Concept of salvation between Islam and Christianity

This article shall compare the concept of salvation between Islam and Christianity. It shall discuss how Muslims and Christians view salvation and which is the right way to God.

Salvation in Islam is by Both Faith and Works

In Islam, it is neither work alone nor faith alone get man to Paradise. It’s both actually, Allah says in the Quran:

But as for those who believe and do good works, for them are the Gardens of Retreat – a welcome (in reward) for what they used to do.(Sura 32:19)

See, belief is mentioned before good works, because actually good works alone do nothing if they were without belief, and belief without good works is not a serious belief. So actually good works are an indication of belief and that’s why in Islam we are accounted on our good and bad deeds, where bad deeds negate good deeds and the rank of every man in Paradise is dependent on his score of good and bad deeds, so actually good and bad deeds distinguish between believers in Paradise rather than meaning that man shall enter Paradise because of his deeds:

47. And We shall set up balances of justice on the Day of Resurrection, then none will be dealt with unjustly in anything. And if there be the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it. And Sufficient are We as Reckoners. (Holy Quran 21:47)

Associate this verse with this hadith:
Jabir reported that the Prophet of Islam said: “No good works of yours can ever secure heaven for you, nor can they save you from hell – not even me, without the grace of God.”

God promised us that if we believed and obeyed Him, we shall go to Paradise:

9. Allah has promised those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah – Islamic Monotheism) and do deeds of righteousness, that for them there is forgiveness and a great reward (i.e. Paradise). (Holy Quran 5:9)

God is All Merciful, that’s why He says in the Quran:

160. Whoever comes [on the Day of Judgement] with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof [to his credit], and whoever comes with an evil deed will not be recompensed except the like thereof; and they will not be wronged. (Holy Quran 6:160)

How Did Islam Deal with Sins?

Now concerning sins, what if a man is a sinner? If he repented, God shall forgive him:

110. And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah’s Forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Holy Quran 4:110)

If the sin was against God,then God will forgive him, if the sin was against someone else as murder or insult for example, God won’t forgive it unless the one whom was sinned against forgives the sinner, otherwise, he shall take from his good deeds, if the sinner has no good deeds, he will receive the sins of the one whom he sinned against.

What if the sinner didn’t repent and doesn’t have good works that outweigh these sins?

116. Verily! Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom he pleases sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far away. (Holy Quran 4:116)

The only sin that shall let someone be eternally in Hell is Shirk which is associating partners with Allah and not believing Islam is the right religion. Other sins are either forgiven by God’s mercy or by going to Hell for some time till they are cleaned from the sins and enter Heaven afterwards.

So if they are Muslims even if they are sinners, they shall enter Paradise, but after being cleansed of their sins in Hell.

Faith is Essential, Deeds Distinguish Between People

So simply salvation in Islam is first through faith, so that actually all Muslims shall go to Paradise, based on their deeds, they shall distinguish, some will be in the higher ranks of Heaven, some will be in lower ranks, some shall go to Hell first till he is cleansed out of his sins, then he shall go to Paradise. Deeds doesn’t mean that man can fulfill God’s blessings by his good deeds, but they are a sign of loyalty to God as long as they are associated with real faith, so that he gains God’s mercy that shall let him go to Paradise. But good deeds without faith shall not be accepted by God:

97. Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer – We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do. (Holy Quran 16:97)

“Verily, Allah accepts only from the pious” (Holy Quran 5:27)

Salvation in Christianity

When I ask Christians, what is the need that God becomes a man and dies for our sins? The answer I always receive is: because God is just, He made an atonement for people to repent in the OT so forgiving people’s sins without an atonement is against His justice.

God Needs To Die For our Sins Because He is Just?

God has the right to forgive those who sinned against Him as I have the right forgive anyone who insulted me, that has nothing with me being just or not, but actually people consider this as something good I do, so it has nothing to do with God’s justice, but it actually poses a couple of questions.

What About Atonement in the The Old Testament?

Christians cite this point of Jesus’ death with the atonement in the OT. According to Christian belief, who put the rule that there must be an atonement for blood so that the sins are forgiven? who put this rule? Isn’t He God? So how can this be a sacrifice? What Jesus did is not a sacrifice, but he just gave a solution to the problem God in Christianity caused? He is the one who put the rule and it was found to be impractical, he did what he did to solve the problem. So either God didn’t know the consequences of this rule, so he made a problem and solved it, which is against God’s omniscience as God knows the consequences of everything, or that he actually knew and did what he did to make a show that he loves you.

The second thing, what I know is that people are accounted for their intention, if you do something and this deed gives consequences other than who you intended it to be, then you are actually accounted for your intention not for the consequences, for example if I robbed a guy walking in the street and gave what I stole as a gift to a friend of mine, then I discovered that the guy I robbed actually stole this stuff from my friend, am I a thief or a noble guy who wanted to help my friend? For sure a thief, as my intention was just to rob a guy and I didn’t know the other part of the story. That’s exactly what the death of Jesus was about, it wasn’t intended by the Jews to make a sacrifice or atonement so that Jesus takes away their sins, they were just looking to him as someone who shall destroy their leadership and positions and they wanted to get rid of him. So the whole action cannot be accounted as an atonement, but as a murder crime, and this has nothing with what Jesus himself intended, because he is not the one who implemented the action, otherwise he would have killed himself..

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The Holy Bible says that good deeds or works without Faith are death and Faith without the works are death. We sinfull and imperfect, 'born in sinn' people dont deserve enter Gods Kingdom . We lack faith , holyness . We are born into sinn ever sinds adam and heva. Death came into this world. And we are destend to live a eternal life of suffering and pain . God gave us free will. What honour is there to gain if we would be as robots right?!. Because sinn came between God and us, we cannot enter Gods holyness or have contact without we fall death. Cause Gods holyness is like an allconsuming fire. We cannot even imagine how holy God is and how we deserve death because we sinn against His holiness. Thereforde bloodoffer had to be made. He tested Abraham/Ibrahims faith by asking to offer his son Isaak. And because he was obedient to God God made Him a promiss to bless him with a promiss that his generations will be numbered like the stars and the world will be blessed trough his seed after him. God gave the jews the signment to keep and preserve His Word for the world. And God kept His promis . Never ask yourself why you celebrate ad-al-adha ? Where it referes to? cause God loves the wod so much that He gave His only son sothat whoever believes in Him will not perish in hell but have everlasting life. Yeshua was there before the creation of the world, He is the Word, and by His Word everything is made. And the Word became flesh, came down to earth to do obey the will of God our Father wich are in heaven. To concure death and hell, suffered for us, died for us, burried our sin with Him, and arose from the death, delivers us from evil, washed our sinns away with His precious, perfect sinnless, Godly blood.now sitting on the righthand of God from where he will come to judge over the living and the death. And the rightious will go with Him, the dead will rise to either be with Him forever or to be sentenced to hell because we refused His cleansing offer. He gave Himself for us, took everything upon Him, took our deserved punishment upon Him, satan lost. Satan wanted to be like God and still wants it but he lost and will be judged to. Jesus Jeschua , yasooa al massihi is the Lamb of God and presents or refers to THAT Lamb that Ibrahim got to replace Izaak from the alter. It refers to ad -al-adh . U know that jews still offer a lamb to take over there sinns to become clean with God...while they cut the lamb the hand of the person who offers is on the head of the lamb so his or her sinns go upon the lamb. And the person can go to God freely in prayer etcetera. God choose to reach out to us Therefore God sended His Son down to earth, He finished His work on earth wherefore He was sended:He became one of us , took our place, saved our life from everlasting hell so that finally we will be with God and there wil be a new heaveen and a new earth, and God will be with us, all tears will be whiped away , no more pain or desease or death. Lamb will be with the lion, a baby next to a snake..etcetera and God will be all in all. Thats Gods promiss for all who believe in Him. this counts for all people including u, me , mohammed ibrahim etcetera. God is Love with a capital L. God bless u, ma yassooa alMassiHi come into your heart and give u peace beyond all understanding . I pray for u. Salaam aleekom . God bless u.

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No Akintunde I am not dead :). Well, Jesus himself said that he is a man: Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. As for your point that you are right because you are descendants of Isaac and we are wrong because we are descendants of Ishmael, again this is a product of the Jewish racism, and that's why God punished them: Mat 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes? Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. So it has nothing more to do with the Israelites. So what about descendants of Ishmael, look at these scriptures: Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. Gen 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Gen 21:13 And also of the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. Gen 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad. And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not. For God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Gen 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand. For I will make him a great nation. Isa 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. When I say that Jesus is Muslim. I am talking that he really preached the Muslim belief that he is NOT God, but his belief is consistent with the Islamic belief which is the belief of all prophets. This doesn't mean that he adheres to Islamic law, as laws may change with prophets according to different circumstances. As for what you are stating that sins against Holy Spirit is unpardonable, you can check my post about the Holy Spirit and guidance and see that the first people who sinned against the Holy Spirit were the Church Fathers whom actually you actually consider an evidence for the authenticity of your faith and those who stood against heresies: https://jesus-is-muslim.net/holy-spirit-and-guidance/

Hi Akintunde First of all, I am not sure of your (medieval) thought if it is really applied on Islam or Christianity, actually the industrial revolution and the technological advance through the last two centuries brought Christianity back and many people left Christianity in Europe and US to the extent that many churches are getting closed because they are empty, you need to revise your thought on who said that the age of humanity is 5000 years so I think you need to revise your view on Christianity and medieval thought. As for your thought of Arab people, well, I think this may be a racist view, you should track the truth wherever it is. If you are talking about a primitive view on God, I think that the primitive view is that you make Him a man who can't find a solution to save me except that he should die for me, then he comes and says: "Hey, I died for you". Sorry, God is mightier than that. As for your claim that God ordered me to kill myself and enslave women, this is actually a joke, because nowhere did Islam tell me to do so.

I'm sorry but your thinking is twisted and I can see that the last time you posted was in june, I won't be surprised if you are dead already (struck dead by God) for your hideous blasphemies. But no I know you aren't dead God isn't wicked so He won't kill you. JESUS Isn't a man so stop comparing him with Muhammad. Agreed muslims are a people of God but what u shouldn't say is that Christians are wrong in worshipping Jehovah. He revealed Himself to Abraham our father and established a covenant with him over isaac and not ishmael...technically you guys were abandoned you're a product of an intercourse that shouldn't have happened. Jews and curistians alike descended from Abraham. Jesus is of Abrahams lineage, he isn't a muslim he was a jew.....hope this sinks well intonur skull. And in Christianity we have a person part of the God head "The Holy Spirit" fear Him. Sins against Him are unpardonable. You and your oerverted quran dat says dat Christ didn't die are wrong and if you did your studies well, you will see that john the baptist whom you wrote about, confirmed the Christship of Jesus.

I believe you wrote an uninspired thesis which is very wrong. Islam is just a poor copy cat of Christianity. And you writings prove it. Your medieval and primitive arab people could not grasp the concept of the Christian God, so they crafted a poor look alike and christened him allah when the original arab name for God is Illah, and branded themselves as slaves to him. You should actually ponder on the redeeming love of Christ who was crucified, died and rose again for people likenyou to be saved. My God loves me so much, he died for me, what has your god done to bring you closer to him. Instead he told you to kill yourselves in the name of jihad and enslave your women, what kind of a god is that? If you ask me he's a low man made deity who has inferiority complex and cannot fight his own battles, he has to employ minions like you to do it

Hi Mohani I am not sure who Puan is :), but anyway, it is not the point that because Christianity comes from Christ means that Jesus was Christian from your concept, otherwise, there is nothing proving that Jesus is from Jehovah Witnesses or Mormon as they call themselves Christians as well, the point is in what Jesus teaches. As for your point of whether Jesus is the son of God or that Jesus died for the sins of the world, you may see Jesus section in the site as it answers these points.

Dear Puan In Islam, Jesus is a prophet. You can see Jesus as a Muslim. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Christianity comes from the second name and that is Christ. While Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, Mohamad told his followers to believe in Islam. It is a big difference. Thank you. God Bless Malaysia. Please SMS her.

Well, First I don't see how the way Muslims behave when getting insulted in Prophet Muhammad than God, I am not sure how this can make people think that Muslims look that way to God. Muslims may get outraged when Prophet Muhammad is insulted than God, actually this may be the case in non Muslim countries because in these countries when God is insulted, in most cases they don't mean Allah, but most probably God in Christian concept, which we as Muslims already consider as a blasphemy against God. But when Prophet Muhammad is insulted, then actually the insult is directed to Islam, that's the difference. Sometimes there are non wise or violent reactions occurring from Muslims, but the concept of rage when Allah or Prophet Muhammad is insulted should be present because we actually feel zealous for our doctrines, may be this feeling should be present when we are insulted, but Islam should have higher value in us than anything else. Of course this temporary rage is not enough and you may find it happening by a Muslim who is not really a righteous Muslim, but it's a good indication.

My take on this is that even if someone was to draw a Muhammed with Big head and say he had big head. That will not change what the real Muhammed was. Christians don't care what one says or draws about their Jesus. What is important to them is the connection between them and God through genuine worship.

The reason any none muslims (not only Christian) think that the Muslim God is a distant deity is because of the way they Muslims behave. They lay more emphasis on a mere mortal in the name of Muhammed than God. For instance they feel gravely offended any time someone draws a cartoon or says anything comical about this man. Yet the same irritation does not occur when someone talks in the same manner about God. One wonders what is this obsession with Muhammad. The man brought Islam period. People worship God. NO amount of cartoons can change what Muhammad was.

Salamu Alikom brother Have you seen the Bible section here in the site? I mean do you find it unclear?

i really love ur teaching oh brother of islam and i wish u could teach me the bible well enough because some jehovah witness guys have been bordering us in our community

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