Good morning, Rodger.
Sorry for the delayed reply.
You write:
‘The God of the Bible Never Lies: Can that be said of Allah. Does the Quran Deceive? ‘Actually, it has been observed that in three different places the Quran actually teaches that Allah actually intentionally deceives people. They are as follows.’
You then quote Sūrah ‘Al‘Imran’:
‘The (disbelievers) schemed but Allāh also schemed; Allāh is the Best of Schemers’. (ʾĀyah: 54)
And then Sūrah ‘Al-Anfa’l’:
‘Remember (Prophet) when the disbelievers plotted to take you captive, kill, or expel you. They schemed and so did Allāh: He is the best of schemers.’ (ʾĀyah: 30).
The word used to denote the act ‘planning’; ‘plotting’; or ‘scheming’ is ‘makr’. This word is never used to denote lying or deceiving.
‘Makr’ is to be taken literally when applied to the evil intentions and deeds of people.
When applied to the Beloved, on the other hand, it is a metaphorical reference to His power to thwart, or to defeat, the actions of the unrighteous. In reality, the Beloved has no need to plot, or to scheme:
‘He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees something, He says only, ‘Be,’ and it is.’ (Sūrah ‘Al-Baqara: 117’).
The principal Qur’anic word used to denote the act of deception is gharūr.
Gharūr is used to describe the actions of Satan; and of people; but never of the Beloved.
While gharūr is the principal Qur’anic word for ‘deception’; there is one other; namely ‘khadi’.
This word occurs just five times in the Qur’an. Only once is it used of the Beloved:
‘The hypocrites try to deceive Allāh, but it is He who causes them to be deceived (khādiʿuhum). When they stand up to pray, they do so sluggishly, showing off in front of people, and remember Allāh only a little, wavering all the time between this and that, belonging neither to one side nor the other. If Allāh leaves someone to stray, you (Prophet) will never find a way for him. (Sūrah ‘Al-Nisa’: 142-143; my emphases).
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb writes:
‘These verses again touch believing hearts, which will undoubtedly feel disgust with people who try to deceive God. A believer knows that God, limitless is He in His glory, cannot be deceived. How could that be possible when He knows the innermost secrets of people’s hearts and what is even more deeply concealed. Believers realise that a person who tries to deceive God must have within him a great measure of evil, ignorance and naivety. Hence, they are disgusted with such people and look upon them with contempt.
‘The sūrah states that while they try to deceive God, it is indeed He who causes them to be deceived. He simply allows them to travel along their erring way, without alerting them by a calamity that opens their eyes. He leaves them to go along until they fall into the abyss towards which they aim. Calamities and trials can often be an act of mercy, as they deter people from going further into error, or they alert them to what they have overlooked. Favours and affluence may also be a temptation for those who have been hardened in sin. As a result, they are left without any shock to wake them up to the realities of which they have become oblivious to. They continue in their sinning ways until they reach their most evil destination.’ (‘In the Shade of the Qur’an: Volume 3’; my emphasis).
These ʾĀyāt have their counterpart in Ezekiel; and in 2 Thessalonians:
In Ezekiel 14: 9-11 (KJV), we have (my emphasis):
‘And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.’
Albert Barnes – the American theologian and clergyman – writes:
‘A deep truth lies beneath these words, namely, that evil as well as good is under God’s direction. He turns it as He will, employing it to test the sincerity of men, and thus making it ultimately contribute to the purification of His people, to the confirmation of the righteous, to the increase of their glory and felicity.’ (‘The Old Testament: Notes on The Whole Bible’).
John Wesley – the English cleric, theologian, and evangelist – writes that these verses refer to a ‘false prophet, who speaks all serene, and quiet, in the hope of reward.’ (‘Complete Bible Commentary’).
According to Wesley, the Beloved:
‘Permitted him (the false prophet) to err, or justly left him in his blindness.’ (Ibid.).
Compare Wesley’s comment with that of Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb:
‘He (the Beloved) simply allows them to travel along their erring way, without alerting them by a calamity that opens their eyes. He leaves them to go along until they fall into the abyss towards which they aim.’
In 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (KJV) we have (my emphasis):
‘And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.’
Barnes writes:
‘God shall send them strong delusion - Greek: “energy of deceit;” a Hebraism, meaning strong deceit, The agency of God is here distinctly recognised, in accordance with the uniform statements of the Scriptures, respecting evil; compare Exodus 7:13; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:1, Exodus 10:20, Exodus 10:27; Exodus 11:10; Exodus 14:8. Isaiah 45:7.
‘(….) It is not necessary here to suppose that there was any positive influence on the part of God in causing this delusion to come upon them, but all the force of the language will be met, as well as the reasoning of the apostle, by supposing that God withdrew all restraint, and suffered men simply to show that they did not love the truth.
‘God often places people in circumstances to develop their own nature, and it cannot be shown to be wrong that He should do so. If people have no love of the truth, and no desire to be saved, it is not improper that they should be allowed to manifest this.
‘(….) This does not affirm that God wished them to believe a lie; nor that He would not have preferred that they should believe the truth; nor that He exerted any direct agency to cause them to believe a lie. It means merely that He left them, because they did not love the truth, to believe what was false, and what would end in their destruction. Can anyone doubt that this constantly occurs in the world?’ (‘The New Testament: Notes on The Whole Bible’; my emphases).
Of the words ‘And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion’ John Wesley writes:
‘That is, judicially permit to come upon them, strong delusions.’ (‘Complete Bible Commentary’).
Other Biblical verses that speak of the Beloved as a deceiver:
‘Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.’ (‘Jeremiah 4:10’; KJV; my emphasis).
Barnes writes:
‘These words are generally referred to the false prophets; they rather refer to real prophecies of future blessedness promised to the Jews. Jeremiah could not reconcile the doom he was now commanded to pronounce, either with his previous prophecy, or with what he read in the writings of his predecessors. Time only could solve the difficulty. The sword has reached the life i.e., has inflicted a mortal wound.’ (‘The Old Testament: Notes on The Whole Bible’).
And this:
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.’ (‘Jeremiah 20:7’: KJV; my emphasis).
John Wesley writes:
‘Jeremiah at first excused himself to God, chap. 1:6, but the Lord prevailed against him replying, verse 1:7, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak, verse 1:9. This is all that is here meant, namely, God's over-ruling him contrary to his own inclinations.’ (‘Complete Bible Commentary’; my emphasis).
In both the Bible and Qur’an, the Beloved permits people to continue in their sinful behaviour, to their ultimate destruction.
In the words of Albert Barnes: ‘It cannot be shown to be wrong that He should do so.’
Continued:
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