Does GOD Almighty deceive?

Rebuttal to Sam Shamoun’s article

A Series of Answers to Common Questions

http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/does_god_deceive.htm

I will be just dealing with a very small part of this article. The small part is where he attacks Allah. As for the rest of his article I could care less to whether Sam believes his God deceives or does not believe. The fact of the matter is that Sam does believe Yahweh does deceive as I will quote something Shamoun said. Anyway let us proceed.

He wrote:

The Quran clearly teaches, both implicitly and explicitly, that Allah is a deceiver, and even brags that he is the best deceiver of them all. See for instance these articles:

http://answering-islam.org/Authors/Wood/deceptive_god.htm <../Authors/Wood/deceptive_god.htm>

http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/preserved-crucifixion.htm <preserved-crucifixion.htm>

http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/command_evil.htm <../Quran/Contra/command_evil.htm>

http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/god.htm <god.htm>

In response to these charges, Muslims oftentimes point to certain biblical passages in order to turn the tables on Christians. They hope that by citing specific biblical verses which seem to teach that Yahweh is also a deceiver this will then justify the Quranic portrait of Allah being a schemer and liar. The passages that Muslims often appeal to are Ezekiel 14:9-10 and 20:25-26.

There are at least a couple of problems with the Muslim logic. First, the only thing this would prove is that neither Yahweh of the Bible nor Allah of the Quran is worthy of being viewed or worshiped as God. It does nothing to justify the Quran’s picture of God.

My Response:

Since one of the links Shamoun posts is an article I have already dealt with, I will merely quote from the rebuttal and take note of what I quote, because you will see for yourself that Sam believes his own God does in fact deceive.

ARGUMENT: 1

AUTHOR OF EVIL

The Holy Bible teaches that God cannot be tempted by evil and neither tempts anyone with evil; evil being understood as referring to immorality and sin. James 1:13 (c.f. Psalm 5:4-5; Habakkuk 1:13)

Yet, the Quran teaches that Allah is the author of evil:

And (the unbelievers) schemed and planned, and Allah schemed also, and the best of schemers is Allah. S. 3:54

Remember how the unbelievers schemed against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or to slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They scheme and plot, but the best of schemers is Allah. S. 8:30

The term for scheme in Arabic is makara which denotes one who is a deceiver, one who is conniving, a schemer. It is always used in a negative sense. Allah is thus seen as the best of deceivers, the premiere schemer and conniving one.

This is not simply a Christian perspective but one thoroughly endorsed by Muslim theologians as well.

For example Dr. Mahmoud M. Ayoub in his book, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II The House of Imran, brings up the question of "how the word makr (scheming or plotting), which implies deceitfulness or dishonesty, could be attributed to God." (Ibid. [1992 State University of New York Press, Albany], p. 165)

After listing several Muslim sources he quotes ar-Razi as arguing that "scheming (makr) is actually an act of deception aiming at causing evil. It is not possible to attribute deception to God. Thus the word is one of the muttashabihat [multivalent words of the Quran]." (Ibid., p. 166)

In fact the Quran furnishes plenty of examples on some of the methods Allah adopts in devising evil:

Remember in thy dream Allah showed them as a few: if he had showed them to thee as many, ye would surely have been discouraged, and ye would surely have disputed in your decision: but Allah saved you: for He knoweth well the (secrets) of (all) hearts. S. 8:43

Allah is said to have shown the opposing fighting forces as few to Muhammad since if he had shown them as they actually were, the Muslims would have been afraid to fight. Hence, Allah had to use deception in order to encourage the Muslims to fight in his cause.

And when We desire to destroy a city, We command its men who live at ease, and they commit ungodliness therein, then the Word is realized against it, and We destroy it utterly. S. 17:16

Allah commands men to sin in order to destroy them completely.

They (Jinns- demon spirits) worked for him (Solomon) as he desired ... then when We decreed death upon him, nothing showed them his death except a little creeping creature of the earth, which gnawed away at his staff. And when he fell the Jinns saw clearly how, if they had known the unseen, they would not have continued in the humiliating penalty (of work). S. 34:13-14

Allah deceived the Jinns into working for Solomon by preventing the latter's death from being disclosed to them, otherwise they would have stopped their work.

Allah also deceived both Christians and Jews into thinking that Jesus was crucified when in fact

"it was so made to appear unto them", seeing that he never was crucified or killed. S. 4:157

According to S. 9:51, nothing befalls Muslims except what Allah has ordained. And in S. 14:4, we are told,

"Allah leads astray whomsoever He will and guides whomsoever he will."

And,

"Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the one who follows the right way; and whomsoever He causes to err, these are the losers. And certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and the men; ... Whomsoever Allah causes to err, there is no guide for him; and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on." S. 7:178-

179, 186

"If thy Lord had so willed, He could have made mankind one People: but they will not cease to differ. Except those on whom thy Lord hath bestowed His Mercy: and for this did He create them: and the Word of thy Lord shall be fulfilled: ‘I will fill Hell with Jinns and men all together.’" S. 11:118-119

Not only does Allah guide people astray, but also has created men specifically for hell. To make matters worse, he even ordains the evil one commits as we have already seen in S. 17:16 and further clarified by this Muslim tradition:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle as saying:

Verily Allah has fixed the very portion of adultery which a man will indulge in, and which he of necessity must commit (or there would be no escape from it)." Sahih Muslim #6421, 6422

To even imagine that Allah causes adultery is not only horrendous but disqualifies him from being the God of Moses.

RESPONSE

Shamoun's main argument is that Allah deceives or schemes on his enemies. I for one see no evil in that, there is difference when you deceive some one well that has done no harm to you, or when you deceive some one to cause them harm, such as Satan. However when you read the verses Shamoun posted, in which Allah deceived his ENEMIES, and the ENEMIES of the prophets, it was to derail their plans, their evil plans. I see no evil in that; Allah is helping out his prophets, the good people by getting one over the bad guys who are trying to do something bad. Allah does not deceive good people to harm them as Satan does, Allah just plots and plans on his enemies when they plan and plot against him, such as to kill his prophet or harm the Muslims.

Now let us quote the verses Shamoun posted on which Allah supposedly deceived Muslims:

I find it funny that Shamoun is going for whatever he can get. To start off, Shamoun claims that Allah is deceiving Muslims and so on. However so, Shamoun is making up an argument as if to say that Allah deceived the Muslims so harm could come to them, when in fact you read the verse and you get no sense of that at all. The verse is clear, the enemies were much more than the Muslims, so if the Muslims saw that, they would have been discouraged, many would flee, and many with argue with one another on what to do. This would cause a lot of deaths to the Muslim side; however so, Allah comforted them, and made it appear to the Muslims that they were not that many, and that the Muslims were indeed the stronger side. Allah was simply helping the Muslims out, Allah simply wanted his believers to triumph over his enemies, so he comforted them and as a result the Muslims were victorious. Had Allah not comforted them something terrible would have happened, and the Muslims would have lost, and the enemies of God would have prevailed, is that what Shamoun wants? The fact is, the only true deceiver here is Shamoun, he makes arguments out of nothing and tries to make a situation seem very bad, he tries to show that Allah deceived the Muslims and misguided them as if to cause them harm and evil. However Shamoun forgets, Shamoun tries to show that this thing is evil, when in fact you look at it and you see no evil in it, Allah did not make the enemies number seem less to CAUSE HARM AND DEATH AMONG MUSLIMS, Shamoun is trying to liken Allah to satan, which he completely fails to do. Satan deceives to cause harm and send people to hell, I would like Shamoun to show me the evil that Allah caused when he actually comforted the Muslims and lead them to victory, I want Shamoun to show me the evil Allah intended to do on the Muslims. Shamoun has yet to show the evil, the verse shows anything but evil, it shows God helping the Muslims. The same goes with his previous verses in which Allah deceived HIS ENEMIES, I want to know the evil in that, Shamoun deceived his enemies who were plotting to kill his believers and prophets, where is the evil in that? I would like Shamoun to show it to me. Shamoun forgets, Satan deceives to cause harm and sin, Allah does not.

The next verse he posts:

And when We desire to destroy a city, We command its men who live at ease, and they commit ungodliness therein, then the Word is realized against it, and We destroy it utterly. S. 17:16

The verse has no evil in it, infact you are a liar and a true deciever in abusing the text. No where in the verse does Allah command the men to do evil and then destroy it.

017.016
YUSUFALI: When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.

PICKTHAL: And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation.

SHAKIR: And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandment to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction.

As you can see the main three translations say nuthing of what Shamoun is talking about!

The verses DONT SAY that Allah commands the men to live at ease and transgress so he destroys them, the verses say that when he destroys a town, or plans on destroying a town, he sends a command to the people who are living at ease and committing sins. HE SENDS A COMMAND TO THEM, meaning a prophet or a messenger or something to warn them, however they continue to commit sins, so then the command of destruction against them is allowed for they listened not and continued to sin. So Sam is the liar, the deceiver, he has exposed himself yet again.

The next verse Shamoun posts:

Shamoun once again tries to build a case, which he does not have. Allah was simply showing the arrogant jinn that they are nothing, and that it took a small worm to let them find out that Solomon had been dead. The jinn though themselves to be powerful, and were arrogant, and deceived a lot of men into taking them as Gods, so Allah was simply teaching the jinn of Solomon a lesson that they are like everyone else and are not smarter than God. Jinn are not demon spirits, there are devils among jinn, but not all jinn are devils.

Shamoun then states: Allah also deceived both Christians and Jews into thinking that Jesus was crucified when in fact "it was so made to appear unto them", seeing that he never was crucified or killed. S. 4:157

Allah deceived his enemies into thinking they killed Jesus, Allah once again showed that he is all powerful and is always one step ahead of them. The true deception is that of Christians and Paul who later went and made up stories that Jesus rose from the dead, and died for our sins, that is the true deception. There would have been no sin on Christians at the time who mourned for Jesus and believed he had died, the sin is when they started making things up. So in fact Shamoun is still being deceived by his own book in which it states that Jesus died and rose, when in fact he did neither.

According to S. 9:51, nothing befalls Muslims except what Allah has ordained. And in S. 14:4, we are told,

"Allah leads astray whomsoever He will and guides whomsoever he will."

There is nothing wrong in that, it is Allah's will if we convert or not, every one knows this, Allah is the one in command of all things, by the end of argument one I will show that even Shamoun admits that his God guides whom he will and misguides whom he wills, and is indeed the author of evil, in Shamoun's own words. Shamoun then posts:

Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the one who follows the right way; and whomsoever He causes to err, these are the losers. And certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and the men; ... Whomsoever Allah causes to err, there is no guide for him; and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on." S. 7:178-179, 186

There is no deception in that, whatever God wills is done, if he wills it not then that’s how it is. Do you disagree with that Shamoun? If you have a problem with those verses then this means several things happening in this world are not controlled by your God but outside his control and will, hence your God is not all-powerful. That is the consequence of disagreeing with those verses he posted. Everything is indeed God's will, if he chooses mercy for us, then it will happen, if not, then it will not, God is in control of everything which Shamoun obviously does not believe!

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle as saying:

Verily Allah has fixed the very portion of adultery which a man will indulge in, and which he of necessity must commit (or there would be no escape from it)." Sahih Muslim #6421, 6422

In other words the verses are claiming Allah is in control of all things, I will expose Shamoun that he even believes that. You will see for yourself that he believes that his God causes adultery and all evil. Quoting what Shamoun himself said in a previous article:

There is no difficulty at all with these passages, since God allowed Satan to incite David to number Israel, something which displeased the Lord.

The reason why this angered the Lord is that rather than trusting God, David was evidently placing his trust in the number of his people. Even David's commander-in-chief, Joab, was not totally pleased with the king's decision:

"But Joab said to the king, `May the LORD your God increase the number of the people a hundred fold, while the eyes of my lord king can still see it! But why does my lord the king want to do this? But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army..." 2 Sam. 24:3-4a NRSV

Evidently, David had purposed within his heart to number Israel, something which the Lord was aware of. Realizing this, the Lord in his anger moved David through the agency of the Devil to act upon his heart's desire.

Hence, although Satan was the direct cause, God was also indirectly responsible since the Devil can only do that which God allows him to do.

Hilarious indeed! So Shamoun attacks something, which he himself believes in, which is God is in control of all things! Note Shamoun admits that the devil cannot do anything that God does not allow him to do, meaning it is God who is indirectly involved when the devil convinces you into having illegal sex which means God is the one doing it. So every evil thing the devil does, it is in fact God doing it, as Shamoun admitted. This also means that everything we do is only if God wills it or allows it, meaning he is in charge and whatever we do it is in fact by his grace or his allowance, so hence why does Shamoun have a problem with God guiding some and not guiding some others? It his own will, something you perfectly agree with! This shows how ignorant Shamoun truly is, and how inconsistent he is and how he lies and deceives. So hence as you can see for yourself, Shamoun believes God is in-directly or directly in control of EVERYTHING, meaning Shamoun admits God is the author of evil and all bad things because he allows it to be and happen, so hence Shamoun's argument falls flat on his face, and Shamoun must now abandon Christianity because the argument he uses against Islam to discredit it can be applied to his own religion, as he himself showed, so hence he must leave Christianity! If he does not then every one is a witness to what a hypocrite he is. Thank you Shamoun for exposing yourself yet AGAIN.

That is the end of argument one, as you saw Shamoun's arguments were made of nothing, he tried to make something seem bad when it wasn’t. You all also saw how inconsistent Sam is, and what a liar he is, as the arguments he uses against Islam are in fact also against Christianity as he himself admitted it in a previous article. So much for Allah being evil and deceiving, another argument, another rebuttal.

(END OF REBUTTAL)

Just incase the readers did not see where Sam believes Yahweh does in fact deceive, I will quote part of the rebuttal again and this time focus on this point alone, so here is Sam believing his God does in fact deceive:

There is no difficulty at all with these passages, since God allowed Satan to incite David to number Israel, something which displeased the Lord.

Hence, although Satan was the direct cause, God was also indirectly responsible since the Devil can only do that which God allows him to do.

(END OF REBUTTAL)

So as you saw, Sam believes God is directly and indirectly in control of everything, hence nothing happens unless God wills it. So this means if some one deceives some one else, it is in fact God indirectly doing the deceiving since he allows the man to commit the act of deceiving. So the fact is Sam believes Yahweh does indeed deceive, so the case is closed.