* Elder G. D. Keough spent many years in the Middle East and in this article reveals the Mohammedan's concept of God's attribute of forgiveness.
THROUGHOUT the Moslem world, from Morocco to Manila, and from Ankara to Zanzibar, one hears continually the exclamation, "Allah karim!," meaning "God is generous," but used most often in the sense that He is generous in forgiving man's weaknesses. "Karim" is one of the ninety-nine beautiful descriptions of God in the rich expressive Arabic language, and it is the one heard most frequently on the lips of the ordinary people. Though Moslems have no real sense of sin, they feel a need of mercy, and they have been taught to look upon God as generous in extending mercy and forgiveness to all those who do not worship idols and who do not associate other gods with God. The worship of idols, or the association of others with God, is the most heinous sin in the Moslem calendar.
It might almost be described as "the unpardonable sin," only that it is not entirely unpardonable; for they say if men repent, and acknowledge the unity of God and the apostleship of Mohammed, they have become Moslems and will enter Paradise.
When Adam was expelled from Paradise because of transgression, it is said that "God turned unto him, for he is easy to be reconciled."—The Koran, "The Cow," translated by G. Sale, p. 5. That is, God is forgiving, and He therefore forgave Adam.
This forgiveness is conceived of simply as a remission of the punishment due to transgression. In the Moslem concept there is no recognition of the fact that sin produced in the heart of mankind an alienation from God, a disharmony with the law of love, the law of life, that demanded a re-creation of the race that would restore to it the lost harmony without which eternal life is impossible. There is no acceptance of the truth that sin brought death from which there is no escape except through the complete removal of sin.
Yet Moslems are acquainted with the record of the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, and of the destruction of the whole world by the Flood because of man's wickedness and defiance of God. That is, they are acquainted with the facts that tell eloquently of man's debasement and yet they fail to recognize the relation between the cause and the effect. They do not see that the cause must be removed before the effects can be nullified. It is evident that the law of love, the law of life, had ceased to operate in the earth, and the cause of its failure to be observed must be traced to Adam's sin, by which man's very nature was degraded, and therefore a remission of the penalty of transgression would accomplish nothing. The need was for the removal of sin from men's hearts, or, in other words, a new creation.
"God's forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart."—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 114.
The Moslem conception of forgiveness as remission of the penalty of transgression is based on the understanding, or rather the misunderstanding, that death is inflicted on the sinner by the direct action of God as punishment for sin. This is, indeed, the almost universal conception of death, that it is due to a punitive act of God. In this way the enemy deceives us.
Now God is "the fountain of life" (Ps. 36:9), "the fountain of living waters" (Jer. 2:13), and sin separates the sinner from God, and so cuts him off from the Source of life. Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23), and it is sin that pays the wages, for "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15), and by "one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Rom. 5:12). As Paul said elsewhere, men are "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them" (Eph. 4:18). To be cut off from life is to die. "God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression."—The Great Controversy, p. 36.
This truth is obscured by the loving grace of God in bridging the gulf that sin created between Himself and man, if happily man might use the opportunity thus presented to him and accept God's free gift of righteousness and life. God's goodness in delaying the outworking of the effects of sin deceives the sinner into thinking that sin is not so deadly as it is made out to be. As Solomon said, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccl. 8:11).
The way God's constant protecting power is ignored by its beneficiaries is illustrated in the story of the fiery serpents. "The Israelites, up to this time, had been preserved from these serpents in the wilderness by a continual miracle; for the wilderness through which they traveled was intested with poisonous serpents. Moses told the people, that God had hitherto preserved them, that they had not been harmed by the serpents, which was a token of his care for them."—Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4, p. 41. Yet some people understand the words of God, "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people," as meaning that God created the serpents to punish Israel! The withdrawal of God's protection for a day obscures His more than forty years' protection. His care is taken for granted, and the withdrawal of it is regarded as the act of a vindictive God.
In order to receive eternal life, sin, the cause of death, must be eradicated from the heart, and harmony with the law of life restored. When sin is removed, the "sting of death" (1 Cor. 15:56) disappears, and when righteousness is imparted, harmony with the law of God—the law of love—returns, and life reigns where death before held sway.
It is true that God is generous, forgiving. But it is not true to assert that He can ever overlook sin or can save a man from its consequences without removing the sin itself. God said to Moses that He would "by no means clear the guilty" (Ex. 34:7). Also He said, "I will not justify the wicked" (Ex. 23:7). He is "a swift witness" (Mai. 3:5) against every form of evil, and His witness is that "the heart" of every man "is deceitful .. . and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). This is the testimony of Him who searches the heart and tries the reins.
To forgive the sinner in the sense of remitting the penalty of transgression would be to nullify the law. The law of God, which is the law of love and of life (Rom. 13:10; Lev. 18:5), could not be set aside without bringing disaster upon the whole universe. It would mean the triumph of sin, of Satan, and the end of everything in a cataclysm of horror, for that is the only end to which sin can bring us. To recognize that God's law and God's immutability are the dike that holds back the flood tide of evil that threatens to overwhelm the world is but to acknowledge the basic facts of existence.
That men may live, the sovereignty of God must be upheld, and it will be. The unity of God as expressed in the unchange-ability of His law, His love, is the central truth from which all other truth radiates.
To exercise His sovereign power of forgiveness (Num. 14:17-19) while upholding the justice of His law and government, God planned to remove the guilt of the whole human race (Rom. 3:23) by the sacrifice of Himself. There was no other way in which mercy and justice could meet in harmony. In doing this, He would not only atone for man's transgression of the immutable law, but would make such a display of His love for erring mortals as would appeal to the heart of the most hardened sinner, and win his consent to cooperation with God in the removal of rebellion from his nature, and thus restore harmony and life to humanity.
God is indeed "karim" in destroying sin and its consequences from the universe, in freeing men from its presence and power, and in giving life to those who have incurred the penalty of death; and the extent of His generosity is seen in the limit to which He went to accomplish His purpose. But He cannot remit the penalty while perpetuating the cause, cannot abdicate His own sovereignty and hand over the rulership to Satan. That would not be generosity. It would be defeat and terrible disaster.
"Allah karim" on the lips of those who do not believe in man's alienation from God is a misapplication of a basic truth. It is a dreadful delusion to trust in God to do that which He has assured us He cannot do; that is, to expect Him to justify the ungodly without Christ, to clear the guilty and remit the penalty of sin while allowing the sin to continue. And it is heartbreaking to find men hanging their hopes on such a misrepresentation of the character of God. The awakening on the last day will bring disillusionment and disappoinment to many millions.
What is to be done about it? Will not those who know God do all that lies in their power, by God's grace and power, to make God known to those who are perishing for lack of this knowledge, yet think they have all knowledge? It may not be easy, but it must be attempted, and the time is short. Mav God send the men.
