The burning twin towers

On the homepage of faithfreedom.org to the right lies a picture of the burning twin towers with a mere line from the Holy Quran:

"Wherever ye are, death will find you out, even if ye are in towers built up strong and high!" 4:78

The above line and not verse is quoted by Mr Ali Sina from the Holy Quran and placed below a picture of the collapsing WTC towers, to convince non-Muslims that it was the Muslim Holy book, the Quran, which motivated those who carried out these heinous crimes.

Lets once again take a look at verse 4:78 in its complete form and apply some context by bringing forward a few verses from both sides of 4:78:

Taken from Yusuf Ali's translation, click here for parallel translations:

Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were told to hold back their hands (from fight) but establish regular prayers and spend in regular charity? When (at length) the order for fighting was issued to them, behold! a section of them feared men as - or even more than - they should have feared God: They said: "Our Lord! Why hast Thou ordered us to fight? Wouldst Thou not Grant us respite to our (natural) term, near (enough)?" Say: "Short is the enjoyment of this world: the Hereafter is the best for those who do right: Never will ye be dealt with unjustly in the very least! Wherever ye are, death will find you out, even if ye are in towers built up strong and high!" If some good befalls them, they say, "This is from God"; but if evil, they say, "This is from thee" (O Prophet). Say: "All things are from God." But what hath come to these people, that they fail to understand a single fact? 4:77-78

Sometime during the Hijra (the journeying from Mecca to Medina), the Pagans of Mecca homed in making a claim to the Prophets belongings, these were forcibly taken off them. The decree eventually came down from God that Muslims should attempt to reclaim their goods. Although this never happened. Muslims were ordered to stand up against the Pagans. Some of the followers, due to their fear of death, decided not to fight. God almighty answered them, reminding them that death is inevitable regardless of who you are or where you are, and all things eventually die. This is given to us with the verse: "death would reach them even if they were in towers built strong and high".

How sickening it is to witness Mr Sina use such out-of-context lines from the Quran, to intensify and give meaning to a picture! What is the motivation of Ali Sina, other than to spread total lies and breed hatred for Muslims?

Note: Recently, Mr Sina has revised his homepage and has replaced the above mentioned line from the Quran, with a new one! Which we will also expose soon, God-willing. Here is what it looked like prior to Mr Sina's amendment:

Before                                        After

This amendment of yours, Mr Sina, just made things a whole lot worse for you!

It now appears Mr Sina has replaced verse 4:78 with 66:9, using a translation which I'm yet to verify, though a reader tells me it's by a Wahabbi-Muslim who has always received much criticism for his translations which are considered inaccurate by some polemics even! We do wish Mr Sina would stick to one translation of the Quran for the sake of consistency. It poses great problems for the new reader when he skips from one translation to the next with such ease! Mr Sina now writes below the above picture:

"O Prophet! make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal sternly with them.  Hell shall be their home, evil their fate." .

Here is Yusuf Ali's translation of the complete verse, together with its correct context. Click here for parallel translations of this. Note all 3 use the word "strive" instead of "make war".

O ye who believe! Turn to God with sincere repentance: In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow,- the Day that God will not permit to be humiliated the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their Light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, "Our Lord! Perfect our Light for us, and grant us Forgiveness: for Thou hast power over all things." 66:8

O Prophet! Strive hard against the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell,  an evil refuge (indeed). 66:9

God sets forth, for an example to the Unbelievers, the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot: they were (respectively) under two of our righteous servants, but they were false to their (husbands), and they profited nothing before God on their account, but were told: "Enter ye the Fire along with (others) that enter!" 66:10

And God sets forth, as an example to those who believe the wife of Pharaoh: Behold she said: "O my Lord! Build for me, in nearness to Thee, a mansion in the Garden, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings, and save me from those that do wrong"; 66:11

-And Mary the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (servants). 66:12

The above now becomes self explanatory. The unbelievers and hypocrites would have to be guilty of a crime before the Prophet was allowed to make any kind of advance. The example of an unbeliever is given to us clearly in verse 66:10. The example is that of the wife of Lot.

Mr Sina's readers, after reading this mere line, would walk away with the thought: "If that Prophet of theirs waged war on all unbelievers, surely this must be a Muslim's primary duty". Such brainwashing is strengthened by Mr Sina's constant referral to all non-Muslims as "unbelievers" in the eyes of Islam. Please read this article to learn who the "unbelievers" were during the time of the Prophet.

The assumed portrait of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)

Another thing we feel we must bring into view, is the image Mr Sina uses to represent the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). It defies belief how Mr Sina, the so-called "ex-Muslim" is ignorant of the fact that absolutely nothing remains on Earth which points to the Prophets actual appearance. Muslims consider it a great wrongdoing for somebody to try and envisage the Prophet. To the point where even the film based on his life titled “The Message” is revolutionary. Since it’s the only one in which the central character is neither seen nor heard. All historical portraits of the Prophet Mohammed are ones in which he is either unpainted, shown covered, or represented by a cloud. No where on Earth, apart from his grave, can we find anything which remotely resembles him.

Mr Sina uses a deviant artist impression of a figure who is supposed to be the Prophet Mohammed, from where he got this we are dieing to know! Beneath this he has, once again, used a mere line from the Quran in an attempt to give meaning to the picture, thus stirring thoughts of hate within the readers mind. The line he uses is "I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, maim them in every limb." Which is taken from verse 8:12.

The above translation of the Quran is striking to say the least, we cannot find it anywhere on the Internet apart from the anti-Islamic websites. If anybody can verify for us the author of the above translation it would be much appreciated. Note how Mr Sina presents the verse in a way which would make the naive reader believe it was for sure the word of Mohammed.

Here are the 3 most popular translations in their complete form:

Let us try and understand exactly what the above verse is conveying and for whom. First of all it must be noticed Mr Sina has deliberately chosen not to include the line prior to the above, a very decisive line! The verse begins with: "Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): I am with you: give firmness to the Believers:....". At this point I would like to ask my readers, can we really afford to learn about Islam from someone who is so selective in his reading, even if he claims to be an ex-Muslim?

Beginning with verse 8:9, we find God listing the favours he bestowed upon the followers. He begins with a reminder of how his help was granted to those who asked for it in their time of need. Secondly, he reminds them of his sending down of calm on all the people as a security. The third is a reminder that the much needed rain, was sent down by Him. The fourth reminder is of the favour God bestowed upon them all when he forwarded and inspired an army of angels to help in Mohammed and his follower's struggle against Pagan slaughter (300 vs a few thousand, lets not forget!). Then comes the admittedly somewhat gruesome punishment the angels should repay the Pagans with, for their mass murdering of those who said "There is no God, but God".

Therefore, Mr Sina has absolutely no excuse to be using such a verse in such a context. From where did he receive his doctorate?

Whilst its certainly debateable amongst the "People of the book" (Jews and Christians) whether or not God would command the angels to do such a thing we remind them of the many times in the Old Testament where the solution to injustice on Earth was equal treatment towards the perpetrators. Click here for a sample of divinely inspired violence within the Christian and Jewish scriptures.

For the most comprehensive list of translations of the Quran, in English and other languages, please visit: http://www.quran.org.uk/. You can also find various commentaries and descriptions of the circumstances, location and date behind the revelation of each verse.

Those photos of Taliban men beating women

The man who who replied to my challenge by stating: God, according to Prophet Mohammed, is "the best of deceivers"; is about to achieve his status of being the most stupid of deceivers, God willing....

He presents to us the following picture:

...and tries to make the claim that the Talib's were inspired by the following line from the Quran: "And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with It and do not break your oath" 38:44.

It must be observed, now the peace-seeking, humanity loving saint has decided to suspend quoting from the translations by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall and the other unidentified one for......yep, you guessed it, the translation by Shakir. Below are parallel translations of the verses in their correct context for all to see.

Note: how Shakir uses the words "beat" and "her" to indicate who the Prophet Job (pbuh) was commanded to control, whilst Yusuf Ali and Pickthall  choose to write the phrases "strike therewith" and "smith therewith".

Lets see what the Bible has to say concerning the events which took place around Job. The following is taken from chapter 2 of Job in the Bible, a thorough read of Job, all chapters is recommended:

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. (Job 2:2)

So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. (Job 2:7)

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. (Job 2:9)

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2:10)

Job a blameless, upright, servant of God who shunned evil, was a prosperous man from the land of Uz who was great among all the people in the East. Job's wealth was in livestock and land (Job1:1-3). His wife Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah bore him seven sons and three daughters. He had it all, wealth, land, respect, admiration, family and health but he lacked prayer in his relationship with his wife.

Job’s livestock was destroyed by Satan's helpers, his servants then killed all of his children. Job acknowledged that God was in control and praised him (Job 1:21). Even though Job understood that God was in control, his understanding did not encompass God’s reality. Then Satan inflicted Job with aliments hoping this would provoke Job to curse God. Job had festering sores, nightmares, scabs that peeled and turned black, disfigurement and pain day and night. When everything was taken away from him, his wife, Dinah, did not go to the Lord in prayer, instead she said to him "are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9) It was easier for Dinah to doubt her husband and wonder what sins did he commit against the Lord then it was for her to pray to help him endure the trials.

Now Job was experiencing pain of the heart, hearing his wife telling him to blaspheme God and die. Job rebuked his wife and told her she spoke as one of the foolish women speaks, and asked her why should he only accept good from God not trouble? (Job 2:10) Why was Dinah ‘s life spared? Satan choose to spare Dinah's life for his purposes. He took EVERYTHING from Job except his life and his wife.

A Christian perspective of Prophet Job's (pbuh) life and wife: http://www.momof9splace.com/jobswife.html

The following is taken from: T. Al-Qurtubi, Vol. 15, p. 212 - Al-Qurtabi was a Spanish Muslim, a famous scholar in Islam.

The above is simply an ancient account of what Job was asked to do in that particular situation. It is not a command for men! How can it be applied at any other moment in time? The matter is not complex at all. Mr Sina has a variety of Quranic translations at hand (thanks to the Internet) and by carefully selecting certain translations over others (at his own discretion) is able to communicate a variety of messages. By presenting the above picture and deliberately choosing to use Shakir's translation, on top of that taking it out of context, he is able to take maximum advantage of the naive reader. Thus you see why we have such difficulty in accepting this juvenile's word when he says "I've been reading the Quran all my life.....".

Here is my proposal Mr Sina: Let us hear you relate to us a fine Persian Poem. You translate it into English and I translate it into English. You read your English version and I my English version. Then let us analyse and compare our differing translations, both weeping long and hard at the damage both translations have done to the poems original rhythm, symbolism, beauty, richness and actual meaning. Can it ever be done properly? 

Wife beating is considered a divorceable offence in Islam; a thorough refutation of the other verse Mr Sina uses can be found here

Mr Ali Sina the so-called ex-Shiite Muslim

Mr Ali Sina, claims to be an ex-Muslim but seldom mentions which sect he’s from Muslim. Recently he has made the claim of being raised as a Shiite Muslim. Shi’ite’s make up less than 10% of the Muslim world and are largely predominant within Iran and Afghanistan.

In Mr Sina’s gallery section there were photos of Shiite men, young and old carrying out the somewhat eccentric ritual of caning themselves to the point where they begin to bleed. Some (not all) Shiites do this because they feel they are doing atonement for their ancestors who failed to defend Imam Hussein in his hour of need. This usually takes place on the anniversary of Imam Hussein's death.

It must be stressed, this is a practice which is exclusive to only certain members of the Shiite sect and is refuted “Quranically” by Islamic scholars worldwide. Mr Sina wishes to lead the naive non-Muslims astray by presenting certain Shiite's as the standard Muslim model. He callously groups all Muslims as one, failing to take into account differences in their beliefs. Can he really afford to put every Muslim, from every sect, all into the same boat?