3.—ON THE NATURE OF SIN

A religion which knows nothing of a holy God, or where the glorious attribute of His holiness is only slightly mentioned, and is merely a matter of dead knowledge or metaphysical speculation, not the point of vital importance—the foundation and centre of all, as in Christianity; in such a religion we can never expect to meet with a correct view of the hateful nature of sin, or of its internal and spiritual character. And this is just the case with Muhammadanism. The Muhammadans know nothing of a holy God; of that God whose nature is infinite holiness, as revealed in Scripture. It is true they have heard from the Jews and Chris-

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tians of this glorious attribute of God, and borrowed it from them; but neither Muhammad nor any one of his followers have ever understood its meaning or its practical bearing. They are quite unacquainted with the import of the divine command, “Be ye holy, for I am holy;” and as a natural consequence, they are also unacquainted with the actual nature of sin. Sin is understood by them only as an external act; with the sins of the heart, with this world of unseen actions and countless transgressions, they are quite unacquainted, or when observed, take no further notice of them. They acknowledge indeed that evil thoughts and desires are sin, but this confession is more formal than real, and these are therefore by them never regarded equally bad and hateful in the sight of God as evil actions are, nor believed to be of the same consequence; and, as it is clearly mentioned in several traditions that evil thoughts are no sin, this acknowledgment loses all practical power and influence. A man may therefore be quite a good believer, and is regarded as such, if he only profess to believe in God and Muhammad, repeat the formula of their creed, and perform the prescribed prayers and ceremonies, whatever the state of his heart may be. With them faith can exist without love and holiness, and has in fact nothing to do with it. Sins, therefore, being regarded only as external acts, are counted and divided into small and great sins, and lying and false swearing for certain ends or for good purposes is allowed, as will

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be seen from the following extracts. It is said in the Mishcát ul Masábih, “God passeth over the forgetfulness and mistakes of my sects, and forgives them what they do by compulsion.” Mishcát, vol. ii. p. 817. And in another place: “It is not right to lie, except in three cases: one, a man’s telling lies to his wife to please her: the second, in war; the third, in order to make peace between men.” Ibid. p. 464. In Ain ul Hayát, leaf 242, is thus written: “It is unlawful to say a truth, which might be injurious to a believer or endanger his life; and it is lawful and obligatory to tell a lie, when a believer can be saved by it from death, imprisonment, or from any loss. And in the case of a believer having intrusted us with some of his property, and an oppressor requiring it of us, we are obliged to deny having it, yea, we are even allowed to swear on oath, that none of the property of that man is with us. And it is likewise lawful to tell a lie before an officer of customs, an oppressor, or a judge, if by telling the truth the property would be taken away from him.” In the next page of the same book, “It is said, in a tradition from his Majesty, that there are three cases in which it is right and good to tell a lie; in the treachery which they make use of in war, in the promises made to a wife, and in making peace among men.” In Haq ul Yaqin, leaf 240, is said, “Takia in the land of Takia* is obli-

* Takia means religious dissimulation, with the view to escape persecution or oppression on account of one’s religion.

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gatory. An oath, sworn for Takia and to escape oppression, is no sin, nor is any atonement required for it.” And at another place of the same book (leaf 261) it is said, “False witness on account of Takia is allowed in case it should not occasion the death of a person; and a false oath to remove oppression from one’s self or from any other of the believers is lawful. In both these cases it is necessary to use as much dissimulation as possible. And Takia is allowed even in speaking blasphemous words, as Aamar did, and the Almighty made known his excuse in the Koran.”*

That evil thoughts are not considered sin is mentioned at large in the following tradition: “It is related that his majesty Muhammad said: when a believer, a Banda, forms the intention of doing a good work, although he may not do it, God still writes down for it one good work in the book of his good works. And if he forms the intention of doing a sin, but does not actually do it, he does not write down anything against him. And when he executes his evil intention, they give him time, seven hours: and the angel of his right side, who is the recorder of his good works, says to the angel of the left side, who is the recorder of his evil

The land of Takia they call the country where a Muhammadan is exposed to religious persecution. But this doctrine is not approved of by the Sunnís, only the Shíás hold it.

* The passage of the Koran referred to in this tradition is found in Sale’s Koran, vol. ii. p. 88. It is on this and some other passages of the Koran that the Shíás have grounded the lawfulness of their Takia.

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deeds, Do not be hasty in writing it down, peradventure he may do a good work which will blot out this sin.”*—(Ain ul Hayát, leaf 80.) And at another place, where the circumstance of Muhammad’s begging God to reduce the number of prayers is related, it is thus written: (God speaking to Muhammad) “For as thou hast assented to perform as many as five prayers, I shall therefore for these five bestow upon thee and thy people the merit of fifty prayers, accepting every one prayer for ten. And whosoever of thy people shall perform one good work, I shall write down for him ten; and if he forms the intention of doing a good work, but does not carry it out, I shall write for him one good work. And whosoever of thy people forms the intention of doing a sin, but does not actually do it, I shall not write it down against him, and if he does it I shall write down one sin.”—(Hayát ul Kúlúb, vol. ii. leaf 177.)

That the belief in Muhammad or Muhammadanism has nothing to do with the state of the heart and does not require internal purity, is clearly implied in the traditions just now mentioned; but it is still more distinctly expressed in many of those Hadiths which speak of the means of forgiveness of sin, as well as in the following

* The Muhammadans believe that every man is accompanied by two angels, carrying with them large books in which they record all his doings. The good intentions produce an agreeable and the evil a bad smell, and by this means the good as well as the bad intentions of a man are known by these recorders.

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tradition: where it is said, “It is related by Kulení, according to a tradition to be relied upon, that there was an oilman, who loved Muhammad very much, and who never went to his daily work except he had seen first the beauty of his majesty. When he for several days had not appeared, Muhammad, with some of his followers, went to inquire about him, but was told that he had died some days ago. His neighbours said then, O prophet, he was a good man among us, but he had one bad habit. He said, What was it? they said he was addicted to fornication. The prophet of God replied: I swear by God, he loved me so much, that if he should have been even a dealer in free men, God would have forgiven him.”*—(Ibid. 370.)

It will have been observed that the Sunní traditions do not go quite so far as those of the Shíás in justifying and recommending lying or false swearing, but, as they also approve of a lie under certain circumstances, they thus justify the principle.

These extracts will sufficiently prove that Muhammadanism is unacquainted with the actual nature of sin; that by it sin is taken only as an external act, and its internal character lost sight of altogether; and this will be still more established by what follows under the next head.

* To kidnap free Musalmáns and sell them as slaves, is regarded by them as one of the greatest sins.

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