The summaries, the references and the sources under each video come from the original YouTube descriptions written by The Masked Arab. Minor liberties have been taken for grammatical flow and formatting. Any transcription errors are mine and not those of the The Masked Arab.
Religion should be a choice—don’t let it define you as an immutable identity. Otherwise, it is no longer truly a choice.
It’s time to open your mind and to challenge what you’ve been taught. Set emotions aside. Think rationally. Catch your internal defense mechanisms programmed to resist change. Unlock the safety, so that you can think freely.
I know it’s not easy. This journey doesn’t promise you easy; this journey offers you compelling evidence. Remember: all we’re offering is the truth. I know. That’s a big word and it’s a word that is often abused and overused. So you get to decide. After all, this is your journey.
After this, there is no turning back. Are you ready? Take the red pill and The Masked Arab will show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Topics
Episode 1 of 4
This video will look at Surat al-Kahf. This is the Qur’anic chapter that Mohamed claimed was revealed to him, after he struggled to answer a challenge by non-believers: to inform them regarding old legends.
We will see how Mohamed struggled to meet previous challenges to prove his prophethood to the skeptics and how he struggled with this challenge, and how he keeps his answers vague and useless.
Clearly embarrassed by being put on the spot, he comes up with the most bizarre excuses of why he couldn’t provide a response in the time that he promised it would take him.
He later has the critic who challenged him with these legends executed, as a prisoner of war in Muslim hands.
Arabic Version
My next video will continue to look at the third of the two challenges he was given and in particular, to the verse clearly saying a noble and powerful man called DhulQarnayn reached the setting place of the Sun here on the Earth’s surface.
References and Sources
Please note that many of the sources used are only available in Arabic, as far as I can tell. I have included them here regardless, for completeness.
Jalalayn commentary on Quranic verse 6:37 that says “most of them do not know” being explained as they don’t know they would have to die if they see a miracle and reject it.
NASA denying that the Moon was ever split in the past (it’s quite sad if you needed to double check this!)
Some links to the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
- http://www.britannica.com/topic/Seven-Sleepers-of-Ephesus
- https://oca.org/saints/lives/2011/08/04/102195-7-holy-youths-ldquoseven-sleepersrdquo-of-ephesus
The background story of this Cave chapter explained in Mohamed’s life story – Ibn Ishaq’s Sira (via the Ibn Hisham edit). The story begins on page 133.
[Arabic only] The same story, for the background of the story in al-Tabari’s tafsir (exegesis).
[Arabic only] Ibn Kathir’s version of the same story.
[Arabic only] Qurtubi’s version of the background to this chapter.
The story of Al-Nadr’s execution when he was a prisoner among the Muslims (page 308).
Other myths involving long duration sleepers.
[Arabic] Tabari’s tafsir showing the confusion between Muslims on who actually built the edifice (masjid) over the cave dwellers; highlighting that Muslims themselves didn’t even understand the story properly.
Ibn Kathir’s tafsir on the same issue.
[Arabic] Tabari’s tafsir, showing that there was another version of the Quran which had a different meaning to the verse explaining who had said that the cave dwellers slept for 309 years—Allah or the non-believers.
[Arabic] Ibn Kathir’s tafsir highlighting the same issue on the variation found in Ibn Masud’s Quran.
Thank you for watching!
Episode 2 of 4
In this video I look at one of the biggest errors found in the Quran—a verse stating that the Sun sets here on Earth, in a muddy spring. I look at common apologist arguments and show how they all fail in their efforts to spin the blatant error.
Please share this video far and wide. It will hopefully help intellectually honest Muslims to look further and to question beliefs that they were indoctrinated in since birth.
Arabic Version
References and Sources
Egyptian mythology on the sun traveling on a boat, setting on Earth, and then traveling through underworld:
Quranic verse (18:86) – Muhammad Pickthall translation:
Islamic apologist websites try to explain away the problem.
The website Answering Christianity is perhaps the most absurd of the lot.
They seem to make things up as they go along, changing the meaning of Arabic words entirely, going way off topic at times, and shouting “miracle” every 10 seconds. They also claim that people in East Asia have their particular eye structure because of the Sun over there being different somehow. It’s quite a laughable page if you have the time to read it.
This apologist argument doesn’t bother trying to argue much, they just claim it’s a mistranslation! A mistranslation that somehow all Arabs for 450 years after Mohamed also misunderstood in the native Arabic!
This page outright lies to its readers in the hope they won’t double check its claims. The dishonesty here is pretty astonishing and shameful. The page claims that early tafsirs backed the current position that it was only setting this way from DhulQarnayn’s viewpoint, they then go on to ignore ALL tafsirs written in the first 450 years.
- http://www.quran-errors.com/did-the-sun-set-in-a-muddy-spring-according-to-the-quran-1886-short.html
They make a mention of a tafsir that was written between the 5th and 6th centuries of the Islamic calendar. They don’t give you the date of the tafsir, who author died in 516 AH according to this page:
But they say this tafsir quotes somebody who lived hundreds of years before him, saying he also thought it wasn’t literal and use the date of the time this alleged person lived instead of the date of the tafsir as they do for the others.
Arabic version of this video where I don’t use translations:
[Arabic] Tafsir of Tabari regarding verse 18:90 where the people near rising sun are described as “negroes”:
[Arabic] Tafsir of Ibn Kathir of same verse 18:90 where same description of “negroes” is used to describe people near rising sun:
Frying Pan Lake (Waimangu Cauldron) is the biggest hot spring in the entire world:
- http://www.lakescientist.com/frying-pan-lake-largest-hot-spring/
- http://whenonearth.net/frying-pan-lake-worlds-largest-hot-spring/
Hadith where Mohamed states that the Sun sets in a spring of warm water:
Authentic Hadith where Mohamed states that the Sun sets in a spring of warm water. See page 375 of this PDF.
For fully authentic hadith (not solely authentic through chain), view this page:
Hadith classifications:
Authentic hadith telling us the Sun goes beneath the throne of God every evening after setting, requesting permission to rise again, again indicating a flat Earth as the Sun is always above half the Earth’s surface, not requiring permission to rise again every morning:
Brief biography of Tabari:
Tabari’s first volume of his historical work from an Islamic perspective, the History of Prophets and Kings. Download it here:
Pages 234-235 explain his understanding of the Sun rising and setting from and into muddy springs on the edges of Earth
The tafsir website that I use. It is the most comprehensive that I’m aware of:
My previous video clarifying when people began to understand that the Earth was round and the Sun was a star:
[Arabic] Link to the first tafsir and how it interprets the verse in question:
[Arabic] Tabari’s tafsir collecting all hadiths related to the verse, none of which claim what Muslims claim today:
[Arabic] Link to Suleiman al-Tabarani’s tafsir on 18:86
[Arabic] Link to discussions by Muslims claiming this tafsir of Tabarani is a forgery:
[Arabic] This tafsir based on a tafsir of a man who lived in 6-7th century hijri (1106-1300 in regular calendar):
[Arabic] 18th tafsir which shows the origin of the myth of the Sun setting in a muddy spring:
Bible verse saying something a little similar – Book of Ecclestiastes, Chapter 1, verse 5:
[Arabic] 20th tafsir where we find the first record of any Muslim exegete claiming that it could mean the Sun was only setting from DhulQarnayn’s perspective:
[Arabic] 21st tafsir where Ibn al-Akhshad still argues that it was literal “exactly as the Quran clearly says”:
Thanks for watching and please share this video far and wide!
Episode 3 of 4
This video will look at the Islamic version of the myth regarding the lost tribes of Gog and Magog.
The story is mentioned twice in the Quran and also in the authentic hadiths. I will attempt to take a look at what these sources tell us about this story and whether it makes sense when we crunch the numbers and analyse what we find.
Arabic Version
References and Sources
Authentic hadith where Mohamed says the emergence of Gog and Magog is one of the signs just prior to Judgement Day.
Gog & Magog are mentioned numerous times in the Bible’s Book of Revelation.
Hadith stating that Gog & Magog will drink all of the water in the Sea of Galilee.
Hadith stating that 999 out of every 1000 humans will go to Hell and that Gog and Magog account for 999 out of every 1000 who are destined to hell.
World population data. Includes the modern era as well as cumulative, all-time figures.
- http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/7-3-billion-people-one-building.html
- http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
- http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.aspx
Yasir Qadhi’s full video on Gog and Magog.
Another Islamic video on Gog & Magog.
Authentic hadith on Gog & Magog digging every day until they say “Insha’Allah” when God decides to finally let them break free.
[Arabic] Narration (not authentic) on shapes of Gog & Magog
A Muslim giving a lecture to others about Gog & Magog, mentioning the big ears.
Tabari’s History, describing Noah’s descendants in a racist fashion. Volume 2, page 21.
Hadith where Mohamed has a nightmare about Gog & Magog and says their release could be soon and that they have already dug a hole through their barrier.
Hadith stating that Gog & Magog’s primitive weapons will be used as firewood for seven years by the Muslims indicating Mohamed didn’t know how people would generate heat and light in the future.
I didn’t mention this in the video but it is interesting nonetheless. George W. Bush apparently cited the Gog & Magog prophecy as a reason to invade Iraq, when attempting to convince French President Jacques Chirac
Thanks for watching…
Episode 4 of 4
In this video, I look at the similarities between the mythical legends attributed to Alexander the Great and the DhulQarnayn story in the Quran.
Arabic Version
References and Sources
Background on the historical Alexander.
Background on historian Callisthenes.
Clashes between Callisthenes and Alexander.
- http://www.livius.org/articles/person/callisthenes-of-olynthus/
- http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t15.html
Information on Persian ritual of Proskynesis.
The History of Alexander The Great
This book details the Alexander Romance. It was published in 1889 by the Cambridge University Press.
Note that the page numbers cited below for this book are all based on the pdf, which contains scanned pages (facing left and right).
The page number references below do not correspond to the printed page numbers. For example, when you see “page 67 (left)”, go to the 67th page in the pdf attachment, and look at the left facing page. In the top left of that page, you’ll see the original page number of “18” (which I will not be using here).
All references below without hyperlinks, are to this book. Interspersed, are links to relevant tafsir and hadith.
- [The book in PDF form] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B76p5GnL05obbk8xSFFSNHNhb0k/view?usp=sharing
The origins of these legends are discussed on page 19 (right side). The first written version of these legends appeared around 200 AD, as discussed on page 20 (left side).
[Arabic] Pre-Islamic poem by Tubba saying Sun sets in muddy spring, written hundreds of years before Islam – showing origins of at least some of the story preceded Islam.
Origin of the DhulQarnayn name in the Alexander Romance legends.
- Egyptian version: see page 27 on the right hand side of double page.
- Ethiopic version: see page 50 on the right.
- Christian version: see page 135 on the left.
King Philip in legends, saying that he expects Alexander to rule the world. See page 67 (left).
Ibn Kathir’s exegesis explaining that DhulQarnayn ruled the world.
- [tafsir for Quran 18:84] http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2705&Itemid=73
- [tafsir for Quran 2:258] http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=136
Alexander in the legends, saying that he wants to see the edges of the world, and wonders how the sky is held up. See page 129 (right).
Alexander seeing the sun rise above a people who have no protection from it. See page 131 (left). On the same page [131 left], we hear about the Sun prostrating to God.
The Alexander legend speaks about him building a barrier to keep out the Huns, who include Gog and Magog. See page 132 (left).
Alexander in myths using iron and brass to build a barrier. See page 133 (right).
The Alexander Romance tells us that Gog and Magog will be released near Judgment Day when they ask God to help them out. See page 134 (left).
Authentic hadith saying Gog & Magog will be released, once they say “Inshallah” (translates to ‘God willing’).
People who wanted to keep out Gog and Magog had the heads of dogs. See page 133 (left).
Tabari tafsir quotes Mohamed in a hadith saying that the same people mentioned above, had the heads of dogs.
Authentic hadith saying that Jesus will kill the Dajjal (i.e. the Anti-Christ). It also says that Jesus will escape Gog and Magog by fleeing to Jerusalem
Jesus flees to Jerusalem and escapes Gog & Magog. See page 155 (left).
The Alexander legends saying that Jesus will kill the Anti-Christ (Dajjal). See page 156 (left).
In Alexander myths, pages 150 (right) and 151 (left) we hear about many of the signs of things to happen before Judgment Day. These are very similar to signs of things to happen before the end of time, according to Muslims.
Thanks for watching…
Epilogue
After you’ve watched these four videos in full, and with an open mind, please consider again the words at the end of the closing video.
Your journey has just begun. If you’d like to hear more from The Masked Arab, I’ve created an English playlist and an Arabic playlist of all of his videos to date.
If you watch them all, end to end, you will be able to pose some tough questions to the apologists whose arguments you’ll now have the tools to challenge. May you find enlightenment on this awesome journey of discovery.
Peace.