Author: Harris Abdullah
In the second part of this topic, we saw that Isa Al-Masih strongly condemned the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites who outwardly appeared righteous but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. We understood that prophet Isa was addressing to their true nature; that they shared the same nature or characteristics and values with the devil – full of hypocrisy and sin-bound heart. Their destiny is hell! How pathetic it is for these people who had spent their whole life observing all the religious requirements and at the day of reckoning, they are told that they have problems with their hearts. We want to stress that we are not saying that all religious people have the same problem as the scribes and Pharisees. Our intention is to highlight the issue with people who only concern with external observance of law but inwardly the hearts are still not changed and filled with sinful intentions. Somehow, there is a disconnection between the outward conduct (that appeared righteous) and the inward condition (full of lawlessness). Is it conveying to us the message that the act of purification of the inner being (heart) from sin requires some kind of drastic, absolute action that only Allah Himself can do for us? Somehow, there is no escape such that we cannot use the external deeds of prayer, fasting and good deeds to cover up the sin of the heart.
Even the Quran mentions about the matter of hypocrisy in the following verses:
Surah 4: 140, 142, 143, 145 140 Already has He sent you Word in the Book, that when ye hear the signs of Allah held in defiance and ridicule, ye are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme: if ye did, ye would be like them. For Allah will collect the hypocrites and those who defy faith – all in Hell:- 142 The Hypocrites – they think they are over-reaching Allah, but He will over-reach them: When they stand up to prayer, they stand without earnestness, to be seen of men, but little do they hold Allah in remembrance; 143 (They are) distracted in mind even in the midst of it,- being (sincerely) for neither one group nor for another whom Allah leaves straying,- never wilt thou find for him the way. 145 The Hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire: no helper wilt thou find for them;-
The Quran echoes with the Injil in regard to the hypocrites; they will end in hell. The hypocrites think they are over-reaching Allah. The word ‘over-reaching’ (يُخَادِعُونَ) here means ‘seek/endeavour to deceive’. The hypocrites seek to deceive Allah but it is Allah who deceives them. They think they could put on a righteous front of being religious such as standing up to pray to be seen by men but Allah knows their hearts. There is no resoluteness of faith in them because their minds are distracted (wavered). Thus the hypocrites can only seek to deceive by putting on a false front to cover up their evil.
Surah 9: 67, 68 67 The Hypocrites, men and women, (have an understanding) with each other: They enjoin evil, and forbid what is just, and are close with their hands. They have forgotten Allah; so He hath forgotten them. Verily the Hypocrites are rebellious and perverse. 68 Allah hath promised the Hypocrites men and women, and the rejecters, of Faith, the fire of Hell: Therein shall they dwell: Sufficient is it for them: for them is the curse of Allah, and an enduring punishment,-
The hypocrites have forgotten Allah, just as written in Surah 4: 142, they only remember Allah a little. This means Allah is not the centre of their devotion. In view of the strong warning of the Injil and the Quran in regard to hypocrisy, the matter should not be taken lightly. Those who claim to have surrendered to Allah ought to constantly ask themselves whether they have surrendered their hearts to Allah lest they may end up as hypocrite unwittingly. Purity of heart is not easily achievable because it means every intent, motive of the heart is inclined toward purity, free from evil. The folly of men is to think they are able to hide the evil intentions of their hearts, forgetting that Allah is All-Knowing.
Let’s get back to the issue of sin. Have you ever considered the question: Why do people sin in the first place? Where is the platform for sin to work in order to sway man from Allah?
Surah 7: 26,27 O ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness,- that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition! O ye children of Adam! Let not satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the garden stripping them of their raiment to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where ye cannot see them: We made the evil ones friends (only) to those without faith.
When Adam and Eve sinned, it was as if their flesh had been awakened (Surah 7: 26, 20: 121). Before they sinned, they had been covered by the raiment of righteousness of God; now the raiment of God was removed and exposed their flesh. After which, the flesh is aware of shame and susceptible to the temptation of sin. The consequence of this, we could say is that man is now subject to flesh. Why did Allah/Yahweh allow this? What are the intentions?
Surah 4: 27,28 Allah doth wish to turn to you but the wish of those who follow their lusts is that ye should turn away (from Him) far far away. Allah doth wish to lighten your (difficulties): for man was created weak (in flesh). [And Allah would turn to you in mercy; but those who follow vain desires would have you go tremendously astray. Allah would make the burden light for you, for man was created weak.—-Translation by Muhammad Pickthall].
Man was created weak in the flesh. The lust of man works its way through the flesh to cause man to succumb to temptation and thus sin. In other words, flesh is the platform for sin to work in order to sway man from Allah. Previously we saw that only a few will survive the attack of Iblis, which means whether you profess to believe or not, if you give in to your lusts (vain desires), you will go astray. Needless to say, those without faith will be the first to fall because Allah made the evil ones friends to those without faith (Surah 7: 27). So, what is the hope for the believers to be saved in the last day since the flesh is created weak and can easily succumb to temptation of sin?
When sin continues to multiply to an extreme level, Allah decided to wipe out mankind at the time of Noah. Allah did not wipe out mankind in an instance but He sent Noah to warn the people to repent before He sent the Great Flood. That’s the mercy of Allah/Yahweh.
Surah 7: 59 We sent Noah to his people. He said: “O my people! worship Allah! ye have no other god but Him. I fear for you the punishment of a dreadful day! (also Surah 23: 23)
Surah 29: 14 14 We (once) sent Noah to his people, and he tarried among them a thousand years less fifty: but the Deluge overwhelmed them while they (persisted in) sin. 15 But We saved him and the companions of the Ark, and We made the (Ark) a Sign for all peoples!
The elaborate details of Noah and the flood was found in the Torah in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 6:5-8 . 5 ¶ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Genesis 7:4-6 4 “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” 5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him. 6 ¶ Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.
Genesis 7:23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
Genesis 9:28, 29 28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Allah was grieved by the wickedness level of mankind at Noah’s time and decided to wipe out wickedness from the face of the earth by sending the Great Flood. Noah was saved together with his family because he was a righteous man. We did not know how many people died in the flood but considering only 8 persons in the ark were saved (Noah and his family – Genesis 7: 13) we cannot help but think about what Iblis said to Allah “…. If Thou wilt but respite me to the Day of Judgment, I will surely bring his descendants under my sway – all but a few!” (Surah 17: 62).Indeed, the mankind had filled up the measure of their sins as a result of Iblis successfully swaying them thus called forth the wrath of Allah upon them. However, Allah is merciful and desires mankind to fill the earth again as in Genesis 9:1 ¶ And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Of course, if we want to take this to merely mean as literal physical multiplication of mankind, then it would be a contradiction to the act of Allah of destroying mankind in the great flood in the first place. The fruitfulness and multiplication here would rather mean in terms of a new generation of mankind with a quality of righteousness who have faith in/truly submit to Allah.The raiment of righteousness was removed from Adam and Eve because they failed to believe, they have no faith; when they have no faith they disobeyed Allah. This does not just apply to both Adam and Eve only but also to those who have no faith in Allah.
In the Quran, the word righteous/righteousness in most instances appear together with the word believe/faith such as in Surah 2: 62, 2:82, 2:177, 2:277, 3:57, 4:122, 4:124, 4:173, 5:9, 5:69, 5:93; 7:42, 10:4, 10:9; 11:23, 12:57, 13:29, 14:23, 16:97, 17:9,18:30, 18:88; 19:60, 19:96, 20:112, 21:94, 22:50, 26:227, 27:53, 28:67, 28:80, 29:58, 30:45, 32:12, 34:4, 34:37, 38:24, 38:28, 40:58, 41:8, 41:18, 42:26, 45:21, 45:30, 47:2, 47:12, 48:29, 49:7, 52:17-21, 58:9, 64:9, 65:11, 66:4, 84:25, 85:11, 95:6, 98:7, 103:3. The kind of belief in the holy scriptures (Torah, Injil and Quran) is always with true faith that pursues Allah’s righteousness (not self-righteousness). This harmonizes with the words of the Torah in Habakkuk 2:4 4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. The same is repeated in the Injil in Romans 1:17 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” We can also read this in Galatians 3: 11, Hebrews 10: 38 and Hebrews 11: 4.
Allah’s definition of righteousness can be found in Surah 2: 177
Surah 2: 177 It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.
Indeed Allah desires mankind to overcome sin or evil. In Surah 5: 93 the Quran emphasizes 3 times in the same verse that the believers have to guard themselves from evil.
Surah 5:93 On those who believe and do deeds of righteousness there is no blame for what they ate (in the past), when they guard themselves from evil, and believe, and do deeds of righteousness,- (or) again, guard themselves from evil and believe,- (or) again, guard themselves from evil and do good. For Allah loveth those who do good.
The Arabic text اتَّقَواْ for ‘guard themselves from evil’ has the meaning of ‘fear’. Only those who fear Allah, believe in Him and do the deeds of righteousness as described in Surah 2: 177 can guard themselves from evil. However, we knew from all the holy scriptures that mankind continue to sin after the days of Noah and only a few stood out among the crowd who were considered righteous such as Abraham and the prophets who called people to repent especially to the nation of Israel. Since Allah has promised that He will not send another great flood to wipe out mankind, He has to provide avenues for man to atone for sins bearing in mind He is the most holy God. In the Torah we could read the detailed and complicated law pertaining to sacrifice in particular offering for the atonement of sin. We have to remember that it is Allah Himself who instituted the sacrificial system among the Israelites. It is a divine institution because it did not originate from man. Even the practice of Korban in our Muslim tradition which is said as originated from the forefather Abraham sacrificing his son, but there are other intentions and meaning of the practice which origin was of the Jewish heritage. Hence, the language and the idea of sacrifice pervade the whole Scriptures. The sacrificial system covers many aspects but for our purpose, we will focus on the offering for atonement of sin which originated from the Torah and thereby the necessity to look into the Torah because the same matter is not elaborated in the Quran. Since the Quran confirms the earlier scriptures namely the Torah and the Injil as mentioned in the Quran itself in Surah 2: 41, 2:91, 2:97, 3:3, 4:47, 5:48, 35:31, 6:92, 2:89, 2:101, 3:81, 46:12, 10:37, 12:111 (14 times), there is no fear in reading these scriptures because Allah Himself will guard His truth as mentioned in Surah 6: 115 which gives us assurance in the following words: The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfilment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all. Even though these laws do not apply to us today due to reasons that we are not able to cover here as it will take some time to explain, it is imperative to understand the heart and mind of Allah in dealing with important matters concerning man in the past and how the matters have developed over time and be cognizant of their relevance to our lives now.
Let us read the following passages taken from the Torah concerning sin offering and guilt offering for the atonement of sin.
Leviticus 4:1-7 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them, 3 if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. 4 ‘He shall bring the bull to the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull and slay the bull before the LORD. 5 ‘Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting, 6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 ‘The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Leviticus 4:13-15,20. ¶ ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting. 15 ‘Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slain before the LORD. 20 ‘He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. Leviticus 4:22-24, 26 ¶ ‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD his God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty, 23 if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a male without defect. 24 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slay it in the place where they slay the burnt offering before the LORD; it is a sin offering.26…… Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven. Leviticus 4: 27-31 27 ¶ ‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, 28 if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has committed. 29 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. 30 ‘The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. 31 …..Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. Leviticus 4:32-35 32 ¶ ‘But if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring it, a female without defect. 33 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they slay the burnt offering. 34 ‘The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. 35 …. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:1 – 19 1 ¶ ‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt. 2 ‘Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. 3 ‘Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty. 4 ‘Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. 5 ‘So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. 6 ‘He shall also bring his guilt offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin. 7 ¶ ‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 8 ‘He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first that which is for the sin offering and shall nip its head at the front of its neck, but he shall not sever it. 9 ‘He shall also sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin offering. 10 ‘The second he shall then prepare as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it will be forgiven him. 11 ¶ ‘But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall not put oil on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering. 12 ‘He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, with the offerings of the LORD by fire: it is a sin offering. 13 ‘So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has committed from one of these, and it will be forgiven him; then the rest shall become the priest’s, like the grain offering.'” 14 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 15 “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’S holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 16 “He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him. 17 ¶ “Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. 18 “He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. 19 “It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.” NAU Leviticus 6:1-7 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, 3 or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; 4 then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, 5 or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. 6 “Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, 7 and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”
Leviticus 6:24 – 30 24 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 25 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slain the sin offering shall be slain before the LORD; it is most holy. 26 ‘The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting. 27 ‘Anyone who touches its flesh will become consecrated; and when any of its blood splashes on a garment, in a holy place you shall wash what was splashed on. 28 ‘Also the earthenware vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; and if it was boiled in a bronze vessel, then it shall be scoured and rinsed in water. 29 ‘Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. 30 ‘But no sin offering of which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place shall be eaten; it shall be burned with fire.
From the passages above, we can make the following summary:
- The animals for sin offering and guilt offering e.g. the ram/ewe, bull, goat are without defect.
- Offerings require the shedding of blood.
- The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD (Yahweh), and he will be forgiven
- Anyone who touches the flesh of offering will become consecrated.
If the most holy Allah S.W.T/Yahweh considered sin as serious matter in the past and considering the sinful acts which had been done unintentionally still necessitated atonement by offering, what makes us think that He will look lightly at sin now? If Allah changed His stand about sin, then hell (which appears 108 times in the Quran) which is meant as retribution for unbelievers, hypocrites and sinners would not have been unnecessary. How is Allah going to help the believers to have victory over sin? Victory implies battle and victory requires power. The mere profession of belief in Allah or even if one is born in the family of Muslim/Christian/Jew would not guarantee that one has salvation because the Quran never says so as well as in the Torah and in the Injil. Bear in mind that some unbelievers have better moral than Muslims/Christians/Jews and this is undeniable. Where can we find continuous power to battle against sin and flesh?
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Note:
- All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.
- All Injil and Torah verses are sourced from New American Standard Bible with Codes (1995), with thanks.