Islam gives assurance through deeds and mercy

Deeds matter in Islam: “We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth” (21:47). “Those whose scales are heavy… will be the successful” (7:8).

But Islam does not teach that the scales alone decide. In a hadith recorded by al-Bukhari, the Prophet says, “The deeds of anyone of you will not save you (from the (Hell) Fire).” His companions ask, “Even you… O Allah’s Messenger?” He answers, “No, even I (will not be saved) unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy on me” (Bukhari 6463). Sahih Muslim records the same teaching. A Muslim does good deeds, repents, and hopes that God will be merciful.

Mercy runs through Islam. What it leaves open is whether a person can know that mercy will be given to them.

The Qur’an tells the Prophet to say, “I am not something original among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you” (46:9).

Sahih al-Bukhari records what happened when a companion named Uthman ibn Maz’un died. A woman who had cared for him said that God had surely honored him. The Prophet asked how she could know, and said, “By Allah, I too wish him good, but by Allah, I do not know what Allah will do with me though I am Allah’s Messenger.” She said that she never again declared anyone’s piety (Bukhari 1243).

That is not the whole picture. The Qur’an later tells the Prophet that God will “forgive for you what preceded of your sin and what will follow” (48:2), and Muslim tradition names ten companions who were promised Paradise during their lives. The Qur’an also speaks of a present peace: “by the remembrance of Allāh hearts are assured” (13:28). So Islam does not lack assurance altogether.

What it does not offer is that assurance for ordinary believers. Their hope rests on a judgment not yet given. Many Muslims see this as humility, and it is a serious kind. A sincere believer can hope and should not despair, but cannot know, because the final decision has not been made known. How sincere is sincere enough? What if hidden motives spoil a good deed? These are questions devout Muslims ask themselves, and Islam’s sources do not promise an answer before the Day of Judgment.

Islam and Christianity agree that God is both just and merciful. They differ on how the two meet.

In Islam, God is free to forgive whom he wills. The Qur’an says that, apart from associating partners with him, God “forgives what is less than that for whom He wills” (4:48). His mercy is his to give, and nothing outside it is needed.

Christians agree that God is free and that his mercy cannot be earned. But they believe that wrongdoing is a real debt, and that a just judge does not wave it away. They believe God showed mercy in a way that also upheld justice: Jesus, whom they believe to be God’s Son, died in the place of sinners and bore the judgment they deserved. Christians call this the atonement, from the idea of making things “at one” again between God and people.

Paul, an early follower of Jesus, put it this way: God did this “so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). To justify here means to declare someone in the right before God, as a judge acquits. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says he came “to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Whatever you make of the claim, this is why Christians say everything rests on the cross. It is where they believe God’s mercy and his justice meet.

Christian assurance is often misunderstood, by Christians as well as Muslims. It does not mean “I am good enough.” It means “what Jesus did is enough.” The New Testament says, “it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace here means favor that is not deserved.

Because the ground is outside the believer, the New Testament speaks of a confidence Islam does not offer: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). One letter says it was written “so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Jesus told a story that shows the attitude. A religious man prayed in the temple and thanked God that he was not like other men. A tax collector, despised as a sinner, stood at a distance and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Jesus said the second man “went home justified,” declared in the right before God (Luke 18:13-14). Christian assurance belongs to the tax collector. It is the confidence of a person who knows he has nothing to offer, and trusts that God has provided what he lacks.

The strongest Muslim concern is that this makes sin cheap. If Jesus has paid, why obey? The New Testament raises the same objection and rejects it: “Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1-2). Christians believe that a person who truly trusts Jesus is changed by God, and begins a life of repentance and obedience. The same letter that says salvation is “not by works” goes on to say that believers were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

The difference is in the order. Islam, too, teaches obedience out of love and gratitude to God, not only out of fear. But in Islam a believer obeys and hopes that God will be merciful at the end. In Christianity, a believer is forgiven first, and obedience is the response to a verdict already given. Christians often fail at this, and their failures are real. Even so, the obedience is meant to be the fruit of being forgiven, not its price.

All of this depends on something that can be investigated. Paul wrote that if Christ has not been raised, “your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Christian assurance is only as good as the events it rests on, which is why whether Jesus was crucified matters so much.