The Moslem World/Volume 2/Number 1/The Burden Bearer
"THE BURDEN BEARER"
(A Khutba translated from the Arabic)
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[The Khutba is an address delivered to Moslems at the Friday noon prayer in the mosque. It is one of the earliest institutions of Islam, and has had great influence for the spread of the faith. In imitation of the style of these Khutbas, which always deal with the principles of Islam, the Nile Mission Press has recently issued a series of Christian leaflets based upon texts selected from the Koran. The Oriental has his own peculiar mode of thought, and what appeals to the Eastern mind may not appeal to the Western. The Khutbas have proved so welcome in Arabic speaking lands that 10,000 copies were sold the first month. This is one of a series, and anyone desiring to translate others from Arabic into English or other languages may communicate with the Editor, Mr. Arthur T, Upson, Nile Mission Press, Boulac, Cairo.—Editors.]
"A burdened soul cannot bear the burden of another soul."—(Koran—in six different passages).
In the Name of God, the safe shelter and strong refuge; may He guide you to all truth and protect you from evil. Amen.
After that (i.e., invocation), we begin:—
The Koran says that a burdened soul cannot bear the burden of another soul, which means that every man is responsible for his own sins and enjoys the fruits of his own righteousness, every soul has (to its credit) what it has earned, and against it what (evil) it has acquired.
My brothers, though men in this life have brothers, friends, families, tribes, yet in the Day of Judgment they will be brought to account one by one, whether master or slave, since brother availeth not for brother nor slave for his master; "Dread the day when not in anything shall soul satisfy for soul, nor shall any ransom be taken from it, nor shall intercession avail, and they shall not be helped" (Koran, Surat el-Baqara, 117), but as the Gospel says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. vi. 7).
My brothers, the present world is not like the next, for here the poor supplicates from the rich, the weak obtains help from the strong, and the stranger finds a shelter with generous people, while the straitened one borrows either with or without interest from his more successful friend; here are refuges, hospitals, and other comforts to lighten affliction and bring relief from trouble; how many a hungry one is fed, and thirsty one watered, and naked one clothed, and sick and imprisoned one visited, and wretched one evangelised, for all mutually join to supply necessities as though they were one person; but there, in the hereafter—"One burdened soul cannot bear the burden of another soul," and "Not in anything shall soul satisfy for soul."
If one of the inhabitants of Hell should cry for aid to the inhabitants of Paradise together, or if he should select some particular friend, in neither case will he avail anything, as the Koran says, "The inmates of the Fire shall cry to the inmates of Paradise: 'Pour upon us some water or some of that with which God hath supplied you.' They say, 'Truly God hath forbidden them to the infidels.'" (Surat Al-Arâf, 48).
Oh men, this world is a place of labour and striving, to-day is a day of sowing and to-morrow of reaping; work, then, in your present life in preparation for your hereafter, and do not trust to any of the men of goodness and piety, nor to the occupants of the highest degrees (in Paradise) for "Whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it, and whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of evil shall behold it." (Earthquake Sura). Then do not seek the intercession of members of the prophet's family, such as the Lady Zeinbar, and the Lords Hasan and Husein nor of your local saints such as El-Badawi, and El-Dissooki,[1] nor even of prophets and apostles, for they are only warners and preachers, and certainty their attitude in respect to sinners will be only that of accusing martyrs, not that of loving intercessors; for we read in Surat Arâf, 51, "On the day when its interpretation shall come, they who aforetime had forgotten it shall say, 'The prophets of our Lord did indeed bring the truth; shall we have any intercessor to intercede for us? or can we be sent back? then would we do other works than what we did.' But they have ruined their souls, and (the imaginary deities) that they were devising have fled from them." See also Surat Women, 163, "Apostles, preachers, warners, so that men should have no argument (of excuse) against God after the Apostles (had been sent)."
O men, does it not appear from all this that each man is held responsible for his own works and that the acts of others will neither harm nor injure, raise or lower; he who is saved is saved by his deeds, and he who perishes perishes by his own. Sad to say, all men on the face of the earth are sinners, those that you see to be better than their fellows were once evil doers, but repented, and are not, even now, entirely free from slips, nor immune from mistakes, or even the " greater " sins. Sura Bee, 62 says, "If God should punish men for their wrongdoing, He would not leave a moving thing on earth."
Since, then, men are only able to be saved by their own deeds,[2] and, as you have seen, all men's deeds are faulty, consequently the whole race would be doomed to perish in hell; but the all-merciful God intervened in man's private matter and planned for him a legal way of imputing to himself the deed of someone else as though it was his own, by which he could be saved!
Now, what can this plan be? Are you able to improvise it from your human intellects? I think not.
God, however, has revealed it in His Holy Book, and commissioned us to tell all men of it. It is this—that He has provided for fallen human nature an agent, or rather a legal representative; this being the only possible plan whereby one could stand in the place of another, transfering not only his acts but his very person as though it were himself. To make this good tidings clearer I will quote a case familiar to you from your own books of Islamic Sharee'a (Law).
Suppose a father dies, leaving an inheritance to a child under age, the proper authorities appoint a legal guardian for Mm; every bit of the property which the guardian happens to sell on behalf of the child-heir is reckoned as sold by the child himself, and everything he buys is bought in the name of the child, all the actions of the legal representative of the minor being imputed to the minor himself, and when he comes of age, he has not the smallest right to invalidate that which was done for him in his name, whether it resulted in gain or loss; nor can he hold any reckoning with his guardian on the plea that he himself never appointed him. In this way the deeds of the one person are imputed to the other, whether bitter or sweet, and with or without his consent.
Know that the cause for appointing a legal representative for man, who is a responsible person himself, is his evil nature, which was formed in him whilst yet in his mother's womb. The Koran refers to this in the sentence, "Verily the heart is prone to evil" (Sura Joseph), and also it says, "Cursed be man! What hath made him unbelieving? Of what thing did God create him? " (Sura "He frowned"); and also, "Yet lo! man is an open antagonist " (caviller), (Sura The Bee). Then there is a sound tradition mentioned in the Mishkat, etc., which says, "There is not born a son of Adam whom the devil does not prick at its birth, and it cries from the touch of Satan, except Jesus the Son of Mary, and His mother."
David the prophet said to the same purpose, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (from the Zaboor—Psalm 51). Also, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." (Psalm lviii. 3).
Now, since all the sins that a man commits are due to this evil nature; even if it could be supposed that God so exceptionally treated any one man as to "take off from him his burden which had galled his back,"[3] and that he thus became sinless, not long would pass before he would commit some fresh sin, on account of his old evil nature, just as you may stop up a spring in one place, but it will break forth in another. Man's sinful nature is very like the disease of "Cancer", it may be apparently rooted out of the body, but before long it takes new root and grows again.
This evil nature, which is inherited from Adam, through the Fall, being the cause of a man's committing forbidden sin on reaching maturity, and consequent suffering of the necessary penalty, it behoved Divine Justice to create some special way by which man could obtain benefit to equal the amount of his great loss which he unconsciously suffered. God therefore provided him with a legal representative, perfect and mighty, able to repair the damage and remove the loss. He it is that is referred to in the Gospel, saying: "Since by one offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one (margin, 'one righteousness') the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Romans v. 18).
If you understand for what reason it become necessary to appoint the representative for the human race, let me now inform you who that representative is. I tell you that He is El-Messiah Eesa, the Spirit of God, and His Word, who was conceived without man through the power of the Holy Ghost. He is the only perfect man, prevented from sinful nature and sinful deeds.
It was, however, expected that you should have known all this from the Koran, seeing how much it has glorified Christ and exalted His position, oven to the extent of calling Him the Spirit and the Word of God, and distinguishing Him in all the stages of His life, from both prophets and men alike; for there is no other prophet to whom God did not forgive sins, removing His burden of guilt, as all the books testify clearly and the Koran also. As for Christ it does not mention concerning Him a single repentance nor request for forgiveness of His sins, nor any tradition of his being "pricked by Satan at His birth." On the contrary, you read that God supported Him with the Holy Spirit from the time that His mother conceived Him, and when she gave birth to Him, and all the days of His life.
He lived a perfect and holy life, gave life to the dead and quickened hearts, healed the sick and forgave sins, taught men the will of God, and practised as He taught. Finally at the close of His life, he offered Himself, according to the eternal purpose of God, as an atonement for the sins of mankind. Whosoever believeth in Him is saved, and whosoever believeth not is condemned, and the wrath of God abideth on him for ever. Thus it is written: "Behold the Lamb of God (i.e., the great sacrifice for our redemption) Who taketh away the sin of the world" (John i. 29). It is also written: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus ii. 11-13).
My hope concerning you, my brothers, is that, having learnt all this, you will take Christ as your Saviour and your representative (for that day) when there shall avail you neither wealth nor sons, prophets nor apostles.
May God guide you. Amen.