Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 63
63 1. S t. S. V met with the answer: "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans, Ch. 5:13). . Evidently, according to them, law and sin are two separate things. Quite so. We are in complete agreement with them in this view. The law forbids a particular thing in so many words, as otherwise, men will have incurred the displeasure of. Allah the Supreme. And it is a sinful act on the part of a person to do what men have been clearly forbidden. Sin is thus not accountable before the enforcement of law. So far the position is tenable. But whether the law is there or not, a bad act is bad, in any case. For instance, when the. Holy Quran was revealed, it forbade injustice, rating it as an enormous sin. We, therefore, accepted the position that injustice was not a desirable thing. But if this command had not been given by the Holy Quran, still an unjust person would be guilty of a wrong. The same applies to other wrongs. . Even if the law had not been revealed, wrongs would be wrongs, with the only possible difference that some would denounce a wrong act as wrong and others would not. A section might describe a particular act as virtuous while others might not share their view. The sense of wrong and the sense of right are not related to law but inhere in human nature. . Paul expressed the same view when he said that there was sin in the world but it was not accountable, because the law was not in force and thus the idea of sin did not exist. We hold the same view. Where the law is not in force, a wrong would be a wrong, but it would not be an accountable sin in terms of Shariat (Law). . For example, the law of Shariatdoes not exist in a certain place and people naturally do not offer the currently prescribed