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through knowing his judge, but has to find some one able not only
to intercede for him but also to pay his debt or to take the criminal's place, as the case may be,
so also in order to obtain pardon and salvation it is not sufficient to know God's existence and
confess it.
Because God is just and holy, therefore it is impossible that He should accept and approve of a
vile and sinful man. On the contrary, justice demands that He should drive the sinner far from Him
and punish him. And since man does not possess in himself power to deliver himself from even the
punishment of his sins, still less from their defilement, therefore, although a man recognize God's
existence, and that He is just and holy, and although he believes truly in God, yet there will
remain in his heart fear and dread of punishment. Knowledge of God's existence and faith in Him will
bring comfort and the hope of salvation only when the sinner knows also of an intercessor and an
atonement which this intercessor can offer for him and for his pardon and salvation in the presence
of the just and holy God. By means of accepting and believing in this Saviour and in His atonement
the penitent sinner may obtain forgiveness of his sins and deliverance from the eternal ruin which
they entail, and may thus become heir of salvation and eternal happiness.
But in the Qur'an and in the religion of Islam in general there is no mention of an atonement.
This
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alone is enough to raise the question how it is possible for any one to find in Islam the way of
salvation. If we inquire whether Muhammad himself, though he made no atonement, can have done
anything else which may serve as a satisfaction to God for the sins of the Muslims, it is necessary
for us to turn for a reply to the Qur'an, the Traditions, and the writers of Muhammad's biography,
such as the Siratu'r-Rasul of Ibn Hisham, the works of Waqidi, the Katibu'l-Waqidi,
Ibn Athir, At-Tabari, and the much later books now circulated among Muslims, such as the Raudatu's-Safa,
the Raudatu'l-Ahbab, and the Turkish Mir'atu'l-Ka'inat. Whoever reads such books as
these and learns what Muhammad did and what his disposition and character were will perceive that he
did nothing which would render him in any way, in the sight of the just and holy God, the cause of
the remission of his followers' sins. Hence it is hardly consonant with reason to regard Muhammad as
an intercessor and a saviour. And, although, as we have already seen, some of the Traditions
represent Muhammad as interceding for men on the judgement day, and although other Traditions state
that he is the greatest and best of men and the cause of the creation of the world, and that, at the
resurrection, God of His mercy and out of favour towards Muhammad will accept his intercession and
in consequence of it will deliver some people deliverance from
punishment
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