Remarks on the Nature of Muhammadanism [On the Means of Forgiveness of Sin]

4.—ON THE MEANS OF FORGIVENESS OF SIN

As are their notions of the nature of sin, so also are the means by which the Muhammadans expect to obtain forgiveness. These are as superficial and external as the other, and altogether irreconcilable with divine holiness and justice, and incapable of exercising a purifying and sanctifying influence on the heart of man. They show clearly that Muhammadanism knows nothing of a holy God, and nothing of holiness of heart.

One means to secure forgiveness is, God’s mercy, faith in God and Muhammad, and repentance.* But feeling that this is not enough to satisfy the conscience, and that they must have something else to ground their hope of forgiveness upon, they have introduced Muhammad’s inter-

* The word faith is with the Muhammadans only a dead letter, and not that living principle, which separates from sin and unites to God, as the Christian faith does. By faith they understand nothing more than the mere assent to their creed, and the external profession and repetition of it. Such a faith can therefore never satisfy the guilty conscience, for this wants a faith in an all-sufficient atonement and in a divine mediation, in order to find rest and peace. And repentance in like manner is but a dead word, and consists, as they define it, in the acknowledgment of one’s sin, connected with the desire not to do it again, and in restitution where it is practicable. Of the contrition of heart which flows from faith and leads to faith, and in which the soul perceives the hateful nature of sin and learns to hate it, of this the only true repentance the Muhammadans know nothing. And how can they? as they do not believe in a sanctifying Holy Ghost, and in a divine Mediator, who is the life and the truth.

cession and good works, of which the repetition of certain short formulas of prayer, and the reading of parts of the Koran form the most prominent part.

It is to be remarked that nothing is mentioned in the Koran of Muhammad’s intercession; only his prayer for the believers and the efficacy of it are mentioned. He, having rejected the Christian doctrine of mediation, as unnecessary and even as unworthy of an all-merciful and all-powerful God, never thought of claiming the honour of being a mediator between God and man. But his followers soon felt this want, and trying to make up for it, bestowed on him this honour very liberally in their traditions; and the Shíás have added the Imáms too, at least the three first, that is Ali and his two sons, together with Fátimá. They even view the sufferings which Hassan and Hussain, the two sons of Ali, had to endure from the other party, the Sunnís, as highly meritorious for them. There are many traditions which speak of the great efficacy of Muhammad’s intercession, and some even go so far as to make it the principal ground of forgiveness for sin and salvation. It is thus related in a tradition from Anas: “Musalmáns will be prevented from moving, on the day of resurrection, so that they will be sad and say, Would to God we had asked grace from our cherisher, and produced one to intercede for us. Then these men will come to Adam and say: You are, Adam, the father of all men, ask grace for us

from your cherisher. And Adam will say, I am not in that degree of eminence, which you suppose me.” They then make the same application to Noah, Abraham and Moses, and also to Jesus; but all decline it, saying, that they do not possess that high degree as to be able to intercede for them. Jesus will then direct them to Muhammad: “Then the Musalmáns will come to me,” said Muhammad, “and I will ask permission to go into God’s court, which will be given, and I will see Almighty God, I will prostrate myself before him, and He will keep me, so long as He will, and then He will say: Raise up your head, O Muhammad; and say, what you wish to say, it will be heard, and approved; and ask grace for whomsoever you like, it will be approved. Then I will raise up my head, and praise and glorify my cherisher. After that I will intercede for them; and God will say, Intercede for a particular class. Then I will come out from his presence, and bring that particular class out of hell-fire, and will bring them into paradise. After that I will go to God’s court, to ask grace for another particular class; and will bring them out of hell, and introduce them into paradise. After that I will go again into paradise, and in this way will I do for all Musalmáns, so that none but the infidels will remain in hell.” Mishcát, vol. ii. p. 604 and 99. It is related according to an authentic tradition that Muhammad said: “The Almighty wrote above His throne my greatness and glory in ten names, and through

every prophet He made known the good tidings of my coming to that people to whom the prophet was sent; and in the Old and New Testament my name is mentioned many times. In the Koran he called me Muhammad (the illustrious, the glorious), for at the day of judgment every people and sect shall pay homage to me, because no one except myself, or by my permission shall make intercession at the last day.” (Hayát ul Kúlúb, vol. ii. leaf 60.) In another tradition it is mentioned that Muhammad said to Ali, “I can give you the glad tidings of which Gabriel informed me, that whosoever of my people sends his good wishes and prayers to me, and after me to my family (that is, to the Imáms) the door of heaven will be opened for him, and the angels will send him 70 good wishes (congratulations), and if he has committed any sins, his sins will fall off as the leaves fall from a tree.” (Ain ul Hayát, leaf 184.) In another place it is mentioned, that Muhammad said, “There are four classes of people for whom I shall make intercession at the day of judgment, although their sins should be as many as the sins of all the people in the world, and they are those who assist the people of my house, viz. the Imáms, who afford them relief when needed, who love them with heart and mouth, and who remove danger and damage from them. (Ibid. leaf 45.) And in the same place it is, according to another tradition, thus said: “Whoever loves us the people of the house, his

sins shall fall off, like as when a strong wind shakes the leaves from the trees.” The excellency and mediatorial merits of Fátimá, or of her great veil, are described in the following tradition: His Majesty said: “Fátimá is the best of all women, and when the Almighty shall awake all the creatures, the first and the last, then the outcrier of heaven shall call out from the arsh: O all ye creatures, shut your eyes till Fátimá, the daughter of Muhammad and the lady of the women of the worlds, has passed the Serat or the bridge.* Then all creatures will shut their eyes, except Muhammad and Ali and her children the Imáms; she passes then the bridge, having spread the skirts of her veil over it in such a way that one end of it is in paradise in the hand of Fátimá and the other end on the plain of resurrection, (that is, on the plain where all people shall be collected after having been raised from the dead, awaiting their judgment.) Then our God’s outcrier calls out: O friends of Fátimá, adhere to the threads of Fátimá’s veil, who is the best of all women! Whosoever then is a friend of this glorious lady takes hold of one of the threads; and there shall adhere to it more than ten Faams, every Faam amounting to one

* The Serat is the bridge, which according to Muhammadan doctrine is suspended above hell. It is as thin as a hair, and as sharp as a razor. Over this bridge every one has to pass: the unbeliever, not being able to pass it, will tumble down into hell beneath; but the believer will cross it like lightning, and then enter Paradise.

million; and all these shall be saved from the fire of hell by the blessing of the veil of this glorious lady.” (Hayát ul Kúlúb, leaf 105.)—This is clearly an imitation of what the Muhammadans have heard from the oriental Christians of the intercession of Mary the Mother of Christ. The idea of the intercession of the Imáms seems also to have been borrowed from the same source.

The great efficacy of prayers and of the reading of the Koran to take off and blot out all sins is described in the following manner. It is said in one tradition: “Whoever reads often the Surá ‘Sála sáil’, the Almighty will take no account of any of his sins, and will let him dwell in the paradise with God’s prophet.” And again: “One who reads the Sura Sejda every Friday night, the Almighty will give him at the day of the resurrection his book in his right hand, and shall not call him to account though he be a sinner.” (Ain ul Hayát, leaves 208 and 211.) Again: “It is related from Imám Baker, that whosoever performs two Rukát* of prayer and understands what he is saying, when he has finished his prayer not a sin remains more upon him.” (Ibid. leaf 14.) Again it is said: “Any one who is a whole night engaged in prayer, so that he sometimes is occupied in reading the Koran, another time in prayer,

† A Rukát, they call all the different positions and evolutions of the body, as lifting up the hands to the head, kneeling down, touching the ground with their forehead, rising up again, &c., which they have to go through each time they repeat certain prayers; four of these Rukáts they have to perform at every Namáz, or daily prayer.

and another time in adoration and praise of God, so much merit will be bestowed upon him that the smallest of it will be, that he will be as free from all sin, as at the day when he was born; and in the record of his works there will be written as many good works as all the people of God have ever performed, and the Almighty shall say to the angels: O my angels, look at this my servant, who has, to obtain my favour, been through a whole night engaged in worship. He shall dwell in the Firdaus of paradise (that is in the highest paradise), and give you unto him 100,000 towns in that paradise, and in every town all that his senses may require.” (Ibid. leaf 189.) Again in another tradition it is thus related: “That whosoever reads the Sura, ‘Kul huallah ahad’ one time, the Almighty will send him a blessing; and if he reads it twice, he will send a blessing on him and his family; but if he reads it a hundred times, the Lord of the universe will forgive him the sins of twenty-five years. And he who reads it 400 times, the Lord will bestow upon him the merits of 400 martyrs; and he who reads it 1000 times in one day and night, he shall not die till he has seen his place in paradise.” (Ibid. leaf 215.) Again it is said: “It is, according to a tradition to be relied upon, related by Imám Jáfer, that every believer who commits forty great sins during one day and night, and says with penitent feelings ‘Istaghfir alla alazi la illaha illa hu-alhaí-ulka-yúm,’ &c. that is, May that God forgive me,

besides whom is no other, and who is the living and the eternal, &c. in truth the Almighty will forgive him his sins.” (Ibid. leaf 261.) And again, at another place, is said, “It is according to an authentic tradition related by Imám Jáfer, that whosoever after the Namázi asser (that is, after the afternoon prayer) says 100 times ‘Istighfár,’ the Almighty will forgive 700 sins; and if he should not have 700 sins, the amount needed to make up the number will be taken from the sins of his father; and if his father also should not have so many, then they will be taken from the sins of his mother; and in case she should not have so many, then the sins will be taken from his son, and then from the nearest relatives till the number be made up. (Ibid. leaf 165.)

The same efficacy to procure forgiveness of sin is also in the Mishcát given to the reading of parts of the Koran and the repetition of certain forms of prayer. It is said, “That the person who does Wadu* properly, and then comes to the Friday prayers, hears the Khutbah† and sits silent; his faults will be pardoned between that Friday and the next, and three days in addition.” (Mishcát, vol. i. p. 301.) Again, “Verily there are ninety-nine names for God, and whoever counts them

* Wadu is called the washing of face, hands and feet, which is to be performed before every prayer, and without which the prayer is inefficient.

† Khutbah is the repeating of the praise of God and Muhammad after the prayer.

shall enter paradise.”* (Ibid. p. 542.) Again is related, “Whosoever says ‘Subhán Alláh (Praise be to God) and Behamdihi’ (Glory to Him) a hundred times in a day, his faults shall be silenced, though they be as great as the waves of the sea.” And again: “His highness said: repeat ‘Subhán Alláh’ a hundred times, and then a thousand virtues shall be written for you, ten virtuous deeds for each repetition, or a thousand faults shall be put away from you.” (Ibid. pp. 547 and 548.) And, “Whoever shall say when wishing to go to sleep, ‘I ask forgiveness of that God except whom there is no other,’ thrice, God pardons his faults, although they may be numerous as the waves of the sea, or equal to the sands of the desert, or in number equal to the leaves of the trees, or as many as the days of the world.” (Ibid. p. 574.) And again: “When a servant says, ‘Lá iláho ill’állahi, lá haula wa lá quwatu illa-billahi;’ that is, There is no God but Me, and there is no power and strength except in Me; the person who repeats these words in sickness, and dies in it, the fire of hell will not eat him.” (Ibid. p. 550.)†

Besides these means, mention is made both in the Koran and tradition, of alms, fasting, and pil-

* For the purpose of repeating and counting these names of God, the more wealthy of the Muhammadans carry commonly a rosary with them.

† Also Beizawi, in his Commentary on the Koran, introduces at the end of almost every Súra, a tradition stating the merits attained by the reading of the Súra.

grimage as highly meritorious, and as effective to procure forgiveness of sin as the means spoken of in the traditions mentioned above. But as they are of the same nature as those we have given here, and as it would lead us too far, we shall not give any extracts from them.

It must at first sight, be a matter of no small surprise to every one, how the Muhammadans, after having received or borrowed from the Scriptures some knowledge of the only true God, could treat thus lightly and frivolously the nature of sin and the means of forgiveness. But here is the fact, and it is clear that by doing so they disavow in reality the holiness as well as the justice of God, and deny practically the only true, holy and living God, however much they may make mention of His name and attributes. But as they have rejected Christ, the centre of Scripture and the life of the world, their borrowed knowledge cannot be otherwise than a dead letter, not being able to give them any spiritual light or life, and cannot therefore preserve them from believing in a lie and trusting in vanity.

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