Islam is a Religion Which Can Give Eternal Salvation
Perhaps the most important question of all, then, is this: Does Islam offer a true hope of heaven to its followers? Can following the teachings of Mohammed save a person's soul? Are the over one billion Muslims in the world following "another way" to God, or are they treading a false path leading only to hell?
Islam - A Way to Heaven?
Islam cannot save a person. How could it? The reasonable question to ask is: Why would God be impressed with the works or rituals which man does? Why would we think that the pitiful offerings which we can give to God would be enough to earn us a spot in heaven? The short and simple answer to this is that our works cannot get us into heaven. However, this is what Islam essentially teaches. Like every other religion on earth aside from Bible Christianity, Islam teaches that certain actions and rituals are needed before a person can gain entry into heaven.
Essentially, Islamic soteriological doctrine (doctrine of salvation) says that to be accepted of Allah, a person needs to at least try to fulfill five certain pillars of the Islamic faith.
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1. Declaring and believing the Shahada or Creed: A person must declare "Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammad Rasulu Allah", which is to say, "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah." This is perhaps THE bedrock belief in Islam. Without reciting this, a person is not considered to be a Muslim, and is still a kafir (an unbeliever). This creed will often be repeated by Muslims constantly.
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2. Observing daily prayers (Salat) and attending the Friday public services. Prayer is a ritual very important to devout Muslims, who will face toward Mecca and prostrate themselves and recite prayers to Allah fives times in a day: upon rising in the morning, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and before retiring for the night. The prayers, as founded on the ahadith, are very mechanical in their procedure, being prescribed to be performed a certain way. Devout Muslims will attend Friday worship services in a mosque.
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3. Fasting during Ramadan. Ramadan is considered a holy month to Muslims, and for the entire month, the practice is to abstain from all pleasures during the period between sunrise and sunset. During the day, devout Muslims will not eat, drink, smoke, or engage in sexual activities. The concept behind the Ramadan fast is for Muslims to develop self-control, devote themselves to Allah, and learn to identify with the less fortunate.
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4. The giving of alms (Zakat). Muslims are required to give one-fourtieth (2.5%) of their wealth to the needy and less-fortunate. This originally was voluntary, but has evolved over time into a religious obligation. Sometimes, the zakat as an obligation is distinguished from purely voluntary giving, known as sadaqah.
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5. The pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). At least once in their lifetime, devout Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, if it within their financial and physical capabilities. This ritual is considered very necessary for the gaining of salvation in Islam, and ignoring it is considered a very serious sin, a form of rebellion against Allah. At Mecca, Muslims will engage in a prescribed set of rituals and ceremonies centered about the Kaabah, a large shrine in Mecca which was introduced into Islam as its sacred shrine sometime in the 8th century, and which was initially a site of lunar worship in the Mecca area in pre-Islamic times.
To this list of five pillars, many Muslims add jihad as a sixth pillar. It has been shown above that there is definite Quranic and hadithic support for the notion that Mohammed taught salvation through martyrdom in holy war. Further, the general trend in Muslim jurisprudence throughout the Islamic period has been that jihad is a necessary and violent act carried out against infidels to bring them under the domination of Islam. The place of jihad can be seen in the importance attached by many Muslims to shaheed, martyrdom which occurs while fighting for Islam or because of one's Islamic faith. The added benefit of multitudes of perpetually regenerating virgins in Paradise has, obviously, also served to increase the vigour with which young Muslim men have devoted themselves to this aspect of Islam.1
How Everyone - Muslim or Otherwise - Can Receive Eternal Life
A devout Muslim certainly will be kept very busy in their religious life! Can this help to save them, though?
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5)
It is not the works which man does that can save him, but rather it is of the grace and mercy of God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to die and shed His blood for us, and who rose again. Only by faith in Him can we be saved, and this after He calls us and gives us the conviction to recognise that we are sinners in need of salvation. Repentance, that change of attitude and heart towards our sin, must be had before we are in a position to come to God for salvation. If we refuse to accept that we are sinners who cannot provide our own way to God, then we cannot be saved nor enter the kingdom of God. There is nothing; no ritual, no ceremony, no pilgrimage, which human beings can perform and earn a spot in heaven. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) See, the Bible tells us that our efforts at producing our own righteousness are unworthy and flawed. Because of our sin, we are unclean things in the sight of God, and our works and rituals are worthless and filthy.
This applies to all of us, too. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one....For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:10,23) Mohammed, as we saw, was a sinner. The Qur'an says as much. "Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory, That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favour unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path." (Surah 48:1-2, Pickthal translation) Further, in Surah 40:55, "Then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! the promise of Allah is true. And ask forgiveness of thy sin, and hymn the praise of thy Lord at fall of night and in the early hours." (Pickthal translation) Mohammed himself recognised that he was a sinner in need of forgiveness.
So, if all mankind are sinners, and works, rituals, and the like cannot save them, what can? As stated above, the only way to salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, repenting of your sins and trusting Him to wash your sins away through His own blood which was shed to forgive sin. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) Salvation is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. No works can replace this. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.....I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved..." (John 10:1,9)
Jesus, the sinless man presented both in the Bible and the Qur'an who would not lie, said that He was the way to enter into heaven. If you are trying to get in by keeping the rules and regulations of Islam, you are trying to climb up some another way, and will not be able to successfully enter in. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) This is the love of God. We, who are sinners by nature and by practice, and who deserve the wrath of God by burning in hell for eternity, are freely given the opportunity to escape that fate, without work on our part, and without it costing us a thing. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Salvation is by grace, through faith, His gift to us. We don't need to work, we only need to believe and trust in Him for our salvation. Doing good works and living a moral life cannot save. In fact, human beings are not even ABLE to live a truly moral life unless they have the Spirit of God residing in them, whom we receive upon trusting Christ to salvation.
Think about it. No matter how moral you may appear to other people, you know that there is some sin which you have in your life which will condemn you to hell. Why try to strive to earn a salvation which cannot be earned? Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Lay the heavy burden of your sins and guilt at His feet, and take Him as your Saviour, and be saved!
End Notes
(1) - Interestingly, a recent work by the pseudonymous Christoph Luxenberg, Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran, published to date only in Germany and unfortunately not yet available for wider consumption, casts doubt on this Quranic promise of perpetual young doe-eyed virgins. His re-analysis of many Quranic passages which have historically mystified even Arab Muslim commentators suggests that these passages are more coherent and better understood if they are approached from the vantage point of having originated in Syriac and then been transferred into Arabic, with the corresponding problems in misunderstanding that can arise from translation. One such possible alternative meaning has to do with this Quranic promise of virgins. Luxenberg suggests that the original Qur'an document may not have been promising "virgins" of "doe eyes", but rather "raisins" of "crystal clarity".
