Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 19
depart from it by his own choice. He Who has created man can alone inform him of the purpose for which he has been created. He has revealed in the Holy Quran: "I have created men, high and low, that they may worship Me. " (51:57). Man has been called upon to worship God not by compulsion but of his own volition. To enable him to do so God has bestowed upon him two basic faculties. One, he has been bestowed the faculty whereby he can suppress his low desires and safeguard himself against sin. Secondly, he has been bestowed the faculty whereby he can arrive at a stage in the love of God Almighty, in which he wholly forgets all that is beside God. For the direction of these two faculties God has provided man with heavenly guidance and law. . The Christians subscribe to the doctrine that God so loved the world that, to bestow salvation upon man, He placed the burden of the sins of the whole of mankind upon His son Jesus, and made him accursed by bringing about his death upon the cross. According to some, Jesus passed three days and three nights in hell, as atonement for the sins of mankind, and was then restored to life, and thus provided the means of salvation for those who might believe in him. In this way the supposed conflict between the. Divine attribute of Justice, which demanded punishment, and the. Divine attribute of Mercy, which demanded forgiveness, was resolved. . Islam considers that this design offends against reason, and is unacceptable from every point of view. Looked at from the point of view of justice, it is clearly unjust that an innocent one should be punished for the sins of the guilty. From the point of view of spiritual philosophy, sin means rebellion against God and His commandments and thus becoming bereft of His love. How can man win through to the obedience and love of God, by depriving. God, the son, of the obedience and love of God, the Father?. Islam teaches that in order to find God, it is necessary for a person to discard all vice, and this can be achieved only through such recognition of God Almighty as fills the heart with the realisation of God's Majesty and Greatness, and instils His fear in the human soul. To win the love of God it is necessary to love Him to a degree that entails losing onself altogether in Him, and gaining a new and pure life from Him. . As the highest excellence of man is the winning of Divine love, which is testified to by the witness of millions of the righteous, it 21