Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 67
67 acting according to his nature or incur punishment by acting against it. Where is the need then for a vicarious atonement under the circumstances?. On recapitulation, the true position turns out to be that by enforcing the Shariat law through Moses (peace be on him),. Allah put men to hardship. But vicarious atonement was not the remedy of the situation. The true remedy lay in scrapping the law. This may be a very foolish step but so far as the remedy was concerned, this alone was appropriate. For, according to Romans we are led to believe that there was no law before Moses (peace be on him) and the people could not be judged as sinners in terms of law, and since they were not sinners in the aforesaid sense, the law could not punish them. Further, according to the same source, there were people who did not sin, that is they were not guilty of offending nature. . All the above-quoted references show that the whole trouble arose not on account of the sin of Adam (peace be on him) but on account of the Divine mistake (Allah save us from such beliefs) of sending a law through Moses (peace be on him): when people could not act according to its commands and the question of their punishment came up, Allah sent the Messiah and abolished the law for good through him. . There was hardly any need for sending out Messiah for the purpose. The God Who gave the law to Moses (peace be on him), could very well declare through Joshua (peace be on him) its abrogation on the ground of its impracticability. . SIN AND DIVINE JUSTICE. Another question arises here. If sin is committed but is not accountable, where is the justice of God? Justice is the