Sinful or Sinless ?

To err is human, to forgive is divine. Isn’t it right? In Islam, we believe that nobody is exempted from doing anything which is disliked by our Creator. That is why, we are called human. Even the word human in Arabic is derived from the word Nisyan which means forgetful. Indeed, we are forgetful as we commit mistakes though we have been reminded by our Creator countless times before. Nevertheless, He is always there to forgive us and full with mercy to listen to our prayers without even whining about that! masyaAllah..

I wonder how other religions view this. As far I am concerned, our conception of sin is different than those of the Christians’ conception. Maybe it is worth here to take a glimpse of the Christianity’s conception of sin and how Islam views this.
In Christianity, one of the major doctrines in their teaching is the concept of the original sin. A belief which says that, all human beings are considered sinful as they have inherited the sin of Adam when he had broken the law of God and ate the forbidden fruit. Moreover, it says that the requirement of the justice of God is that, a price must be paid for every sin. As stated in Hebrews 9:22

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”

The sin of Adam could never be cleansed except through a price of blood which later falls on Jesus. In fact, it is stressed that the blood that washes away sin that was inherited from Adam must be pure and uncontaminated. Hence, Jesus meets this requirement and thus he died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of men, ritualized as Baptism through which Christians are ‘born again’ into the world but this time free of sin. Several questions or I would say considerations might be worth to be posed here:
1) Why are the infants, humanity before Jesus, and others who have not heard about Christianity held accountable for a sin they never committed, nor have knowledge about how to remit themselves from it?
2) Why did not God come and free humanity from sin at the time of Adam so that the righteous people would not be accountable for his sin?
3) Let say if a couple who have already been baptized, have son or daughter.Then,what about the child? Still inherit the original sin?
4) If a child is claimed to be sinful by the Christian, then will he/she goes to heaven or hell the moment he/she dies after his/her birth?
5) Ezekiel 18:20 says that:“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
6) Jeremiah 31:29-30 says that: “In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

What about Islam?. What does it say about this concept of sin?. In a simple manner, there is no such concept of hereditary of sin in Islam. In fact, a sin cannot be inherited by the progeny as Allah has made it clear that an individual would be accountable for his own deed and such responsibility cannot be put on the shoulders of others. It is mentioned clearly in the Qur’an as Allah says :

“Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (That exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah. He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed."

(Al-An’am 6:164)

In another verse Allah says:

“Who receiveth guidance, receiveth it for His own benefit: who goeth astray doth so to His own loss: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would we visit with Our wrath until we had sent an apostle (to give warning).”

(Al-Israa’17:15)

As a matter of fact, Allah does not need any physical sacrifice in order to forgive sins. What more to the child as they were born in a state of purity, clean from any sin as mentioned in a Hadith of Rasulullah:
“Every child is born in a state of fitrah (purity). Then it is his parents to make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian’”

In fact, even Islam itself is called Din al-Fitrah whereby God created man with one religion i.e. with the full knowledge and awareness of the fact that there is only One God to Whom they owe their fealty and worship. Islam disagrees with the belief in the Origin of Sins since every child is born sinless. In fact, they are clean so much so that they are like a piece of white cloth. Islam would not accept the belief that Jesus had died on the cross and sacrificed his blood to wash the inherited sins of all men as it shows how unjust and merciless God is. What more, punishing a man for the sins of others would be on the height of injustice. As for Muslim, we know that Allah is not only just, but also forgiving and merciful. Allah says,

“ Say: "O My servants who have transgressed against their souls! despair not of the Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”

(Az Zumar :39:53)

Allahu A’lam(Allah knows best)..