Continuing with our read-through of the Quran, we’re back in Surah Al-Baqarah today, examining verses 8-20. These are the verses that really set up a whole series of random threats that will be repeated throughout the Quran. Honestly, so far in my reading of this book, if you took out all the random threats of hell and damnation, the hatred towards Jews and Christians, and overall repetitiveness of this book, it would easily be a 1/5th of the size it is. But let’s read these verses.
8. There are some people who say, “We believe in Allah and the Last Day,” while they are no believers at all. 9. They abandon Allah and those who believe, but they (as a matter of fact) only deprive themselves (of the blessings of God), and they do not perceive (it). 10. In their hearts was a disease (of hypocrisy) and Allah has increased their disease (by making Islam triumphant). A woeful punishment awaits them because of their persistent lies. 11. When it is said to them, “Do not disturb the peace of the land (by hypocritical tactics),” they say, “We are simply setting things right (and so helping the cause of peace).” 12. Beware! They alone are the peace breakers, but they do not perceive (its evil consequences). 13. And when it is said to them, “Believe as (other) people (- Companions of the Prophet) believed,” they say, “Shall we believe as the weak-minded have believed?” Beware! It is they only who are weak-minded, but they do not know (this fact). 14. And when they meet those who have believed they say, “We (too) have believed.” But when they are alone with their ringleaders they say, “We are, in reality, with you, we were simply making light of them (- the believers).” 15. Allah will bring down disgrace upon them and will let them continue in their (ways of) transgression. They are blindly wandering. 16. It is they who have preferred misguidance to guidance, but their bargain has fetched no profit, nor are they rightly guided. 17. Their case is like the case of a person who kindled a fire (in darkness) but no sooner did it light up their surrounding than Allah took away their light and left them in different kinds of darkness, (in a state in which) they could see nothing. 18. (They are) deaf, dumb, (and) blind, so they will not return (to the right path). 19. Or (the case of some of the hypocrites is) like (the case of those who are hit by) heavy downpour from the clouds wherein there are different kinds of darkness, thunder and lightning. They plug their ears with their fingers against the thunderclaps fearing death. And Allah encompasses the disbelievers (to punish them). 20. The lightning (being so intensely dazzling) may well-nigh snatch away their sight. As often as it flashes for them, they walk (a few steps) in it (-it’s light), and when it darkens against them, they come to a halt. Indeed, if Allah had so willed He would have taken away their hearing and their sight. Allah is indeed the possessor of power to do all that He will.
To start this off, since we’re comparing this to the Bible, let’s see where the Bible and Quran agree. If we are to believe that Allah is just Arabic for God, then we as Christians can agree that there will be people who will say “Lord, lord,” (or, as the Quran puts it, “We believe in Allah and the Last Day,”) and not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21). Surah 2:8 would then be in agreement with the Bible (if it weren’t for the fact that Allah was actually a moon god that Muhammad’s people worshiped, but that’s something for later). Surah 2:9 could also be seen as comparable with Romans 1:22. However, despite this apparent agreement in who will have salvation and the difference between believers and unbelievers, everything goes downhill from here.
Surah 2: 10 is where things start heading south as not only do we get our first threat of hell, but we also get to hear about a “disease (of hypocrisy),” which the text repeatedly brands as a deeper offense than outright disbelief. This is a major problem for Islam because Islam (as we will especially see in later verses), does not teach that we have a sin nature, but rather that we are perfect and sin comes through ignorance, mistakes, etc. This then does not explain where this “disease (of hypocrisy)” originated from. Thus, how can a non-Muslim or even a Muslim for that matter know if he/she is making a mistake and is actually spreading lies? At that point, is it really ethical or loving of Allah to punish them for what they legit don’t know is wrong? I’ll talk about this more when we get to the creation account, but I just want y’all to ponder that for a bit.
Then there’s verse 13, which I think is the most telling of all, where it doesn’t just imply, but flat-out says that anyone who doesn’t believe in Islam is just “weak-minded.” This is extremely common in cults because it preys upon a particularly strong human emotion: pride. If your pride is constantly being built up by a group so you believe that you are above all of those dumb non-believers, then you are easier to control because you’re not going to question what feeds your ego.
Now, before you go telling me in the comments that Romans 1:22 says something similar in calling non-believers fools, here’s the difference. In the Bible, we’re told that everyone has been given the choice to believe in God as everything testifies to His existence and we get to see how that plays out not only in history, but also in our own lives. Moreover, though Paul does call those who do not believe even when there is a ton of evidence for the existence of God “fools,” we aren’t encouraged to believe ourselves to be better than those people. Rather, we’re called to pray for them, recognizing that we were once in their shoes. However, we don’t get anything like that in the Quran, as it essentially calling non-believers retarded is encouraging its followers to think that they are better than everyone else (which is encouraged in other verses, especially those talking about why you should stay away from non-Muslims when they begin criticizing Islam).
From there, it only gets worse in verse 14. This entire verse is a strawman argument to make non-Muslims look bad (yet another cult tactic). While there are a few verses in the Quran that Christians can agree with, saying this does not imply that we believe in the same god. Our God, if you read the Bible, is way different from Allah. God in the Bible is consistent; Allah changes his mind (we see this in the Islamic Dilemma). God in the Bible is our Heavenly Father and refers to us as His children (i.e. John 1:12, Romans 8:14-16, Exodus 4:22, etc.); Allah demands slavish obedience from his followers and even calls us slaves (i.e. Surah 2:186, Surah 3:182) (Islam means “submission” in Arabic). God in the Bible is part of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Allah is part of no such trinity and paints the Trinity as being Allah, Mary, and Jesus. God in the Bible puts an emphasis on faith as a means for salvation with works as an offshoot of that; Allah is unclear on what he wants for salvation, with some verses emphasizing faith, while others are very much emphasizing works. And these are just a few differences between them. But, of course, Muhammad looking for any way to slander nonbelievers and basing his knowledge of Christain and Jewish doctrines on hearsay, conveniently ignored that.
Because of this misunderstanding and slander, this just makes every verse (especially 15-17) about how just Allah is in retribution towards those who don’t believe in him look bad, as Allah is punishing people based on a strawman argument. It’s completely arbitrary. And to make matters worse, in 17 where Allah could help people, he instead decides to make people even more stupid by Muslim standards. While you could make the argument that the God of the Bible did this in Exodus with Pharaoh, this was a different case, in which Pharaoh had chance after chance to repent, but chose not to, so God allowed him to find out, if you get my drift. That doesn’t mean that he took away Pharaoh’s ability to repent. Pharaoh could’ve repented at any point but stubbornly chose not to. Allah isn’t as merciful in this case, as he just takes away any ability to repent. God keeps the metaphorical fire burning for anyone who wants to come to it; Allah puts it out. Allah has made them “deaf, dumb, and blind.”
Allah is not a god of love. He is a god of fear and pride. The best fictional character I can compare him to is O’Brien from George Orwell’s 1984. “It’s not enough to obey him [Big Brother]:” – O’Brien says to Winston – “you must love him.” However, when love means doing whatever you can to avoid the looming threat of hell and keep feeding you ego while you’re at it, love isn’t love. It’s fear and pride. Allah is Orwell’s Big Brother, a tyrant that demands slavish obedience and fear disguised as love and piety.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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