Question
Salaam Brother
Thanks for all of your help in answering critical questions in the light of Quran. I have some serious issues and concerns about the Christians’ debate about “Concept of original Sin”. According to Islamic teaching, this is not suitable view of God and his Justice. As every soul is responsible for his own actions and deeds. Majority of all of our christian brothers explain the whole senario in the light of thier scriptures. I will explain these ideas as follows:
- God created a perfect human being. Quran is agreed on this point, (95:4)
- Adam committed a sin by disobeying GOD- Quran also agrees to it
- By committing Sin, he Lost Perfection and got himself out of that Paradise.
- By doing so the Death entered in to that perfect plan. According to Genesis, “The day you will eat from this tree, you will Positively Die” Quran is also agreed, “…Approach not this tree, or you run into harm and transgression.” (2:35)
- Originally, God created human being to live for ever but his free will became the obstacle in his way.
- If he were not had done this act He would have been still in Paradise with out any shadow of death.
- Adam is imperfect now so the off-springs -People were waiting on Messiah for long time to come to this world and take the sin away.
- Prophesies were that he will deliver himself up for people’ Sins.
- In NT, He himself claimed that he will give himself up as a Ransom.
- He is the only one after Adam who God Created with HIS Command “Be”. No other prophet has given such status.
- So one perfect life can replace a perfect life and can take “The Sin” away. This is also a God’s Law given to Moses, Soul for Soul.
The importance and status of Prophet Isa is very high in Muslim’s and in a Christain’s Mind. Not All Christians give him status of God; few sects view him as a human being. Exactly like not all Muslims regards him as “Still Alive” but consider him dead. He is the only one that GOD will have dialogues with on the Day of Judgment, no other prophet is mentioned in Quran to have such conversation. A lot of Ahadeeth about his second descend; world peace and absence of fear are there. True of not, Allah knows better.
Same verses that you have used in your answers that he is dead and not coming again to this world have been explained by some other scholars in completely opposite ways yet convincing. Quran also says that Likeness of Prophet Isa is of Adam. Mean perfection and with command “Be” I am married to one of the Ahle-Kitaab. She belongs to sect known as Jehovah’s Witness. Very nice group of people. They View Prophet Isa as a human being who came to this world. They try their best to act according to book. Holding meetings 5 times a week. Spreading the words of bible by going door to door. Same way we Muslims do with Jamaat. We have been happily married for 6 years. She is very righteous woman and also open minded to read the Quran. But as there are differences in school of thoughts and now they are becoming a hurdle in our daily life.
According to her Quran is in complete denial of Jesus’ Death (which is the foundation of their belief) and also the concept of “original sin” is no where in Islamic teachings. I have prayed to Allah about showing me and her guidance as state of one’s faith is only known to HIM and being Muslim is not the base or guarantee to have HIS Favors or bounty. It all belongs to our intentions and purity of faith. I have very bad habit of losing my temper very quickly. I know that it takes life time, sometimes, to have an acquaintance with truth and some time it happens in moments. I have studied few books of Old and New Testament, after all we believe in those books and no matter how much changing or modifications people can point out, Truth still stands out. I have explained her from those books that God’s Law does not change what so ever. By saying say that God has taken Jesus’ life, we are accusing God for being unjust. Why should he punish his, lets say, 4th or 5th son because the first one has done something wrong. And if, God forbid, He has taken the life of Prophet Isa for THE SIN than why still there death waiting for us. It makes our creator guilty of Justice twice.
Due to these issues our relationship has become very fragile. I am not asking you that should I live with her in this case or not but an answer that will help her to understand true picture in a better way. She reads your answers time to time and admires your sensibility and wisdom by using the only criteria given to us, The Quran. If you want to Post this Question on your web, it’s your choice. But my request is to take my personal problem out as the answer should be helpful to other Muslim brother to explain this great issue of Original Sin. Please help me and her to understand it in the view of all three books. I am asking too much favor from you, please forgive me in this sense. Will be
waiting on your reply
Salaam
Answer
There seems to be two types of ideas related to the Christian concept of “Original Sin.” The first is the one which you have related in which Adam committing sin passed it down to all humanity via bloodline. While the other concept relates to Adam’s sin as the gateway to all sin thereby creating the very opportunity for humans to commit sin.
You write:
- By doing so the Death entered in to that perfect plan. According to Genesis, “The day you will eat from this tree, you will Positively Die” Quran is also agreed, “…Approach not this tree, or you run into harm and transgression.” (2:35) Christian scholars define “death” in various ways, so if by it you mean “harm and transgression” then surely there is agreement between the two scriptures regarding this matter.
You write:
- Originally, God created human being to live for ever but his free will became the obstacle in his way. This is construed as being what is said in the Bible, however, there is no such concept in the Qur’an.
You write:
- If he were not had done this act He would have been still in Paradise with out any shadow of death. Again if by “death” you mean “transgression” then this would be accurate. However, if by “death” you mean the end of life then it does not correlate to anything in the Qur’an.
You write:
- Adam is imperfect now so the off-springs You may have to provide us with your understanding of what “imperfect” means.
You write:
- People were waiting on Messiah for long time to come to this world and take the sin away.
- Prophesies were that he will deliver himself up for people’ Sins.
- In NT, He himself claimed that he will give himself up as a Ransom.
- So one perfect life can replace a perfect life and can take “The Sin” away. This is also a God’s Law given to Moses, Soul for Soul.
I understand that you are aware that these are Christian concepts but it is necessary to point out, in case it is misconstrued, that Islam does not endorse these beliefs.
You write:
He is the only one that GOD will have dialogues with on the Day of Judgment, no other prophet is mentioned in Quran to have such conversation. This is not quite accurate. Indeed it is mentioned in the Qur’an that God will bring forth Jesus to testify to the wrong beliefs the Christians held about him. However, it does not say that God will not speak to any other prophet or messenger. Mentioning one person does not negate others.
You write:
Quran also says that Likeness of Prophet Isa is of Adam. Mean perfection and with command “Be” It would be more accurate to say that God’s creative might is shown in how He created these two beings with the simple command of “Be.” Perfection does not factor in. The only difference here is obviously that Adam was created without either parent while Jesus was created through the womb of Mary.
You write:
Holding meetings 5 times a week. Spreading the words of bible by going door to door. Same way we Muslims do with Jamaat. I would hate to sound like a stickler but Muslims pray at least five times a day. We do not go door to door to spread our religion. This is something the Jehovas Witnesses are praised or mocked for and it is a marked feature of their propagation.
You write:
I have studied few books of Old and New Testament, after all we believe in those books and no matter how much changing or modifications people can point out, Truth still stands out.
We believe that prophets and messengers of God brought guidance to humanity. The Old Testament and the New Testament contain some of God’s message. Yet, we do not believe in them as their adherents do. Because the truth is mixed with tales, in many parts it would be difficult to distinguish what is true and what is false. So we believe in them to the extent of the parts that coincide with the Qur’an.
You write:
Due to these issues our relationship has become very fragile. I am not asking you that should I live with her in this case or not but an answer that will help her to understand true picture in a better way. She reads your answers time to time and admires your sensibility and wisdom by using the only criteria given to us, The Quran.
I understand your worry and frustration. I am also a bit surprised that you are married because Jehovah’s Witnesses are not supposed to intermingle with those outside their belief system.
Nevertheless, there is not much to reply to. Islam’s and Jehovah’s Witnesses belief systems cannot be reconciled. They believe that Jesus is the son of God. They believe that Jesus gave his life up for past and present sins. They also believe that he returned in spirit in 1914 and several times throughout history they have tried to predict Armageddon but, admittedly, they were wrong every time. None of their prophecies regarding Armageddon came true. The years they predicted it were in 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, and 1941. It is obvious that Armageddon did not occur and we are all still here.
Thus, considering all these points it would be difficult to try to somehow smooth over these issues. You should consider not discussing religion and maintaining the peace between the two of you. Before you were married you knew each other’s backgrounds and assuming you love each other then place these conversations on the back burner until you are both able to handle them. The worst thing you can do is lose your cool no matter how hard you are pushed when trying to explain something.
I wish you the best.
May God be with you both.
Regards