The Moral Exception Dilemma

Who is the absolute unmatched hands down worst sinner ever in Islam? Who is the undefeated, undisputed champion of evil? Who is the all-time king of idolatry?

You might think that the answer is Satan. And you'd be wrong because this is Islam where Satan always turns out to be the real hero and someone you might not expect always turns out to be the real villain. Watch what happens when we spend just a few minutes going through Islam's most trusted sources to answer the question, who is the worst sinner ever in Islam?

Premise 1: Muhammad teaches that swearing by anything other than Allah is shirk (the gravest sin).

Premise 2: The Quran contains numerous oaths where Allah swears by created things (sun, moon, stars, etc.).

Conclusion: If the same rule applies to Allah, then Allah appears to commit shirk, which contradicts His absolute transcendence.

Premise 1 - Swearing by anything other than Allah is shirk

What is the the worst possible sin in Islam?

According to the Quran, the worst possible sin is associating partners with Allah.

Surah 4:48 - “Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth (all) save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin”. (Pickthall)

Surah 4:116 - “Lo! Allah pardoneth not that partners should be ascribed unto Him. He pardoneth all save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah hath wandered far astray”. (Pickthall)

So Allah doesn't forgive associating partners with him the sin of shirk but he might forgive anything else. Now, how does a person commit shirk? Well, there are lots of ways to associate partners with Allah. You don't have to actually bow down and worship other gods. Muhammad tells us that if you simply swear by something other than Allah, you're committing shirk. If you say, "I swear on my mother's grave," you're guilty of shirk. Let's look at a few passages from Islam's most trusted sources.

Sahih al-Bukhari 3836 - “The Prophet said, 'If anybody has to take an oath, he should swear only by Allah.’ The people of Quraish used to swear by their fathers, but the Prophet said, 'Do not swear by your fathers. ’”

Sahih Muslim 4257 - Abdullah (b. Umar) reported that Allah's Messenger ( ‌صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم ‌ ) found, Umar b. al-Khattab amongst the riders and he was taking oath by his father Allah's Messenger ( ‌صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم ‌ ) called them (saying) ; Our Allah, the Exated and Majestic, has forbidden you that you take oath by your father. He who bag to take an oath, he must take it by Allah or keep quiet.

Sahih Muslim 4262 - Abd al-Rahman b. Samura reported Allah's Messenger ( ‌صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم ‌ ) as saying: Do not swear by idols, nor by your fathers.

Sunan Abu Dawud 32:48 - The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not swear by your fathers, or by your mothers, or by rivals to Allah; and swear by Allah only, and swear by Allah only when you are speaking the truth.

There are tons of these passages, but I'm more interested in why Muhammad says we should only swear by Allah. Why should we never swear by anything other than Allah?

 Sunan Abi Dawud 3251 - Ibn Umar heard a man swearing: No, I swear by the Ka'bah. Ibn Umar said to him: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: He who swears by anyone but Allah is polytheist.

Anyone who swears by something other than Allah has committed shirk, the worst possible, least forgivable sin. Putting all of this together, since the worst possible sin in Islam is shirk, and since you commit shirk whenever you swear by something other than Allah, we have to conclude that anyone who swears by something other than Allah is committing the worst possible sin in Islam.

Premise 2 - Allah swears by created things in the Quran

Now that we understand how shirk works, let’s see what Allah swears by in the Quran.

Swears by the Quran

Surah 36:2 - I swear by the Quran, full of wisdom.

Surah 38:1 - I swear by the Quran, full of admonition.

Surah 43:2 - I swear by the book that makes things clear.

Surah 50:1, I swear by the glorious Quran.

Allah repeatedly swears by the Quran. But Muhammad said that when you swear by something other than Allah, you're making it a partner with Allah. Therefore, the Quran is Allah's partner. It's not very surprising to most of us since Muslims claim that the Quran is eternal. They tell us that the Quran shares one of Allah's attributes, eternity. So we might expect Allah to make this eternal book his eternal partner.

Swears by Muhammad

Allah also swears by Muhammad.

Surah 5:55 - Your allies are God, and His Messenger, and those who believe—those who pray regularly, and give charity, while bowing down.

Surah 15:72 - By your life, they were blundering in their drunkenness.

Allah swears by Muhammad's life, making Muhammad a partner with Allah. This shouldn't be surprising either since Muslims obviously don't treat Muhammad like a mere human being or even like a mere prophet. Draw a picture of Moses. No Muslims riot. Draw a picture of Muhammad. Someone has to die. Now it all makes sense. Muhammad is Allah's partner.

Swears by Angels

But Allah has angelic partners too.

Surah 77:5 - I swear by the angels who bring down the revelation.

Surah 79:1 - I swear by the angels who violently pull out the souls of the wicked.

Allah swears by the angels. But didn't Muhammad say that when you swear by something other than Allah, you've set it up as a partner with Allah? So angels are partners with Allah.

Swears by Other Things

Allah must have been quite lonely though because he made all kinds of partners. There are even more divine oaths that Allah makes

Surah 81:15 - “So I swear by the retreating stars..."

Surah 85:1 - "By the sky containing great stars (or mansions of the stars)."

Surah 56:75 - "I swear by the setting of the stars."

Surah 91:1 - "By the sun and its brilliance."

Surah 74:32- "No! By the moon."

Surah 89:1 - "By the daybreak."

Surah 84:16 - "So I swear by the twilight glow (sunset redness)."

Surah 92:1 - "By the night when it covers (draws a veil)."

Surah 86:11 - “By the sky which returns [rain]."

Surah 51:1 - “By the winds scattering [dust] dispersing."

Surah 90:1 - "I swear by this city [Mecca]."

Surah 68:1 -Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe."

Surah 52:1 - "By the Mount."

Surah 95:1-3 - "By the fig and the olive, and Mount Sinai, and this city made secure."

Wow, that's a lot of partners. At this point, you're probably thinking to yourself, "If Muhammad says that swearing by something other than Allah is shirk, and Allah swears by all these other things, making all of them partners with himself, Islam isn't really a monotheistic religion. It's polytheistic."

Swears by Everything

If that's what you're thinking, you're only partially right. Islam isn't purely polytheistic. And you'll see why:

Surah 69:38-39 - But nay! I swear by all that ye see, And what ye see not

Allah swears by everything seen and by everything unseen. But guess what? That's literally everything. There are only two kinds of things. Things that are seen and things that are unseen. Allah swears by all of them. This means that Allah swears by absolutely everything which makes everything a partner with Allah.

Polytheism vs Pantheism

Polytheism is the claim that there are multiple gods. Pantheism is the claim that everything is God. So Islam would be more accurately described as some kind of polytheism. pantheism hybrid. Think about this for a moment. Allah swears by what you can see.

You can see a pig. So Allah swears by a pig. Muhammad says that when you swear by something other than Allah, you've made it Allah's partner. Hence, Allah has made a pig his partner. Not according to me, according to Muhammad.

I'm just following Muhammad's claims to their logical conclusion because his followers never do. You can see pagan idols, so Allah swears by them, making them his partners. You can see a bottle of whiskey, so Allah swears by a bottle of whiskey, making a bottle of whiskey his partner.

You can see me and the Apostate Prophet and Robert Spencer and Tommy Robinson and Hatun Tash. So Allah swears by all of us, making all of us his partners. You can't see Jai and DoC yet, but Allah swears by the unseen, too. So Allah swears by Jai and DoC, making Jai and DoC his partners. Why do you complain about us so much? How dare you complain about Allah's partners? Allah swears by everything seen and unseen. He swears by Zionists and by atheists and by Muhammad cartoons and by dogs and by toilets and by what's in toilets.

And when Allah swore by all these things from all eternity in his eternal partner, the Quran, he associated all of them with himself, thereby committing more shirk than the worst Mecca polytheist could ever dream of.

Great Knowledge = Greater Responsibility

But it gets worse because according to the Quran, the more knowledge you have about right and wrong, the greater your guilt if you sin. In Surah 2 verse 22, Allah commands, "Do not set up rivals to Allah while you know." While you know, i.e. if you know better. This is why Muhammad’s companions who started off as pagans could be forgiven of their shirk. They didn't know any better. The more knowledge you have, the more responsible you are. But Allah's knowledge is supposedly greater than anyone else's.

Which means that Allah knew exactly what he was doing when he set up literally everything as his partner. Since Allah has the most knowledge and since he's committed the most shirk, he is by far the worst sinner who's ever existed according to Islam.

Conclusion - Allah appears to commit shirk

Allah is the greatest of sinners. Muslims, if you don't agree with this conclusion, you need to tell me where I made a mistake. If associating partners is the worst sin, and Allah’s oaths seem to elevate created things, does that undermine Tawhid (absolute monotheism)?

My entire argument is based on two facts:

Dilemma 1 - Muhammad said that swearing by anything other than Allah is shirk.

Dilemma 2 - Allah swears by literally everything. Allah swears by the Quran and by Muhammad and by the angels and by the California angels and by the California raisins and by sun-made raisins and by the sun that makes them and by the moon and by moon pies and by cow pies. Allah swears by everything.

So tell me who's wrong? Was Muhammad wrong when he explained shirk? If so, what else was he wrong about? Or is the Quran wrong when it says that Allah swears by everything seen and unseen? I'd like to know. Because if Muhammad and the Quran are both right, then Allah has committed more shirk than anyone else ever. And since shirk is the worst possible sin and Allah can't appeal to ignorance, that would make Allah the worst of all sinners and the most guilty of all sinners.

My goodness, how will he ever forgive himself? Do you know what the Muslim response to this is? I know because I've asked them about it.

The response is, "Well, the rules don't apply to Allah. For instance, Allah can command you not to kill, but that doesn't mean that Allah isn't allowed to kill. The rules he makes don't apply to him."

Great. So, Allah tells us not to commit shirk. But he can commit all the shirk he wants. In fact, since Allah's rules about shirk don't apply to him, he can spend all day every day bowing down to pagan idols and worshipping them. He tells us not to do it, but the rules don't apply to him. So Allah is free to be the supreme king of all pagans if he wants. Make sense?

This is a pattern I've been noticing in Islam. On the surface, some of Islam's teachings seem appealing. Believe in one God, pray, fast, give to charity. Awesome. Where do we sign up? But as soon as you dig a little deeper, you always, always, always find blasphemous nonsense. Believe in one God who happens to be the worst sinner imaginable according to his own prophet. Pray to a god who commits more shirk than anyone else according to his own prophet. Can't sign up for that.

Does anyone else keep getting the impression that Islam is really from Satan masquerading as God and that because he's Satan, he can't stop bragging about himself? He's like a forger who makes a forgery of a famous painting, but he can't resist adding his own signature because he's just too proud of his masterpiece.