A Mighty Allah… Yet He Cannot Explain Himself
A Critical Polemic Against the Islamic Conception of God
1. Introduction: The Boast of Clarity Meets the Reality of Chaos
Islam stakes everything on one audacious claim: the Qur’an is the final, perfect, and crystal-clear revelation of God. “This day I have perfected for you your religion” (Qur’an 5:3). “And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words” (Qur’an 6:115).
But if this is the standard, Islam’s God has already disqualified himself. The Allah of the Qur’an is no universal Creator, no God of love, no transcendent Father. He is a petty deceiver, an arrogant tyrant, a bungling communicator whose “clear message” spawned centuries of bloodshed, and a being utterly dependent on human violence to prop up his own reputation.
This essay tears the mask off. We will examine Allah’s own words, his supposed attributes, his demand for perpetual combat, his catastrophic failure to communicate, and the mountain of contradictions this produces. The conclusion is not optional but logically forced: Islam’s Allah is not God. He is a human projection, born of tribal politics and recorded under the shadow of the sword.
2. Allah the Deceiver: When “Perfection” Means Trickery
Qur’anic Attribution of Deceit
The Qur’an repeatedly attributes deception (makr) to Allah:
“And they schemed, and Allah schemed, and Allah is the best of schemers.” (Qur’an 3:54)
“Indeed, they plan a plan, but I also plan a plan.” (Qur’an 86:15–16)
“Allah mocks them.” (Qur’an 2:15)
“Allah misleads whom He wills and guides whom He wills.” (Qur’an 35:8)
This isn’t the God of light, truth, and fidelity found in other theistic traditions. This is a cosmic trickster.
Tafsīr Confirmation
Muslim exegetes did not blush at this. Al-Ṭabarī explains that Allah’s makr means “He deceives them in return for their deception” (Jāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 3, p. 187). Ibn Kathīr affirms that Allah is “the best of those who plot” because he overpowers the plots of unbelievers (Tafsīr, vol. 2, p. 414).
So deception, arrogance, and mockery are canonized as divine virtues. Yet Islamic theologians simultaneously condemn these very traits in humans. Ibn al-Qayyim lists arrogance among sins punished in the grave (al-Rūḥ, pp. 105–106). If arrogance damns mortals, why is it glorious in God? Either deception is evil (and Allah is evil) or it is good (and then humans are innocent for practicing it). Either way, Islam collapses under its own moral incoherence.
3. Allah the Warmonger: A God Who Needs Human Swords
Qur’anic Commands
No serious reading of the Qur’an can ignore its obsession with combat:
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day… until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (Qur’an 9:29)
“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed.” (Qur’an 9:111)
This is not allegory. Al-Ṭabarī records Muhammad’s blunt creed: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say: There is no god but Allah.” (Tārīkh, vol. 7, p. 18).
The Apologist’s Deflection — and Its Collapse
Islamic apologists often scramble at this point. They say: “But look at the Old Testament! The God of the Bible also commanded wars and killings.”
And here, they walk straight into their own snare.
Because Islam insists that every prophet was Muslim, that Moses was a Muslim, that David was a Muslim, and that the Torah and Psalms were Islamic revelation, then by Islam’s own sources those Old Testament wars were Allah’s wars. The slaughter of Canaanites, the extermination of Amalekites — all of this, according to Islam, came from Allah’s command. The Qur’an itself confirms belief in all prior revelations as authentic: “We believe in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus” (Qur’an 2:136).
So apologists cannot use the Bible as a shield. They must own it. The wars of the Torah are not a “Jewish embarrassment” — they are Islamic revelation, part of the very same Allah’s record.
Bounded vs. Perpetual Violence
But here is the critical distinction:
In the Torah, the wars were bounded — tied to a place, a time, a specific enemy.
In the Qur’an, the wars are universalized — fight until the whole world submits or pays tribute.
Thus, instead of correcting or transcending violence, the Qur’an eternalizes it. What was once episodic becomes a standing law.
Comparison with Other Traditions
Christianity decisively breaks with this cycle: Jesus commands no armies, sanctifies no violence, and expands no empire by the sword. The Crusades were political misuses of Christian identity, not divine decrees from Christ.
Islam alone scripturally mandates ongoing bloodshed as divine proof of God’s supremacy. Allah’s glory is not displayed through love, mercy, or truth, but through human violence — Taliban rockets, ISIS knives, and the coerced submission of conquered peoples.
That is not omnipotence. That is insecurity. A god who cannot stand without blood is not a god at all, but a tribal idol enlarged to cosmic proportions.
4. Allah the Inarticulate: The Myth of “Clear Arabic”
The Qur’an boasts: “Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an so that you may understand” (Qur’an 12:2). “In a clear Arabic tongue” (26:195).
Yet history shows Allah flunked Communication 101.
Manuscripts Without Clarity: Early Qur’anic codices lacked diacritical dots and vowels. A single bare consonant string could yield multiple words (Puin, “Observations on Early Qurʾan Manuscripts in Sanʿāʾ,” in Wild, The Qurʾan as Text, 1996).
The Ḥajjāj Reforms: Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf (d. 714) introduced standardized orthography and verse numbering to fix the mess (Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, p. 75).
Qirāʾāt Chaos: Ibn Mujāhid (d. 936) canonized seven competing recitation systems — each with different wordings and meanings. Later expanded to ten. That is not clarity; that is institutionalized ambiguity.
The Absurdity in Comparison
Contrast this divine disaster with modern corporations. Meta or TikTok can publish a privacy policy instantly translated into dozens of languages and universally understood within hours. No wars, no massacres, no “science of abrogation” needed.
If Silicon Valley can achieve clarity, why can’t the Creator of human language? Unless, of course, he never authored the text at all.
5. Contradictions and Sectarian Schism
Qur’anic Challenge
Allah himself issues a test: “Do they not consider the Qur’an? Had it been from other than Allah, they would have found much contradiction in it” (Qur’an 4:82).
Challenge accepted. The contradictions scream from the page.
Creation Order: Surah 2:29 claims Allah created the earth first, then heaven. Surah 79:27–30 reverses the order.
Intercession: Qur’an 2:255 denies intercession without Allah’s permission; Qur’an 2:123 declares “no intercession will be accepted.” Which is it?
Coercion vs. Compulsion: Qur’an 2:256 says “no compulsion in religion.” Qur’an 9:29 orders compulsion through warfare and humiliation.
Sectarian Bloodshed
If Allah’s words were clear, why did Muslims immediately splinter into hostile sects?
The Kharijites (7th century) broke away citing Qur’an 49:9 on arbitration.
The Sunnī–Shīʿa division hardened around contested interpretations of Qur’an 33:33 and 5:55.
Four rival Sunnī law schools emerged, contradicting each other on issues like inheritance, punishment, and ritual — all claiming Qur’anic authority.
This isn’t a mark of divine clarity. It’s the predictable result of a garbled human text.
6. Allah vs. the Biblical God: Pretended Continuity, Actual Disjunction
The Qur’an insists: “Our God and your God is one” (29:46). Yet its own verses sabotage the claim.
Christ as God: Qur’an 5:17 condemns Christians who say “Allah is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary.” But Christianity is precisely the confession that Jesus is God incarnate. If Allah rejects this, he is not the God Christians worship.
Children of God: Qur’an 5:18 ridicules Jews and Christians who call themselves children of God. Yet the Hebrew Bible and New Testament are saturated with filial language (Deut. 14:1; John 1:12; Romans 8:14).
The contradiction is fatal. Either Allah is lying about continuity, or he is ignorant of the texts he claims to confirm. Either way, he cannot be the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.
7. Conclusion: The Projection in the Sword’s Shadow
Add it all up.
Allah is a deceiver who mocks and misleads.
Allah is a tyrant who requires perpetual human bloodshed.
Allah is an incompetent communicator whose “clear Arabic” required centuries of patchwork.
Allah is a divider whose “final revelation” fractured into endless sectarian wars.
Allah is not the God of the Bible, no matter how many times the Qur’an insists otherwise.
This is not divinity. This is projection — the tribal deity of 7th-century Arabia, crafted to consolidate power, sanctify violence, and enforce submission. A human invention, nourished by fear, wielded by the sword.
A mighty Allah indeed… yet one who cannot even explain himself.
References
Primary Sources
The Qur’an.
Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān.
Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm.
Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Rūḥ.
Al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-rusul wa’l-mulūk.
Ibn Mujāhid, Kitāb al-sabʿa fī al-qirāʾāt.
Secondary Sources
Gerd Puin, “Observations on Early Qurʾan Manuscripts in Sanʿāʾ,” in Stefan Wild (ed.), The Qurʾan as Text (Brill, 1996).
Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers (Harvard University Press, 2010).
Christoph Luxenberg, The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran (2007).
Angelika Neuwirth, The Qurʾan and Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2019).
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