Who Really applies deceptions, lies, and distortions? That would be Answering-Islam

 

By

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, a new author on the debunked Answering-Islam who goes by the name of B.K. (Burger King?) has written an article against Abdullah Kareem. B.K. accuses Kareem of distorting texts, mis-interpreting things and making things up etc. The author calls this:  

 

The Amazing Scholarly Level of Islamic Apologists (http://./Responses/Osama/smith_scholarship.htm)

 

For easier reading, I will refer to B.K. as Burger King from now on. Now Burger King seems to be trying to say that Islamic apologetics is completely filled with distortions and mis-interpretations of text and so on, obviously this is an attempt by the author to make all Islamic apologists look bad, namely A.Kareem and Answering-Christianity. But what Burger King failed to do before writing that article, was go through his new site, had he gone through his site as he should have, he would see that it is in fact his very own site that applies deception, and distortion of texts, and mis-interpretations and taking out of context.

 

So therefore, I thought it would be nice of me, to show many examples of Answering-Islam's deliberate lies and distortions that they have done. Doing this will silence Burger King and his accusations, and will teach him something new, which is always good. I hope Burger King enjoys what I am about to post.

 

I will first start off with James Arlandson, he is notorious in lying about the Bible and Islam and I have exposed him on that on a number of occasions. Here is one example:

 

However, it should be pointed out, importantly, that God’s best is always to do good to people, and annihilation is not the sweep of the entire Old Testament; rather, this extreme decree is used only in exceptionally rare cases, especially concerning the Canaanites.(http://./Authors/Arlandson/allahs_wars.htm)

 

Note James makes the claim, that in the OT, God annihilating people is an exceptionally RARE case, meaning it is not something common and happens very little in the OT. That is an INTENTIONAL lie of James very own Bible, since the annihilation of people in the OT is not something RARE but something very common. If you do not believe me, then you judge for yourself:

 

Deuteronomy
Chapter 2

 

32-37

And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33 And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain. 36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us

 

Note in these verses alone James lie is completely destroyed. Note the text says the cities were destroyed, in the plural, this means that more than one city was destroyed, this alone shows that destroying people was not RARE. Had it been RARE you would expect that this happens around 5 times only. There is more:

 

Deuteronomy
Chapter 3

 

1-7

1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 3 So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. 6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves

These verses here also refute James, since as you can see, citieS were destroyed, in the plural, meaning more than one, put this with the other verses I quoted and you now have many cities being destroyed! How is this something rare????? Obviously James was intentionally lying, but to further expose him I shall quote MANY more cases:

 

Deuteronomy
Chapter 7

 

1-6

1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth

 

Numbers

Chapter 31

 

7-12

7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. 8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. 9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. 11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. 12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

 

Joshua
Chapter 6

 

17-27

17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD. 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. 22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. 24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

 

Ezekiel 9:5-7

 

"Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, "Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple." So they began by killing the seventy leaders. "Defile the Temple!" the LORD commanded. "Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!" So they went throughout the city and did as they were told."

 

Joshua
Chapter 10

 

28-43

28 And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho. 29 Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah: 30 And the LORD delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho. 31 And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it: 32 And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah. 33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining. 34 And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it, and fought against it: 35 And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish. 36 And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it: 37 And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein. 38 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it: 39 And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king. 40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. 41 And Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. 42 And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.

 

Isaiah 13:15-18

 

Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children.

 

Does this seem like something rare? Off course not! James was intentionally lying. Now people might say that James just made an honest mistake, such a response would be RUBBISH. On James Arlandsons own page on Answering-Islam, at the bottom it writes:

 

James M. Arlandson (PhD) teaches introductory philosophy and world religions at a college in southern California. He has published a book, Women, Class, and Society in Early Christianity <http://www.hendrickson.com/html/product/31811.trade.html> (Hendrickson, 1997). (http://./Authors/Arlandson/index.htm)

 

So as you can see, this man is no ordinary Christian, this man knows the Bible, so therefore he knew that this is something not RARE. Yet he lied and claimed that such incidents are very rare.

 

His lie does not end there, not only did James claim that this is something rare, but he went on to claim that this was used against the Canaanites mainly:

 

However, it should be pointed out, importantly, that God’s best is always to do good to people, and annihilation is not the sweep of the entire Old Testament; rather, this extreme decree is used only in exceptionally rare cases, especially concerning the Canaanites.(http://./Authors/Arlandson/allahs_wars.htm)

 

What James is trying to do here is try and make the claim that such destruction on people was mainly caused on the Canaanites mainly. This is another lie:

 

Jeremiah 51:20-26

"You are my battle-ax and sword," says the LORD. "With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. "As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem," says the LORD. "Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy," says the LORD. "I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out," says the LORD.

 

Does Babylon sound like Canaanites?

 

Zephaniah 2:12-15

 

"You Ethiopians will also be slaughtered by my sword," says the LORD. And the LORD will strike the lands of the north with his fist. He will destroy Assyria and make its great capital, Nineveh, a desolate wasteland, parched like a desert. The city that once was so proud will become a pasture for sheep and cattle. All sorts of wild animals will settle there. Owls of many kinds will live among the ruins of its palaces, hooting from the gaping windows. Rubble will block all the doorways, and the cedar paneling will lie open to the wind and weather. This is the fate of that boisterous city, once so secure. "In all the world there is no city as great as I," it boasted. But now, look how it has become an utter ruin, a place where animals live! Everyone passing that way will laugh in derision or shake a defiant fist

 

Are Ethiopians Canaanites?

 

To further expose this lie:

 

Deuteronomy
Chapter 7

 

1-6

1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth

 

In these verses alone we see that SIX other nations other than the Canaanites were to be wiped out! So much for James' lie.

 

James intentionally lied on these facts, and tried to deceive his reader into thinking that such cases in the OT are rare, and are mainly done one group of specific people. No one can say that James did an honest mistake, he knows the Bible, and is a scholar, and is writing for a major Apologetic site.

The distortions of James does not end there, he once again tries to trick his readers when writing:

 

Third, in the textual context of laying down the rules of warfare, the ancient Hebrews were commanded to offer peace to the pagan cities outside of the Promised Land of Canaan. But if these cities refused peace, then the Hebrews were to battle them (http://./Authors/Arlandson/allahs_wars.htm)

 

You see, James does not give the whole story. He claims that if people were offered peace, and accepted the peace, then there would be no warfare, nice simple rules of war. But sadly James does not tell his readers the rest of the story, so therefore I will do it for him, showing another stipulation of peace, something James failed to mention:

 

Deuteronomy 20: 10-15 :

10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. 12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

 

So note the part that James left out, another stipulation of peace is that the people become your slaves! So therefore the people have to also become your slaves, saying I want peace is not good enough. They must become your slaves, and if they do not, there is no peace. Not only that, the people have to pray triutaries to the army as well! So why didn’t James mention this to his readers? This is an obvious case of intentional distortion of what the Bible really says on making peace. James is GUILTY.

 

Let us move on, enough with this fake scholar, such deceit is disgusting and this shows the low level of Answering-Islam.

 

Let us move on to another writer, this time Dallas Roarke. He is guilty of grossly taking a verse out of context and making up his own interpretation:

 

If I were a Muslim I would wonder why Muslims put so many people to death simply because they did not want to believe in Mohammed as a prophet.

 

2:191 "And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you; persecution is more grievous than slaying. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight you there; then, if they fight you, slay them — such is the recompense of unbelievers" (Arberry) (http://./Authors/Roark/if_muslim.htm)

 

This is the classic case of taking a verse out of context to paint a false picture, very sad of Dallas and Answering-Islam. I will quote the verse in CONTEXT, which will expose Dallas' gross mis-interpretation and abuse of the text:

 

002.190
YUSUFALI: Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.

 

002.191
YUSUFALI: And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith.

 

002.192
YUSUFALI: But if they cease, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

 

Had Dallas quoted verse 90, and 92, he would have given the context and the real picture. But sadly he did not, he just gave verse 91 to make it seem that Muslims should go and kill people everywhere. As we see, once context is given, the verses are in SELF-DEFENSE, if people attack you, you attack them back and so on. And if they stop, you also stop. This is an intentional case of taking a verse out of context to give a false picture. Such distortions are very sad. I wonder what Burger King would have to say.

 

Let us move to another writer, Silas. Silas himself is guilty of distorting events, and making up his own meanings which is not even supported by the text, the text he does not even quote!

 

Here is one case:

 

Kab was a Jew. He hated Muhammad. Kab never lifted a weapon against Muhammad or any Muslim, he only voiced his opinion against Muhammad, and made up some unsavory poems about Muslim women. Muhammad saw him as a threat, and therefore had him murdered in the night. (<http://www..net/Silas/ashraf.htm> )

 

What a little sad liar this missionary is. He claims that the prophet Muhammad killed Kab for insulting him, and mocking Muslim women. From where does Silas get this information from? I have no idea, since he does not even quote any evidence of this, nor does he quote why Kab was killed! All Silas quoted was how Kab eventually got killed, very sad indeed. Since Silas was too afraid to quote the entire story, I will do it for him, by doing so we will expose Silas' intentional lie. Also no one can say Silas did an honest mistake, since Silas quotes from a book, which gave the reason, so it was right there for Silas, he simply chose to not quote it. But I will quote it for him, from another source which mainly uses Silas' source! :

 

The Life of the Prophet Muhammad volume III by Ibn Kathir.

 

THE KILLING OF KA’B B. AL-SHRAF, THE JEW

Ibn Ishaq stated, “ Ka’b b. al-Ashraf was of the Ta’I tribe, of the sub-tribe of Banu Nabhan, though his mother was of Banu al-Nadir. He received news of the deaths of those at Badr after the arrival of Zayd b. Al- Haritha and ‘Abd Allah b. Rawaha. He commented, ‘ By God, if Muhammad has really struck down those people, then better be inside the earth than upon it!

 

“When this enemy of God was sure of this news, he left for Mecca, where he visited al-Muttalib b. Abu Wada’a b.Dubayrat al- Samhi, whose wife was ‘Atika, daughter of Abu al- Is b. Ummayya b. ‘Abd Shams b. ‘Abd Manaf. She accommodated him graciously AND HE BEGAN INSTIGATING AN ATTACK UPON THE MESSENGER OF GOD (SAAS) speaking verses and mourning the deaths of those polytheists killed at Badr.”

 

Here Ibn Ishaq gave his poem which begins with the verse,

 

“The Badr millstone ground to death those killed there,

and for the like of Badr one speaks and weeps.”

He also gave the response to this poem by Hassan b. Thabit, may God be pleased with him, as well as verse by others.

 

He went on, “ Ka’b then returned to Medina where he composed verses suggestive about the Muslim women and critical of the prophet (SAAS) and his followers.

Musa b. Uqba stated, “Ka’b b. al- Ashraf was of Banu al-Nadir, or associated with them, he harmed the messenger of God (SAAS) by ridiculing him in verse AND HE RODE TO QURAYSH TO INCITE THEM FURTHER. Abu Sufyan, in Mecca, asked him, ‘ In your view, I pray you tell me, which religion is more favored by God, that of Muhammad and his friends, or our own? Which of us do you think, is more correct and appropriate? We slaughter our meat generously, give milk-topped water to drink, providing food for all sundry who come.’

 

“Ka’b b al-Ashraf replied, ‘ You are better-guided in your path than they are.’

Musa went on, “ And so God revealed to his Messenger the verses: “Have you not considered those given a part of the Book who believe in enchantment and devils, and who say to those who disbelieve, “ These are better guided on the path than those who believe (in God). “ They are indeed cursed by God; those whom God curses you shall find to be without succour’ ” ( surat al-Nisa; IV, v.51,2).

 

Both Musa and Ibn Ishaq stated further, “ He went to Medina where he proclaimed his enmity and INCITED PEOPLE TO GO TO WAR. He had not left Mecca BEFORE HE HAD UNITED THEM TO FIGHT THE MESSENGER OF GOD (SAAS); he then began composing amatory verses about Umm al-Fadl b. al-Harith and other Muslim women. Pg.6-7

 

So as you can see, what Silas failed to tell his readers was that Kab INCITED the pagans to fight the prophet Muhammad and to kill him and the Muslims! This makes Kab an enemy combatant; there is no difference between the one who incites it, and the one who carries it out. The pagans were incited to kill and fight by Kab, making Kab directly responsible. Even in today's world, inciters of violence are seen as no different then the ones who commit the violence, and they themselves are seen as enemy combatants. Silas was intentionally distorting the events, to paint a false picture. How sad.

These are just a few cases of lies, deception, and distortion used by the Answering-Islam team. I could provide many more cases, but that should do for now unless Burger King wants more.