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Atonement
Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have
no imagination? —George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Epilogue
The atonement—what a concept. Who wouldn’t like someone else to pick up the
tab for their every indulgence and transgression? However, no matter how good the
atonement sounds, no matter how much people want it to be true, the critical question is
whether it has a basis in revealed truth. Will the atonement be there on the Day of
Judgment for those who rely upon it for their salvation? Or will the untold billions of
anxious human souls be struck with downcast faces when God announces He...
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The Prophet's safeguarding of Tauhid
and his closing of the paths to Shirk
Narrated from Abdullah bin Ash-Shikhkhir (May Allah be pleased with him) who said:
I went with a delegation of Banu 'Aamir to Allah's Messenger...
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Original Sin
He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint;
that boasteth of it, is a devil. —Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State
The concept of original sin is completely foreign to Judaism and Eastern
Christianity, having achieved acceptance in only the Western Church. Furthermore,
Christian and Islamic concepts of sin are virtual opposites with respect to certain nuances.
For example, there is no concept of “sinning in the mind” in Islam; to a Muslim, an evil
thought becomes a good deed when a person refuses to act upon it. Overcoming and
dismissing the evil thoughts which forever assail our minds is considered deserving of
reward rather than punishment. Islamically speaking, an evil thought only becomes...
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None asks Intercession of Allah before His creation
It is narrated from Jubair bin Mut'im (May Allah be pleased with him) that He said: An A'rabi (a nomadic Arab) came to the (May the peace...
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Reviewing unprejudiced historical accounts, a large population of the religious
throughout the known world voiced their opposition to Trinitarian Christianity, and those
who denied Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death were not necessarily a minority. Many
would argue that from a gut level it makes more sense for God to have punished Judas for
his treachery than to have tortured Jesus for his innocence. The argument would be more
convincing if the doctrines of atonement and original sin could be shown to be invalid,
for these two doctrines hinge off the doorframe of the alleged death of Jesus. The first
hurdle...
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To swear and to take Oath (binding) upon Allah
It is narrated from Jundub bin Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him) that Allah's Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said:...
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It was no empty vow of their elect ones, “to be baptized with the
baptism of Christ, to take on themselves scourgings, imprisonments,
tortures, reproaches, crosses, blows, tribulation, and all temptations of the
world.” Theirs the tears, theirs the blood shed during more than ten
centuries of fierce persecution in the East; and if we reckon of their
number, as well we may, the early puritans of Europe, then the tale of
wicked deeds wrought by the persecuting churches reaches dimensions
which appall the mind. And as it was all done, nominally out of reverence for, but really in mockery of, the Prince of Peace, it is hard...
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The Protection of Allah's Covenant and the Protection of His Prophet's Covenant
Allah Almighty said: "And fulfill the Covenant of Allah (Bai'a : pledge for Islam) when you have covenanted, and break not the oaths after you...
It is sad and pathetic when a promising child goes to the university only to come back with with a rationalized, modernized, and liberal version of Islam. My experience today made me conclude that except a child has proper...
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To be fair, Gnostic ideology did have a place in many, if not most, or even all
groups regarded as dissenters from orthodoxy. But then again, Gnosticism has a place in
orthodoxy as well, for what is gnosis if not the belief that its initiates possess some
esoteric but essential knowledge necessary for salvation, which can neither be explained
nor justified? And what has this discussion thus far exposed, if not the lack of scriptural
foundation for the canon of Trinitarian orthodoxy?
Of the above groups, the Paulicians (whose name possibly derived from their
devotion to Paul of Samosata) hold special interest. Paul of Samosata reportedly took his
teaching from Diodorus, head of the Nazarene Church in Antioch. His teachings in turn
branched off the trunk of apostolic ideology through individuals such as Lucian (who in
turn taught Arius), Eusebius...
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