Will Christians and Jews be admitted to heaven? – A contradiction?

By mucahit S.

Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheemi (In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful)

 

Many critics try and try to find faults in the Qur'an but they repeatedly fail. Most of the so-called contradictions are nothing but misunderstanding. When reading the Qur'an one must understand the basic Islam beliefs, gathered from the Qur'an, the most basic being the Pillars of Faith and the Pillars of Practice.

 

Pillars of Faith/Belief

1.      One True God

2.      Angels

3.      The Books Allah has revealed, not the man made lies.

4.      Prophets

5.      The Afterlife

6.      Devine Decree and Destiny

 

Now, some missionaries try to say “Bible is God’s Word and it was revealed from Him and Muslims need to obey it because it is required by the Qur'an!” This has been addressed here: https://www.answering-christianity.com/mucahit_sivri/quran_and_gospel.htm and many other sites and articles. I think it’s quite funny for the missionaries to claim such things.

 

Anyways, the actual verse that is in question is:

 

The Holy Qur'an 2:62 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

 

The Holy Qur'an 5:69 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

 

And the critic gives this verse as well:

 

The Holy Qur'an 21:94 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Whoever works any act of righteousness and has faith,- His endeavour will not be rejected: We shall record it in his favour.

 

I will first talk about verse 21:94. Notice the verse says: “act of righteousness and has faith”, his translation is far better in this verse because it says “believer” and this choice of word explains the situation much, much better. To have faith in Allah and to submit to His will means you have to believe all the revelation He has sent, all the prophets He has sent, the angles and the after life-Check the Pillars of Faith/Belief for more. Now that this verse is cleared lets move on to the critic’s next claim:

 

The critic claims that the Qur'an places Jews and Christians in this category. This is an interesting statement. He gives these verses(his points are bolded):

 

The Holy Qur'an 2:62 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

 

The Holy Qur'an 5:69 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

 

Let’s ignore the “(in the Qur’an)” because that is the translator’s interpretation of the verse. We have already established who the believers are and who aren’t.

 

To understand the rest of these verses we must say, “Is Allah talking of the True Christians that existed in the time of Jesus(pbuh) and the True Jews who existed in the time of Moses(pbuh)?”

 

To answer this question, lets see what the Qur'an thinks of today’s Bible:

 

The Holy Qur'an 2:77-79 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

Know they not Allah Knoweth what they conceal and what they reveal? And there are among them illiterates, who know not the Book but (see therein their own) desires, and they do nothing but conjecture. Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: 'This is from Allah,' to traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby.

 

The Holy Qur'an 5:13 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

But because of their breach of their covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard; they change the words from their (right) places and forget a good part of the message that was sent to them, nor wilt thou cease to find them- barring a few - ever bent on (new) deceits: but forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds): for God loveth those who are kind.

 Allah claims that today’s Bible is corrupted! For more proof visit here: https://www.answering-christianity.com/mucahit_sivri/quran_and_gospel.htm

Now let us look at the above verses again:

“those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians” 2:62

“those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians” 5:69

We can surely eliminate the “Jewish (scriptures)” part as I’ve proven above that the Bible of today is not considered to be sent by Allah in the Qur’an but what about the “Sabians and the Christians”?

Again, we must see what Allah thinks of “true” Christians. I can easily eliminate those who believe today’s Bible, as they do not believe Allah’s True Word but there are other ways.

Most of today’s Christians believe in the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus(pbuh). Let’s see what the Qur'an says:

The Holy Qur'an 4:171 – Translation by Yusuf Ali

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of God aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in God and His apostles. Say not "Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs.

 

It is obvious from here that Allah does not consider today’s Trinitarian Christians to be the real followers of Jesus and Allah [1].

 

But what about the non-trinity Christianity? The answer is quite simple, and  I will repeat myself again, who ever believes the corrupted Bible of today, rather then Allah’s word(be the Injil or the Torah), they are not considered believers or True Christians or True Jews.

 

In Conclusion

 

The verse is invalid today because the Qur'an does not consider any of the Christians or Jews to be the Jew and Christians who Allah has sent His True Word!

 

Besides, the verse indicates that those who have died before Islam, as believers, will be judged accordingly. Since Islam is here and it is the only acceptable religion by Allah, the “True” Christians and Jews would convert to Islam, otherwise they are going against the word of Allah and His prophets and His revelations.

 

And Allah knows best!

 

Footnote:

1.      Some translations say “one in Three”, but it means the same thing as Trinity. The Father in the Bible is considered to be God by Muslims, or at least the closest being to God in the Bible, depending on who you ask.