CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - As we discussed in our prior article on Muhammad, the Church warns  that "[t]he doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the 'reverse side' of the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. The Church, which has the mind of Christ, knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ." (CCC § 389)

Unfortunately, Muhammad, animated by the spirit of antichrist, had the audacity to "tamper with the revelation of original sin." In so doing, Muhammad defaced the reverse side of that Gospel coin.  To Muhammad's eternal demerit, he rejected any ontological flaw in himself and in mankind arising from the loss of supernatural grace, rejected any need in himself and mankind to be redeemed and saved, and rejected Jesus as "the source of grace," the sanctifying grace which heals mankind and saves it from the tragedy it inherited from Adam.

As a result of Muhammad's errant guidance, in Islam there is no concept of "sanctifying grace," which is also known as "deifying grace" or "habitual grace."  (CCC §§ 1999-2000, 2023-24)  Sanctifying grace is a supernatural gift, given to us by the merciful God, which makes us sharers in a manner (by participation) in God's own nature.  It is one of the most beautiful of gifts.

Sanctifying grace is what heals us of sin and saves us. It is what makes us new creatures in Christ.  (2 Cor. 5:17)   It is what makes us pleasing to God.  (CCC 1992)  In the beautiful words of the Council of Trent, sanctifying grace makes us to be even friends and domestics of God, as it takes us out of enmity into friendship, ex inimico amicus. (cf. Wis. 7:14; John 15:5)  It is what makes us holy.  It is the source of the infused cardinal virtues and theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It is what obtains for us, through the merits of Jesus' passion and death on the Cross, eternal life.  It is what makes us adopted "children of God," filii in filio, sons in the Son.  (Rom. 8:15; 1 John 3:1)  It is what makes us "sharers in the divine nature."  (2 Pet. 1:4).  It is in fact how God makes his abode in us as temples of the Holy Spirit.  (John 14:23; 1 Cor. 6:19)  It makes us joint heirs with Christ.  (Rom. 8:17)  It is what makes any of our acts pleasing to God.  (1 Cor. 13:1-3)  It confers supernatural brightness and beauty to the human soul, as the Roman Catechism puts it.  It is, in short, the pearl of great price.  (Matt. 13:46)

It is what Adam lost.  It is what Jesus regained.

But Muhammad appears to have been oblivious to the concept of sanctifying grace.  Muhammad knew not what Adam lost.  He knew not what Jesus regained.

As Fr. Joseph Kenny, O.P. observes, "[i]n Islam there is none of the Christian 'new life,' 'regeneration,' or 'sanctifying grace.'"  The reason for this is simple.  In Muhammad's alleged revelations, there was no sanctifying grace that Adam lost as a result of his Fall (because he never had it).  As a consequence, there is no sanctifying grace that Jesus needed to regain. 

For Muhammad, Fr. Kenny states, "[t]here is only fitra, the natural man as God created him, distinguished only by piety (taqwa) or adherence by faith to the covenant (mithaq) with Adam and his descendants." 

Oh Muhammad!  How is it that you, who claimed to be a prophet, failed to hear the words of Jesus: "If only you knew the gifts of God"?  (cf. John 4:10)   How could you have been so blind to this foundational gift without which anything else is nothing?  Are you not a blind guide, leading the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, do they not fall into the ditch?  (Matt. 15:14)

In Muhammad's view, man was never a resident of a three-storied mansion of pure nature, preternature, and supernature, and was never promised a return to it after his eviction from it.  For Muhammad, man was created by God in a basement, as is, ...