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Abdul Ali died when his plane crashed returning home from his pilgrimage to Mecca. Expecting to wake up with Allah in paradise, he found himself standing before the judge he had rejected ... Jesus!
There are only two methods of salvation in all the religions of the world: grace and works. Christianity is a religion of salvation by grace alone: "For by grace through faith you have been saved, not of works" (Eph. 2:8-9). All other systems rely totally or in part on the works of the believer to merit salvation.
In Islam, forgiveness is based on a combination of Allah's grace and the Muslim's works. On the Day of Judgment, if a Muslim's good works outweigh his bad ones and if Allah so wills it, he may be forgiven of all his sins and then enter into paradise. Therefore, Islam is a religion of salvation by works because it combines man's works with Allah's grace (the god of Muhammad and the Quran)
The Quran teaches forgiveness based upon Allah's grace and man's works.
Can any Muslim be assured of his salvation before his God? No.
Numerous Muslims say they do not know if they will make it to heaven because they do not know if their good deeds outweigh their bad ones. Unlike Christianity where we have assurance of salvation (John 6:47; 1 John 5:13), there is no assurance in Islam because it rests in part on the obedience and good works of Muslims. Unlike Christianity where salvation is an unearned, free gift from God (Rom. 4:3; Eph. 2:8-9), the Muslim can at best only hope he has performed enough good works to outweigh his bad ones, and that Allah so wills to forgive him.
In Christianity, we appeal to the work of Christ on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) completely and totally and in nothing in ourselves as a basis for forgiveness because no good thing dwells within us (Rom. 7:18), that is, apart from Christ. We sincerely believe in Christ, but we never claim that forgiveness is in any way merited or gained because of our sincerity or our works. Rather, our forgiveness is based on faith and trust in God in what He has done for us in Christ. Salvation in Christianity is God-centered. In Islam, forgiveness of sins is man-centered in that it is dependent upon man's sincerity and man's works in combination with Allah's forgiveness.
In Islam, faith in God is not enough. In Islam, the Muslim's works will be weighed on the Day of Judgment, and it will then be decided who is saved and who is not--based upon whether the person was a Muslim, whether or not they were sincere in repentance, and whether or not they performed enough good works to outweigh the bad ones.
Is the Islamic system of salvation really enough to save Muslims? They will say that it is. But, as a Christian, We cannot see how anyone in Islam can have security and honest expectation of obtaining Paradise. How can anyone who must be completely sincere in repentance and be required to perform more good works than bad ever hope to make it to heaven?
The problem with being saved by God's grace and human works is that human works are never sufficient to please God. God is infinite and holy. How can we finite sinners ever hope to please God by our deeds?
Instead of relying in any way on our own works, the gospel of Jesus teaches us we do not have to do that. The gospel of Jesus is that He died for our sins and rose again from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-4). He fulfilled all the Law, so we don't have to (Rom. 8:3-4). He took our place and received the punishment due our sins (2 Cor. 5:21). Because we are sinners and because we cannot please an infinitely Holy God on our own and because we can never fulfill the Law of God perfectly and because God's eyes are too pure to look upon evil (Hab. 1:13), salvation must be by total grace (Eph. 2:8). Salvation must be the work of God--not of man (Gal. 2:21).
1 John 5:13 says, "These things were written so you may know you have eternal life . . . " Can the Muslim say he knows he has eternal life? He cannot.
Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh - Jesus says “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am", (John 13:13). "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father [God]” (John 14:9). “I and the Father [God] are one” (John 10:30).
Jesus is far more than God’s mere messenger. Jesus Christ is God’s one and only Son (John 3:16-18). Further, He is the Second Person of the Trinity, God incarnate—God Himself (John 1:1,14; 5:18). Jesus claimed to be both “the Lord” and “God”’
No one can deny that Muslims reject the biblical Jesus. Yet it was Jesus Himself who warned all men, “If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:24).
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