In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
What does Islam say about Original Sin?
Islam says that every soul is born sin free. When a child grows up and is
able to distinguish between right and wrong, sin and virtue and intentionally
does something wrong or commits a sinful act then he/she commits the first sin. Regarding this the Holy Qur'an states:
By the soul and He (God) Who perfected it and inspired it with knowledge of what is
wrong for it and what is right for it: indeed successful will be the one who purifies it,
and indeed unsuccessful will be the one who corrupts it! Al-Qur'an 91:7-10
Everyone will bear the burden of one's own sin and no one will be held for the sin of another:
Say: "Should I seek another Lord besides Allah when He is the Lord of everything?"
Every soul will reap the fruits of its own deeds; no bearer of burdens shall bear the
burden of another. Ultimately you will return to your Lord, and He will resolve
for you your disputes. Al-Qur'an 6:164
He that seeks guidance, that guidance shall be for his own soul, but he that goes astray
does so to his own loss. No bearer shall bear the burden of another (on the Day of
Judgment), We do not inflict punishment until We send forth a Messenger (to make
Al-Qur'an 17:15
Following is the prayer of Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, which they made, after they wre sent down on earth, seeking forgiveness for their sin of disobedience to God.
Our Lord! We have wronged our souls. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall certainly be among the losers.
When they repented, God forgave their sin of disobedience. The Holy Qur'an states:
But Satan (tempted them to disobey Allah's commandment) and caused them
to slip therefrom (paradise), and get them expelled from where they were. We
said: “Get down from here, some of you being enemies to others, and there is for
you in the earth an abode and provisions for a specified period.” Then Adam
received appropriate words from his Lord and repented, and (Allah) accepted his repentance. Surely, He is the acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful. Al-Qur’an 2:36-37
Islam says that all children that die before the age they could distinguish
between right and wrong shall enter Paradise. This is where Islam differs with Christianity:
The church holds that all unbaptized died, would go to hell. This was because
original sin the punishment that God inflicted on humanity because of Adam and Eve's disobedience had not been cleansed by baptism. Father Brian Harrison, a
theologian, that the clear “doctrine of the Catholic Church for two millennia
has been that wherever the souls of such infants do go, they definitely don't go to
heaven." BBC's Religion and Ethics Website
