IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM?

BY

HAV A LAZARUS-Y AFEH

Institute for Asian and African Studies
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The idea of redemption is certainly not a central one in Islam. But

whilst students of Islam will almost unanimously agree with this
statement, nobody seems so far to have attempted an explanation of
this most interesting feature.
One possible explanation could be the fact that very early there arose
in both orthodox and heterodox Islam the idea that the community
as such was a charismatic one 1). By being a member of such a com-
munity and doing nothing to forfeit one's membership - man attains
salvation. The people of Islam were also "the people of Paradise".
They were in no need of further redemption. By accepting Islam and
becoming one of those "who face Mecca in their prayer" ("AHL-AL-
QIBLA") they were already redeemed both from religious ignorance
in this world and from either physical or spiritual hell in the world
to come.
It is also possible that the idea of the "Fitra" 2), of man's inborn
quality to know God and worship him in the right way, made redemp-
tion somewhat unnecessary in Islam, quite contrary to the idea of
Original Sin in Christianity. The prophet of Islam is supposed to have
said: "Every one who is born -- is born with a sound (religious)
nature. It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a
Magian". This tradition, which has been frequently discussed in Mus-
lim theological literature, seems to imply that with only a minor effort
man can redeem himself from any religious danger and follow the
right path, thus attaining salvation mainly because of his positive and
sound, inborn religious disposition. This idea may explain also the
historical fact that Islamic polemicists during the Middle Ages attacked
very severely especially the Christian notions of Original Sin and
Redemption 3).
1 ) See W. M. Watt, Islamic Philosophy and Theology (Edinburgh 1962) p, 5.
Cf. also his article "The Conception of the Charismatic Community", Numen VII,
1960, pp. 77-90.
2) Cf. EI2 s.v. "Fitra".
3 ) Cf. for instance, E. Fritsch, Islam u. Christentum im Mittelalter (Breslau 1930),

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 169

Nevertheless there are several marginal Islamic phenomena, which

could be considered as being based on the ideas of individual redemp-
tion, messianism or other related notions. They developed in Islam
mainly because of foreign influences and especially among persecuted
religious minorities.
The first and most basic one of these is, of course, to be found in
the eschatology of Islam. Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian influences
together shaped the eschatological outlook of Islam. In this complex
of ideas, which is yet awaiting a thorough overall study, a personal
Messiah and Redeemer takes a central place. He is called the Mahdi,
e.g. the "Right-Guided on by God", a word and idea not yet to be
found in the Qur)an. But in the If adith, the Oral Tradition attributed
to Muhammad, this Mahdi is already a well-known figure and is some-
times identified with Jesus, c1sa in Arabic, a fact which does not
necessarily prove the Christian origin of this idea in Islam - and to
which I will come back later on 4).
The idea of this Mahdi was especially cherished and developed
among the Shicites, a large group of dissenters from Orthodox Islam,
who claimed that Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, 'Ali, his sons
l:Iasan and }:Iusain as well as their descendants, were the only legiti-
mate heirs to the prophet's rule over the people of Islam. The Shicites
are divided in many subdivisions, and their religious doctrine contains
a rich pattern of theological thought, in which the Mahdi, the "Right-
Guided One" is of great importance. It was in Shicite circles that the
Mahdi developed from a charismatic political-religious leader into a
messiah and redeemer of Islam and perhaps of all mankind. Living in
concealment (ghaiba) throughout the ages he will reappear (raqj<a),
according to Shicite tradition, at the end of all times to right all wrongs
and to establish eternal justice as well as Shicite rule in the world -
"he will fill the earth with justice just as it is full now of iniquity",
is the common phrase used to describe his mission.
History has taught us that messianic ideas of this kind usually call
for action. People cannot await the Golden Age without taking steps
to impel the messiah or "Mahdi" to come. Many a one believes that

Teil 2, Abschn. 3, or H. Stieglecker, Die Glaubenslehren des Islam (Paderborn 1962),

pp. 303-320. Being aware that this paper is meant primarily for non-Arabists, I shall
try to quote mainly translations of paraphrases of Arabic sources into European
languages.
4 ) Cf. EI, s.vv. "CJsa" and "Mahdi"; A. J. Wensinck, Handbook of Early Muhan:-
medan Tradition," and Snouk Hurgronje, "Der Mahdi" in Verspreide Geschriften I
(1923), pp. 145-181.

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170 HAVA LAZARUS-Y AFEH

he himself is the awaited one and sets forth to redeem mankind -

only in order to bring more misery and deep agony on his band of
followers. This was what happened again and again in different Shicite
and IsmaciJi circles and also, though rarely, in Sunnite Islam ( e.g. the
Sunni Mahdi of the Sudan in the 19th century). Sometimes tragicomic
stories are told about these false messiahs, some of whom certainly
were not sincere in their claim, such as the one about Nafir Al-lfaqq
("The Redeemer of Truth") of Djilan in Persia. He would sell people
their share in paradise, according to measure, for quite a full price:
no less than a hundred Dinar for only one cubit of space. And people
would come to him and buy, sometimes with their last pennies, their
share in Paradise 5).
It might be worthwhile to mention here that Islamic notions con-
nected with the Shicite Mahdi, some of which may be of Jewish
origin, in their turn later influenced Jewish messianic movements
which arose under Islamic rule, especially in Persia, such as those of
Abu cJsa and Sireni. Certain Shicite notions were adopted by the "mes-
siahs" themselves, e.g. David Al-Ro 0 i, perhaps Sabbatai Zevi and
others. Some of the Jewish messiahs claimed to be illiterate like Mu-
hammad, and after their disappearance their followers adopted some
kind of Docetism, believing that the Messiah did not die, but lived in
concealment and would re-appear at the end of times - most of these
ideas being alien to Judaism 6).
Let us now briefly review another Islamic phenomenon which might
be related to the idea of individual redemption, e.g. the mystical illu-
mination of the Sufis, the famous mystics of Islam.
Being deeply influenced by Christian, Gnostic, Neoplatonic as well
as Indian and Buddhist ideas, many of the Sufi believed that if they
purged their· hearts from sin and evil and concentrated only on their
path towards God - God would illuminate their heart with the light
of certainty and make it a shining mirror, able to absorb God's Reality.
Like every mystical knowledge this newly acquired knowledge of the
Sufi, macrifa, is not the result of any mental process, but is a gnostic
knowledge of God, based on revelation and vision. It is a light of
Divine Grace that flashes into the heart and redeems the mystic's soul
from the darkness of ignorance and evil, which are part of this material
world. He passes away from his selfhood and abides in God (fana

5 ) See I. Goldziher, Streitschrift des Gazali gegen die Bafinijia Sekte (Leiden
1916), Text Nr. 16 (p. 29), Einleitung, pp. 60-61.
6) Cf. I. Friedlaender-"Jewish Arabic Studies", JQR, N.S. I, II, III (1910-1913).

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 1 71

wabaqa) - sometimes for short periods only, like the flashing of a

lightning, sometimes continuing in the unitive state even after re-
turning to the phenomenal world 7 ).
One of the early teachers of Sufism, Al-Sari al-Saqati, Sari the pedlar
in the Bazaar of Baghdad, who lived in the second half of the ninth
century, said: "Therefore it is the custom of God to let the hearts of
those who love Him have vision of him always, in order that the
delight thereof may enable them to endure every tribulation, and they
say in their orisons: "We deem all torments more desirable than to be
veiled from thee. When Thy Beauty is revealed to our hearts we take
no thought of affliction" S).
Indeed, the $iifi may find peace for his soul, attain salvation, but
the world remains wicked and dark as ever before.
But let us return once more to orthodox Islam and examine more
closely whether and to what extent the idea of a personal redeemer
or of redemption as such can be found in it. I believe that for metho-
dological and other reasons it would be useful to trace the role of
Jesus in Islam not only because we known that Christianity exercised
deep influence on Islam - a fact which has been dealt with by many
outstanding scholars - but mainly because of two other reasons
directly related to our subject. In the first place there is no doubt that
in Christian belief one of the most conspiruous features of Jesus is
that of his being the Redeemer of mankind, the one through whom
people who believe will attain salvation; the impression of his figure
on Islam should therefore be most revealing from this aspect. The
second reason is one which has already briefly been mentioned - the
fact that Jesus does indeed appear in a quite striking manner in the
eschatology of Islam; it is therefore legitimate to enquire whether or
not he plays a redemptive role in this eschatological context.
Let me stress once more that I shall not deal here with the whole
of Islamic knowledge about Jesus, which was quite rich, nor shall I
deal with the Islamic notions about Jesus as one of the prophets. My
subject will be to follow only one aspect of the figure of Jesus as
taken over by Islam - that of his being the redeemer of mankind.
We may therefore leave aside, astonishing as this may seem to be,
the Qur)an, although Jesus is mentioned in it several times and many

7) See R. A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (1914).

8) R. A. Nicholson (transl.),-The "Kashf Al-MaNub" by Al-Huefi.wir;(d. 1063-4
or 1071-2), London 1959, p. 111. (Although this quotation deals mainly with the
torments of hell, it may be understood also in a broader sense).

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172 HAVA LAZARUS-YAFEH

Christian stories about him, as well as about other outstanding persons

of early Christianity are retold in it. These are matters which have
been discussed very thoroughly by students of Islam and of Compara-
tive Religion 9) . But, so it seems, no one has so far drawn attention
to the most interesting fact, that nowhere in the QurJan is Jesus
described as a redeemer, although one of his titles is Al-Masib
("Christ" or messiah), this being apparently considered to be one of
his names 10). The idea of redemption is, on the whole, quite alien to
the QurJan, although the book contains, as we all know, many colourfull
descriptions of the Day of Judgement, and of Paradise and Hell,
some of them probably taken from Eastern Christian notions ( such as
those of St. Ephraim Syrus).
But if we now turn to the I:Jadith, the Oral Tradition of Islam,
ascribed to Muhammad and his followers, we shall find a completely
different picture. We know that this Oral T,radition of Islam is a
product of times later than Muhammad's, and that it developed mainly
during the first three centuries of Islam, reflecting the political, socio-
logical, theological and legal problems of early Islam after Muham-
mad, although its literary form is that of sayings attributed to the
prophet and his "friends" ("al-$a}:iaba"). Many thousands of these
"traditions" were gathered in voluminous collections 11 ), the most im-
portant of which is that of Al-Bukhari ( d. 870).
In this I:Jadith literature Jesus is often identified, or described as
appearing together, with the Mahdi, the "Right-Guided One" who
will appear at the end of times.
Here we also hear for the first time about the Dagj_gj_al ("Meshi}:ia
Daggala"), the antichrist, whose appearance will be one of the proofs
of the end of times, like the terrible army of Yaqjiiqj wa-Maqjiiqj
(the Biblical Gog and Magog), who will devastate the earth before
the coming of the mahdi-messiah. The description of the Daqjqjal -
antichrist ( many of which are also taken from St. Ephraim), are quite
frightening: he is a corpulent man, red faced with one overflowing
eye and frizzy hair, and he will rule the world with tyranny and im-
purity during either forty days or years. More details about him are
to be found in the books on the last days of war of mankind (Kitab

9) See now G. Parrinder, Jesus in the QurJan, London 1966.

lO) See: M. Hayek, L'origine des Termes cJsa al-Masip (Jesus Christ) dans le Coran,
Orient Syrien VII 2, 1962, p. 365-382.
11) See a general description of this literature in H. A. R. Gibb, Mohammedan,; m
(several editors), chapter 5.

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 173

al-Fitan w' al-Mala(.Jim 12) in each one of the famous collections of

the }:fadith. He will be killed by Jesus and thereupon peace will reign
forever in the world. One tradition has it that Jesus will come down
from heaven and lead the Muslims in their prayer, after having con-
quered Constantinople ( the capture of Constantinople is also accepted
as one of the ten signs of the last days, Ashraf al-Sa.ca). Upon seeing
him, God's enemy, the antichrist, will start to melt and dissolve, as
salt dissolves in water, yet he will not be let to die like this, but will
be killed by God through the hand of Jesus, before the eyes of the
whole army 13).
There is no doubt that this event, the end of the Daqjqj_al, is looked
upon in the l:f adith and in later Muslim literature, as an act of redemp-
tion. Jesus through killing him redeems mankind from wickedness and
the world from evil. Sometimes the events following this act are
described in much the same way as Isaiah has it in the famous eleventh
chapter, where ever-lasting peace is so beautifully described. A com-
mentator of al-Tirmighi's collection of }:Iadith thus describes the times
that will follow the death of the Daqj_qj_dl: "And afterwards peace will
reign in the world, lions will dwell with camels, leopards with cows
and wolfs with lambs and little boys will play harmlessly with the
snakes" 14 ). The same descriptions are to be found in the more popular
literature of "Vita Phrophetarum" 15), but there it is also stated that
this will not be the end of all times, but endure for several years only,
whereafter Jesus will die 16).
Sometimes the Golden Age following the death of the antichrist
is described in a very original manner in the }:Iadith: For seven years
after this event people will live in peace, with no enmity among them.
Then God will send a cold wind from Syria all over the world and
everybody who has in his heart the smallest measure of religious faith
12) On the connection between this Hebrew word, which does appear only in
the relevant heading of Abu Dawud's collection and which denotes in the Deacl Sea
Scrolls the last war (and appears together with another Hebrew work"Hargj_" ("kil-
ling") in the I;ladith) see C. Rabin - Qumran Studies, Oxford 1957, Ch. VIII-
Islam and the Qumran Sect. One has of course to take into account Jewish influence
on Islam in these matters too, and the similarities between the Qumran Sect and
early Christianity are well-known.
13) Cf. $ai)ii) Muslim, Vlllth book, Kitab al-Fitan va-Ashraf al-saca, tenth Bab.
p. 176 (n.d.).
14) See Abu Bakr ibn Al-c Arabi's commentary in Al-Tirmidhi's Sunan, book 10,
(Cairo 1934), p. 78. Cf. also Snouck Hurgronje op cit., p. 152 ff.
15 ) See for instance al-ThaC!abi, Qi!a! al-Anbiya (Dar 11:)ya al-Kutub aJ.cAra-
biyya), p. 363.
16 ) Sometimes the Mahdi will then appear and restore the golden age of Jesus.

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174 HAYA LAZARUS-YAFEH

or human kindness will be carried away by this strong and cold wind,
probably straight to heaven. On the earth only the wicked will remain,
helpless victims to both terrible animals and Satan until the day of
Resurrection and Judgement comes 17).
Yet most important seems to be the idea that the coming of Jesus
at the end of all times will be also the end of religious differences
among people until all of them will worship one God in one way -
the Islamic way - only, as Jesus will break the cross and destroy the
Dacfft:IJ.til, who is sometimes depicted as a Jew or as having Jewish
followers. Thus is the prophet of Islam supposed to have said: "I
swear to God that the son of Maryam (Mary) will come down among
you as a righteous ruler ( or arbiter). He will destroy the cross ( !) ,
kill the swine, abolish the tribute (for non-Muslims) and let money
flow so that nobody will accept it anymore" 18 ). Another version of
the same saying states even more clearly: "Thereafter people will adore
the Lord of all worlds only - because of the Mahdi cisa (Jesus) son
of Maryam (Mary)" 19). Al-Bai<;liiwi, the well-known thirteenth cen-
tury commentator of the Qur'.)iin, explains in his commentary on Sura
23, 61 that "Jesus will descend on a hill in the holy land, called Afik,
in his hand he will hold a lance with which he will slay the antichrist,
then he will enter Jerusalem at the time of morning prayer ... There-
upon he will kill the swine, break the cross, destroy chapels and
churches and kill the Christians except those who believe in him".
In the last version of the above mentioned I:Iadith Jesus is called not
only the Mahdi, but also the Imam al-Mahdi in the Shicite manner,
and in the popular Vita Prophetarum literature he is once described
like the future Shi cite Mahdi, as "living ( during the ages) in heaven
(with God), until God gives him his permission to descend and kill
the Dacfj_cfj_til, whereafter the world will be filled with justice just as
it is full now with iniquity and oppression" 20).
According to Snouck Hurgronje these Shicite features of Muslim
orthodox eschatology, and the whole complex of ideas connected with
the Mahdi, reflect the oppression of the Ummayyad rulers and political
hopes for better times. Snouck Hurgronje also attempted to explain
both the rivalry between the concepts of the Mahdi-Messiah and Jesus
as Messiah on the one hand, and the identification of Jesus with the

17) See ~al)il;i Muslim, ibid, p. 201.

18) Sal;iil:i Bukhari, at the end of the 34th book (Kita al-Buyiic).
19) Sunan al-Tirmidhi, ibid. p. 75.
20) See Al-Kisa'.li's Vita Prophetarum (ed. Eisenberg) II (Brill 1923) p. 307.

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 17 5

Mahdi on the other 21 ). Nevertheless this problem should be studied

thoroughly once more, for there is no gainsaying the fact that after
an early period of peaceful coexistence of the Mahdi and Jesus in
Muslim f:Iadith and early theology, Jesus as messiah came slowly to
be forgotten except in f:Ianafite circles. Thus we find at the end of a
famous Islamic Creed, Al-Fiqh al-Akbar ("the second" as Wensinck
denotes it) 22 ), that the believer is called upon to pronounce his belief
in "the appearance of the Dacfjt-jjal and of Yacfjucfj and Macfjucfj (at
the end of all times), in the rising of the sun from the place where
it sets and in the descent of c1sa (Jesus) from heaven" 23). This creed
was attributed to Abii I:Ianifa, ( cl. 767), the founder of one of the
legal schools of orthodox Islam but seems to have been composed later
on in pre-Ashcarite circles. Here only Jesus is mentioned, whereas
in most other creeds it is the Mahdi only of whom mention is made.
If we now turn to the figure of Jesus in later theology, we shall
discern another interesting feature: much is said about him, and many
qualities are attributed to him, but there is no trace left of his being
related in any way to the redemption of mankind.
As a representative of later religious thought in medieval Islam I
have chosen Al-Ghazzali, the famous theologian and mystic, who died
in 1111. He is considered to be one of the greatest thinkers Islam has
produced and his writings exercise a deep influence on the religious
development of Islam even to-day. It seems particularly fitting to men-
tion him in the present context, as according to some scholars, he was
deeply influenced by Christian ideas and most interested in the figure
of Jesus 24). (This of course may be said of other Islamic thinkers too,
especially of the mystics like Al-f:Ialladj or Ibn al-cArabi, but none of
them may be considered also as a typical representative of Orthodox
Islam).
But there are great difficulties in discussing Al-Ghazzali's views
and doctrine, in spite of the vast literature which has accumulated
during the last hundred years and the great amount of research done
on the subject. One of the main obstacles is the fact that we have

21) Der Mahdi, p. 154 ff.

22) See A. J. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed (Cambridge 1932) p. 188.
23) Ibid., p. 197 art. 29. Cf. also pp. 243-244.
24 ) Cf. especially M. Asin Palacios, La Espiritualidad de Al-Gaze! u sentido
Christiano (Madrid-Granada 1934/5; 1940/1). See also G. C. Anawati et L. Gardet,
Mystique Musulmane (Paris 1961) p. 49 (but according to note 24 ibid, the authors
thought mainly about a book falsely attributed to Al-Ghazz.ali, as will be shown in
the following).

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176 HAYA LAZARUS-YAFEH

not yet established a reliable canon of his numerous writings, although

almost every student of Al-Ghazzali has dealt with the intricate pro-
blem of the authenticity of his works, and many are the special studies
devoted to this problem e.g., by A. Badawi, M. Bouyges, G. Hourani,
M. Watt and myself 25).
This problem, which is only one out of many in the study of Al-
Ghazzali, is related directly to our subject here, because one of the
books attributed to him is the well-known Al-Radd a/-Qjamil <a/a
.')arif al-lurfi.il, edited and translated into French by R. Chidiac as
Refutation Excellente de la Divinite de Jesus Christ d'apres les Evan-
giles 2 6) and translated recently into German by F. A. Wilms -
Al-Ghazali' s S chrift wider die Gottheit Jesu (Brill, Leiden, 1966) -
accompanied by a detailed, though not very accurate, commentary.
L. Massignon, who first drew attention to this book, and both
Chidiac and Wilms accept it as one of Al-Ghazzali's authentic writings,
although they all admit that it cannot be related directly to his other
works. They also admit that the author displays in this book an
astonishing knowledge of the New Testament and of polemics among
different Christian denominations, quite contrary to Al-Ghazzali's
usual way of writing, and therefore they suppose that he either incor-
porated older Christian material in this book of his, or that the book
later underwent some editorial change, perhaps by one of Al-Ghazzali's
disciples - both techniques being widespread in Middle Ages. Re-
cently I have shown in a detailed study 27), based both on external
evidence regarding the book, as well as on internal evidence ( especially
stylistic evidence) taken from the book itself, that Al-Ghazzali could
not have written this book and did not compose it. It seems to have
been written by a former Christian, a convert to Islam, probably a
Copt, and was later attributed to Al-Ghazzali, as so many other books
out of different reasons. It should be mentioned here that the fact
that books were attributed to Al-Ghazzali even more than to other
famous writers of Islam, is already attested to by writers who lived
only about a hundred years later than Al-Ghazzali like lbn a!-C Arabi
(d. 1240), and some of Al-Ghazzali's biographers dealt extensively
with this problem, such as Murta<;la al-Zabidi ( d. 1791).
25) Cf. my article "Philosophical Terms as a Criterion of Authenticity in the
writings of AI-Ghazzali, Studia Islamica XXV, 1966, and the bibliography mentioned
therein, especially in note 1 on p. 111.
26) Paris 1939, avec Preface de L. Massignon. Cf. also L. Massignon, "Le Christ
clans !es :gvangiles selon al-Ghazali", REI VI, 1932, pp. 523-536.
27) :gtude sur la Polemique Islamo-Chretienne; Qui etait !'auteur de al-Radd al-
[}jamil ... attribue a al-Gazzali? REI 1969, 2, pp. 219-238.

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 177

I shall therefore leave aside this polemical tractate and deal only
with those works of Al-Ghazzali which are generally accepted as au-
thentic. The list of these comprises more than twenty books out of
about a hundred attributed to him and at least one of them - the
voluminous If?ya cutum al-Din - is an encyclopaedic compendium
which in itself contains forty books. Others are shorter treaties on
law, theology, mysticism and general religious problems, as well as
Al-Ghazzali's famous so-called autobiography.
Now in all of Al-Ghazziili's works written during a long period
of time, dealing with various topics, and addressing different kinds
of audiences, Jesus appears usually in three different sets of context
only:
a) As the author of typical ~iifi-mystical sayings.
b) As a prophet who performed miracles, especially the raising of the
dead man (e.g. Eleazar - Lazarus) - usually while discussing the
relevance of miracles to the prophetic mission.
c) As an example of the belief in Ifulul - Incarnation, often together
with the famous mystics Al-Bistami ( d. 873) and Al-I:fallagj_
(d. 922).
Before saying a few words about these three categories I would
like to mention a fourth one, which has caused considerable misunder-
standing as to Al-Ghazzali's attitude towards Jesus 28).
Twice at least in his books Al-Ghazzali quotes the Islamic Creed,
the Shahada, in a most remarkable way with Jesus mentioned in the
second part instead of Muhammad: "There is no God but God, and
Jesus is his apostle" 29 ). However, he does it only in order to perform
"un exercice d' hygiene mentale" as Massignon put it very aptly, and
there is no evidence at all that Al-Ghazzali adopted any special attitude
towards the Christian belief in Jesus and in the Trinity as Asin
Palacios asserts. AI-Ghazzali, in the context of his discussion, only
argues against the lack of logic of his reader who seemed to think that
the whole sentence must be incorrect because it expressed Christian
ideas, whereas in reality this sentence did not contain anything which
could not be accepted by Muslims, who believe in one God and in

28) See L. Massignon, REI VI, 1932, p. 524.

29) See Al-Qustas al Mustaqim ( ed. V. Chelhot p. 68, and see Chelhot's French
translation ("La Balance Juste")-in Bulletin d'Etudes Orienta/es XV 1958, p. 62.
Cf. also Al-Munqir/ min Al-Dalal ( !) ("The Deliverer from Error") ed. F. Jabre
(Beyrouth 1959) text, p. 25, French transl. p. 81. Cf. also W. M. Watt's English
translation, The Faith and Practice of AI-Ghazall (London 1963), p. 39.

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Jesus among other prophets. Christians are considered infidels because

they believe in the Trinity and do not believe in Muhammad's apostle-
ship, but this does not mean that everything they say should be con-
sidered as false. Anyhow, we shall have to discard this quotation of
Al-Ghazzali's as having anything to do with the personality of Jesus
or the belief in him, although it certainly is very remarkable that
Al-Ghazzali chose this particular illustration for demonstrating illogical
thinking.
Let us now turn to the above mentioned three points. There is
no doubt that Jesus appears quite frequently in Al-Ghazzali:'s writings,
especially in those which deal with the .$iifi mystical doctrine. He is
called c1sa (Jesus) and Al-Masif.; and is quoted as an expert in the
.$iifi way of life, especially with regard to the principles of poverty
(faqr) and the contempt for this world. Al-Ghazzali of course follows
herein much trodden ways, as the whole of .$ii.fi literature abounds
with "quotations" from Jesus' sayings. Some of these sayings have in
fact their origin in the New Testament but most of them were attri-
buted to Jesus, as was the common usage in the I:Iadith and .$ii.fl
literature 30).
As for Jesus performing miracles - this is also a common notion
in Islamic litera.ture, mentioned already in the QurJan and mainly
based on legends which originated in the religious literature of Eastern
Christianity. Al-Ghazzali usually mentions the "revival of the dead"
(1/:-Jya al-Mawta) by Jesus 31 ) but his whole attitude towards miracles
is a very reserved one. Time and again he tries to prove, according to
an apologetic trend well known also in Christian theology, that no
miracle can be the sole proof for the truthfulness of any prophet. The
prophet's impressive personality is the main proof for his mission,
miracles only confirming this impression 32).
We are left, therefore, with only one point which might be related
to the idea of redemption: Al-Ghazzali' s discussion of the concept of
30 ) See Asin Palacios ( 1) "Influencias Evangelicas en la Literatura Religiosa de!
Islam" in Oriental Studies presented to E. G. Browne, Cambridge 1922, p. 8-27; (2)
Logia et Agrapha Domini Jesu Apud Moslemicos Scriptores. (Paris, 1916, reprinted
from PO XII, XIII).
31 ) See, for instance, AI-Iqti~ad fiJ!-JCtiqad (Cairo edition, no date), pp. 91-92;
Al-Munqitj (ed. F. Jabre) p. 32 (French translation p. 92) usually together with
Moses transforming the rod into a serpent, and Muhammad's cleaving the moon
(based on Sura 54, v. 1).
32 ) Cf. Al-Munqitj, ibid and pp. 43-44, 54 (French translation pp. 106-107, 120).
See also on this subject D. M. Macdonald, Life of Al-Ghazziili, JAOS XX, 1899,
p. 96 n. 1 and Cf. AI-Ghazzali, Tahiifut aJ-Falasifa (ed. M. Bouyges) p. 271 ff.
(English translation by S. A. Kamali, Lahore 1958, p. 185 ff.).

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 IS THERE A CONCEPT OF REDEMPTION IN ISLAM? 179

Incarnation (If.ulul). The subject is frequently mentioned in his writ-

ings, and seems to be the only Christian theological problem he knew
about. Usually Al-Ghazzali deals with this concept while discussing
different kinds of mystical rapture and exstatic utterances, which he
tries to explain away more than to discard completely, although, of
course, he condemns them more explicitly in books or part of books
meant for the general reader than in those addressed to the mystic
elite 33). Often he cites a famous verse (by the poet Al-Sal:iib ibn
cAbbad, d. 995) to explain the mystic's feeling that he has become
one with God:
"The glass is thin, the wine is clear,
The twain are alike, the matter is perplexed;
'tis as though there were wine and no wine glass there
Or as though there were wine glass and nought of wine" 34)
or quotes Al-J:Ialladj's well-known saying:
"I am whom I love :ind He whom I love is I
(We are two spirits immanent in one body)" 35)

as an example of a poetic, beautiful, but unreal metaphor.

In this context he deals sometimes also with the Christian concept
of Jesus, without revealing much knowledge or understanding of the
idea of Incarnation. Thus he says:
" . . . (and) The Christians ( much alike the mystics) erred with regard
to Jesus, peace be upon him, and said that he is God. Others maintain
that the Divine (lahiit) incarnated (literally-to put on a breast plate)
into human nature (nasiit)" 36)

33) See I. Goldziher, Al-Gaza/i's Sll'eitschrift gegen die Bafiniyya Sekte {Leiden
1916) p. 30 (or A. Badawi's edition of the whole book pp. 110-111); Mizan af-CAmal
(Cairo edition) p. 30, If;ya cu/um al-Din, first book (Cairo edition 1356 Hg.)
pp. 606-61. (See the English translation by N. A. Faris, Al-Ghazzali' s book on
Knowledge, Lahore 1962, p. 92), and al-Munqicj, (ed. F. Jabre) pp. 39-40 (transl.
P· 101). All these quotations prove that R. C. Zaehner's assumption that Al-Ghaz-
zali believed in lfuliil is wrong (cf. his Hindu and Muslim Mysticism, London 1960,
p. 163). Cf. also L. Massignon, in Der Islam 3, 1912, p. 251 ff.; Fritsch op. cit.
p. 123; R. A. Nicholson, op. cit. Chapter VI.
3 4 ) See Al-Maq~ad al-Asnii (Cairo ed.) p. 98 (Cf. also pp. 80-81, 95-100);
Mishkat al-Anwar (ed. CAfifi, Cairo 1964) p. 57 and Gairdner's English translation
(which is quoted here) in "The Niche for Lights", RAS, London, 1924, p. 61.
35 ) AI-Ghazzali's attitude towards Al-Hallam (like his attitude towards mysticism
as such) seems to be ambivalent and deserves further study. Cf. L. Massignon, La
Passion d'AI-Halladj, Paris, 1922, I pp. 370-371. A. J. Wensinck, "Ghazali's Mishkat
al-Anwar" (in Semitiesche Studien, Leiden 1941) p. 205; F. Jabre, La Notion de la
Certitude selon Al-Ghazzali (Paris 1958), p. 209. See also Zaehner, op. cit. p. 165.
36) If;ya cu/um Al-Din (Cairo edition 1956/7) part IV, Book 6 (Book of Love),

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180 HAVA LAZARUS-YAFEH

and that therefore Jesus is either God, the son of God or half of God
which, according to Al-Ghazzali, is of course impossible and even
absurd.
Leaving aside the details of Al-Ghazzali's rather primitive theolo-
gical discussion of If. uliil (Incarnation), let me stress in conclusion
once more the fact that nowhere in Al-Ghazzali's authentic writings is
there any trace to be found of Jesus as the Mahdi 37), or of the idea
of redemption of mankind, although the figure of Jesus appears quite
frequently and in different contexts. It seems that Islam, as I stated
at the beginning felt no need for redemption and therefore did not
develop this notion - neither in its beginning, in the Qur'an, nor in
its later theology, as e.g. in Al-Ghazzali's writings. If we do find in
Islam the concept of redemption, in various shapes and formulations -
as in the If.adith, in Shicite literature or among the mystics 38) -
we have to define these phenomena as marginal, transitory and certainly
not essential to Islam.
37 ) According to Snouck Hurgronje (op. cit. p. 167), Al-Ghazzali does not mention
the Mahdi at all ( although he mentions Jesus and the antichrist) because of the
political connotations which became associated with this concept.
38 ) Of course it would be impossible to mention here every Islamic phenomenon
which may be related in some way to the idea of redemption. Thus it has been
pointed out that the belief in Shafiica, Muhammad's intercession on behalf of Mus-
lim sinners on the Day of Judgement, could be considered as a kind of redemption.
It would be worthwhile also to scrutinize more closely and especially from this aspect
the ShiCite TaCziya ritual, a mourning passion play (having much in common with
the ancient worship of Tammuz !) commemorating Al-I;Iusain's death at Karbala in
660. Cf. also J. W. Sweetmann, Islam and Christian Theology I, 2, (London 1947),
p. 209 ff; R. Hartmann, "Der Sufyani", in Studia Orientalia loanni Pedersen Dicata,
1953, pp. 141-151; and B. Lewis, "The Regnal Titles of the First Abbasid Caliphs"
in Dr. Zakir Husain Presentation Volume and the bibliography mentioned there, esp.
in notes 4, 8, 10.

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