Jalal Abularub
Edited September, 2018
Sam Shamoun, signing as himself this time, not as Esther or Ben Malik, wrote the following article. I, Jalal Abualrub, divided and numbered his article into the following segments and inserted my response within each segment preceded by the letter ‘A’
1- “Let me say upfront. I don’t understand everything in the Bible.”
A: Humankind doesn’t understand much of what’s in the Bible either.
2- “Some of the early war
A: The Jews were only carrying out God’s order, according to Jews and Christians.
3- “[Ezek. 9:5] And the Lord said, ‘Go through the
A: I did not capitalize anything here.
4- “I grant that the other two are more difficult.”
A: This means the two texts to come, and they are indeed more difficult to comprehend.
5- “In this
A: Ezekiel, Chapter 9, reports that this actually happened, “Then he (Yahweh) cried … saying, Cause you them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand … six men came … one man … clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side … Yahweh said to him, Go … through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst of it. To the others he said in my hearing, Go you through the city … and strike: don’t let your eye spare, neither have you pity; kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house … They went forth, and struck in the city. … The man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported … I have done as you have commanded me.” Also, other Old Testament holy war commandments to kill men, women, and children are reported here. So even if we grant that this was a dream, the other texts were by no means a dream.
6- “[Num. 31:1] And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Avenge the children of the Mid’-
A: We did not capitalize anything here. Why were the Jews allegedly commanded to keep all the virgin girls, to teach them the Torah?
7- “Please (as well as chapter 31) read all of
A: The Jews were punished by the plague, not by intentional execution at the hands of other Israelites or non-Israelites. Also, Jews and Christians have plentiful reports of wholesale killing commandments in their Old Testament ordered against entire towns who try and cause the Children of Israel to revert from the faith. Yet, they criticize Islam for commanding the execution by Muslim governments, not by individuals or so-called Islamic parties or groups, of individuals who revert from Islam, after due official court proceedings conducted by qualified Muslim judges who are appointed by Muslim governments.
8-“It is on the explicit command of the Lord to Moses.”
A: How can Jews and Christians believe that God would order Moses to kill infants? This, without a doubt, proves that corruption occurred in the Bible.
9-
A: Nor was it the idea of the infants and sucklings to go to war or to be executed one by one. “Interesting observation for later:
10- “Interesting observation for later: In the end among the spoils are 32,000 girls/women who have never slept with a man [i.e. have been innocent of this seduction to idolatry by offering sex].”
A: Non-virgin girls seem to have started sex and seduction at the age of three years and one day. Jewish traditions report that the 32,000 virgins were three years old or less. This is the test by which the Children of Israel collected 32,000 virgins who never knew a man by lying with him!
11- “What does that say about the number of men they fought against? 32,000 virgin women usually have brothers and fathers in military age. 50,000 might not be unrealistic [though I am speculating here].”
A: Speculation, indeed, especially forgetting a small matter: The 50,000 fighting men had mothers, fathers, wives, sisters, boys of all ages, male sucklings and infants, girls of at least three years and one day old, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, servants; all intentionally executed too.
12- “I don’t know to say much more here.”
A: We too are speechless here.
13- “Main point is: It is a definite command of God, it is a punishment of the LORD to the evil of the Midianites … it is ‘the Lord’s battle’,
A: So, it was holy war! Except that it wasn’t holy, but inhumane. Yet, it never happened by Moses or his faithful followers. This is a fabrication the Jews inserted into their holy books.
14-“[Josh 6:16] Joshua said to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord has given you the city (of the Canaanites) … all silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. The people 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.”
A: We didn’t capitalize anything here. Why is it that the Old Testament kept ordering the Israelites to kill asses? Did the Jews know beforehand that all four popular Christian gospels will in the future report that Jesus will start his ‘ministry’ by riding a donkey into Jerusalem?
15- “Principle: God’s goodness wants to lead us to repentance. [Romans 2:4] But where people consistently resist God, judgment will come [Rom 2:5, both in the day of Judgment as well as in this world.] … God gives the command of total destruction through Moses. But Moses himself will not be part of it.”
A: Moses had nothing to do with any of this or with the forged Old Testament, which was written centuries after he died. However, according to the Old Testament, God, Jesus according to Christians, allegedly ordered all this and much more. In addition, since Moses allegedly ordered this extreme violence, even if he “himself will not be part of it,” then he is responsible for the entire collective violence which was carried by individual Jews.
16- “These commands of complete destruction of the Canaanites are very specific commandments and NOT general freedom to deal this way with anybody you wish.”
A: And who suspended the general implication of this law, which Christians and Jews have implemented throughout their history against others and against each other? It is still being carried out against Muslims, even today, using the tools of total war devised by Christians and Jews and efficiently and currently used by them. Also, this, by no means, is the only instance that ordains total destruction of entire towns and mass killings of men, women, infants, sucklings, and animals, especially asses.
17- “Israel was never commanded nor promised an expansive kingdom outside the boundaries of Canaan. Israel in THIS instance is God’s tool of judgment on the evilness of the inhabitants of Canaan. This cannot and hasn’t been ‘generalized’ to other peoples.”
A: So, it is not really the fault of the Jews. It is God Who ordered them to do it. The Jews are only innocent recipients of God’s commandment. God did it. However, killing Canaan’s infants and sucklings, male and female, is as horrible as killing Chinese or African infants and sucklings. Telling the Canaan infants and sucklings that they were to be killed in specific, not in general, may not have made them feel better. Further, there are numerous other instances of mass killings in the Old Testament carried out by the Jews and allegedly commanded by God.
18- “Not even other idolatrous nations…”
A: But, it apparently applies to Monotheistic Muslim Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians, and Jordanians. Even Christian Arabs suffered death and destruction at the hands of modern-day Israelites.
19- “And this is GOD’s judgment. NOTHING is to be taken as personal spoil. EVERYTHING has to be destroyed.”
A: Including all infant males, but excluding all ‘women-girl virgins.’
20- “The soldiers fight in a battle of the LORD not for their own enrichment. No booty and spoil of war for those who fought.”
A: What about the 32,000 virgins; what became of them; were they kept as ‘untouchables’? What about this, “The Lord said unto Joshua … I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land … only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves”(Joshua 8:1-2)? This refutes the comments made here about the Jews not keeping war booty for
21- “They are God’s “method/servants of punishment”. It is God’s victory and justice alone. In most of these encounters, the Israelites are vastly outnumbered or otherwise in complete disadvantage.”
A: So, they were allowed to kill everyone. This bizarre explanation of mass murder justifies what the Jews do to others, since it is ‘God’ who ordered it: the Jews only innocently comply with ‘God’s’ command; so ‘God’ did it, not the Jews!
22- “They are God’s “method/servants of punishment”. It is God’s victory and justice alone. In most of these encounters, the Israelites are vastly outnumbered or otherwise
A: So, they were allowed to kill everyone. This bizarre explanation of mass murder justifies what the Jews do to
23- “[Read Judges 6 … where they even have to downsize by God’s command … it was NOT them who won the battle, but the Lord alone]. … This is alone the Lord’s business, none of theirs. God uses them, he helps them, they will inherit the land HE has promised them, but no personal gain from spoils of war.”
A: Joshua 8:1-2 refutes this false claim about the Jews not taking war booty for their selves. Again, Shamoun is ascribing these horrible crimes to ‘God,’ forgetting that he believes Jesus to be God, or one third of God; so according to his faith, Jesus himself did it, or at least did one-third of it.
24- “And where the Israelites do not obey … then God punishes them severely.”
A: ‘God’ punishes them for not killing infants and sucklings?
25- “Do you believe in Hell?”
A: We do believe in Hell, the residence of those who worship others besides Allah and break His law due to their unfaithfulness, who rewrite the scripture with their own hands and ascribe what they invented to ‘God’.
26- “If God can punish people in hell for their sin, why would you have problems if he punishes people on this earth?”
A: Except that the Midianite infants and sucklings were not killed by an earthquake or by a plague, i.e., an act of God. They were intentionally executed, one by one, by people who were allegedly carrying out the Lord’s commandment.
27- “All this earthly punishment is small against the hell fire.”
A: The Jews can, therefore, kill infants on this earth, since this is less grave and painful than punishment in Hell!
28- “God is the one who is the Lord of life and death and the one who ends the life of anybody.”
A: But, it is the Israeli men who did the actual executing here. The Midianites did not die in a general disaster that Allah created as a punishment for their unfaithfulness. The Jews are not God. Shamoun states here that it is ‘God’ who is the Lord of life and death, so how dare the Jews act like God and exterminate entire cities, entire populations of men, women and children, and then ascribe their crime to ‘God’?
29- “Usually ‘one by one’, but sometimes like here in greater numbers at once.”
A: 250,000 men, women, children, and infants, is not unrealistic to report here as being the total number of those killed in one single day by the Jews. May be more were allegedly killed on that day, since the number of captured virgins 3 –or less- year olds totaled 32,000.
These hypocrites object to Muslim men being given two wives each in Paradise from Allah as a Hadith found in Sahih Muslim states, without having to kill anyone for it. But, it is alright for the Children of Israel to collect 32,000 virgins for them-selves, in this life, after exterminating hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, then ascribing their crime to ‘God’.
30- “Are we to question him?”
A: We never question Allah (God), especially since He did not do it to begin with. But, we question how Christians and Jews dare invent lies against Allah by claiming that He ordered the intentional mass killing of infants and sucklings.
If someone asks, “Since you -Muslims- deny that mass killings ever occurred by the hands of Moses or any other biblical prophet, then why do you still criticize the Bible for what you say never happened?” Well, if Jews and Christians agree with us -Muslims- that this never happened, then consequently, they also agree with us -Muslims- that the Bible was changed and corrupted, and as such, it is not, ‘The Literal Word of God,’ but “The Corrupted word of God.’
31- “You might compare this with Muhammad and see the differences.”
A: We did compare all this to Muhammad, and Muhammad won the argument, decisively.
Comments by Jalal Abualrub on Deuteronomy 20:10-7
First: “When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.”
The practical guidance of Allah’s Prophet, Muhammad, mercy and blessings be on him, was to first announce the choices of accepting Islam, and eternal salvation, or, accepting peace terms and paying the Jizyah tax, or war. The Prophet’s `Hadith statement on this topic was collected by Imam and scholar Muslim. In contrast, this Biblical verse does not offer the adversaries of the Children of Israel the chance to attain eternal salvation by believing in God. It is either submission or death, as follows.
Second: “And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people … found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.”
The practical guidance of Islam’s Prophet, Muhammad, blessings be on him, is that when a town or a tribe signed a peace pact with him, they retained their families and ownership of their lands and estates, but paid a portion of the proceeds to the Islamic State in return for the Islamic State protecting them. The Prophet’s `Hadith statement that supports this ruling, collected by Imam Muslim, states that when non-Muslim combatants agree to pay the Jizyah tax, then, “withhold yourself from doing them any harm”; They were not all taken as Tributaries, meaning, subordinates, slave.
Third: “And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it.”
According to a `Hadith statement collected from Buraidah Ibn Al-`Husaib, Allah’s Prophet, Muhammad, used to offer combatants three choices: Islam, peace and retaining their religion, families, and propertied, or war.
Fourth: “And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.”
The practical guidance of Muhammad, Islam’s Prophet, peace be on him, was that when a city fell into his hands, he did not smite its people with the edge of the sword. The Prophet Muhammad, blessings be on him, implemented the Biblical rulings mentioned here pertaining to executing male combatants in the case of the Arab Jewish tribe of Quraidhah, who conspired with a large Arab pagan army to attack Madinah and exterminate Muslims and Islam. He also implemented it against the Arab pagan tribe of Bani Al-Mustaliq, who were gathering forces to attack the Prophet and Muslims; nineteen enemy combatant fighters were killed. In the rest of his battles, the Prophet, peace be on him, did not implement the Biblical commandments mentioned here, even against combatants. He did not smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. He also forbade killing of non-combatants.
Fifth: “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.”
When Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, mercy and blessings be on him, took the relatives of dead combatants captive, and he did not usually do so, it was better for them, since those who used to support them were killed in battle. This occurred in the case of the Jews of Quraidhah, for instance, who conspired to exterminate Muslims and joined forces with Arab pagans who attacked Madinah. In punishment, all combatant males of the Quraidhah tribe were executed, less than 200 male fighters. When Muslims took captives, they treated them humanely, supported them, and allowed them to work where keep their money, have families of their own, and buy their freedom, if they wished.
Sixth: “Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them.” Again, let us compare this to Muhammad as Sam Shamoun suggested. No matter what the haters of Muhammad may say, Muhammad wins the argument every time. May Allah’s peace and blessing be on His Prophet Muhammad, the natural and true successor to Allah’s Prophet `Esa, peace and blessings be on him, and all of Allah’s prophets and messengers.