Hamza Tzortzis

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'''Hamza Tzortzis''' {{lived|1980}} is a [[British]] [[Islam]]ic apologist who is a convert to Islam. He is of [[Greece|Greek]] heritage and is known for his proselytizing of Islam (''dawah'').

==Life before Islam==
Before Islam, Tzortzis was a university student studying psychology. However, he was caught cheating and was subsequently kicked out of university.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lYschsArLo</ref> Then, when he was at his lowest point in his life with no future or job prospects, he found [[Allah]] and discovered his true calling in life, which is to spread Islam and give {{wpl|Dawah|''dawah''|.}}

==Dawah career==
Tzortzis started reading [[William Lane Craig]] and then copied his arguments.<ref>https://asharisassemble.com/2014/04/18/10-problems-with-dawahmen/</ref><ref>http://geoffsshorts.blogspot.com/2012/02/interfaith-dialogue-hamza-tzortzis-and.html</ref> He wrote a review of [[Richard Dawkins]]' ''The God Delusion'', but it was later found out that the whole thing was copied from Craig's review.<ref>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/06/20/an-unsurprising-case-of-plagiarism/</ref> He would also incorporate "scientific" [[miracles]] in his ''dawah'' as a way to prove the divinity of the [[Qur'an]], claiming that it was impossible for the [[Muhammad]] to know how a baby was formed and how mountains were formed the way it's described in the Qur'an without divine revelation. Tzortzis started his career by [[Debate|debating]] people who knew nothing about Islam and using that to make a name for himself. His debating strategy is to intentionally find people who aren't knowledgeable on Islam, [[Gish Gallop]], and when they don't respond to all of his arguments, claim victory. This backfired in 2011 in the [[atheist]] convention in [[Ireland]] when Hamza ambushed [[PZ Myers]] and debated him on the scientific miracles of the [[Qur'an]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rNtEdptaY</ref> He talked about embryology in the Qur'an, claiming that it was a miracle, but when Myers was unimpressed and told him he was an embryologist, he decided to change the subject and talk about how the Qur'an's description of mountains is a miracle instead. Later on when he was on ''The Magic Sandwich Show'', [[AronRa]] wanted to talk to Hamza about the so-called miraculous description of mountains in the Qur'an, being a [[geology]] major.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWMxKeTQw0Y</ref> Once Tzortzis realized that AronRa knew what he was talking about when it came to geology, he decided to change the subject and talk about embryology instead. His strategy is to talk about mountains with the embryologist and then talk about embryology with the geology major. Even though these claims can be fact checked, Tzortzis knows his audience doesn't care and will be impressed and not bother to see if what he is saying is correct.

==Post-''dawah'' career==
Tzortzis later admitted that there were no scientific miracles in the Qur'an and admitted that he was wrong for years and that his nonsense actually did more harm than good to Islam and led to more people leaving Islam when they found out they had been lied to.<ref>http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/does-the-quran-contain-scientific-miracles-a-new-approach/</ref> Tzortzis of course blamed the [[Apostasy|apostates]], claiming that they had [[psychological]] problems, because of course the ones realizing that they have been scammed have the psychological problem, not the one who continues to espouse the same refuted arguments despite being told that he was wrong multiple times. He stopped doing debates after that. He said that he doesn't like doing debates and claimed that they don't need to prove the existence of [[God]]. Rather the burden was on the atheists to demonstrate why they should deny God's existence.

==Arguments==
Tzortzis makes his argument for god by plagiarizing William Lane Craig. He has also come up with an argument for Islam.

===His view on Apostasy===
On the 28th of May 2024 Hamza Tzortzis posted an Important clarification and apology to his X (formerly known as twitter) account. In this post he apologised for previously describing the death penalty for apostasy as incorrect. He further stated that he fully believes and defends all aspects of Islamic laws including the death penalty for apostasy, segregation of the sexes, and other Islamic laws in general.<ref>https://x.com/HATzortzis/status/1795436142088642716/</ref> In a follow up made on May the 29th 2024 in response to what he said was the Incoherent Ramblings of his detractors<ref>https://x.com/HATzortzis/status/1795924095286026586/</ref> he stated that he believes in the death penalty for apostasy only when carried out by the governing authorities in an Islamic State and not by vigilantes. He stated that the law does not apply to someone who leaves the religion internally without publicly professing that they have left the faith. He goes on to state his belief that this is in line with the "harm principle" as in his view an apostate is someone who can lead people to hell and thus can endanger people's afterlife.<ref>https://x.com/HATzortzis/status/1795914808144843053/</ref> 

As Hamza Tzortzis used the Arabic terms in his tweet the notable Historical Linguist Marijn Van Putten responded to Hamza Tzortzis saying ''"One has to wonder whether he would get away with this using not Muslim jargon but, you know, the actual words."''<ref>https://x.com/PhDniX/status/1795598747466072516/</ref>

it is worth noting that despite this very public endorsement of the death penalty for apostasy on his verified twitter account his Wikipedia article still falsely claims that he opposes the death penalty for apostasy based on statements he made over ten years prior and an attempt to correct this information has failed as Wikipedia does not consider tweets even when made by the personality in question to be a reliable source.

===Linguistic miracle===
Tzortzis claims that the Qur'an is a linguistic miracle that descopes the Arabic language. No one is really sure what this means.<ref>https://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f5da0d1aa22d846e6c6d1d162aae2c54&topic=23439.msg680083#msg680083</ref> Tzortzis also says the Qur'an is a miracle because it is neither poetry nor prose. Although it's not clear why that makes the Qur'an a miracle.

==Ashley Madison==
In 2015 when the online dating service [[Ashley Madison]] was hacked, Tzortzis' name appeared on the list of account holders. Tzortzis was quick to do damage control and claimed on [[Facebook]] that this was fraud and someone hacked him in order to defame him. He then claimed that he wasn't doing anything ''haram'' on the website, including the Islamically permissible acts on the website such as finding a second wife. In other words, he was already preparing an excuse just in case he couldn't hide the fact that he was registered on Ashley Madison. Later, however, the coordinates were shown that the account was made in [[Australia]], on the same day Tzortzis happened to be in Australia. Coincidence? Considering all of this happened before the hack, his explanation falls short as the hacker must have orchestrated the entire hack all in an elaborate plan to make him look bad.<ref>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/08/23/islamic-lecturer-hamza-tzortzis-explains-why-his-data-was-found-in-the-ashley-madison-hack/</ref> Luckily for Tzortzis, his Islamic State has never come to fruition because if it did, he would have his hand cut off for stealing from William Lane Craig and be stoned to death for adultery.

==References==
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[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Apologists and counter-apologists]]
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[[Category:Muslim apologists]]

Categories: Islam, Apologists and counter-apologists, Apologetics and counter-apologetics, British people, Muslims, Living people, Muslim apologists