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my final words to JaanReader comment on item: Is Allah God? Submitted by Lactantius (United Kingdom), Jul 22, 2005 at 19:18 I had intended to spend time dealing with Jaan's remark questioning my knowledge of Arabic, but will content myself in regarding it as a smokescreen, attempting to deflect attention from what the most authoritative Islamic sources say about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and his astonishing dismissal of the Sahi Hadith of Bukhari (Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughira al-Ja'fai 810-870 AD), who collected some 600,000 hadiths, only accepting 7,397 as authentic, but whatever he discarded, lots of what he kept, doesn't paint a glowing picture of Muhammad.Likewise, the Sirat literature of Ibn Ishaq (Muhammad Ibn Ishaq Ibn Yasar Ibn Khiyar, born 704AD, died 767 AD), who wrote Sirat Rasulullah, the earliest, most comprehensive and most important biography of Muhammad, which provides one of the most important sources of information about Muhammad's life, and the Tar'ikh ('history') of al-Tabari (Muhammad Ibni Jarir Abu Jafar Al-Tabari 838-923 AD), "who is today recognized as the father of Islamic History, and one of the greatest historians that the world has produced." (http://www.renaissance.com.pk/myletfor95.html ), because Jaan's attempted smokescreen, is dealt with effectively by his co-religionist Abdullah A, who intiguingly concluded, by asking Jaan whether he was lying ( the Islamic rule of 'Taqiyya') to "surely gain sawab" (meaning, "a gift from Allah in afterlife, based on your Islamic performances"(http://www.geocities.com/freedombangla/ramadanupd.htm) and these Islamic authorities (the Islamic "title-deeds"), clearly describe Muhammad as the archetypal Islamic terrorist. The morality of lying is one of the most confusing aspects of Islamic thought and, as a result, creates the impression that whether a person is truthful, or deceitful, depends entirely on the ethics of the situation, and Muhammad the prophet of Islam, treated truth and deception according to his own style of situational ethics, condoning, and actually permitting lying to further his goals, condoning lying and murder when it suited his purposes. It should come as no surprise therefore, that the Qur'anic Allah (whoever he is), is good at lying, and according to the Qu'ran, Allah schemes, "and is the best of schemers" Surah's 3:54 and 8:30 with the term for scheme in Arabic being 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. The God revealed in the printed Word of the Bible, and supremely in the living, loving Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ cannot lie however, that's right Jaan, He can't lie, or do anything else which as "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6) is contary to His Character:- "a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time," Titus 1:2 "............so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul............" Hebrews 6:18-19 Think about it Jaan, are there any things which the Qur'anic Allah can't do? could he will himself out of existence if he wanted to? could he amuse himself pretending to be the devil for a while if he wanted to? could he win an arm-wrestling contest against himself etc. etc? There are definitely things the God described in the Bible cannot do, and lying is one of them, He and the Qur'anic Allah cannot therefore be the same person. Period. Returning to Muhammad, "the model for all mankind, the exemplar," lets just look at his "perfect moral rectitude" referred to in the Sahi (authentic, genuine) Hadith of Bukhari, and the Qur'an In the night's stillness, far from the crowd and alone with the thoughts of his heart, a man prays confessing the truth he knows within his soul: "Oh Allah, I acknowledge and confess before You, all my sins, please forgive them, as no one can forgive sins except You. Forgive my mistakes, those done intentionally, or out of my ignorance, with or without seriousness. Oh Allah, forgive my sins and my ignorance, forgive my sins of the past and of the future, which I did openly or secretly. Forgive the wrong I have done, jokingly or seriously. I seek Your protection from all the evil I have done. Wash away my sins, and cleanse my heart, from all the sins as a white garment is cleansed from the filth, and let there be long distance between me and my sins, as You made the East and West far from each other." That prayer expressed a heart which understood the depth of sin in its soul. It acknowledges a nature within that is bent towards sin. And it reflects the desire to cleanse that depth of sin. We hear in that prayer, a man's struggle with sin. He asks forgiveness for his past and future sins, because he knows that as a normal man, he is going to sin. It is inevitable. He asks for forgiveness for things he has done intentionally, and unintentionally. He asks forgiveness for mistakes and sins, those done intentionally or unintentionally. He knows that the sins he committed are "evil", and confesses that to Allah. He does not make light of his sins. The sins he committed are "filth" in Allah's eyes. That prayer was prayed by Muhammad. It is a synthesis of his personal prayers found in Sahih Bukhari Volume 8: #s 335, 379, 407, and 408, Muhammad knew clearly he was a sinner; thus he makes his confession public. Over and over again he stated he was a sinner. The Qur'an he spoke identifies him as a sinner. Surah's 40:55, 48:2, and 47:19: "Therefore have patience; Allah's promise is surely true. Implore forgiveness for your sins, and celebrate the praise of your Lord evening and morning." Surah 40:55 "... so that Allah may forgive you your past and future sins, and perfect His goodness to you; ..." Surah 48:2 "So know (O Muhammad) that there is no Allah save Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy sin and for believing men and believing women. Allah knoweth (both) your place of turmoil and your place of rest." Surah 47:19 The Qur'anic word used in these verses for sin is "dhanb", or "thanb", depending on how one transliterates the word. It is used many times in the Quran. The Hughes Encyclopedic Dictionary of Islam defines the word as "a sin or a crime, or the charge of such". Clearly, the Quran identifies Muhammad as a sinner. It is definitely applied to Muhammad. "Dhanb" is translated as sin, crime, & fault. How does Allah deal with people who have committed dhanb? Allah - Obliterates them, Destroyed them, puts them in hellfire, gives them a grievous penalty, calls them to account, hits them with a violent tornado, hits them with a mighty blast, has the earth swallow them up, drowns them in water, punishes them and puts them in the agony of fire. Allah does all this to people who commit "dhanb". Does this sound like something Allah passes over as a minor "stumbling", "mistake", or "act of forgetfulness"? Of course not! It sounds like Allah is severely punishing people for their "dhanb". It sounds like Allah is really serious about it. Don't you agree Jaan? And remember, Muhammad committed "dhanb". Muhammad was told to ask forgiveness for his "dhanb". And Muhammad taught in the Qur'an that forgiveness of "dhanb" was required to get into Paradise. Otherwise, a person with unforgiven "dhanb" ends up in hell. Compare and contrast Muhammad the spotted sinner, with the spotless Lord Jesus Christ, who was without sin of any kind. It is a simple matter to prove from the Qur'an and the Bible, that the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely without sin through out His life. When the angel appeared to Mary, the Qur'an says that he told her "I am only a messenger of thy Lord that I may bestow on thee a faultless son" (Surah 19.19). The Arabic word for "faultless", zakiyya, implies that he was totally without sin. In the Bible there are numerous proofs of the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. Passages proving the point are: "For our sake he made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5. 21 "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin." Hebrews 4:15 "You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in in Him there is no sin."1 John 3:5 "He committed no sin, no guile was found on His lips." 1 Peter 2:22 The Lord Jesus Christ was never commanded to pray for forgiveness because He was faultless. We also never find Him, praying for any faults, wrongs and sins such as the Qur'an attributes in the verses quoted earlier, to Muhammad. He never wronged His soul, nor was He blameworthy. Instead the Qur'an emphasizes that he was entirely without sin and was faultless. We can therefore conclude by saying that the Qur'an teaches that of all men, the Lord Jesus Christ alone was sinless. Why should this be Jaan? The Bible teaches that "the wages of sin is death.............." Romans 6:23 but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, the author and distributor of peace, being completely sinless, although dying on the Cross, didn't stay dead, absolutely fittingly for a sinless Saviour "Who came into the world to save sinners" 1 Timothy 1:15 He "has done death to death," being resurrected to eternal life, because the grave couldn't hold Him, and death couldn't handle Him. Space precludes further comment Jaan, so I really must conclude by saying I am not ashamed of my message, nor of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the One about whom all God's prophets wrote. Through him, I have found salvation and anyone else who believes in Him and His finished work of redemption on the Cross will also be saved. "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--Jews first and also Gentiles. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by taking Him at His Word. As the Scriptures say, "It is through trusting God that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:16-17 Thank you Jaan for commenting on "striving for peace without violence," which in light of the recent London bombings by Islamic terrorists, and the shooting dead today by police of another wanabee Islamic homicide bomber on the London subway, points up the determination of "good" Muslims to emulate Muhammad the archetypal Islamic terrorist. In light of this, and with the continued threat of Islamic homicide bombers, I can do no other than try to follow the Biblical injunction to:- "Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible." Romans 12:18 and by the Grace of God, I will. Lactantius Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (2034) on this item
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