I had posted some replies to a Muhammadan named Ibn Issam in the comments section to a guest post on Paul Williams’ blog concerning the misuse of Numbers 23:19 by Muhammadan polemicists to undermine the Incarnation https://bloggingtheology.net/2016/09/22/god-is-not-a-human-being-or-a-mortal/, which Williams conveniently deleted. I have therefore decided to publish the assertions of this particular Muhammadan along with my reply.
Ibn Issam
Alhamdullah, we don’t have to rely on Numbers 23:19 to know that God is not a human or a mortal. In determining who or what is or isn’t God, Prophet Jesus cannot come close to passing the litmus test as laid out in the Holy Qur’an al-Kareem…….
“Say: He is Allah, The One and Only. “Allah, the Eternal, Absolute. “He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.” [Al-Qur’an 112:1-4]
Is it not true that Jesus did not know the hour (Mark 13:32; Matt. 24:36) or did he just forget?
“… my Lord never errs, nor forgets.” [Al-Qur’an 20:52]
MY REPLY
Actually, this is a boldfaced lie since the Quran contradicts itself in that it admits that the Muslim god does indeed forget. Here is Q. 20:52 again:
Said Moses, ‘The knowledge of them is with my Lord, in a Book; my Lord goes not astray, nor forgets – S. 20:52 Arberry
This passage is contradicted by the following texts, all of which plainly state that Allah forgets whatever he wants and whenever he wishes to do so:
Who took their religion for a sport and pastime, and whom the life of the world beguiled. So this day We have forgotten them even as they forgot the meeting of this their Day and as they used to deny Our tokens. 7:51 Pickthall
The hypocrites, both men and women, proceed one from another. They enjoin the wrong, and they forbid the right, and they withhold their hands (from spending for the cause of Allah). They forget Allah, so He hath forgotten them. Lo! the hypocrites, they are the transgressors. 9:67 Pickthall
Then taste you (the torment of the Fire) because of your forgetting the Meeting of this Day of yours, (and) surely! We too will forget you, so taste you the abiding torment for what you used to do. S. 32:14 Hilali-Khan
And it will be said: This day We forget you, even as ye forgot the meeting of this your day; and your habitation is the Fire, and there is none to help you. S. 45:34 Pickthall
In light of the foregoing, Allah obviously erred and forgot when he had Moses tell the Pharaoh that his Lord doesn’t go astray or forget.
However, there is a way for Muhammadans like Ibn Issam to reconcile this gross blunder on the part of their deity. Since Allah isn’t Moses’ Lord, but a false god, Q. 20:52 is therefore still correct since Moses wasn’t speaking about Allah. He was rather speaking of the true God of Abraham, Yahweh Elohim. Thus, even though Allah errs and forgets, Moses’ Lord does not!
The Muslim woes are far from over since the Arabic words la yadillu that are used in Q. 20:52 can also be rendered in the following manner:
He said ‘The knowledge of them is with my Lord in a Book; my Lord misleads not (la yadillu), nor forgets! Palmer
This too is another boldfaced lie since the Quran says Allah is the one who misleads and humiliates anyone he so desires:
Say (O Muhammad): “O Allah! Possessor of the kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and You endue with honour whom You will, AND YOU HUMILIATE WHOM YOU WILL. In Your Hand is the good. Verily, You are Able to do all things.” S. 3:26 Hilali-Khan
Then what is the matter with you that you are divided into two parties about the hypocrites? Allah has cast them back (to disbelief) because of what they have earned. Do you want to guide him whom Allah HAS MADE TO GO ASTRAY? And he whom Allah HAS MADE TO GO ASTRAY, you will never find for him any way (of guidance). S. 4:88 Hilali-Khan
And We sent not a Messenger except with the language of his people, in order that he might make (the Message) clear for them. Then Allah MISLEADS WHOM HE WILLS and guides whom He wills. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. S. 14:4 Hilali-Khan
And he whom Allah guides, he is led aright; but he whom HE SENDS ASTRAY for such you will find no Auliya’ (helpers and protectors, etc.), besides Him, and We shall gather them together on the Day of Resurrection on their faces blind, dumb and deaf, their abode will be Hell; whenever it abates, We shall increase for them the fierceness of the Fire. S. 17:97 Hilali-Khan
“… Thus Allah LEADS ASTRAY WHOM HE WILLS and guides whom He wills. And none can know the hosts of your Lord but He. And this (Hell) is nothing else than a (warning) reminder to mankind.” S. 74:31 Hilali-Khan
The Quran further says that there is no guide for the one whom Allah has misled:
A day when ye will turn to flee, having no preserver from Allah: and he whom Allah SENDETH ASTRAY, for him there is no guide. And verily Joseph brought you of old clear proofs, yet ye ceased not to be in doubt concerning what he brought you till, when he died, ye said: Allah will not send any messenger after him. Thus Allah DECEIVETH him who is a prodigal, a doubter. S. 40:33-34 Pickthall
What makes this all the more disturbing is that one of the so called beautiful names of Allah happens to be Al-Mudill, “The Misleader/The One who leads astray”!
Again, this either means that Allah lied or he must have forgotten that he does in fact mislead and deceive people. Or, as stated above, Q. 20:52 is not talking about Allah, but of Moses’ Lord. And seeing that Moses’ Lord is not Allah, it is therefore true that the God of Moses doesn’t deceive, mislead people or forget, even though Allah does so since Allah isn’t the true God worshiped by Moses. Muhammad’s lord is the spirit of antichrist who raised the prophet of Islam to mislead and deceive from the true God and his true revelation (cf. Matthew 7:15-20; 24:23-25; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15; Galatians 1:6-9; 1 John 2:22-23; 2 John 1:7-11).
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