Countering Islamic Propaganda: 9:30

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TROP is a non-political, fact-based site which examines the ideological threat that Islam poses to human dignity and freedom

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It's much easier to act as if critics of Islam have a problem with Muslims as people than it is to accept the uncomfortable truth that Islam is different

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Islam from this woman?

"Discover the Truth's" Game

9:30
"They Say 'Son of God',
May Allah Destroy Them"

From Discover the Truth:

How does the above verse encourage Muslims to fight physically?
(October 22, 2014)

What the Quran Says

9:30. And the Jews say: 'Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouths. They imitate the saying of the disbelievers of old. May Allah destroy them. How they are deluded away from the truth!

What the Apologists Want You to Believe

A hate-inciting verse that curses Christians and Jews really doesn't curse Christians and Jews, according to Discover the Truth. It actually curses people who say 'Ezra is the son of Allah' and 'the Messiah is the Son of Allah' - and these aren't real Christians or Jews.

And, says DTT, the verse does not say to attack Christians and Jews, just to pray that Allah destroys them. This should make everyone feel more comfortable.

How They Do It: 'Adding' to the Quran

DTT would substitute the word 'Jews' with "those who say Ezra is the son of Allah" and the word 'Christian' with "those who say the Messiah is the Son of Allah." Therefore, they say, the verse isn't speaking of real Christians and Jews.

How They Do It: Sleight of Hand

How could verse 9:30 be taken as encouraging Muslims to fight physically? Well, for starters, the verse right before this says to "Fight against those... who acknowledge the religion of truth (Islam) among the people of the scripture," referring to Christians and Jews. So there's that.

Not only does DTT say nothing about 9:29, they don't even say who it is that alleges verse 9:30 encourages violence in and of itself. This is like challenging a room full of empty seats on C-SPAN.

Why They are Wrong

Verse 9:30 uses the Arabic words for Jews and Christians (Yehud and Nasara). Clearly, it is speaking of Jews and Christians.

The verse is erroneous in stating that Jews "say that Ezra is the son of God." Jewish believers do not say this, although there may have been a deviant cult in Arabia that contributed to Muhammad's misunderstanding. It still doesn't change the fact that the verse is referring to Jews as a whole (Yehud).

On the other hand, Christians do say that Jesus is the Son of God, so the Quran gets that part right (although not the part about Mary being part of the Trinity - 5:116-117). DTT, however, argues that since the phrase 'son of God' sometimes refers to a righteous person in the Hebrew Old Testament, it doesn't actually mean God's literal son in the New Testament. From this, they actually conclude - 2000 years after the fact - that early Christians did not believe in the divinity of Jesus.

This is quite a leap - and completely unsupported by history. By the time of Muhammad, the Bible had been fully compiled and Christian theology a largely settled matter - particularly is it pertained to the divinity of Christ. If DTT's point is that Christians who didn't believe in the Trinity were excluded from 'Allah's Curse' then it is certainly a sparse group. How would they feel about a verse in the Bible saying "May God destroy the Muslims for saying that Muhammad was a prophet?"

As to the point that 9:30 doesn't say to fight Jews and Christians, but only asks Allah to destroy them: as has been pointed out, the verse preceding this plainly says to fight them. How many times do apologists like Discover the Truth attempt to mitigate a verse by appealing to others... even ones in other suras? Yet, they completely dismiss the verse prior to this one.

DTT argues that verse 9:29 refers to the army at Tabuk (otherwise known as the Army that Wasn't) and that 9:30 refers to a completely different group: Jews and Christians. The problem is that 9:29 doesn't say anything about an army. It does say to fight the "People of the Book", a reference to Jews and Christians, and it defines these targets on the basis of religious belief rather than any perceived threat.

Verse 9:30 also identifies Christians and Jews by their beliefs. These two verses occur one after the other in a book that claims to be perfectly arranged. As we say elsewhere, what a remarkably horrible lapse on Allah's part if they do not share a common theme.

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9:30 "They Say 'Son of God', May Allah Destroy Them"