 'Islam' itself.
In Arab culture, in pre-Islamic practices and in the developments that followed the birth of Islam during the first century AH., 'Ijma῾ was in fact a widespread tribal custom in pre-Islamic Arab society, a “living tradition,” to which clan leaders referred to in order to ensure approval of their decisions and to determine collective action. Over the course of that period, ijma῾ was admitted first of all as a practice that had no real legal formulation: As observed by George Hourani “It is probable that neither the Qur᾽ân nor any genuine Tradition contains such a formulation.” It is only in the second century AH (eighth century CE), with the development of the legal theory of fîqh (the science of Islamic jurisprudence), that the fûqaha established a legitimate and legal foundation for ijma῾ as the third source of law. 32
So basically Ijma is saying that whatever the scholars say is law is, in fact, law and Muslims must follow it. But where do they get the authority to say this?
Imam Shafi was once asked this question. He was asked for a quote from the Qur'an to support this doctrine. His response was that he needed three days time to think. After three days all he could come up with was Qur'an 4:115 "And whoever opposes (acts hostilely toward) the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination." This usage is hardly adequate or pertinent on it's face and there's no need (for sake of brevity) to explain why. But of course the hadith can come to the rescue! And thus, the most used quote is below.
“Verily Allah will not make my Community — or Muhammad’s Community — agree on error, and Allah’s hand is with the largest Congregation.” 33
"My Community shall never agree upon misguidance, therefore, if you see divergences, you must follow the greater mass or larger group.” 34
It is important to highlight that for most Sunnis once scholars of the earlier generations have decided on a matter the average believer has no authority to read the material and come up with his own understanding on anything in the Qur'an. One is obligated to follow the majority. But what does Allah say clearly in the Qur'an about following the majority?
Qur'an 6:116 "And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they only lie."
The Closing of Ijtihad - Ijtihad is the use of discretion, reasoning or creative thought in circumstances not directly addressed by the Qur'an [or the Sunnah]. During the early period, ijtihad referred to the exercise of one's discretionary opinion (ra'y) on the basis of the knowledge of the precedent (‘ilm). As the practice of ijtihad transformed over time, it became the religious duty of a mujtahid to conduct legal rulings for the Muslim society. Mujtahid is defined as a Muslim scholar that has met certain requirements including a strong knowledge of the Qur'an, Sunna, and Arabic, as well as a deep understanding of legal theory and the precedent; all of which allows them to be considered fully qualified to practice ijtihad. Around the beginning of the 10th century, most Sunni jurists argued that all major matters of religious law had been settled, allowing for taqlid (تقليد), "blindly following the established legal precedents and traditions," to take priority over ijtihād (اجتهاد). Over time, individuals’ qualifications to exercise ijtihād were organized into ranks ranging from the absolute mujtahid, who was bound by no precedent and free to develop his own interpretive principles, to the absolute muqallid (“follower,” “layperson”), who was required to follow authoriative jurists unquestioningly.
This was part of the Jurisprudence created by Imam Shafi. Thus, as observed by Kassim Ahmad,
"To solve this problem Shafi came up with his neat little idea to freeze everything as it were. In other words, he came to the view that all opinions existing at that time would be acceptable, but nothing more than that – no new thinking could be allowed. The status quo would be set in stone with no possibility of new participants. Thus the idea of ijma' first and ijtihad later was crystallized and given an official authority. Conformity became the norm. This was followed by the passivity and blind obedience that had to be fostered to maintain this conformity. The conformity and the passivity soon fused together to breed the pessimism and the fatalism which is a natural result of dead intellect."
With the victory and general acceptance of Shafi`i's jurisprudential theory where the hadith was given a position of almost equal importance with the Quran (the formula is "second primary source"), the use of creative thought or ijtihad for all practical purposes was abolished. This came to be known later as `the closing of the door of ijtihad' and the beginning of the regime of taqlid or blind imitation of the great masters, a period beginning from about the fourteenth century till the end of the nineteenth or beginning of the twentieth centuries AD.
Finally, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that these matters are not about what the Qur'an and Sunnah does address which would plausibly be the jurisdiction of religious scholars. But now they are saying that they have the authority to make decisions for people relating to matters the Qur'an (or "sunnah") doesn't even address.
Taqlid -
Taqlid literally means "to follow (someone)", "to imitate". In Islamic legal terminology it means to follow a mujtahid in religious laws and commandment as he has derived them. The person who performs taqlid is termed muqallid. It is the the unquestioning acceptance of the legal decisions of another without knowing the basis of those decisions. Many Sunnis believe they are obligated to forgo their own thinking for that of another. In the third Islamic century (9th century CE) and subsequent centuries, with the emergence of legal schools formed around some of the most significant scholars, it came to be widely believed that all important questions of law had been dealt with and that the right of independent interpretation had been withdrawn for future generations. Henceforward, all were to accept the decisions of the early authorities—i.e., to exercise taqlīd toward them. This doctrine is usually expressed as “the closing of the gates of ijtihād.” 37 So under this scheme lay people (muqalid) were not allowed to engage the sources of Islamic doctrine at all and the scholars transitioned from engaging with the sources of Islamic thought directly, to engaging solely with the opinions and standard texts of their respective schools of thought madhabs (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Hanbali).
They basically took the Qur'an, its interpretation and its meaning from the hands of the faithful and also tried to replace it with hadith.
"Any careful reading of the Quran and any serious discussion would definitely point out the errors of the hadith. So, how did the ulama handle this potential threat to their hadith? Very simple. They sought to cut off all intellectual discussion and inquiry in Islam. They came up with the not-too-original but effective idea that only the ulama, the priestly class, would be allowed to handle all matters pertaining to the religion. They would teach people that they were the inheritors of the Prophet's mission.38 Despite the fact that Islam never allowed any priesthood, the ulama would go on to successfully set up not only a priestly class but a whole hierarchy of priests."
The idea was to cut off all rational thought and reason as was being advocated by the natural philosophers and science minded of the time.

But the actual Qur'an is a book of science, deep wisdom and nature.
What does it say about investigation into the how-ness of Allah's creation? Any plain reading of the Qur'an flatly contradicts what the Sunni Hadith Scholars have been trying to get their followers to believe. The contention of the Hadith scholars was that scientific investigations would never reveal theological truth or insight into the nature of Allah. But the Qur'an is asking us to do just that. We, of course, will never have complete understanding and grasp of Allah, but every investigation into the wonders of the universe reveal even more about his majesty, expansiveness and infinite wisdom than written words could ever inspire.
Conclusion
And this has had devastating, dangerous effects. Let's look at the punishment for Apostasy (commonly defined as the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or in deed.")
Yet, to this day in Saudi Arabia and a few other countries, the law by consensus of the jurists is that 'Islam' imposes the death penalty on apostates. And apostasy law and the death penalty are actively enforced in Saudi Arabia.
The phenomenon of priests and scholars taking the simple and pure commandments of Allah and building immense, detailed structures of additional traditions, customs and formal laws has a history. The scriptures record prophets continually warning against the inclination of men inventing their own concepts and over-pious traditions on top of the clear, simple guidance and wisdom given by the prophets.
Isaiah 29:13 "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."
Isa (Jesus) addressed the same problem in his encounter with the Pharisees and scribes.
Mark 7:5-9
"Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
"They have taken their doctors of law (scholars) and their monks as Lords besides Allah...
O you who believe! most surely many of the doctors of law and the monks eat away the property of men falsely, and turn (them) from Allah's way; and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah's way, announce to them a painful chastisement."
It is clear that Muhammad never intended Islam to be an enterprise under the authority of scholars and doctors of law. But that nevertheless is exactly what happened. That is, if one calls the religion of the Jurists ...Islam. True Islam however appears to be something quite different. What is true Islam? It is not defined by five pillars. The Qur'an doesn't mention any structure with five pillars called Islam. In fact the only mention of pillars relates the structure of the universe which functions without any pillars that can be seen.
Quran 13:2

Muhammad was trying to express the principle of Tawhiyd (Oneness). This was the overwhelming understanding he received in his enlightenment. This has been mistakenly translated as monotheism, but rather Muhammad was trying to relate an ancient understanding, that 'all is one.' All the gods are actually One, there is unity in the diversity in nature, and we as human beings are all one with each other. All is bound together. He called this oneness 'Allah'; the ultimate reality.
Qur'an 38:5
Muhammad made it clear that he was not to be the focal point of Islam. Students have a natural tendency to focus their devotion on their spiritual teacher. The mark of a true teacher is that he will redirect that devotion to its source. Allah is mentioned in the Qur'an 2,584 and Muhammad is mentioned by name in the Qur'an 4 times. Islam is about the the oneness of Allah; the infinite and the indivisible.
This encourages the understanding that the inner self is the Divine's infinite self. There is no other self other than the Divine's infinite being. This is the ground of our being; Peace.
At the root of the word Islam in Arabic is the word 'Salaam' (Peace). From it's root tongue, Ge'ez, sälam (ሰላም) it means "whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish". It is the same as in ancient Hebrew, where the verb shalam literally means to make whole or complete.
This Peace is also Allah. It is one of his attributes or qualities.
Qur'an 59:232
"He who knows his own self, knows his Lord."41

It is not something meant to be imposed or forced on any one, that is the way of oppression.
Part 2.
7. Alfred Guillaume, Islam (1954).
9. Taqyid al-‘ilm P 29-31, Musnad Ahmad vol. 3 P 12, 21, 39, Sunan al-Darimi vol:1.
18. Irving Zeitlin, "The Historical Muhammad", Polity Press, (2007).
19. Bulugh al-‘Arab fi Ahwal al-Arab, Muhammad Shukri al-Alusi, Vol 1, p 121-122, Muslim.
20. FALASHA ANTHOLOGY
23. The Maliki Argument for not Clasping the Hands in Salat, By Abdullah bin Hamid Ali. http://lamppostedu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/SADL_1.pdf
34. Ibn Majah (2:1303 #3950) Ahmad narrates it mawquf through three sound chains to Abu Umama al-Bahili and Ibn Abi Awfa. Bayhaqi in al-Madkhal narrates something similar from Ibn `Abbas.