Common Questions

I am sorry.  This is not Good News.  In fact it is very bad news because it means you (and me too because I have the same problem) do not have righteousness.  Righteousness is so important because this is the foundation of what will make The Kingdom of God a Paradise.  It will be the rightness of our dealings with each other (no lying, stealing, murder, idolatry etc) and proper worship of Allah that will bring Paradise.  This is why Righteousness is needed for entry into The Holy Kingdom as Dawood shows in the Zabur.  Only the sort of people described like this will enter into the Holy Kingdom and that is why it will be Paradise.

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?

The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Understanding Sin

But since you (and I) are not always like this, because we do not always keep the Commandments we sin.  So what is sin?  A verse from the book just after the Taurat in the Old Testament gives a picture that has helped me understand this better.  The verse says

Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. (Judges 20:16)

This verse describes soldiers who were experts at using slingshots and would never miss.  As I explained in ‘In what languages were the Books of the Bible written’, the Taurat and Old Testament were written by the prophets in Hebrew.  The word in Hebrew translated ‘miss‘ above is יַחֲטִֽא׃  (pronounced Khaw-taw).  This same Hebrew word is also translated to sin across most of the Taurat.  For example, this same Hebrew word is ‘sin’ when Joseph, sold as a slave to Egypt, would not commit adultery with his master’s wife, even though she begged him (also recounted in Qur’an in Surat 12:22-29 – Joseph).  He said to her:

No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?  (Genesis 39:9)

And just after the giving of the Ten Commandments the Taurat says:

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” (Exodus 20:20)

In both these places it is the same Hebrew word יַחֲטִֽא׃ that is translated ‘sin’. It is exactly the same word for ‘miss’ with soldiers that sling stones at targets as in these verses which means ‘sin’ when dealing with people’s treatments of each other.  Allah has given us a wonderful picture to help us understand what ‘sin’ is.  The soldier takes a stone and slings it to hit the target.  If it misses it has failed his purpose.  In the same way, Allah has made us to hit the target about how we worship Him and how we treat others.  To ‘sin’ is to miss this purpose, or target, that Allah intends for us.  That is the situation we find ourselves in when we do not keep all the commandments – we have missed Allah’s intention for us.

Death – The consequence of sin in Taurat

So what was the result of this?  We saw the first hint of this in the Sign of Adam.  When Adam disobeyed (only once!) Allah made him mortal.  In other words he would now die.  This continued with the Sign of Noah.  Allah judged the people with death in the flood.  And it continued with the Sign of Lut where the judgment again was death.  The son of Ibrahim was supposed to die in sacrifice.  The tenth plague of Passover was death of the firstborn. This trend now is further established when Allah spoke to Musa (PBUH).  We see that just before Allah Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on Tablets, He commanded the following:

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. (Exodus 19:10-12)

This pattern continues throughout the Taurat.  Later, the Israelites had not obeyed Allah fully (They sinned) but had approached His sanctuary.  Notice here their worry when they found out the consequences.

The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?” (Numbers 17:12-13)

Harun (also called Aaron – PBUH), the brother of Musa (PBUH), himself had sons who died because they approached The Most Holy Place of Allah with sin.

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. (Leviticus 16:1-2)

So Harun (PBUH) was instructed in the proper way for himself to approach this place.  And Allah instructed him as a priest with:

I (i.e. Allah) am giving you (i.e. Aaron) the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death. (Numbers 18:7)

Later some daughters who had no brothers approached Musa (PBUH) for land inheritance.  Why had their father died?

“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons.” (Numbers 27:3)

So there was a universal pattern established, summarized at the end of the Taurat with

…each will die for their own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16b)

Allah was teaching the Israelites (and us) that the result of sin is death.

The Mercy of Allah

But what about the Mercy of Allah.  Was that in evidence anywhere then?  And can we learn from it? Yes! And Yes! It is important for us who have sin and lack righteousness to pay attention to this Mercy.  It was already in a number of the earlier Signs.  Now it will be more clearly seen in the Sign of Harun – One Cow and Two Goats.

Congratulations!  You can be much more confident and secure on the Day of Judgment because if you keep all the Law all the time you have Righteousness.  Personally I do not know anyone who has been able to keep the Law in this way so this is indeed a great achievement.  But do not stop your efforts yet because you must continue in this Straight Way for your entire life.

I had stated that these Ten Commandments of the Law were never cancelled since they deal with the basic issues of worshiping One God, adultery, stealing, truthfulness etc.  But the later prophets did comment on these commands to explain their application more fully.  Below is what Isa al Masih (PBUH) said in the Injil about how we keep these Ten Commands.  In his teaching he refers to the ‘Pharisees’.  These were the religious teachers in his day.  They could be considered like very religious and knowledgeable scholars of today.

The words of Isa al-Masih (PBUH) on the Ten Commandments

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Murder

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Adultery

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:20-30)

In addition, the apostles of Isa al-Masih – his companions – also taught about idolatry.  They taught that idolatry is not only worshiping idols of stone – but worshiping anything along with Allah.  And this includes money.  Therefore you will notice that they teach that ‘greed’ is also idolatry because a greedy person worships money along with God.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  (Colossians 3:5-6)

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater —has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 5:4-6)

These explanations of Isa al Masih and his companions take the original Ten Commandments, which largely deal with outside actions, to internal motivations, which only Allah can see.  This makes the Law even more difficult.

You can reconsider your answer as to whether you are keeping the Law.  But if you are sure that you are keeping all the Law the Injil will have no meaning or purpose for you.  And there is no need to continue following further Signs or trying to understand the Injil. This is because the Injil is only for those who are failing to keep the Law – not for those who are keeping it.  Isa al Masih explained this in the following way.

While Jesus (Isa) was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”On hearing this, Jesus (Isa) said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13)