The Deflection Game
Exposing the Standard Dawah Attack on the Bible
A full forensic breakdown of the tu quoque strategy, the fabricated citations, the linguistic sleight of hand and what your debater never answered.
01 The Methodology
He Was Never Here to Find the Truth
Before examining the individual claims, understand the overarching strategy. This was not a search for truth. This was a pre-loaded attack sequence rehearsed, scripted, and designed with one goal: to create enough noise that the question about Mohammed never gets answered.
This methodology has a name in Islamic dawah circles. It is the Tu Quoque “you too” approach, popularized by Zakir Naik, Hamza Tzortzis, and their followers. The formula is always identical:
Step 1 Redirect
Never defend your own prophet. Instead, immediately pivot to attacking the Bible or the Torah.
Step 2 Overwhelm
Drop as many references as fast as possible. Numbers 31. Deuteronomy 21. Greek words. Rabbis. Church fathers. Drown the opponent.
Step 3 Sound Scholarly
Use words like “paidion,” cite Rashi, cite Augustine, say “the Greek.” The audience hears depth. The opponent loses time fact-checking.
Step 4 Claim Victory
Declare inconsistency: “If you call Mohammed a pedophile, your God is one too.” Moral equivalence achieved without ever defending Mohammed.
Notice what he never once did: he never defended Aisha’s age. He never addressed Sahih Bukhari. He never explained why Mohammed the al-insan al-kamil, the perfect human example consummated a marriage with a nine-year-old girl. That question hung in the air unanswered from the first second to the last.
THE TRUTH
The moment a debater refuses to defend his own position and attacks yours instead he has already conceded. The attack is the admission that the defense does not exist.
02 What He Was Running From
The Unanswered Question: Mohammed and Aisha
Everything in this debate was a smokescreen to avoid these documented facts from Islam’s own most authoritative hadith collections:
These are not marginal texts. These are the Sahihayn Bukhari and Muslim the two most authoritative collections in all of Sunni Islam, graded sahih (authentic) by Islamic scholarship for over 1,000 years.
The Quran itself commands Muslims to imitate Mohammed. A man who consummated a marriage with a nine-year-old girl is by Islamic theology itself presented as the eternal moral exemplar for mankind. That is the charge. That is what required an answer. No answer came.
03 Lie No. 1
Numbers 31:18 The Fabricated Rape Narrative
CLAIM
“In Numbers 31 verse 18, God commanded Moses to kill all the prisoners of war men, women, young boys but keep the young girls for yourselves. Christian commentators confirm these girls were used as sexual slaves.”
MISREPRESENTATION CONTEXT STRIPPING FALSE ATTRIBUTION
What the Text Actually Says
Numbers 31 records the war against Midian a specific divine judgment against a people who had deliberately sent their women to seduce Israel into Baal worship and trigger divine plague (Numbers 25:1-9, 16-18). This was not a random raid. It was a specific commanded act of judgment for a specific crime.
What the Rabbis Actually Said
The debater invoked “Rashi and commentators” to claim these girls were taken as sex slaves. This is a fabrication.
DEMAND THIS IN DEBATE
“Which specific Rashi commentary? Which page? Which line? Quote it in the original Hebrew and show me where Rashi endorses sexual use of these girls.”
They cannot produce it. Because it does not exist.
⚠ THE IRONY
Mohammed himself took Safiyyah bint Huyayy whose father and husband he had just executed as a wife the same day of the battle. Documented in Sahih Bukhari 4211 and Sahih Muslim 3325. No mourning period. No protection. No legal process. The contrast with Numbers 31 could not be sharper.
04 Lie No. 2
Deuteronomy 21:10–14: The Law That Protected Women
CLAIM
“Deuteronomy 21 says: when you take a captive woman, shave her head, cut her nails, give her clothes, wait one month and then you may have sex with her. Even a small child.”
DELIBERATE INVERSION CONTEXT STRIPPING
Deuteronomy 21:10-14 is not a license for rape. Read in full context, it is a legal restriction and protection in a world where captive women had zero rights under any other ancient Near Eastern legal code.
2. She is given a full month of mourning she cannot be immediately used.
3. She must be formally taken as a wife no casual sexual use permitted.
4. Verse 14: if he does not want her as wife, he must let her go free. He cannot sell her or treat her as a slave “because you have humiliated her.”
Compare this to the Code of Hammurabi, Assyrian law, and every empire of the ancient Near East all of which gave captive women zero legal standing. The Torah text is restricting what men would otherwise do without limit.
The debater claimed “even a small child.” The Hebrew word in this passage is ishah (אִשָּׁה) “woman.” This word consistently refers to adult women throughout the Torah. There is no word in this passage referring to children. He invented that.
DEMAND THIS IN DEBATE
“Show me where this passage uses the Hebrew word for child. Show me which word you are translating as ‘small child.’ Give me the Hebrew text.”
⚠ THE IRONY
Surah 4:24 explicitly permits sexual relations with female war captives “those whom your right hand possesses” with no mourning period, no marriage requirement, and no prohibition on selling them. Deuteronomy 21 is more protective of captive women than the Quran is.
05 Lie No. 3
The “Paidion” Greek Word Trick Linguistic Fraud
CLAIM
“Deuteronomy 22:28 uses the Greek word paidion. In Matthew 2:16, paidion refers to children under two years old. Therefore Deuteronomy permits marrying children under two.”
CATEGORY ERROR LINGUISTIC FRAUD FALSE EQUIVALENCE
Problem 1: Deuteronomy Is Not a Greek Text
Deuteronomy was written in Biblical Hebrew, circa 1400 BC. The Greek Septuagint is a translation produced around 250 BC over a thousand years later. The authoritative word is the Hebrew original, not a later translation.
Problem 2: Paidion Has a Broad Semantic Range
The Greek word paidion covers a wide range of ages infant to adolescent depending on context. Matthew 2:16 uses it for one specific situation: Herod’s massacre of infants. You cannot freeze one contextual usage and apply it universally across all Scripture.
Problem 3: The Septuagint Uses a Different Word
The Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 22:28 does not even use paidion. It uses paida a form of pais. A different word entirely. He cited the wrong Greek word for a Greek argument applied to a Hebrew text.
DEMAND THIS IN DEBATE
“Open the Septuagint to Deuteronomy 22:28 right now. What exact Greek word do you see? Then open a Greek lexicon and show me every usage of that word.”
⚠ THE IRONY
Surah 65:4 explicitly includes “those who have not yet menstruated” prepubescent girls in its divorce procedures. This is not a historical war law. This is active Quranic legislation for marriage and divorce of prepubescent wives. No gymnastics required. The text is plain Arabic.
06 Lie No. 4
The Augustine Quote A Phantom Citation
CLAIM
“Augustine of Hippo, the church father, said this passage includes women of five, six, and seven years old.”
FABRICATED CITATION PHANTOM SOURCE
This is perhaps the most brazen lie in the entire exchange. This quote circulates widely in dawah circles on YouTube channels, in street debate recordings, in Zakir Naik-derived materials. It has been repeated so many times that practitioners believe it is real.
It is not real.
DEMAND THIS IN DEBATE
“Give me the exact title of Augustine’s work. Give me the book number and chapter. Give me the Latin original. If you cannot do all three right now, you are lying.”
This demand collapses the argument instantly. It has never been answered in any recorded debate. The citation is designed to be un-checkable in real time. This is not a mistake. This is a deliberate deception tactic.
07 The Mirror
What His Own Sources Say
Every accusation leveled at the Bible can be answered with a direct citation from his own canonical sources no interpretation needed, no context stripping required.
On Prepubescent Marriage
Quran Surah 65:4 (At-Talaq / The Divorce)“And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated.”
This verse legislates the iddah (waiting period after divorce) and explicitly includes women who have “not yet menstruated.” Ibn Kathir, Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi, and Al-Baydawi all confirm this refers to prepubescent girls in active marriages. This is Quranic domestic law not a war law.
On War Captives
Quran Surah 4:24 (An-Nisa)“And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess [i.e., war captives].”
Islamic jurists from all four madhabs interpret this as permitting sexual relations with married captive women immediately, with no waiting period. Ibn Qudama in Al-Mughni and Al-Nawawi in Sharh Muslim confirm this.
On Mohammed and Safiyyah
08 The Response
How to Answer This in Real Time
When this attack sequence begins, do not follow him into the weeds. Use this order:
- ▸Stop him immediately. “Before you go further I asked you about Mohammed and Aisha. Bukhari 5134. Nine years old. That is your canon. Answer it first.”
- ▸Name the tactic. “What you are doing has a name. It is called the Tu Quoque fallacy. Even if everything you said about the Bible were true which it is not it would not make Mohammed innocent.”
- ▸Challenge every citation. For Augustine: “Title. Chapter. Latin original. Right now.” For Rashi: “Which commentary. Which page. Hebrew text.” They will not produce it.
- ▸Correct the Greek trick in one sentence. “Deuteronomy is Hebrew, not Greek. The Hebrew word is na’arah adult woman. The Greek argument is irrelevant to a Hebrew text.”
- ▸Open Surah 65:4. “Here is your own book. Quran 65:4 legislates divorce procedures for prepubescent wives. Not a war law. Active Quranic legislation. Explain this.”
- ▸Return to the original question. “Mohammed is called al-insan al-kamil the perfect human example in your own theology. Quran 33:21. He consummated a marriage with a nine-year-old. Answer it.”
09 — Conclusion
The Verdict
He Had No Defense
Every citation was either fabricated, misrepresented, or stripped of context. No credible scholar was accurately quoted. No Hebrew text was correctly read. No Greek argument was linguistically sound. And the original charge Mohammed’s documented behavior with Aisha was never answered.
The deflection strategy is effective only against an unprepared opponent. It collapses instantly when met with the demand for sources, the correction of the Hebrew, and the mirror of the Quran itself.
“The truth does not fear examination. Only falsehood needs smoke and noise to survive.”
