The Effect of Intellect and Faith on the Human Salvation and Redemption From the Viewpoint of the Qur’ān and the New Testament

One of the main theological issues in the divine religions regards redemption and salvation. From the viewpoint of Islam, although God is redeemer, the human might receive the divine redeeming through his own volition and active role. The Qur’ān emphasizes the role of the human on the attainment of salvation, and states that he should seriously obey the divine commands in order to achieve salvation and should use all his faculties – including intellect – to finally attain salvation and redemption. In Christianity, redemption/salvation relies on the belief in Messiah who has provided the human with salvation. Christians believe that the human is the prisoner of sin and death, and cannot redeem himself; therefore, God embodied Himself as Messiah and got sacrificed to compensate for the human sin and to free him from the prison of sin. It is emphasized in the New Testament that having faith in Messiah is the factor for the human redemption. This study provides responses to some questions, including “How the effect of intellect and belief on the human salvation and redemption is expressed in the Qur’ān and the New Testament?” and “Whose teachings and beliefs rely more on intellect: Islam or Christianity?” According to the findings of this study, the majority of teachings in this regard (e.g., Unity, Trinity, and Embodiment) in the New Testament rely only on faith rather than intellectual arguments, while the related qur’ānic beliefs are based on intellect and faith.