Père Zakaria Boutros
The auther : Father Zakaria Boutros
www.fatherzakaria.comThe publisher ;
We have seen in the previous book (the crucifixion of the christ), how
God created Adam in a state of purity & rightousness & when he
sinned enticed by satan, he fell down from the eternal life & was expelled
from the paradise of blissfulness, he brought to himself the death sentence
according to the fair judjment of God, but God in his immense love &
full mercy wanted to forgive Adam & all his offspring & to take
off their punishment
This was not an easy matter,as after issuing the punishment verdict,
how can he cancel it & replace it by forgivness & he is plenary
in his fairness
If he fogives Adam the sinner & his offspring so where is his fairness
?
& if he he didn't fogive Adam & his offspring so where is his
mercy ?
So as we see there is a big problem requiring a wise solution for syncretizing
his fairness & mercy
This is the main issue of our subject in this book , as we will
declare the wise solution set forth by the perfect God's wisdom , supported
by the holy bible verses & we will mention also the testimony of islam
on that
The auther
The Inevitability of Redemption
Chapter one: in the christianity
Chapter two: In Islam
Chapter one
The redemption in the christianity
In this chapter we will highlight the issue of redemption from the christian
point of view , so we will speak on the idea of redemption in general &
the redemption of mankind inspecifically ,then we will clarify the act
of redemption & all its blessings
First:
The idea of redemption
To give a simple idea about the redemption from the christian point
of view we have to talk about : the concept of redemption, then we will
give examples about the redemption from the holy bible:
.
1) The concept of redemption:
The redemption is the rescuing from the death by a substitute
(substitute person).so the redeemer carry the sentence of the redeemed
person , or in a simpler meaning ; the redemption is the death of the redeemer
for the redeemed
2) Examples for the redemption:
God expalined the idea of redemption by several ways , we will mention
some of them:
A) The redemption of Isaac:
God ordered Ibraham saying:" take your son, your only son, whom you
love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Mouriah (name of the mountain).
Offer him there for a burnt offering Ibraham went as God told him , when
he reached that far place specified by God, the bible said" Ibraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took
in his hand the fire and the knife, to slaughter his son, then the angel
of God called unto him out of the sky, and said Ibraham, Ibraham, Don't
lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I knew that
you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from
me. Ibraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was
a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Ibraham went and took the ram,
and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son" (Genesis 22:1-23)
Notice here my brother in this incident that GOD after he ordered Ibraham
to slaughter his son & to Offer him there for a burnt offering, he
forgave him & saved Isaac from slaughtering & the order was cancelled
Actually my brother God cann't break or change his words, therefore
he brought on a ram to be slaughtered instead of Isaac that what we call
the redemption, so the ram carried the sentence (the slaughtering) instead
of Isaac
B) The redemption of every man firstborn
The holy bible mentioned that when the people of Isreal were in the
land of Egypt & were humiliated by Pharaoh, God sent prophet Moses
to save them from this hand & get them out of the land of egypt
But Pharaoh strongely opposed that & didn't let them be free easily so he and his people were striked by God the ten strikes, the last strike was the killing of every first-born in the land of egypt from the man first-born to the cattle first-born
In spite of the presence of the people of Isreal in the land of egypt
at that time, their first-borns were not hurt by any of these strikes ,
why? because God made for them a canon in that days, this was for every
family to slaughter a lamp as a sacifice to the lord , a setoff for every
first-born to be his redemption, that what the lord said: you shall redeem
all the firstborn of man among your sons'
(Exodus 13:13)
you will notice my brother that every firstborn of man had to be killed
like the egyptian sons,as the lord ordered the angel to kill every first-born
in the land of egypt
So he has to kill also the Israeli firstborns as they were in the land
of egypt, but the lord saved them from this strike so their firstborns
were not killed & for his first order of killing the firstborns to
coincide with his second order of forgiving them he put the canon of redemption
saying: you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons' (Exodus
13:13)
C) the redemption sacrifices for expiation
The issue of redemption was clearly showen in the old testment as the sinner man who commites a sin bring his trespass offering as a redemption for himself to be saved from God's punishment he deserves , in the canon it was mentioned ""If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly, in the holy things of the lord; then he shall bring his trespass offering, a ram without blemish from the flock, to expiate him and he will be forgiven."(Leviticus 5:15-17)
Also in the canon" 'If the whole congregation of Israel sins, , and they have done any of the things which God' has commanded not to be done, and are guilty; when the sin in which they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for a sin offering , to expiate them, and they shall be forgiven."(Leviticus 4:13-21)
You notice my brother that according to the justice of God the soul who sins, shall die (Ezekiel 18:20)
But because of his mercy he had to forgive him & for the syncretizing
between his justice & mercy this canon was made ,the canon of redemption,
so the sinner bring a ram for expiation to get forgiveness
From this brother it is clear to us the idea of redemption which the
lord legitimated for the syncretizing between his justice & mercy
Second:
The redemption of mankind
Tn the previous point we demonstrated a general idea about the redemption
concerning its concept , we mentioned some examples from the holy bible
in the old testment explaining that, actually the idea of the redemption
which was clarified by the the lord in the old testment was a paving &
a symbol for the real redemption that was prepared by the lord for the
redemption of the whole mankind from death sentence , so the rams &
bulls are not enough for the redemption of man, actually the justice of
God don't accept the animal redemption for man& if it was
allowed that in the old testment it was as a symbol for the real redemption,as
the real redemption is centered aroud the saying of the apostle paul" that
one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died."(2 Corinthians
5:14),
So one must die for the redemption of all people, but who is that one
who can redeem the whole mankind? actually he is not a normal one ,but
he must fullfile certain conditions to reedem the whole mankind
we will dicuss these conditions in the following:
Prerequisites of the Redeemer
we said the redeemer must fullfile certain conditions to reedem the
whole mankind,as he must be unlimited & in the same time he has to
be a human , but a pure human
let us clarify these prerequisites in the following:
A) Un unlimited redeemer:
this is the first prerequisite that must be fullfiled by the redeemer
for the following:
The sin gets its real value according to the one who was sinned to,
also its punishment is measured by his position so its redemption is corrolated
with his value , for exapmle if I mistaked to my friend my mistake will
be limited & needs only an apology , but if I mistaked to a man of
authority I will deserve a great punishment & the mere apology
will not be enough,therefore if I sinned to God so my sin will be unlimted
as God is unlimted & I will deserve an unlimted punishment, so
my redemption needs unlimted expiation , so the redeemer who will expiate
my sin must be also unlimted
This concerns the first prerequisite of the redeemer ,
Concerning the second prerequisite he must be:
B) A human redeemer :
The redeemer must be of the same spiece of the redeemed & equal
to him in value, so it is not possible for an animal to redeem a human
as it is not of his spiece or value so the redeemer must be a human to
redeem the mankind
this concerns the second prerequisite of the redeemer,
Also he must be:
C) A pure redeemer:
This is the third prerequisite that must be fullfiled by the redeemer,
as if he himself is a sinner he cann't redeem others but he will die for
his sins only
So who is the redeemer who fully fulfile these prerequisites?
Does the animal fully fulfile these prerequisites? of course not as
animal is a limited creature & also not a human
Does the angel fully fulfile these prerequisites? of course not
as the angel is a limited creature & also not a human
Is there any prophet fully fulfile these prerequisites ? of course
not as the prophet is a limited creature& he is also not pure
as he is one of Adam's offespring who was contaminated with the sin microbes
So who is the redeemer who fully fulfile these prerequisites?
2) The only redeemer:
We have seen in the previous point the prerequisites that must be fullfiled
by the redeemer of mankind
We have seen also that neither animal nor angel nor a prophet is fit
for the redemeption of mankind
the problem of the redemeption of mankind had a sole solution set forth
by God with his godly wisdom
this solution is Jesus Christ the redeemer & tet us discuss now
how all the prerequisites were fullfiled in Jesus Christ
A) Only God is unlimited:
No one my brothr is unlimited but God & only him so there is only
one solution to this problem which is for God to abdicate for redemption
of man
for that God made his unlimited soul to be revealed in the limited
human body of the christ to make him unlimite as required for the redeemer,
that's what was explained in the holy bible saying" the mystery of godliness
is great: God was revealed in the flesh (1Timothy 3:16)
(for more understanding of the secret of the divine incarnation refer
to the book The christ The son of God by the auther)
B) The christ is a human:
God took from virgin Mary the body in which he revealed by his soul,
so the christ concerning his body is a complete human , for that the apostle
Paul said" but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. (Philippians
2:7, 8)
C) The christ is pure
This prerequisite also was flfilled by the christ , Apostle peter said on him:" who did not sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth." (1Peter 2:22), the Christ stood in front of the Jews saying; can any of you convicts me of sin? (John 8:46)
From this brother we have seen that Jesus Christ is the only redeemer who fully fulfilled all the required prerequisites, as he is as regards his divine nature unlimited & as regards his human nature is a man , as regards the purity he didn't commit any sin so he put himself on the cross as an atoning sacrifice to expiate the sins of all mankind & to die for the redemption of the people ,so the holy bible said" being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance;( Romans 3:24, 25)
This is Jesus Christ by whom we had through his blood the forgiveness
for our sins
Do you take him as a personal savoir? Do you believe in his expiation
for your sins & transgressions?
Thirdly;
The act of Redemption
The analysis of the act of redemption itself & the blessing we got is a long subject, but we will mention some of these blessings
1) The mercy:
The redemption, my brother. is an act of mercy from God as the holy bible says: "not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us" (Titus 3:5)
So none of us has any favour in this redemption, but it is emerging from the loving heart of God, who is full of mercy, shouldn't we thank the lord for his enormous mercy?
2) The intercession:
The meaning of the intercession is for the Christ to be an intercessor
between God & man to prevent his punishment over them as he died instead
of them, so the holy bible says:" There is salvation in none other, for
neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men,
by which we must be saved"(Act 4:12)
3) The death instead of the mankind:
Apostle Paul says:" that one person died for all people; therefore,
all people have died" (2 Corinthians 5:14), so the death of the Christ
for the mankind was considered in God's justice as death of the whole mankind
as the Christ gave himself up for us as the holy bible says" as Christ
also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance".( Ephesians 5:2 ),
So we say in the prayer of the holy mass "He is who loved his people who are in the world & gave himself as redemption for us to the death who dominated us" (Bsillian mass)
4) The revival of mankind:
So the Christ was not only crucified for the mankind but he resurrected
from the dead to resurrect the mankind with him from their sins to live
a new sacred life ,as the bible said:, for his great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses (i.e. under the
sentence of death as a punishment for our sins), made us alive together
with Christ (i.e. He take for us the sentence of death & gave us a
new life with the Christ), and raised us up with him (i.e. by the resurrection
of the Christ from the dead),( Ephesians 2:4-6)
It says also:" that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life."(Romans 6:4, 5)
You, for whom the Christ died, will you consider yourself died to sin or you are still its slave? Did you rise with the Christ to walk in sacred life? or you are still captured in the grave of sin? Ask him to raise you now in a new pure life
5) Glorifying the mankind:
The holy bible says :" For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."(Romans 6:23),
so we have seen that God bestowed us the eternal life as the Christ died
for us , the bible also said :" even when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him, and
made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ," (Ephesians
2:4-6), so as the Christ raised from the dead he raised us with him therefore
he opened for us the door of heaven to get in it & enjoy living with
him, for that apostle Paul is saying:" You should walk worthily of God,
who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory." (1Thessalonians 2:12)
So do you walk in the life of holiness & grace to enjoy the kingdom
of heaven & the eternal life?
Chapter two
The redemption in Islam
We have seen from the above the redemption from the Christian point
of view, we will see here the Islamic point of view
Actually the redemption was concerning the justice & mercy as we
have seen before. Islam also testify that God is all-just & by his
justice he condemned the mankind by the death sentence for their sins as
mentioned in the cow Chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 81:" Whosoever earns evil
and his sin has surrounded him, they are dwellers of the Fire "
But Islam also admits that God is All-merciful & he has to forgive
the sins & to set people from hell as mentioned in the house of Imran
chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 103:" you were on the brink of a pit of Fire,
and He saved you from it".
This is not a simple matter;' therefore Islam admits that it is a difficult
problem as quran said in the company's chapter (Surat Az-Zumar) 19:"Is,
then one against whom the Word of punishment justified Will you rescue
him who is in the Fire? "& Imam Al-Nasfy explained this saying: this
means whom the Word of punishment justified Will you rescue him? I.e. no
one can rescue him (Tafsir Al- Nasfy (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 41),
From that we see that Islam admits the redemption as will be
explained in the following:
First:
The concept of the redemption in Islam
Imam Al-Nasfy says "the redemption is the rescuing from the slaughtering
by a substitute & this is not a cancellation of the verdict, but this
verdict was confirmed through the redemption" (Tafsir Al-nasty (Al-Nasfy
exegesis) part 4 page 21)
This concept coincides exactly with the Christian concept of the redemption;
yes this is a common ground
Examples of the redemption:
On our talking about the redemption in the Christianity we mentioned
few examples as: The redemption of Isaac, the redemption of man firstborn,
the redemption sacrifices for expiation
We will mention also from Islam explaining this concept:
1) The redemption of Abraham's son:
The Islamic scholars differ in specifying who was meant by Abraham's
son was he Isaac or Ishmael? some said he was Isaac, others said he was
Ishmael, Imam Al-Nasfy mentioned the two opinions , we will mention his
words literally , he said :" the sacrifice was Ishmael & that's
what Abu Baker, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Omar & a group of the followers "God
contentedness on them" said .
& for Ali & Ibn Masud & Al-Abbas & a group of the followers
"God contentedness on them" they said he was Isaac, to confirm this : Jacob
wrote to Joseph 'peace upon them" : from Jacob God's Israel, the son of
Isaac ,God's slaughter, son of Abraham, God's khalil " (Tafsir Al- Nasfy
(Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 20) , most likely he was Isaac as it was
confirmed by the previous proof & what was mentioned in the holy bible
confirming he was Isaac
Anyway the quran mentioned this redemption story as follows: So We
gave him the glad tidings of a forbearing boy. And, when he was old enough
to walk with him, (i.e. to go with his father in his work) he said: "O
my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering you, so look what
you think! (i.e. what do you think of that)" He said: "O my father! Do
that which you are commanded, if Allah will, you shall find me of the patient
ones." Then, when they had both submitted themselves to the Will of Allah,
and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (or on the side of his forehead
& put the knife on his throat for slaughtering); and we called out
to him: "O Abraham! You have fulfilled the dream!" Verily! Thus do we reward
the good-doers, verily, that indeed was a manifest trial and we ransomed
him with a great sacrifice "
Imam Al-Nasfy explained this saying: here there is a problem as the
act committed by Abraham as regards laying his son prostrate on his forehead
& putting the knife on his throat for slaughtering ,is this an actual
slaughtering verdict or not?, if this was an actual slaughtering verdict,
so what was the meaning of the redemption mentioned in the verse "we ransomed
him with a great sacrifice?, & the redemption is rescuing from the
slaughtering by a substitute & God gave Abraham the ram to be slaughtered
instead of Ishmael , this is not abrogation for the verdict but it is the
verdict confirmed through the redemption as it was meant for the son to
be an oblation by this verdict & he was honoured by the redemption(Tafsir
Al- Nasfy (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 21)
You may realize from this utterance of Imam Al-Nasfy a confirmation
for the redemption canon or saving or rescuing from the verdict by a substitute
& although the redeemer had taken the verdict this was not considered
an abrogation (i.e. cancellation) for the verdict but its confirmation
& honouring the redeemed person.
2) The redemption of Abdullah Bin Abdel-Motaleb:
Abdullah, the grandfather of the prophet vowed to God saying: "O God,
if I was endowed ten children & they grow well with me I will slaughter
on of them in Ka'aba"
Then when he was endowed ten children, he wanted to slaughter the one
selected by lottery , he was Abdullah, the father of the prophet , so all
the people of Quraish came out to stop him from slaughtering his son ,and
he told them then what to do? I have vowed that , therefore do I have to
offer redemption ? , they said: If his redemption was by our money we will
redeem him, if it is by our cattle, we will slaughter them for him
When they consulted a soothsayer, she asked them: How much the blood
money you made if you want to redeem a guilty person? They said: ten camels,
she said: get them & if they were not accepted you will add ten by
ten till your God is pleased
Then they made a lottery between Abdullah & the camels, it came
to Abdullah, they added then ten more, they repeated again the lottery
it came once again to Abdullah, they continue to add more camels &
lottery continues to be on Abdullah & Abdel-Motaleb was praying to
God to accept his redemption & listen to his intercession, till the
camels slaughtered reached one hundred , then the lottery came to the camels
, he was well pleased & they all yelled in joy& they said to Abdel-Motaleb:
God had accepted the redemption of your son ( from The Mouled Book by Sheikh
Mohammed bernak, page 17)
From this incident it is obvious here the idea of redemption, as Abdel-Motaleb
vowed to slaughter one of his sons for God & had must execute his vow,
but as he was seeking the mercy of God, not to slaughter his son he had
to satisfy God's justice by executing the sentence of slaughtering in a
substitute for his son as a redemption for him
Is not this a clear example for the concept of redemption?
& a third example we will bring to confirm the idea of redemption
in Islam.
3) The sacrifices of the Adhaa feast (the sacrifice feast):
It is called also the redemption & sacrifice feast (Al-Akhbar newspaper
24/4/1964) & the sacrifices slaughtered in it are for the purpose of
redemption or expiation
As in:
1) The religion of Islam book (in the persian country (Iran now), the
sacrifice feast is called the feast of oblation (i.e. slaughter) &
during this feast, it is said during the ablution: O God let this sacrifice
be an expiation for my sins & take off evil from me)( page 367)
2) Al-Fikh book (jurisprudence book): narrated Anas bin malek: the
prophet peace upon him scarified by 2 horny & salted rams; he slaughtered
them by his noble hands (Sahih Muslim, part 1, page 711)
3) Mesh-Kat al-masabih book: he mentioned that the prophet as he was
slaughtering them said: O God, this is for me & whosever made no sacrifice
from my nation (page 42)
4) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): Al-Baz
& Abu-Al-sheikh narrated from Abi-Saeed: the prophet peace upon him
said, O Fatima, get your sacrifice & have a look on it as by looking
at its first drop of blood you will get forgiveness for all your past sins
(part 1 page 243)
5) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): the
slaughtering of Hady (the sacrifice) is rapprochement to Almighty God so
you have to finish the slaughtering of Hady (this sacrifice) & ask
God to grant you redemption so by each part of it (the sacrifice) he redeems
a part of you from the hell, so the bigger the Hady (the sacrifice) &
its parts the bigger will be your redemption from the hell (part 1 page
243)
From all of these it is very obvious that the sacrifices of Adhaa (the sacrifice feast) is pointing to the redemption & expiation, so the Islam admits the idea of the redemption
Second:
The redemption of mankind
Islam also admit that there must be a redemption for mankind, the best
example in the quran in: The The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 "Because
of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a
person not in retaliation of murder( meaning anyone killed innocent self
which didn't commit any murder), or to spread mischief in the land ( meaning
a pure self didn't spread mischief in the land ) it would be as if he killed
all mankind),
You can find in this example the idea of the redemption is very clear,
as people being sinners they deserve death as we explained previously in
the cow Chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 81:" Whosoever earns evil and his sin
has surrounded him, they are dwellers of the Fire "
But if an innocent pure person executed this verdict, so his death
will be considered a death for the whole people
This leads us also to discuss the Prerequisites of the Redeemer, on
the light of this quran verse:
the Prerequisites of the Redeemer:
On our subject concerning the redemption in the christianity we knew the Prerequisites of the Redeemer here we will see the acceptence of Isalm of same Prerequisites, so let us clarify this on the light of this previously mentioned quran verse & other verses:
A) The redeemer is unlimited
As no one can expiate the unlimited man's sin except the unlimited
God, we will see in quran what testifies this as in the following verse
Divorce chapter (Surat At-Talaaqa) 5: "whosoever fears Allah and keeps
his duty to Him, He will remit his sins from him" so God is the one who
remit the sins
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 12:" I will remit your sins and
admit you to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise)".
So it is clear here that only God can remit the human sins ,so this
last verse confirms the saying by telling that God himself is the
one who remit the sins
B) The redeemer is a human
The redeemer should be a human to represent the mankind & for his
death to be considered as death of the whole people as we will see:
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 "Because of that We ordained
for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation
of murder( meaning anyone killed innocent self which didn't commit any
murder), or to spread mischief in the land ( meaning a pure self didn't
spread mischief in the land ) it would be as if he killed all mankind),
and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all
mankind.", from this it is clear that the redeemer who through his death
can expiate the whole people must be a self with the same human self nature
, for his death to be death of the whole people
C) The redeemer is pure:
In the same previous verse we see also this Prerequisite:
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 "Because of that We ordained
for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation
of murder, or to spread mischief in the land (a pure person) it would be
as if he killed all mankind", so the person for his death to be considered
as death of the whole people must be pure didn't spread mischief in the
land
A) The christ the redeemer :
A) Unlimited :
"being God's Word,& a spirit from him
Women Chapter ( Surat An-Nisa')171: "The Messiah 'Iesa, son of Maryam,
was (a messenger of Allah and his Word, which he bestowed on Maryam
and a spirit from him"
Sheikh Mohi El-din El-arabi said: "The word is Allah (God) revealed
& it is the essence of Allah (God) & nothing else" (The book of
fuscous al-hokm - part 2, page 35) & he said also: the word is the
divinity (The book of fuscous al-hokm - part 2 page 143), so as the christ
is God's Word,& a spirit from him , therefore his is unlimited as the
spirit of God is unlimited ( for more see the book of the christ Son of
God to the auther)
B) A human:
the christ as regards the human nature is a normal human , this what
the angel said in his glade tiding to Maryam
in Mary chapter (Surat Maryam ) 19 :" I am a messenger from your Lord,
to announce to you the gift of a righteous son.( means pure son)" so he
is annoncing to her the gift of a pure son
C) Pure:
The quran & converses testify that the christ is the only pure
human from all mankind, in:
Mary chapter (Surat Maryam ) 19 that we mentioned before the angel
says:" I am a messenger from your Lord, to announce to you the gift of
a righteous son.( means pure son) ,so the christ is a only pure human
The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 36: I have named her Maryam,
and I seek refuge with you (Allah) for her and for her offspring from Satan,
the outcast."
Imam al-Razy said in his tafsir (exegesis) of the word" the Christ":
he was cleared from the sins & transgressions by Gabriel's wing at
the time of his birth to protect him from Satan {Al-Razy tafsir (exegesis)
part 3 page 676)
Narrated Abu Hurairah: I heard the prophet of Allah peace upon him
said: every newborn from Adam's offspring has been touched by Satan at
the time of his birth so he yelled screaming from his touch except Maryam
(Mary) & her son
In Sahih Al-Bukhari: each son of Adam is stabbed by Satan's finger
when he is born except Isa son of Maryam, when he (Satan) tried to stab
him he stabbed in the curtain (i.e. he did not cause him any harm)
From this, it is clear that the Christ is the only innocent & pure
person who has not been touched by Satan, so in the Christ all the redeemer
Prerequisites are fulfilled: being unlimited, human & pure
Thirdly:
The act of redemption:
We explained in our discussion about the act of redemption in Christianity
it includes many immanent issues which were executed by the Christ, here
we will see also the testimony of Islam
1) The mercy;
The redemption is an act of God's mercy, it was mentioned in a converse
in Sahih Al-Bukhari( as the prophet said: none of you can get into paradise
except by the God's mercy, they said neither does you prophet of God, he
replied neither do I unless God covers me with his mercy)
The quran entitles the Christ as the mercy of God as mentioned in
Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 21: "And we appoint him as a sign to mankind
and a mercy from us (Allah)",
2) The Intercession:
The quran & the Islamic Scholars made it clear that the Intercession
is:
A) It is the right of God only
As mentioned in Prostration Chapter (Surat As-Sajdah) 32: "Allah it
is he who has created the heavens and the earth, ....you have none, besides
him, as a protector or an intercessor."
In the exegesis (tafsir) of AlJalalin concerning the interpretation
of this verse: have none, besides him, as a protector or an intercessor
(meaning who can protect you from his punishment)
B) The Intercession attributed to the Christ
The quran attributed the Intercession to the Christ as mentioned in
The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 45: the angels said:
"O Maryam! Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a word from him,
his name will be the Messiah 'Isa, the son of Maryam, held in honour in
this world and in the hereafter (the afterlife), and will be one of those
who are near to Allah."
All the annotators (Al-Ray, Al-Zamakhshary, Al-Bydawy, Al-Nasfy &
others said: held in honour in the hereafter (afterlife) means the Intercession
3) the death for the mankind:
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 "We ordained for the Children
of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder,
or to spread mischief in the land it would be as if he killed all mankind",
& the Christ who was killed by the Children of Israel & he
killed nobody on the contrary he was resurrecting the dead & he didn't
spread mischief in the land, but he led the people to live in peace, so
by killing him as if they killed all mankind",
4) The revival of the mankind: also in
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 We ordained for the
Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of
murder, or to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed
all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the
life of all mankind "
& The Christ after he was amortised by God through the feline Jews
& was raised to God so by reviving him as if he revived all mankind
"& the testimonies for the resurrection of the Christ are numerous,
we will mention here some of them:
Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 33: "And peace be upon me the day I was
born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!"
The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 55;"Allah said: "O 'Isa
I will amortise you and raise you to myself"
Waheb said: God had amortised 'Isa for three hours & raised him
to heaven that's Almighty God 's saying: I will amortise you and raise
you to myself"
From that we see that the Christ was resurrected from dead & his
resurrection was considered a resurrection for the whole mankind &
that's one of the numerous blessings of the redemption
Chapter Three
The challenges & their answers
First challenge: The Christ was
not crucified
Second challenge: It appeared so to them
Third challenge: Was the repentance insufficient
instead of the crucifixion?
Fourth challenge: What was the Christ's guilt to
be crucified for the people?
First challenge:
The Christ was not crucified
A challenger may say that The Christ was not surely crucified, depending
on the quran utterance in:
Women Chapter: ( Surat An-Nesa) 157: "And their saying (means the Jews
saying we killed Messiah 'Isa, son of Maryam, the messenger of Allah, "
but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but: It appeared so to them
they have no certain knowledge if they killed him or not"
Those challengers are saying that the quran confirms with no doubt
that The Christ was neither crucified nor killed as it appears from that
verse
But let us put beside it some other quran verses & some of the
Islamic scholar's utterances & annotators to explain the real meaning
of this verse & here are some of this quran verses in the following:
The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 54, 55 "And they (the
Jews) plotted, and Allah plotted too. And Allah is the Best of the plotters.
Allah said: "O 'Isa! I will amortize you and raise you to myself and clear
you of those who disbelieve" from this verse it is clear that the Christ
died before he was raised to the heaven
Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 33: "And peace be upon me the day I was
born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" from this
verse it is clear that the Christ died before he was raised alive
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 117:"when you amortize me, you
were the watcher over them" from this also it is clear that the Christ
was killed by the Jews & God was the watcher over them
let us go through the Islamic scholar's utterances in the exegesis
of these verses:
1) Imam Al-Razy said: narrated ibn abbas & mohammed ibn Ishak: the
meaning of amortizing you is to let you die ( Al-Razy exegesis (
tafsir) part 2 page 457)
2) Narrated Wahb: the Christ died for three hours (Al-Razy exegesis
(tafsir) part 2 page 457)
3) narrated ibn Ishak: he died for seven hours (Al-Razy exegesis
(tafsir) part 2 page 457)"
From that it is obvious that the Christ really died & those
who deny the crucifixion differ among themselves & they depend in their
opinions on unconfirmed utterances & even in their denial of the crucifixion
we can see a testimony for the crucifixion as:
4) Imam Al-Bydawy said: it was said that the human nature was crucified
& the divine nature was raised
(Al-Bydawy exegesis (tafsir) part 2 page 128)
Actually the saying of Al-Bydawy is correct concerning the crucifixion
of the human nature , but it is incorrect concerning what he said
about the raising of the divine nature , as we believe that the crucifixion
actually happened for the human nature &which was affected by the crucifixion,
but the divine nature was inseparable from the human nature , not
for a moment or even an eye blink & the divine nature was not affected
by the act of crucifixion , we can understand this fact when we look to
a piece of iron put in fire , when we hammer it by a hammer we will see
the iron only get affected by hammering , but the fire never affected
In general the previous saying of Imam Al-Bydawy although it is incorrect
concerning what he said about the raising of the divine nature , but we
see in it a clear indication that the Christ was really crucified by his
human nature( we believe also that the divine nature was inseparable from
the human nature)
Second challenge:
It appeared so to them
In the quran verse mentioned in the previous challenge :
Women Chapter: ( Surat An-Nesa) 157: "And their saying (means the Jews
saying )we killed Messiah 'Isa, son of Maryam ,the messenger of Allah,
" but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but: It appeared so to them
they have no certain knowledge if they killed him or not"
the challengers conclude from this verse that the Christ was not crucified
but It appeared to them so:
the answer : I don't want to answer this challenge by myself but I will leave this to one of the greatest quran annotators who is the great scholar Imam Al-Razy he will answer himself & I will extract his comment on that expression (It appeared so to them)
Al-Razy exegesis ( tafsir) part 3 page 350:
' If it is permitted to say that almighty God put a man's resemblance on another person this will open the door for confusion & uncertainety , as if we see ( Zaied: certain person) ,he may not be Zaied, as Zaied's resemblance was put on someone else & if a man weds ( marries) Fatima , he may not marry Fatima as a Fatima's resemblance was put on Khadija , therefore he will marry Khadija instead, thinking that she is Fatima"
Imam Al-Razy concluded a very dangerous fact:
"if it is permitted to put a person's resemblance on another person
, then the marriage, divorce & the possession all will be untrustable
& doubtful"
So Imam Al-Razy denys that the expression of "It appeared so to them"
means putting the resemblance of the christ on another person but maybe
the quran meant by saying 'It appeared so to them "that by crucifying
the christ they thought that they demolished his mission, but this never
happened, so it appeared to them so
Third challenge
Was the repentance insufficient instead of the crucifixion?
The challenging of: was not enough for the man to show repentance to
get the forgiveness from God?
As the following quran verse says:
The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 37:
"Then Adam received from his lord words. And his lord pardoned him.
He is the one who forgives the most merciful."
The answer: Actually the forgiveness of the sin has many aspects
The first aspect:
The Repentance & the Remorse
Actually the sinner must repent & show remorse for his sins or he will get no forgiveness, the holy bible declares this clearly as the Christ said "unless you repent, you will all perish" Luke 13:3
& the quran agreed on that by the previous verse (Then Adam received from his lord words. And his lord pardoned him. He is the one who forgives the most merciful.) The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 37
Is the repentance enough for the redemption?
Actually although repentance is important for the forgiveness but it represents the remorse & determination not to do it again in the future, but remains an important part which is the cure of what man has done in the past to get the forgiveness,
Let me explain this by an example from the daily life, then will apply
this to our subject.
For example, if someone crushed your car, then he told you I repent
& promised you not to do this again in the future, is it enough to
forgive him? Does this apology will compensate you for your loss?
Or he should give you the name of his insurance company to repair your
car or to compensate you to buy another car if the damage is grave?
Now let me apply this on our subject, so when a man sins, it is not enough to repent or apologize for his sin to be forgiven but there must be an expiation, redemption, or a sacrifice for the sins of the past to be forgiven, that's what we will talk about .
The second aspect:
The expiation or redemption, or sacrifice
The issue of expiation or redemption is mandatory for the forgiveness & this is obvious in both the Christianity& Islam
In the Christianity the bible says clearly in:
1 john 2:1, 2 (My little children, I'm writing these things to you
so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate
with the Father-Jesus Christ, one who is righteous. And he is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world)
But what are the types of sacrifice in Islam?
Actually there are several types of sacrifice in Islam; some of them
will be mentioned in the following verse:
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idh) 89 :{Allah will not punish you
for what is unintentional in your oath he will punish you for your deliberate
oath, for its expiation feed ten poor persons on a scale of the average
of that with which you feed your families or cloth them or manumit a slave,
but whosever can't afford, then he should fast for three days}
In this verse it is clear that there is expiation for the deliberate
oaths which is feeding of ten poor persons or clothing them or manumitting
a slave, or fasting for three days
But if the sin is one of the grave sins so God himself should expiate
for this sin,
As stated in the following verse:
Mutual fraud chapter (Al-Taghabun) 9: {and whosever believe in Allah
& perform righteous good deeds .He will expiate from him his sins,
and will admit him to gardens under which rivers flow}
In this verse it is clear that God himself expiates from the sins,
till he abolish them
Actually the real expiation in Islam is what we mentioned before on
the sacrifice, so let me remind you again about it.
2) The sacrifices of the Adhaa feast (the sacrifice feast):
It is called also the redemption & sacrifice feast (Al-Akhbar newspaper
24/4/1964) & the sacrifices slaughtered in it are for the purpose of
redemption or expiation
As in:
1) The religion of Islam book (in the persian country (Iran now), the
sacrifice feast is called the feast of oblation (i.e. slaughter) &
during this feast, it is said during the ablution: O God let this sacrifice
be an expiation for my sins & take off evil from me)( page 367)
2) Al-Fikh book (jurisprudence book): narrated Anas bin malek: the prophet peace upon him scarified by 2 horny & salted rams; he slaughtered them by his noble hands (Sahih Muslim, part 1, page 711)
3) Mesh-Kat al-masabih book: he mentioned that the prophet as he was slaughtering them said: O God, this is for me & whosever made no sacrifice from my nation (page 42)
4) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): Al-Baz & Abu-Al-sheikh narrated from Abi-Saeed: the prophet peace upon him said, O Fatima, get your sacrifice & have a look on it as by looking at its first drop of blood you will get forgiveness for all your past sins (part 1 page 243)
5) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): the slaughtering of Hady (the sacrifice) is rapprochement to Almighty God so you have to finish the slaughtering of Hady (this sacrifice) & ask God to grant you redemption so by each part of it (the sacrifice) he redeems a part of you from the hell, so the bigger the Hady (the sacrifice) & its parts the bigger will be your redemption from the hell (part 1 page 243)
From all of these it is very obvious that the sacrifices of Adhaa (the
sacrifice feast) is pointing to the redemption & expiation, so the
Islam admits the idea of the redemption
The fourth challenge :
what was the Christ's guilt to be crucified for the people?
Some may challenge by saying what the innocent Christ has done to be
forced by God to be killed?
Is this clashing with the fact of "God is Love"?
Actually this question was offered to Dr: Negm Abd-Elkreem the director
of All Arab broadcasting from London in the dialogue between us on air
on 1/4/1994
(So I prefer to extract the answer I had said at that time
, for more details refer to my book concerning this dialogue)
You as me: how was an innocent one taken & killed to adsorb the
anger of God? to be killed ? what is his guilt? how does this agree
with God's love?
let me tell you these two verses from the quran
1) The Cow chapter (Surat Al- Baqarah) 61: "They used to disbelieve the verses of Allah and killed the Prophets wrongfully"
2) The Cow chapter (Surat Al- Baqarah) 87: "Is it that whenever there came to you a Messenger with what you yourselves desired not, you grew arrogant? Some, you disbelieved and some, you killed."
So there are prophets being killed wrongfully & they didn't deserve
to die as they are innocent,
God permitted this to show his love to the people by sending those
innocent prophets but they have been killed by those evil people ,but God
will punish those evil killers & reward the prophets for their sacrifices,
patience & withstanding being murderd for God's sake
The same happened with the Christ with all the love came & withstood
this death for all the people & this doesn't clash with the love of
God, but it is the sacrificing exerting love, which endures the redemption
of mankind pushed by the love for the forgiveness, this is what we believe
& the Christianity believes in the issue of the redemption & the
forgiveness
The broadcaster: fine, fine
I think this is a complete answer to this challenging
Finally
My beloved dear reader, after this long research, I hope that you are
not tired by the long details & the inferences from the books &
utterances; I hope you enjoyed this tour in the gardens of the common ground
between the Islam & Christianity concerning this extremely important
subject which is the crucifixion of the Christ & the inevitability
of the redemption
Before leaving you in this book I want to finalize my talking to you
by a real story I heard from a witness
The story begins when a father was sleeping in his house after a long
tiring day, in the middle of the night he heard the door of the house open
loudly then shut down swiftly to make a great noise in opening & shutting
down, therefore he jumped from his bed scarily & rushed outside his
bedroom to figure up what is the matter, he was shocked to see his only
son with his clothes soaked with blood , he was right in his guess, as
his son had committed a murder, the father asked his son to take off his
clothes quickly and to wear his father's clothes , after he took it out
of his body, as they exchanged their clothes, the police men rushed to
the house & arrested the father wearing the clothes soaked with blood
as a proof for the murder crime
The father was tried in front of the court he was accused of murder,
he remained silent all through the trial in spite of the efforts done by
the judges & lawyers, and finally he was convicted & had the death
sentence depending on the material evidence which is the clothes soaked
in blood
In the day of execution by hanging he requested to speak to his son,
he whispered in his ears saying: today I will be hanged for you to redeem
you, to give you a chance to repent & correct your life
Have you seen my brother how was the paternal love,he sacrified by
himsself to redeem whom he loved , with a great difference I am telling
you this is just a faint similitude for what the christ have done to us
, as our redemption required from him to give his pure self as a sacrifice
for us & as expiation for our sins
My dear doesn't this lead you to accept his redemption & his salvation
that he gave us pushed by his immense love for us his children
God is ready to accept you & forgive all your sins if you accept him & return to him in repentance
God will be with you & let you enjoy his wonderful salvation Amen.
JesusMarie.com------Islam