“_Man chooseth to be wicked for the time which is before him. He
asketh, When shall the day of resurrection be? But when the night
shall be dazzled, and the moon shall be eclipsed, and the sun and the
moon shall be in conjunction, on that day man shall say, Where is a
place of refuge? By no means; there shall be no place to fly unto.
With thy Lord shall be a sure mansion of rest in that day; on that day
shall man be told that which he hath done, first and last. Yea, a man
shall be an evidence against himself; and though he offer his excuses,
they shall not be received._”
“_There shall every soul experience that which it shall have sent
before it._”
[Sidenote: Sin]
As is the God so are His worshippers; and the conception of the
religious life in Islam follows naturally upon the conception of God.
Thus, sin is terrible, but not first as a deviation from a standard
of absolute righteousness; it is terrible because it is rebellion
against an awful majesty. This is fundamental. Yet to say that Islam
is non-moral, that sin is an arbitrary term, and that reward and
punishment are in the hands of an arbitrary God, is not the whole
truth. There are two kinds of sin (reminding us of the Roman Catholic
doctrine), sin greater and lesser. Among the greater sins are
Unfaithfulness to God.
Despair of the mercy of God, or
Too strong an assurance of God’s mercy.
False witness when on oath.
The practice of magic.
Drunkenness.
Theft.
Usury.
Murder.
Disobedience to parents.
Flight before unbelievers in battle.
Seizing the property of the orphan.
And the constant repetition of lesser sins becomes a greater sin.
Lesser sins are very many, and are not enumerated; among them are
gambling, the use of images in worship, and slander. Punishment
awarded by the law is very severe; the punishment awarded by God is as
He shall ordain. The future has a great share in the thought of the
people of the East; they are less materialistic, less bound up in the
present life than those of the West. Therefore the present life is
more affected by the future possibilities, and in the case of a larger
proportion of men and women than is the case with us.