In answer to the video "Muhammad's "Revelations" Were Self-Serving; Paul's Weren't (PvM 15)"
Coming from a background that assigns the worst sins and abuses to the most eminent prophets, a Judeo-Christian critic has nothing even remotely similar in shamefulness to the depictions of his books, to try and assign to the prophet Muhammad in order to undermine his prophetic status.
The Quran strongly condemns the resort to false oaths in general 68:10 and more particularly those aimed at deceiving or screening an evil intention such as the attempt of a group to deceive another to make it join its ranks, which applies to deceitful religious proselytism. Only in the best manner can any type of debate, including religious, be engaged 16:125. Deceitful religious proselytism is against the will of Allah who could have deprived mankind of the freedom of choice and made them all followers of the Truth without having recourse to such disgraceful means. These manners, contrry to the type of proselytism promoted by St Paul, do not represent the correct spirit of religion and may actually lead to doubting the morality of the system that is being promoted 16:92-95,58:16,63:2. In the Gree writings, St Paul openly says
"I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it...crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery"2Cor12:11,16.He openly encouraged lying when preaching Jesus, becoming like a Jew to win the Jew, and becoming like a gentile (one not under the law) to win the gentile Phil1:15-18,1Cor9:19-21, because
"The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached"in order to
"win as many as possible".The interesting result was that Christians not only were very successful at converting pagans (much less so with the Jews) but pagans in turn transformed Christianity into a hodge podge of neo-judeo/greco-roman religion, born at the council of Nicea in 325CE, in Alexandria which was the center of Hellenistic philosophies. This is in sharp contrast to what the Quran says about the inadmissibility of using deceitful and disgraceful means for the propagation of Truth
16:92-95,125"Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner".This strategy helped him gather funds -not for the poor and needy- for the establishement and reenforcement of the Churches throughout the Roman empire and beyond 1Cor15,16,2Cor8,9. This fits another description of a false prophet in Micah3:11 whose motivation is money. It is from Paul's teachings and method of approaching the Jews that the Evangelical Zionists derive their missionary tactics. It consists in showing the Jews a strong support that they might be
"provoked into jealousy"so that they might be convinced that God's help has come from the followers of the one they rejected (Jesus) because
Rom11"if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!".
Paul has a very peculiar feature, and that is one who consistently is found swearing that whatever he has is from God, contrary to what is preached in the New Testament, where Jesus is reported to have stated that such a thing was a quality of the Pharisees. Further, the very 'gospel' he was alleged to preach contradicted not just what was being taught in Galilee, but what was being taught in the Temple of Jerusalem itself. Paul was attacked in that Temple for what he was claiming. By the end of his life, he had to seek refuge with the pagan Roman Authority, because people, which were obviously his enemies within the other factions, wanted to kill him.
Today, the evangelical zionist movement that finds its inspiration in Paul's above deceptive methods, masks its real intentions towards the Jewish people by corrupting their audience with money. Probably no nation needs this money more than Israel for its survival, exactly as God prophecised when He stated in the Quran that the Israelites, those who rejected Jesus, will be under the Christians' dominion until the Resurrection 61:14,3:55. This bribe money serves the purpose of gathering Jews from all over the world so a mythical end time is ushered.
At that time 2/3 of Israel will be destroyed and damned for rejecting the man/god of the trinity. Their Armageddon theology is detailed in the book of Revelation -a Book not even considered God inspired until very late in Church history-. Those damned Jews, the Jews of the "flesh" ie devoid of any spirituality because of their rejection of Jesus Rom2:28-9, those sons of Satan Jn8:44, worshipping in their satanic synagogues Rev2:9 will be made to bow down at the feet of the true Jews, ie the Christians Rev3:9 prior to their eternal damnation. Jews who do not accept Christianity are characterized as worshipers of Satan, hence, the expression “synagogue of Satan.” The author of Revelation declares that Jews of the “flesh” who do not become “true” Jews (that is, Christians) worship Satan and are destined to someday be subdued and come to bow down at the feet of Jesus’ beloved church.
It is these kinds of satanic association that helped produce a portrait for faithful Christians throughout the centuries of the “evil” Jew whose deeds on behalf of Satan took on ominous proportions. No wonder that the church and its faithful followers sought to hasten the day when Jesus would fulfill his promise to
“make them [the synagogue of Satan] come and bow down at your feet”by persecution of those satanic Jews.
The call to Islam on the other hand must be done in a way befitting the moral heights of this Way, by people who act accordingly and who are references of uprightness, love, respect in a given comunity. A honorable and dignified message cannot be promoted through lies, deception and any evil means.
Besides the inadmissibility of deceiving others into the way of Islam through various types of corruption or compromises with the addresse's desires, the Quran often repeats that one can never force another to belief and neither guide another's heart, much less a prophet whose function solely is to warn and give glad tidings and who is the foremost in rejecting any kind of lowly and obscure behavior while addressing a people 3:161. He on the contrary is a means by which wisdom and purification is imparted on a people who are willing to receive his message 3:164. The caller simply communicates and then God either opens or shrinks the heart of the person depending on His knowledge of the person's will, desire and course of action
16:125"surely your Lord best knows those who go astray from His path, and He knows best those who follow the right way".
The Quran also mentions the case of vain oaths preventing one from doing his moral and noble duties as a believer 2:224,24:22 these should also be broken in order to allow a greater good. Allah commands man to do good, therefore under no pretext, even swearing by Allah should prevent one from doing so. God knows well the emotional disposition of His creatures, for exemple a husband making an emotional oath of distancing himself from his wife 2:226 should wait four month before engaging in divorce procedures and should he decide to go back to rebuild his household then the oath will not be taken into account, since it is for a greater good
"Allah is surely Forgiving, Merciful".
As to the vital or beneficial promises that must be kept and other agreements, pacts or covenants especially when Allah has been called to witness regardless of te socio-ethnico-religious background of the other party 8:27,9:4-5,7-10,13:20,16:91,33:15 the self-made pledges to perform a commendable deed 9:75-77,76:7 the trusts and testimonies 70:32-3. All such oaths must be upheld at all costs
5:1"O you who believe, fulfill the obligations/uqud"the word uqud covers the covenants imposed by God as well as the mutual agreements made by men
5:89"and guard your oaths"
23:1-8"Successful indeed are the believers..those who are keepers of their trusts/amantihim and their covenant/ahadihim"the Arabic amanat is very comprehensive and includes all those trusts which are placed in their charge by Allah or society or individuals. Likewise ahd includes all those compacts, pledges, and promises which are made between Allah and man, and man and man
17:34"and fulfill the promise; surely (every) promise shall be questioned about".The religion in itself is a commitment to Allah, our fellow kinsmen, neighbors and society at large. The quality of being steadfast appended to honouring commitments stipulates that a true believer should fight every impediment that comes in the way of fulfilling rights, whether from fear, lack of resolve or personal interests. That is because people who are careful in fulfilling self-made promises can be expected to be even more careful in their obligations imposed on them by God. Along with being steadfast, honouring one's commitments are the 2 only qualities mentionned as testifying to a God-conscious and upright character 2:177, because they bind all other qualities together.
The Quran describes as most detestable in God's sight those who do not act according to their words, whether they include an oath or not 61:2-3 and talks of the fulfillement of one's word as among the foremost of the qualities of the dwellers of paradise 76:6-7. It is in this vein that the Quran recurrently calls Muslims unto bearing true witness and regards its concealment as a sin 2:140,283,5:106,65:2.
The prophet's integrity in these matters of safeguarding any types of agreement was such, that in one reported occasion in the context of the battle of Badr and while the Muslims were at a military disadvantage, refused a Muslim's participation in the battle on the basis that he had agreed with Quraysh not to fight them should they release him and his father. As the prophet Zechariah admonished the Israelites
Zech8:17"nor shall you love a false oath-for all these are what I hate, says the Lord".
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