This article could be titled Paying the Penalty for What is Not Your Fault

IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING

Most of my articles on Islam are to alert non-Muslims to the danger the strict application of Islam poses to them. Today I’d like to highlight how unjust the religion is to its adherents. According to the Qur’an, Allah is omnipotent, omnipresent, and controls everything. He alone is active. Everything else is passive, including his followers. He is both good and evil. The Qur’an explicitly says that he leads some in righteousness and leads others astray.

Muslims are also taught that special angels have been assigned to follow them and keep a record of their good and bad deeds. They will be placed on scales on the day of judgment to see which outweighs the other.

Then there’s the Islamic belief that man is essentially good and inherited no sin nature from Adam. According to Islam, we’re all born with a sinless will. Therefore, man only needs guidance, not redemption, and the Qur’an is the final guidance for mankind. People sin by forgetting what Allah told them to do as he guided them through the Qur’an. Mankind’s problem is that we’re forgetful, not sinful. One’s forgetfulness is the sin for which the Muslim must atone.

AS I SEE IT

You can see the problem here. How can Allah judge someone for simply doing what Allah caused him to do? If he controls everything and he alone is active, then he not only leads some of his  followers astray, but he causes some to forget. Yet, the Muslim is the one who must atone for his own sins.

Even the word atone has been twisted under Islam. Normally, it means to bring together that which has been separated. Under Islam, it means you must suffer for your sins, even if they weren’t your fault. There is no “bringing together.”

Muslims believe in “Inshallah” (If god wills). Everything is up to Allah. Your righteous living is no guarantee of salvation. The saying “The road to heaven is as thin as a hair” sums it up. A Muslim’s eternal fate rests on the whims of a capricious god who offers only one certain path to heaven— to die as a martyr (shahid) in a declared fatwa in an act of jihad. This is why Palestinian mothers rejoice as they send their sons out with a suicide vest. They believe this guarantees their precious child a ticket to paradise and special honors when he gets there.

Most of us just shake our heads in disbelief that so many people have devoted themselves to a life of such utter hopelessness. However, it does explain why so many Muslims are willing to die for the “cause.” For their entire lives, death is exalted over life. Praise God that many Muslims are questioning their religion. They want more out of life. They aren’t ready to die, regardless of the promised rewards.

Eventually, they start to connect their hopelessness with the fact that their god is described in their holy book as the greatest of all deceivers (Sura 3:54). Perhaps this is one reason why many Muslims are open to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are ready to hear a message with real hope. They are ready to hear a message of assured salvation that isn’t based on their good deeds. They are ready to hear of a God who truly loves them and desires their love in return.

Keep this in mind the next time you meet a Muslim.

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