Ask the Muslim: Who is the greatest of all deceivers?

The Qur'an identifies Allah as the greatest of all deceivers.

3:54, Arb. And they devised, and Allah devised, and Allah is the best of devisers.
3:54, Translit. Wamakaroo wamakara Allahu waAllahu khayru almakireena
The arabic word for deception and malicious scheming is makr. A study of the arabic text shows
that the same word is used in reference to the actions of both Isa's enemies' and Allah's
deceptive actions.
In Sura 1 6:26 we see that makr is used in reference to the malicious plottings of wrong-doers.
1 6:26 Arb (Mod). Those that were before them contrived; then Allah came upon their building from
the foundations, and the roof fell down on them from over them, and the chastisement came upon
them from whence they were not aware.
1 6:26 Translit. Qad makara allatheena min qablihim faata Allahu bunyanahum mina alqawaAAidi
fakharra AAalayhimu alssaqfu min fawqihim waatahumu alAAathabu min haythu la
yashAAuroona
In Sura 4:1 42 the Qur'an also uses the word khadi to describe deception.
4:1 42 Arb. The hypocrites seek to trick Allah, but Allah is tricking them. When they stand up to
pray they stand up lazily, showing off to the people and not remembering God save a little;
4:1 42 Translit. Inna almunafiqeena yukhadiAAoona Allaha wahuwa khadiAAuhum wa-itha qamoo
ila alssalati qamoo kusala yuraoona alnnasa wala yathkuroona Allaha illa qaleelan
In the Qur'an we are also told that Allah deceived Muhammad in a dream and gave him the false
impression that the army he was about to fight were far fewer in number than they actually were.
8:44 Arb. When Allah showed thee them in thy dream as few; and had Allah shown them as many
you would have lost heart, and quarrelled about the matter; but Allah saved; He knows the
thoughts in the breasts.
Hence, Allah lies and deceives both believers and unbelievers without discrimination.
Employing such deception is not the way in which the true God of the Bible is known to operate.
In Judges 7 we read that the Lord God commanded Gideon to reduce the number of his troops
from around thirty thousand to only three hundred men. Gideon's tiny army was then victorious
over an enemy "as numerous as the sand on the seashore".
Another example of Allah's deception is evident in Sura 4:1 57. Due to this verse most Muslims do
not believe that Jesus was crucified.
4:1 57 Arb. and for their saying, 'We slew the Messiah, Isa son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah' --
yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them. Those
who are at variance concerning him surely are in doubt regarding him; they have no knowledge of
him, except the following of surmise; and they slew him not of a certainty -- no indeed;
If this were true, it would mean that Allah deceived not only Jesus' enemies, but even His closest
disciples (whom the Qur'an claims were faithful Muslims). The implication here is that Allah's
deception was so effective that Jesus' most loyal follower's went on to boldly preach the Gospel
message of His sacrificial death upon the Cross and were willing to be martyred rather than be
silenced.
Furthermore, the arabic word for devising guile (the same as deceiving) is kayd. In the following
verses both Mohammad's enemies and Allah are said to be devising guile.
86:1 5-1 6 Arb. They are devising guile, and I am devising guile
86:1 5-1 6 Translit. Innahum yakeedoona kaydan Waakeedu kaydan
To confirm the meaning of kayd, the same word is used in the following verse in which Allah is
said to be challenging wrong-doers to try and trick him.
77:39 Arb. if you have a trick, try you now to trick me!
77:39 Translit. Fa-in kana lakum kaydun fakeedooni
Sura 1 2:5 provides further proof that kayd means to devise guile.
1 2:5 Arb. He said, 'O my son, relate not thy vision to thy brothers, lest they devise against thee
some guile. Surely Satan is to man a manifest enemy.
1 2:5 Translit. Qala ya bunayya la taqsus ru/yaka AAala ikhwatika fayakeedoo laka kaydan inna
alshshaytana lil-insani AAaduwwun mubeenun
The Qur'an does refer to Satan as being mankind's enemy, but that does not mean the Qur'an is
true revelation. We have to keep in mind that the Bible identifies Satan as the most cunning of all
the creatures God had made. And also as the being who perpertrates the greatest of deceptions.
In Genesis 3, Satan questioned God's revelation in an attempt to instill doubt in Eve. This teaches
us that Satan's key strategy is to repeat some of God's revelation, but then twist or deny the most
important part of it in a very cunning way.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God
had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of
the garden’?”
Revelation 1 2:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were
thrown down with him.
It makes sense that if Satan were to formulate counterfeit revelations, he would refer to himself in
a way that obscures the fact that he had indeed inspired such false revelations. Satan is
extremely intelligent, so it is critically important that people are aware of just how sophisticated his
deceptions might be. Jesus warned us about this.
Matthew 1 0:1 6 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents
and innocent as doves.
Jesus is not telling His followers to be deceptive. He is warning them to be very wise and cautious
so that even the craftiest of men and devils do not deceive them.
Satan is such an expert at deception that he is even able to disguise himself as an angel of truth,
and his servants can even appear to be agents of righteousness.
2 Cor 11 :1 4-1 5 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is
not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end
will be according to their deeds.

Jesus brought the potential severity of deceptions to our attention when He said the following:
Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and
wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
When we contemplate the many stern warnings that Jesus spake against Satan's deceptions, it
becomes clear why He spoke so harshly against Peter when he objected to His determined
mission.

Mat 1 6:21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up
on the third day.
22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never
happen to You."
23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for
you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
Satan does not want mankind to be saved. There is no salvation possible for the Devil and he
hates God all the more because of that. When Peter spoke against what Jesus was telling them,
He did not realise that He was speaking against God's revelation in the same way in which Satan
does.
Ask the Muslim: Have you ever considered that if only way for anyone to be saved is through
Jesus, how it would then be a certainty that Satan would conduct an extremely sophisticated
deception against that truth? And would you agree that Christians are justified in being extremely
suspicious of any contradictory message presented to them, no matter how sophisticated it
seems? And if the people presenting the suspicious message threaten to kill any Christian who
doesn't believe it, how do you think Christians should react? Since Jesus rebuked Satan when
Peter objected to Him being crucified, shouldn't we suspect that anyone who denies the
crucifixion as doing Satan's will?
Galatians 1 :6-1 0 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace
of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are
disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to
what you received, he is to be accursed!