(extracted from Fast Facts on Islam, Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2001)
Because the Qur’an teaches that “the true religion with God is Islam,”[1] salvation is achieved only through submission to the teachings of Allah. Salvation in Islam requires that one must be a member of the Islamic faith. “Whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be among the losers.”[2] Thus, “those who disbelieve, and die disbelieving—upon them shall rest the curse of God and the angels, and of men altogether, there indwelling forever; the chastisement shall not be lightened for them; no respite shall be given them.”[3]
Below are three basic points that illustrate what the religion of Islam teaches about salvation.
Islam teaches that forgiveness is conditioned upon good works and Allah’s choice of mercy.
Muslims believe that by striving to please God and by doing good works, they will hopefully gain entrance to heaven through personal merit. The Qur’an clearly teaches that salvation is achieved on the basis of meritorious good works and personal righteousness. Consider the following:
“…every soul shall be paid in full what it has earned….”[4]
“…God loves those who cleanse themselves.”[5]
“Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow, there indwelling forever; that is the recompense of the self-purified.”[6]
Islam teaches that on the Day of Judgment one’s good and evil deeds will be weighed on a scale. Good works are heavy and evil deeds are light. The Qur’an asserts:
“[In the Day of Judgment] they whose balances shall be heavy with good works, shall be happy; but they whose balances shall be light, are those who shall lose their souls, and shall remain in hell forever.”[7]
The Muslim assumes that his chances for heaven are good if he 1) accepts only the Muslim God Allah and his prophet Muhammad, 2) does good works and all that is required of him by Allah (for example, the Pillars of Religion), and 3) if he also is predestined to heaven by Allah’s favor. No Muslim can have an assurance of salvation, because he has no ultimate guarantee of either the weight of his good works or the final favor of Allah.
The Bible emphasizes that salvation does not come by good works or anything else we can do to please God on our own efforts: “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28). “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The Bible’s View of Forgiveness
The Muslim concept of forgiveness stands in contrast to that of biblical Christianity, where forgiveness involves a free gift of God’s grace and mercy as a past action, based on the death of Christ on the cross for sin. This means that, once a person receives Christ as his or her Savior, all sins are forgiven (Colossians 2:14) and that person is guaranteed a place in heaven:
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned” (John 5:24).
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
The Bible teaches of Jesus, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24), and “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2). Indeed, “God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement” and “[God] did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Thus, “He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 2:13).
In Islam, there is no atonement for sin—no propitiatory basis for forgiveness of sins. Allah simply forgives whom he chooses to forgive. The following statements in the Qur’an, as well as many others, indicate the conditional nature of Islamic forgiveness:
“God will not forgive those who serve other gods besides him; but he will forgive whom he will for other sins. He that serves other gods besides God is guilty of a heinous sin.”[8]
“Some shall be damned and others shall be blessed…. The damned shall be cast into the Fire unless your Lord ordain otherwise: your Lord shall accomplish what He will. As for the blessed, they shall abide in Paradise as long as the heavens and the earth endure, unless your Lord ordain otherwise.”[9]
To the contrary, the Bible teaches that we can have the assurance of having received eternal life. The apostle John emphasized, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
Muslim salvation is fatalistic, especially in regard to the indeterminacy of Allah’s predestination.
The Qur’an teaches, “All things have we created after a fixed decree….” Further, “God leads astray whomsoever He will; and He guides whomsoever He will….”[10] Abdiyah Akbar Abdul-Haqq observes:
“There are several [Muslim] traditions also about the predestination of all things, including all good and bad actions and guided and misguided people…. Even if a person desires to choose God’s guidance, he cannot do so without the prior choice of God in favor of his free choice. This is sheer determinism.”[11]
Dr. J. Christy Wilson comments,
“The fifth article of [Muslim] faith is predestination,…the fact that everything that happens, either good or bad, is foreordained by the unchangeable decrees of Allah. It will be seen at once that this makes Allah the author of evil, a doctrine that most Muslim theologians hold.”[12]
The Qur’an teaches, for example, “And if a good thing visits them, they say, ‘This is from God’; but if an evil thing visits them, they say, ‘This is from thee.’ Say: ‘Everything is from God.’”[13] And,
“The man whom Allah guides is rightly guided, but he who is led astray by Allah shall surely be lost. As for those that deny Our revelations, We have predestined for hell many jinn [evil spirits] and many men…. We will lead them step by step to ruin…. None can guide the people whom Allah leads astray. He leaves them blundering about in their wickedness…. Say: ‘I have not the power to acquire benefits or to avert evil from myself, except by the will of Allah.’”[14]
At first glance there does appear to be one way a Muslim can guarantee his salvation. This is found in connection with the Muslim concept of jihad, or holy war. Achieving security of salvation requires death in battle while defending Islam: “If you are slain or die in God’s way… it is unto God you shall be mustered….”[15]
“When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefields strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly…. Thus shall you do…. As for those who are slain in the cause of Allah… he will admit them to the Paradise he has made known to them.”[16]
“Allah has given those that fight with their goods and their persons a higher rank than those who stay at home…. The unbelievers are your sworn enemies…. Seek out your enemies relentlessly…. You shall not plead for traitors…. Allah does not love the treacherous or the sinful.”[17]
It appears at first that the Muslim is promised heaven for death in battle. But we discover that this security of salvation appears to be conditioned on accompanying bravery. Thus:
“O believers, when you encounter the unbelievers marching to battle, turn not your backs to them. Whoso turns his back that day to them, unless withdrawing to fight again or removing to join another host, he is laden with the burden of God’s anger, and his refuge is Gehenna—an evil homecoming!”[18]
Even in the guarantee of heaven through death in a holy war, the Muslim promise of salvation is provisional. And none can deny that unnumbered Muslims, trusting in Islam to save them and take them to Paradise, have instead been sent to their deaths in the jihads of history and today. They have been sent to eternity without Christ.