II. THE ATTAINING OF SALVATION
SALVATION is to be attained or worked out by man, but
not in independence of God, His will, and His dealings
with mankind. The subject, thus, naturally divides itself
into two parts, and we shall first consider the teaching
of the Qur'an on the way of salvation, looking at it
from man's side, and thereafter we shall see what the
Qur'an has to say of this way of salvation, looking
at it, so to speak, from God's side. The Qur'anic doctrine
of salvation will be found in the harmonizing of these
two sides of Qur'anic teaching by what may be called
a system of give and take, and in the supplementing
of each by the other.
The purpose of God to save some precedes the actual
working out of man's salvation, but this salvation itself
is the result of the co-operation of the divine will
with the endeavour of man himself. It is only in so
far as man realizes this that he can work out his own
salvation, God working in and through him.
Before proceeding further we desire to state that
we do not in any way suggest that the order in which
we are about to consider the elements or steps in this
salvation is, as a matter of actual experience or necessarily,
that order in which they must historically be found
present in the experience of him who hopes to attain
unto salvation.
The first essential which we shall consider is faith.
He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and |