(part 1 of 2)
„And no soul works unless against itself, and no burden-bearing (soul) should bear the burden of another.“ (Quran 6: 164)
“The fathers should not die for the children nor the children for the fathers, but everyone should die for their sins.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)
No one can deny that these two verses, the first from the Quran and the second from the Bible, aim at the same meaning: that the just God never punishes people for the sins of others.
Christianity states that God created man to live forever in heaven and when Adam ate from the forbidden tree, God punished him with death and exile from heaven. They also claim that by inheriting death from his descendants, they also inherited his sin, which left a permanent blot on the hearts of humanity that could never be removed except by an extraordinarily large sacrifice, causing God would be obliged to forgive mankind. The sacrifice is nothing other than the sacrifice of God Himself, made flesh in His “Son” Jesus. For this reason, Christianity condemns all of humanity to hell for Adam’s sin, from which they can never be cleansed except by believing that God became flesh and died for Adam’s sins, ritualized as Baptism, through which the Christians in this world are „reborn“, but this time free from sins. [1] From this we see that “original sin” forms the basis of the different Christian beliefs, from the crucifixion of Jesus to the concept of salvation and salvation from hell. It forms the actual basis for the mission of Jesus himself.
And so the question arises: is humanity guilty of the sin Adam committed by eating from the forbidden tree? Do we all have to repent of this great sin? How to repent? And if so, what is the fate of those who don’t?
Islam strongly supports the idea that the punishment for sins only affects those who have committed them. Sin is not an heirloom or blot that passes from one generation to another. All people are responsible for what they have done in this life. Although the Qur’an also mentions Adam’s sin and how he was banished from paradise, he does not place responsibility on his shoulders‘ shoulders. No other prophet before Jesus is known to have preached this concept, nor have there been other beliefs or rites based on this belief. Rather, salvation from hell and reaching paradise was achieved through belief in the One God and obedience to His commands, a message,
The All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful
As for Adam’s sin, the Quran tells us that he repented for his sin. God revealed to him words to regret that he accepted.
“Then Adam received words from his Lord, whereupon He forgave him; truly, He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. ” (Quran 2:37)
By accepting Adam’s repentance, Adam was freed from the sin he had committed. In the Quran, God repeatedly attributes to Himself the quality of grace and forgiveness. He also mentions that by His Name the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful, the One Who Repents, and others describe the All-Inclusive Grace of God. Even to those who have sinned a lot and have almost given up hope of God’s forgiveness, He says:
“Say: ‚O my servants, whom you have committed against your own souls, do not despair of God’s mercy; for God forgives all sins; He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. ”(Quran 39:53)
If one sins, all he really has to do is repent with all his heart, and he will find God merciful. Adam had sinned and sin tarnished his heart, but repentance removed it. Prophet Muhammad said:
“Verily, when a believer sins, a black spot covers his heart. When he repents, lets go of his sin and asks forgiveness for it, his heart becomes pure again. If he continues (instead of repenting) he grows until he covers the whole heart … „(Ibn Maajah)
Even if we assume Adam didn’t have any regrets, the blot will not be passed on to future generations. From this we see that God does not need physical sacrifices to forgive sins and that no sin is too great for His mercy to attribute any deficiency to His extraordinary and perfection. Prophet Muhammad tells us that God said:
“O son of Adam, as long as you call me and ask me, I will forgive you for what you have done and it does not matter to me. O son of Adam, if your sins reached the clouds in the sky and if you asked me for forgiveness then I would forgive you. O son of Adam, if you came to me with sins almost as big as the earth, and if you then turned to me and did not join me as a partner, I will bring you forgiveness that is almost as great. ” (Al-Tirmidhi)
God says about sacrifice in the Qur’an that the intent of the person who sacrifices is important and not the actual victim himself.
”Their flesh does not reach God, nor does their blood, it is your reverence that reaches Him. .. ”(Quran 22:37)
If we relate this verse to the original sin on the basis of which God Himself became flesh to sacrifice Himself so that He can forgive all mankind, then we see that even if Adam does not God would have asked forgiveness, God would have forgiven people based on His own sacrifice. Couldn’t He have forgiven them without such a sacrifice?
The Bible also mentions:
“What am I supposed to do with the amount of your victims? Says the Lord, I am fed up with the burnt sacrifice of rams and the fat of fattening calves, and I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me – who demands that you crush my forecourt? No longer offer such futile food offerings! The incense is an abomination to me! New moons and Sabbaths, when you get together, I don’t like outrage and festive gatherings! My soul is an enemy of your new moons and annual festivals; they are a burden to me, I am tired to carry them. And even if you spread your hands, I hide my eyes from you; and even if you pray a lot, I don’t hear you; because your hands are full of blood. Wash yourself, cleanse yourself, do your evil deeds from my eyes, let go of evil! Learn to do good
So come and let us be right, says the Lord. If your sin is blood red, it should turn snow white, and if it is red like scarlet, it should turn like wool. ”[2]
Footnotes:
[1] Apol., I, Ixvi.
[2] Jesaja 1:11-18
(part 2 of 2)
The divine will of the perfect God
Adam asked for forgiveness for his sin and God accepted it from him. Another point to mention is that God created human beings with free will, and He already knew that humanity would sin. For this reason, no one can be expected to be perfect, on the contrary: God knows that they will sin. What people are expected to do is repent of their sins. The Prophet, may God praise him, said:
„All of Adam’s children keep making mistakes, but the best of those who make mistakes are those who regret.“ (Ibn Maajah)
The Prophet also said:
“With the one in whose hand is my soul (ie God), if you would not commit sins, God would remove you and create another race that commits sins. They would ask God for forgiveness and He would forgive them. ” (Sahieh Muslim # 4936)
So here we see that Adam’s sin was part of God’s great and wise plan and that God forgave him for that sin; and to claim that Adam’s sin was against the universal will of God is a blasphemy against the universal knowledge, power, and will of God. Christianity even goes so far as to say that God regrets man’s creation! However, God is free from any shortcomings that people make to Him. In Genesis 6: 6 we read:
“Then he regretted that he had made men on earth.”
[1] Which is supposed to mean that Adam did something outside of God’s will, power, and knowledge so that God repented man’s creation. But God is the most perfect and that is also His deeds, there is no mistake and no negligence in them; He does nothing except with absolute and complete perfection and wisdom. Islam by no means agrees with this assumption, as mentioned earlier, everything that happened in Adam’s story corresponds to God’s perfect plan. The Prophet said:
„In fact, God moved everything exactly, fifty thousand years before the creation of heaven and earth.“ (Al-Tirmidhi)
God mentions in the Quran what took place among the angels when He told them about the creation of man, and from this we see that God was known and part of His Great and Divine Plan that people would sin. God says:
“And (remember) when your Lord spoke to the angels: ‚Verily, I will appoint a successor on earth‘, they said: ‚Do you want to put someone on her who wreaks havoc and spills blood when we do Praise your praise and boast your glory? ‚ He said, ‚I know what you don’t know.‘ ”(Quran 2:30)
It is also clear from this verse that God did not create humans as immortals, and that death has been their destiny from the beginning of their creation. As for the consequences of Adam’s sin, that is, the banishment from the garden of paradise, those who came after him felt this and this is quite natural. If someone is drunk and causes a car accident in which a few passengers die, the driver’s sin affects their death, but that does not mean that the passengers are held responsible for the driver’s sin.
The innocent
Another question we need to look into is the fate of those who came before the assertion that God became human and sacrificed Himself for the sins of humanity, as well as the fate of those who were not baptized because that Baptism is the ritual that all Christians have to perform to be freed from original sin. In Christianity, before the incarnation of God, including prophets and children, all people are usually considered to be sinless, but they are not freed from Adam’s original sin and therefore cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven; As Augustine said, „Do not believe, do not say, and do not teach that children who die before baptism receive forgiveness of original sin.“ [2] Not recently, children who were not baptized were not buried on sacred ground,
We also know that the verses in the apostolic faith:
“… And (Jesus) descended to hell” [3] should mean that Jesus descended to hell to free the righteous souls that would be there because of Adam’s sin. This leads us to believe that all those who came before Jesus were banished to hell even if they were righteous. Paul himself mentioned this in Galatians:
“… But because we know that the law does not do justice to works; …
because through the works of the law no flesh is fair. (Galatians 2:16)
Here it becomes clear that sticking to God’s commands is not enough for salvation, not even for those who were before Jesus. This also applies to those who have not received the message of Christianity. We have to ask why the prophets did not teach Jesus about the idea of original sin? Did you lie when you said that it was enough to serve the One God and to obey His commands to attain Paradise? Why didn’t God come in Adam’s time and deliver mankind from sin, so that the righteous and others don’t have to stay in hell because of his sins? Why are children, humanity before Jesus and others who have heard nothing about Christianity held responsible for sins, that they have never committed and what they have no knowledge of how to get rid of it? In truth, this idea of “original sin”, like many others, was introduced by Paul and later expanded by various Christian scholars and congregations.
„The Old Testament says nothing about the transmission of an inherited sin to all of humanity … the main written confirmation of this doctrine can be found in the writings of St. Paul …“ [4] This concept was then developed by Augustine von Hippo, one of the most famous Christian scholars of history, expanded. The basis of this concept is that „the willful sin of the first man (Adam) was the reason for the original sin.“ of the body, which is the punishment for sin, but also transmit sin itself, which means the death of the soul.
”[6] The idea of original sin has no basis in the earlier writings that Christians consider divine. None of the prophets before Jesus were known to have preached this concept or any other belief or ritual based on it. Salvation from hellfire was more properly achieved through belief in the One God and obedience to His commands, as all prophets preached, including the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, may God praise him.
Summary
In Islam, the key to saving salvation and worshiping the One True, Unique, and Perfect God and obedience to His commands is the same message that all popes brought. Islam teaches that a person must act righteously and avoid sins to reach paradise, and when someone sins, he repents from the bottom of his heart with God. Through this and through the grace of God we will reach paradise. Islam does not banish everyone to hell who lived before Muhammad proclaimed his message; but the same One God sent a prophet to every people, and it was up to them to follow His orders. Those who have not heard of the message cannot be held responsible for following Islam, and God will deal with them in His perfect righteousness on the day of judgment. Babies and children of both Muslims and non-Muslims alike enjoy paradise after their death. Because of God’s infinite justice:
“And no burden-bearing soul should bear the burden of another. And we never punish without first sending a messenger. ” (Quran 17:15)
Footnotes: [1] King James Version.
[2] The Anima (III).
[3] The belief based on the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
[4] Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of World Religions. S.830. 1999, Merriam Webster, inc.
[5] The Nuptiis et Concupiscentiâ, II, xxvi, 43
[6] Enchiridion Symbolorum, Henry Joseph Dominicus Denzinger. n. 175 (145)
Source: https://www.islamland.com/deu/articles/die-erbsnde