The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 279
Salvation 279 man's heaven. As a tree sucks the water of the earth and draws it into itself and thereby expels its poisonous vapours, so is the condition of a person's heart. It sucks in the water of God's love and is thereby enabled to easily expel its poisonous matter and, being based in. God, is purely nurtured and spreads and exhibits pleasant greenness and brings forth good fruits. But he who is not firmly related to God, cannot suck in nourishing water and therefore dries up progressively and in the end loses its leaves and only dry and ugly branches are left. [Siraj-ud-Din 'Īsā'i ke Chār Sawālon kā Jawāb, Rūḥānī Khazā'in, vol. 12, pp. 328-329]. Repentance, Istighfār, and Intercession as Means of Salvation. It is the eternal natural law of God that He forgives sin through repentance and Istighfar and accepts the prayers of the virtuous by way of intercession. But we have never observed that X should strike his head with a stone and this should cure the headache of Y. Then we do not know by what law the suicide of Jesus can remove the inner disease of others. Nor are we aware of any philosophy on the basis of which the blood of Jesus can wash out the inner impurity of anyone else. Indeed observation contradicts this. Till Jesus had made up his mind to commit suicide, the Christians possessed the quality of virtue and the worship of God, but after the event of the crucifixion it appeared as if a dam had burst and the banked up water had spread in every direction. That has happened to the passions of the Christians. There is no doubt that if Jesus laid down his life deliberately, he acted very improperly. Instead if he had devoted his life to admonition and preaching, it would have done much good to people. What good did his improper act do? If