[Faith-talk] The story of salvation

[Mostafa Almahdy]

Dear friend Jacob, peace and blessings to you. Thank you again for
your respectful manner. We could always schedule a mutually suitable
time to call. I am sure it will inshAllah be a fruitful experience.
Before I begin, I devote my heartfelt commiserations to innocent
people who were brutally murdered and wounded at Bronx Lebanon
hospital in New York earlier this Friday. Unfortunately, this wasn’t
the first nor it would be the last incident of such fatal shootings,
thanks to (NRA). Second, to the subject of salvation. What is
salvation? Basically, salvation is the way by which people go to
heaven. Salvation in Islam is based on two major factors. Belief and
good deeds. Belief is what has been fixed firmly in the heart. Deeds
are destined to prove the authenticity of what is in the heart.
However, these two major factors are not sufficient to guarantee us
forgiveness. Thence, we base our hope with Allah and His grace. So,
why should we believe and do good deeds then? Belief is the distinct
fundamental which differentiates between someone who embraced the
truth and who rejected it. Good deeds are the cogent evidence  for
your belief. Each and everyone is born in innocence in Islam. Do
people commit sins and how are they forgiven? Of course they do. If
someone committed a sinful act, he has to desperately hasten to
repent. How do people repent? Repentance in Islam is essentially based
on sincere remorse for your past misconduct and a stiff consignment
that you will not do this again. What if I just could not stop
committing the same sin? You should never feel hopeless and do your
best to become better. In Islam, no one has to bear the wrongdoing of
others. Each and everyone is individually held accountable for what he
does. In contrast, Christianity teaches that people are born in sin
and that Jesus is the one who could save them if they believe in him
as their savior. Let us do a brief comparison between Muslim and
Christian account. In order to do so, we should initially relate the
story of Adam and Eve. In Christianity, God placed Adam in the garden
of Eden and commanded him to not eat from the tree of knowing good and
evil. He brought the woman a bit later. Let us quote Genesis 2, verses
16 and 17. 16. "And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to
eat from any tree in the garden.” 17 "but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you
will certainly die". There is one major problem with this. He did not
warn him of the satanic whispery. In the Christian story, the cerpent
beguiled the woman to eat from the forbidden tree or the tree of
knowing good and evil and she tempted Adam. They then both have eaten
from the forbidden tree. What happened to them then, did they die? Let
us first quote the conversation that took place between the woman and
the cerpent which metaphorically, portrays satan. It is the beginning
of Genesis 3. 3. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman,
Indeed, has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”
2. “The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the
garden we may eat 3. but from the fruit of the tree which is in the
middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch
it, or you will die.” 4. “The serpent said to the woman, You surely
will not die”. 5. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil".
There is another major problem here. First, Satan is known to be
deceitful. Well here, he doesn’t seem to be. When Adam was told he
will die, it must have been meant actual death not metaphorical as of
death as a result of committing sin. So, did Adam and Eve die after
they disobeyed their God? It is absolutely duplicitous when I warn
someone of doing something and then, punish him more than I said I
would do. First, he did not certainly die as he was told he will. What
happened to him then? Well, let us again, quote Genesis 3, 16 to 19.
16. “To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in
childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire
shall be contrary to your man, but he shall rule over you". 17. “And
to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, You shall not eat
of it, cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of
it all the days of your life.” 18  “Thorns and thistles it shall bring
forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field.” 19. “By the
sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall
return." About none of these strict penalties they were warned. It is
clear now that they were unjustly punished for the first sin they ever
committed. It is a priority if they do not know good and evil, to  be
given one chance at least instead of being punished gravely as such.
This story is the backbone of a doctrine called (Crucifixion   and
Redemption). This is called (Original Sin) in Christianity. So, let us
now see how Islam relates this story. Let us go to the Koran and
particularly to Surah Taha which is chapter twenty, verses 117 to 122.
١١٧) “So We said, O Adam, indeed this is an enemy to you and to your
wife, then let him not remove you from Paradise so you would suffer.”
(١١٨) “Indeed, it is [promised] for you not to be hungry therein or be
unclothed. (١١٩) “And indeed, you will not be thirsty therein or be
hot from the sun”. (١٢٠)
“Then Satan whispered to him; he said, O Adam, shall I direct you to
the tree of eternity and possession that will not deteriorate?”
           (119) “And they ate of it and their private parts became
apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the
leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred”. (١٢٢)
“Then his Lord chose him and turned to him in forgiveness and guided
him”. In the Koranic account, Allah clearly warned both of them from
satan. It furthermore does not berate the woman for eating from the
forbidden tree. It is also crucial to point, that satan is the one who
deceived them as opposed to what occurred in the Biblical version of
the story. Islam simply says they have committed a sinful act and then
repented. It does not curse the whole earth for this nor it calls this
(Original Sin). As I said before, (Original Sin) in Islam is what
Luicifer has done. He refused to be humble and felt superior and thus,
had to be expelled from the  grace of Allah because of his pride. The
concept in Islam, that you could not fairly hold someone accountable
for what others have done. That is just a bit odd and rationally
unacceptable. As I said, the Christian account may sound relatively
reasonable. However, if we critically examine its content, we will
expose several defects. So for instance, Adam made a mistake and
therefore was punished. The one who is in trouble is God actually.
Why? Because he wants to forgive but he could not because he is just.
And, he wants to be just but he could not because he is merciful. Who
said that justice and mercy are contradictory? How about the Amnesty
of Allah? If a ruler determined to exempt someone of any offence he
has done, could we possibly question his authority to do so? If this
is the case with a temporal ruler, how about the divine Sovereign
then? In this story, Christianity does not give God sufficient
reverence. It rather depicts him being selfish and imperfect. As
Muslims, we are enjoined to exalt Allah from such blasphemy. I
attempted to passably compare the two accounts, side by side. I urge
you my friend Jacob to calmly ponder on what has been proposed here. I
caught that Jesus has not been mentioned in the story, even
indirectly. Without attempting to randomly beat around the bush, we
have got to bravely admit this fact. If this story were not presented
the way it is, (Crucifixion and Redemption) would have not been
forged. Theologically, they both are based on the belief in (Original
Sin). I give you open reprieve my friend to reflect on what has been
written here. I studied Christianity for several years with Coptic
priests. Therefore, I am competent to give my thoughts. Finally,
despite what I said here, that does not prevent us at all from being
extremely kind and inshAllah, loyal friends. I so much liked your
respectful manner. As a Michigander pastor, it will be a remarkable
experience for you to establish intercultural communication with a
Muslim theologian from Egypt. It is also my distinct honour to
communicate with someone in your level of education and deference. As
a Muslim, I believe that Christian missionaries must be given a chance
to speak and even proselytize. A side note, have you ever went to
Michigan lakes? Are they good for swimming? I lastly must genuinely
thank you for giving me this tremendous opportunity to thoroughly
present  this theological argument. Thank you and I wish you a great
and pleasant weekend, Mostafa

-- 
(Seeking knowledge is compulsory from cratle to grave because it is a
shoreless ocean.)