Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 136
136 creation as is heaven. Hell can do him no harm nor would paradise give him any comfort. It occurs in the ahadith (sayings of the Holy Prophet) that when God would put his foot in hell, hell would become cold, for, hell is no hell for God. If the Messiah, therefore, was son of man and possessed human soul, then it was not God who entered hell, but it was man who entered it. But if he carried the soul of the Son of God, then as soon as it was delivered of the body, it at once became Godlike, and as it became like God, even if it be taken to hell, it would suffer no torment. After all the. Messiah did not have two souls that it could be said that one was human and the other was divine. He had only one soul and that of the Son of God and as it was delivered of the body, hell was no longer hell for it. Even if it is then taken to hell, it has no torment for it, for, it is above physical feelings, neither paradise has any effect on it nor has hell. . IS IT ALLEGORIC ?. Christians, sometimes in dismay, say that all this narrative is allegoric and we have no reason to treat it as factual. Our contention is that if all this is allegoric, novel theories cannot be deduced from allegories. In this case too the theory of redemption falls flat. For, when you are not making a factual statement but talking in allegory, there is no justification for you to deduce novel concepts from it and to invite people to believe in them. As, for instance, if we say in respect of somebody that he is a lion in the true sense of the word and when somebody wants us to point out his tail and his paws and we answer back that we were talking only allegorically and he was wrong in mistaking him for an actual lion, it will not be fair on our part to go on calling it a lion in the true sense of the word. If, therefore, this is an allegoric description,