I was reading stories on Facebook when this story “A Christian Eating ram and celebrating Sallah with Muslims is an abomination” caught my attention.
This article is a rebuttal to his article and a warning to non-Muslims who spread propaganda against Islam that this is the age of reason, all propaganda to demean, disparage, deface and ridicule Islam and Muslims will not go without being refuted. I am going to highlight his major arguments one after the other and I am sure it would go a long way in helping the reader discern between truth and falsehood.
REBUTTAL 1
He wrote,
“First and foremost; Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God”
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In response to this, I will agree that we Muslims do not worship the same God with Christians because,
* We don’t believe our God can act like a drunkard. We read in Psalms 78:65,
“NIV:Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine”
Ascribing Sleep to God, comparing God to a drunkard literarily is something Muslims cannot accept
* Muslims also do not believe that God can sometimes be foolish or wise. We read in 1 Corinthians 1:25,
“NIV:For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength”
Whether figuratively or literally, Muslims cannot ascribe attributes like these to God Almighty. He cannot be foolish nor weak no matter what the intent of the comparison, it doesn’t exalt God, rather it ridicules Him.
* A comparison of these two verses below would make it clear that we Indeed do not worship the same God. We read,
“NIV:It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed” Exodus 31:17
We read something different from the Qur’an,
“And We did certainly create the heavens and earth and what is between them in six days, and there touched Us no weariness” Qur’an 50:38
While the Bible ascribes weakness to God, be weary as to need rest, the Qur’an portrays God as an entity that doesn’t slumber nor gets weak not needing to rest nor refresh.
* While the Christians are torn apart as regards whom to worship, all Muslims agree God is one not two not three. We have the unitarian Christians and the trinitarian Christians. The trinitarian Christians believe we have God the son, God the Father and God the Holyspirit, the Holyspirit being the most cheated because they get to use him more in getting money from church members, concealing lies in the Bible but they worship him less compared to the son and the Holyspirit.
Worthy to note that several prophets of God even in the Bible attested to the fact that God is one. We read,
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”
St. Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord”
There are so many verses in the Bible itself that proves God is one and the Qur’an says in Chapter 112:1
“Say, He is Allah (God), the ONE”
So, if a trinitarian Christian says we don’t worship the same God, he is right because we do not worship three gods said to be one, a theory that was decided upon by a group of people in the starting from the Nicea council in 325AD. When group of men came together to argue, debate and deliberate on the concept of God, we should not wonder why an adherent of such faith says we don’t worship same God with them, apparently because they worship what was fashioned.
REBUTTAL 2
He wrote,
“We Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the son of our own God (YHWH), but Muslims will tell you that Jesus is not the son of god and their own god has no sons”
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We Muslims do not believe God has a son neither do we ascribe one to him. In the Bible, the word “son of God” was used figuratively to mean someone dear to God. A Christian’s argument is that Jesus is the only begotten son of God citing John3:16 as a reference. Unfortunately, we find many other sons of God in the Bible. We read,
Jeremiah 31:9 “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and EPHRAIM IS MY FIRSTBORN.”
If Jesus is God’s only begotten son, how come Ephraim is his firstborn son? Should we take this verse figuratively? If we do, is it not double standards to interpret John 3:16 literally and Jeremiah 31:9 figuratively?. We read about more sons of God,
Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
Genesis 6:2 “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose”
A Christian might want to contend that the word “Begotten” was used only for Jesus. The revised standard version of the Bible along with several other versions have expunged the word “Begotten” from John3:16, claiming that it is a fraud. We read,
ESV:“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
NIV:”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
The word “Begotten” was expunged from these verses yet Jesus being an only son of God still not matching it because there are several other sons of God in the Bible.
These are figurative expressions and in reality, God has no son, no Begotten son and everyone including Jesus are slaves of God.
REBUTTAL 3
He wrote that Muslims Worship a pagan God because La ilaha illa Allah means there is no god except Allah. This statement can only give someone who is mischievous a problem. This is it in Arabic form,
لا إله إلا الله
This is simply to mean that there’s no deity worthy of worship except ALLAH. Islam does not recognize any gods except the Supreme God. Arabic doesn’t have capital letters same as Greek. In greek, Hotheos stands for God while Thontheos is used for lesser gods.
This same word, Allah اللّهُ was used to refer to God in the Arabic Bible. So the joke is on the one saying Allah is a pagan god.
REBUTTAL 4
He wrote that Muslims Worship a pagan god hence we face the east while praying, saying it was an ex-pagan shrine. He also said that inside the shrine is Allah, Hubal and Allat.
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In response to this, Hajj is the last of the pillars of Islam. On facing the east, no religion on earth today as a unifying mode of worship like Islam. In Islam, two million people can arrange themselves in rows within two minutes, facing same direction, bowing at the same time, and prostrating in worship at the same time.
Worthy to note that, there was a time Muslims used to face Jerusalem.
Allah says in Qur’an 2:143-144,
“Thus We have made you [true Muslims – real believers of Islamic Monotheism, true followers of Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah (legal ways)], a Wasat (just) (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses over mankind and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) be a witness over you. And We made the Qiblah (prayer direction towards Jerusalem) which you used to face, only to test those who followed the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) from those who would turn on their heels (i.e. disobey the Messenger). Indeed it was great (heavy) except for those whom Allah guided. And Allah would never make your faith (prayers) to be lost (i.e. your prayers offered towards Jerusalem). Truly, Allah is full of kindness, the Most Merciful towards mankind.
Verily! We have seen the turning of your (Muhammad’s SAW) face towards the heaven. Surely, We shall turn you to a Qiblah (prayer direction) that shall please you, so turn your face in the direction of Al-Masjid- al-Haram (at Makkah). And wheresoever you people are, turn your faces (in prayer) in that direction. Certainly, the people who were given the Scriptures (i.e. Jews and the Christians) know well that, that (your turning towards the direction of the Ka’bah at Makkah in prayers) is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what they do.”
Therefore, it should be noted that we do not face the east as an act of piety. Moreso, the Kaabah which he referred to as a shrine was built by Abraham. The burden of proof is on the Christian to prove that inside the Kaabah were three idols named Allah, Hubal and Allat and that Muslims Worship them.
REBUTTAL 5
He asked Christians to tell Muslims to call God YHWH which can be pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah
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That Somto Monanu could not give us a specific name between yahweh or jehovah to amounts to shooting himself in the leg. In Matthew 27:46, the Bible says Jesus said,
“St. Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Why didn’t Jesus call God Yahweh or Jehovah? We have no one who called God Yahweh or Jehovah. In addition, we find more names the Bible gives God but the likes of Somto Monanu do not call address God with these names. We read,
Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
But today, no one calls God I AM.
Exodus 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”
Who knows that God’s name is Jealous?
REBUTTAL 6
On whom was the son God asked Abraham to sacrifice between Isaac and Ishmael, Somto being a Christian maintained it is Isaac not Ishmael. Let us look into history,
Testing the faith of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) otherwise known as Abraham in other Abrahimic faiths, God ordered him to offer his son, Isma’il. Prophet Abraham hearkened to this order and set to sacrifice his son but God sent him a ram which he sacrificed instead of his son. This is a background to this celebration, ‘Eid-el-kabir.
This story occurred in the Jewish land, so the Jews were custodians of this story. Unfortunately, given several wars waged against Israel by the Babylonians and others including the Romans, Many of this books were destroyed, leading to the distortion and corruption of several narrations.
The story being distorted, Isma’il was bastardized by the Christians and Ishaq was used to replace Isma’il as being the son that was to be sacrificed. In light of this, I present to you,
ACADEMIC RESPONSE TO THE ILLEGALIZATION OF ISHMAEL, THE FIRSTBORN OF ABRAHAM.
Christians including their apologists, Bishops, Missionaries etc do not give Ishmael any iota of respect. In this paper, I’ll not be talking about Abraham and Hagar, I’ll rather concentrate on the position of Ishmael. I hope the reader will be calm and patient enough to read and try to understand all points and decode all the analysis in this paper.
“To be sacrificed son” between Ishmael and Isaac has led to series of arguments and debates for centuries.
After God gave Abraham a ram instead of his son to be
sacrificed, an angel addressed Abraham, he said, Genesis 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son:
The angel made us realise the child to be sacrificed was ABRAHAM’S SON, not just his son but His ONLY SON. Let’s check the relationship between Ishmael and Abraham.
We read:
Genesis 17:25 And Ishmael his SON was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Genesis 17:26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his SON.
_________
Since the Bible recognizes Ishmael to be Abraham’s son as in the verses cited above, and the angel Said His ONLY SON,
Therefore, the child to be sacrificed was Ishmael as there was no time Abraham had an ONLY SON except when he had Ishmael before the birth of Isaac.
The interpolation in Genesis 22 is clear, they only had to
remove Ishmael and insert Isaac.
We read, Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Isaac was never at any point in time Abraham’s only son but Ishmael.
We hope that in times to come, the Christians will open their eyes to clear Evidences instead of playing the holy spirit game.
_________
As regards sacrificing animals, Allah (SWT) answered critics who would make irrational criticisms,
“Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and give good tidings to the doers of good. Qur’an 22:37
Therefore, the claim that we sacrifice ram to idol(s) is only a result of ignorance and bigotry.
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REBUTTAL 7
Mr Somto seems not to want to agree that the Bible is distorted.
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Not only did the Bible suffer from distortion, it contains errors, contradictions, anachronisms, discrepancies and variations.
WHICH VERSION??
Today, the bibles versions we have are so many that we cannot tell which of them is translating from the so called original manuscripts because each of these versions tend to disagree with one either in the number of books or verses they should contain and some other versions of the bible accusing another of defects. Here is a little out of the different versions of the bible we have today:
1) Amplified Bible
2) American Standard version
3) Common English Bible
4) Contemporary English Version
5) Contemporary English version(Anglicised Version)
6) Catholic Public Domain Version
7) Darby Translation 1890
8) Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision 1752
9) Easy-to-read Version
10) English standard Version
11) Good News Bible
12) Good News Bible(Anglicised)
13) Good News Bible(Catholic edition in Septuagint order)
14) Good News Translation
15) Good News Translation (US version)
16) God’s Word Translation
17) Holman Christian Standard Bible
18) ISR98(The scriptures 1998)
19) Jubilee Bible
20) King James Version
21) King James Version(American Edition)
22) King James Version(with Apocrypha,American Edition)
23) Lexham English Bible
24) Modern English Version
25) Metrical Psalms 1650
26) MSG(The Message)
27) New American Bible(Revised Edition)
28) New American Standard Bible
29) New Century Version
30) New English Translation
31) New International Reader’s Version
32) New International Version
33) New International Version(Anglicised)
34) New King James Version
35) New Living Translation
36) New World Translation
37) Orthodox Jewish Bible
38) Queen James Bible
39) RV1885(Revised version 1885)
40) Tree Of Life Version
41) World English Bible
42) World Messianic Bible
43) World Mesianic Bible(British Edition)
The reader may want to comment, “But these are just translations”. These different versions of the bible go more than being just mere translations. It appears many of them are translating from different manuscript because the different bible versions vary in terms of number of books and verses in them.
For example, In the King James Version of the Protestants, we have 66 Books while in the Good News Bible of the Catholics, we have 73 books. So, we can see that they are not just mere translations but versions.
In 2 Chronicles 22:2 of the King James Bible, we read,
“Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.”
In contrast to this, We read 2Chronicles22:2 in the New International Version,
“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.”
The King James Version gives the age of Ahaziah to be 42 when he began to reign while The New International version says 22.Which did God inspire? 42 or 22?
The Revised Standard Version, The New International Version and The New World Translation of the bible expunged 16 verses from their Bibles e.g Romans 16:24
Many versions of the bible have problems with 1Samuel13:1, Let us have a look.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
|
Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty- two years.
* ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION
Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel.
* KING JAMES BIBLE
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel
NET BIBLE
Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] years.
NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE 1977
Saul was forty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-two years over Israel.
JPS TANAKH 1917
Saul was –years old when he began to reign; and two years he reigned over Israel.
AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION
Saul was forty years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
YOUNG’S LITERAL VERSION
A son of a year is Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel
The bible is far from being the word of God and as David Cross puts it,” Back when the bible was written, then edited, then rewritten, rewritten, then re-edited, then translated from dead languages, then re-translated, then edited, then rewritten, then given to kings for them to take their favourite parts, then rewritten, then re-rewritten, then translated again, then given to the pope for him to approve, then rewritten, then edited again, then re-re-re-re-rewritten again…all based on stories that were told orally 30 to 90 years after they happened, to people who did not how to write…so…”
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There are several other points he raised that I did not address because this article is turning into a book. So I’ll be stopping here.
This is now a big challenge to Mr Somto Monanu. He should come out for a live debate on the issues he raised and let us see how much he can defend what he wrote on. If he fails to take up this challenge, shame on him and those who championed him. Shame on falsehood, Shame on propaganda.
Mr Somto (if he exists) should take up this challenge and we will have lots of Christians and Muslims on attendance, perhaps he might win some lost sheep or some sheep might become guided.
Written by LuCas Samson Lukman as ( A rebuttal to the lies of Mr Somto Monanu and also commemorating my my third year of reverting to Islam from Christianity)
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