Whatever is in the stories of the Jews and Christians that is confirmed by the knowledge that has come to us from Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, we accept, whatever contradicts with this knowledge, we reject, and whatever is neither confirmed nor contradicted, we neither believe nor disbelieve.
It is famously claimed in the Christian Bible that Nabi ‘Isa said, “whoever strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other cheek also”, and this has been interpreted as an order to be submissive and passive with those who are aggressive towards you. But, as a former boxer, I always understood this very differently.
When I used to fight competitively, I never concentrated on my defense and blocking skills. Partially this was because I focused so much on developing my attacking ability, but it was also because I always wanted to be able to absorb whatever my opponent could do against me. When Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman, he voluntarily took a lot of punches, until by the later rounds of the fight, he was able to taunt Foreman by telling him, “is that all you’ve got, George?” And this was extremely distressing for Foreman because, yes, it was indeed all he had.
That’s the “turning the other cheek” that I understand. Hit me as hard as you can, do it again, it doesn’t matter, I can take it, and now I know exactly how strong you are, and how strong I have to be to defeat you. Like Nabi Hud telling his people, “do all you can against me, and give me no respite…”. It is a form of defiance, a defiance that can severely demoralize an enemy.