(July 13, 2012 at 12:47 pm)Taqiyya Mockingbird Wrote: The specific verse praises "him" (really, for what is "he" in need of a penis?) for his superlative deceiving prowess. In THAT context, it praises him for his ability AS A DECEIVER. All your other "99 attributes" label "him" for things "he" does not always do. You want your cake and eat it to. I call Special Pleading.
No, the specific verse praises Him as being the "best of planners" or the "best of schemers" in the context that He is the best at scheming against those who scheme against Him. Sometimes, the scheming may involve deception, but Allah only deceived certain people who had evil intentions or those who tried to kill the Prophet, so I don't think that is evil. At other times, Allah's deception was more indirect because there are verses in the Quran which say that those who thought that they were deceiving Allah and His Prophet (in one way or another), were actually deceiving themselves in the end.
The point is that you can't simply say that Allah deceives people without looking at who, when, and why He deceives, if you want to understand the context of the verses.
I shall post my response to fr0d0's comments (or, should I say, copy-and-paste job?) shortly. It's going to be fun.
