SALVATION (continued...)
Repentance, istighfar, and intercession are means of forgiveness of sins
It is the eternal natural law of God that He forgives sin through repentance and istighfar and accepts the prayers of the virtuous by way of intercession, but we have never observed that X should strike his head with a stone and this should cure the headache of Y. Then we do not know by what law the suicide of Jesus can remove the inner disease of others. Nor are we aware of any philosophy on the basis of which the blood of Jesus can wash out the inner impurity of anyone else. Indeed observation contradicts this. Till Jesus had made up his mind to commit suicide, the Christians possessed the quality of virtue and the worship of God, but after the event of the crucifixion it appeared as if a dam had burst and the banked up water had spread in every direction. That has happened to the passions of the Christians. There is no doubt that if Jesus laid down his life deliberately, he acted very improperly. Instead if he had devoted his life to admonition and preaching, it would have done much good to people. What good did his improper act do? If after his suicide Jesus had come back to life and had ascended to heaven in the presence of the Jews, they would have believed in him. As it is, the Jews and all wise people consider the ascension of Jesus to heaven a fiction {Chashmai Masihi (Qadian, Magazine Press, 1906) , Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 20, pp.13-14}.
I had apprehended that some false charge would be laid against me. For when an enemy is completely refuted he delivers an attack against life and honor. So it happened in my case and this charge of conspiracy to murder was laid against me....
The Christian missionaries were greatly offended with me. My activities had occasioned them great loss. In addition to heavenly signs, my criticism of their doctrine had broken up their religion. Their doctrine of atonement was totally refuted by my pointing out that if the curse of the sins of all the sinners had settled on Jesus, it meant that his heart had been emptied of all understanding of God Almighty and His love and that he had become an enemy of God. As a curse in its true meaning is not permissible in the case of a righteous one like Jesus, then how can the doctrine of atonement be supported which is based entirely upon his becoming accursed?
I had also pointed out that no act of the Divine is contrary to His eternal way and that means that there should be a large number of illustrations. If sending a son is the way of God then there should be many more sons of God so that a way might be established and some sons should be crucified for the jinns and some for men and some for those creatures which dwell in other spheres. This objection was also such that a moment's reflection on it would rescue a person from the darkness of Christianity....
I pointed out that the doctrine of atonement is also unten- able, for its purpose would be either that in consequence of it sin should be abolished altogether, or that every type of sin, whether relating to the rights of God or the rights of people, should be continuously forgiven. The first supposition is entirely false as we observe that the men and women of Europe have not been able to abstain from sin after the atonement and that the people of Europe are guilty of all manner of sins. But let that go, and consider the case of those whose faith was stronger than that of others. Even the disci-ples of Jesus were involved in sin and did not escape it. Thus there is no doubt that the atonement is not a dam that can bank up the flood of sin. As regards the second supposition, that those who believe in the atonement would be exempted from all punishment for sin, and that whether they commit theft or robbery or murder or misconduct of every description God will not call them to account; this also is all together untrue as it would cancel God's eternal commandments and destroy the purity of the law {Kitabul Bariyyah ( Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press 1898) Now prited in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 13.,pp. 41-42}.
The curse of sin cannot be transferred
The Christians should have shown what provision the Gospel has made for that certainty with regard to the existence of God which bestows upon man the insight of the fear of God and burns up the fuel of sin. How can sin be discarded through useless means? These people do not realize that it is altogether unrealistic and wholly fictitious that the sins of the whole world were cast upon one person and that the curse of the sinners was taken from them and was imposed on the heart of Jesus. This would mean that thereafter, with the exception of Jesus, everyone had acquired a pure life and the understanding of God and that Jesus alone was burdened with a curse which was a collection of millions of curses. But when we see that every person has his sins with him and that everyone feels the passion that nature has bestowed on him, whether he accepts Jesus or not, it shows that the accursed ones have not been separated from their cursed lives and that their curse has not fallen upon Jesus. As a curse is firmly fixed to its subject, how could it then have been transferred to Jesus? It is the height of injustice that the curse of every wicked and accursed one, who believes in Jesus, should fall on Jesus and that the person himself should become free from blame and pure. If this unending chain of curses, which will extend to the Judgment Day, will continue to be heaped upon poor Jesus afresh, when will he be freed from curses?.... This would mean that Jesus would never see the day again when he should dwell under the shade of the love of God and the light of His understanding. All that this doctrine would achieve would be that a holy one of God might be subjected to unending foulness {Kitabul Bariyyah ( Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press 1898) Now prited in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 13., pp. 45-46}.
No contradiction between
the justice and mercy of God
The Christian doctrine that Divine justice would not be fulfilled without atonement is utterly absurd. They believe that in his human aspect Jesus was sinless and yet their God burdened him without cause with the curse of the whole world and had no regard for His own justice. This shows that their God cares not at all for justice. What a spectacle is this that what was sought to be escaped was adopted in its worst form. The great concern was that somehow justice should not be contravened and mercy may also be fulfilled. But by the slaughter of an innocent one, neither justice was established nor was mercy fulfilled. The notion that justice and mercy cannot subsist together in the Being of God Almighty, inasmuch as justice demands punishment and mercy demands forbearance, is an error in which short-sighted Christians are involved through lack of reflection. They do not reflect that the justice of God Almighty is also mercy....
It should be borne in mind that the basic attribute of God is mercy and that justice comes into play after reason and law have been established, and that justice is also mercy in another form. When a person is bestowed reason and through it he becomes aware of the limits and laws of God Almighty, he becomes subject to the demand of justice, but for mercy there is no condition of reason and law and as God Almighty desired to exalt mankind through mercy, He laid down the rules and limits of justice. Thus it is ignorance to imagine that there is contradiction between justice and mercy.
The Christians say that the death of man and all animals is the fruit of sin, but this is open to two objections. In the first place, it cannot be denied that there was a creation before Adam and that they were subject to death. There was no Adam at the time nor was there his sin. Then how did death come about? Secondly, there is no doubt that with the exception of one fruit Adam ate everything in the garden and so he must have eaten meat. This also shows that animals were killed before the sin of Adam. Even apart from this, Adam drank water, for eating and drinking go together, and research has established that every drop of water contains thousands of germs. Thus there can be no doubt that before the sin of Adam, millions of germs used to die. One is, therefore, compelled to affirm that death is not the fruit of sin and this refutes the thesis of the Christians (Kitabul Bariyyah ( Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press 1898) Now prited in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 13. pp. 54-56).
According to their principle, the Christians attach no importance to righteous conduct and in their view the atonement of Jesus is a sufficient means for the attainment of salvation. We have shown that the atonement of Jesus did not rescue the Christians from sin, nor is it true that because of the atonement every vice has become permissible for them. There is, however, one further matter which is worthy of note, that reason proves that righteous conduct has an effect that bestows the fruit of salvation upon the pious. Even the Christians acknowledge that vice has an effect whereby a person guilty of it is condemned to hell for ever. If that is so, one has to make allowance for the corresponding law of nature that good also has an effect and that he who practices it can become heir to salvation.
Was Jesus free from inherited sin?
Another objection we had put forward was that the expiation that the Christians set forth is opposed to the eternal Divine law of nature. There is no instance in the law of nature that to safeguard the inferior the superior might be put to death. We have before us the Divine law of nature which proves that the inferior is always sacrificed for the safeguarding of the superior. All animates, even the germs in the water, are sacrificed for the preservation of man, who is the nobles of creation. The sacrifice of Jesus is contrary to this obvious law. Every reasonable person can understand that for the protection of that which is dearer and more valuable, that which is inferior to it has to be sacrificed. God Almighty lets millions of animates be sacrificed for the preservation of man, and we, by our very nature, follow the same law. You can thus understand how inconsistent is the atonement in which the Christians believe with the Divine law of nature. Another objection that we had raised was that the claim of the Christians that Jesus was free from hereditary as well as acquired sin is obviously unfounded. The Christians admit that Jesus had acquired his body from his mother and that she was not free from sin. The Christians also acknowledge that all pain and hurt are the fruit of sin and there can be no doubt that Jesus felt hunger and thirst and might have suffered from chicken- pox and smallpox in his childhood and would have borne the pain of teething and would have suffered from seasonal fevers. According to the Christians, all these are the fruits of sin. Then how could Jesus be regarded as a sinless sacrifice? Besides, according to the Christians, only that person can establish a relationship with the Holy Spirit who is wholly free from sin. Then how did the Holy Spirit establish a relationship with Jesus who was not free from hereditary sin nor escaped the fruit of sin? Apparently, Melchisedec was more deserving of a relationship with the Holy Spirit, for according to the Christians he was free from every kind of sin.
How the Christians were freed from sin through the crucifixion of Jesus?
The Christians acknowledge that the true means of attaining salvation
is to be free from sin and yet they do not set forth the true means of
achieving freedom from sin and they present a shameful fiction which has
no true relationship with freedom from sin. It is obvious that as man has
been created for God, his whole comfort and prosperity lie in this that
he should become wholly God's, and he can never manifest true comfort till
he establishes this relationship with God in practice. When man turns away
from God, his case is like that of a person who shuts the windows of his
room that open towards the sun. There can be no doubt that with the shutting
of the windows the room will become dark and that the light of the sun
having been excluded will be suddenly replaced with darkness. It is that
darkness which is described as misguidance and hell for it is the root
of all pain. If the removal of this darkness and deliverance from this
hell is sought in accordance with the law of nature, then there is no need
to crucify anyone. The windows should be opened, the shutting of which
had caused the darkness. Can anyone believe that we can obtain any light
while we insist upon keeping the windows shut through which light could
enter? The forgiveness of sins is not a tale which would be illustrated
in a future life. Nor is this matter without foundation or comparable to
the disobedience and forgiveness of worldly governments. A person is accounted
an offender or a sinner when, turning away from God, he draws away from
confrontation with the light and brightness which descend from God upon
human hearts. That condition is called junah in the Word of God,
which has been perverted by the Parsees into gunah (sin) . The root
of the word means to incline away and to move away from the center. It
acquired the connotation of sin, inasmuch as by turning away a person leaves
the spot where Divine light falls and moving away from it puts himself
at a distance from the light that can be obtained in the original position.
In the same way juram, which also connotes sin, means cutting asunder.
Thus an offender cuts asunder all his relationship with God. Juram
is thus more serious than junah, for the latter merely means a wrong
inclination, but the former signifies that a person deliberately commits
an offense by breaking God's law and being heedless of any relationship
with Him.
That being the reality of true purity, the question arises whether
those lights which a person loses through his love of darkness can be acquired
by believing in the crucifixion of anyone. The answer is that such a notion
is false. The truth is that for the acquiring of those lights it is the
eternal law that we should open the windows that face the true sun and
the rays that had been averted by shutting them would be revived again.
This is borne out by the physical law of nature that we cannot get rid
of darkness till we open the windows that let in the direct rays of the
sun. Doubtless, therefore, the only correct course that appeals to reason
is that those windows should be opened whereby not only shall we obtain
light, but shall also behold the source of light.
For the removal of the darkness of sin and neglect, it is necessary
to obtain light. This is indicated by God, the Glorious, in the verse:
He who is blind in this world shall be blind in the hereafter and even
more astray (17:73). This means that the eyes for beholding God and the
senses for discovering Him are bestowed in this life and that he upon whom
they are not bestowed in this life will not find them in the hereafter.
The righteous who will see God on the Day of Judgment will carry with them
the senses through which they will see Him, and he who does not hear the
voice of God in this world will not hear it in the next. To recognize God
as He is without any error and to obtain true understanding of His Being
and attributes in this world is the source of all light. It is thus obvious
that those who believe that God is subject to death and distress and misery
and ignorance, and that He can become accursed and can be deprived of true
purity and mercy and true knowledge, flounder in the pit of misguidance,
and are unaware of true knowledge and insight which are the basis of salvation.
The Christians are guilty of gross error in thinking that salvation is
freely available and that good deeds are irrelevant in that context. He
whom they have deified observed forty fasts. Moses also observed fasts
in Sinai. If good deeds are nothing, why did these two exalted ones pursue
this vain purpose? As it is clear that God Almighty is disgusted with vice,
we can understand that He is greatly pleased with virtue. In this way,
virtue becomes an atonement for vice. When a person after being guilty
of a vice performs a good deed that pleases God, it follows that the previous
condition has been replaced by the subsequent one; otherwise, it would
be disrespect. Accordingly, God Almighty says in the Holy Quran: Surely
good deeds do away with evil deeds ( 11: 115) . We can also say that vice
has a poisonous quality which destroys and that virtue has the quality
of an antidote that rescues from death. For instance, to shut all the doors
of a room is a vice, the necessary consequence of which is darkness. Opposed
to this is the opening of the doors that face the sun. This is the virtue
the necessary consequence of which is that the light that had been shut
off will re- enter the room {Kitabul Bariyyah ( Qadian, Ziaul Islam
Press 1898) Now prited in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 13., pp. 76-81}.
Belief in Kalima is a sure means of salvation
Your saying that it is the teaching of the Holy Prophet that sins are
removed by the affirmation that there is no one worthy of worship save
Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is quite true. It is
a reality that he who believes in God as One without associate and that
Muhammad, the chosen one, peace be on him, was sent by the same All Powerful
Unique One, will doubtless attain salvation, if he dies in the belief.
There is no salvation under heaven through the suicide of anyone and no
one can be more insane than one who thinks so. But to believe in God as
One without associate and so Compassionate that by His great mercy, in
order to rescue the world from misguidance, He sent His Messenger whose
name is Muhammad, the chosen one, peace be on him, is the doctrine by adhering
to which the darkness of the soul is removed and the ego is replaced by
the Unity of God. In the end the mighty upsurge of Unity spreads over the
whole heart and a heavenly life begins in this very world. As you observe
that by the advent of light darkness disappears, in the same way, when
the bright reflection of 'There is no one worthy of worship save Allah'
falls upon a heart, the dark passions of the ego disappear. The essence
of sin is that there is a tumult in the passions of the ego by yielding
to which a person is called a sinner, and the meaning of 'There is no one
worthy of worship save Allah' is that there is no one to be desired, or
to be loved, or to be worshipped, or to be obeyed except Allah. Now it
is obvious that this concept is totally opposed to the reality of sin and
its true source. If a person with the sincerity of his heart establishes
this meaning in his soul, then necessarily any opposite concept will be
driven out of his heart, inasmuch as opposites cannot subsist together.
When the passions of the ego are excluded, that is the condition which
is called true purity and real righteousness. The purpose of the second
part of the credo, that is to say, to believe in the Messenger of God,
is that faith might be established in the Word of God also, for it is necessary
for a person who confesses that he desires to become an obedient servant
of God that he should believe in God's commandments; and belief in God's
commandments is not possible without belief in him through whom the commandments
have been conveyed. This is the true meaning of the credo {Nurul Quran
No. 2( Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press 1896) Now prited in Ruhani Khazain (London,
1984) vol. 9, pp. 43-45}.