Does the concept of grace exist in Islam like it does in Christianity?

Question

In Christianity, God's grace is what allows us to have a relationship with him. He gives us what we don't deserve like righteousness, life, and in the ultimate example his own son, in spite of our sin so that we might finally have eternal peace with him. And in light of God's grace Christians are expected give grace to others.

This grace is different than mercy. From the divine perspective, mercy is not getting punished for what you deserve whereas grace is being blessed even when you don't deserve it. So for the Christian who is called to give grace like God, we're expected to do good to others even when they don't deserve it (and especially to those of the household of faith).

Does this concept also exist in Islam, and if so does it exist in the same way? I know Allah is described as merciful (Ar-Rahman) but mercy isn't quite as far reaching as grace according to the definitions above.

Answer 1

I did not find a clear definition of grace (of Christianity). But, I can try relating different aspects of the definition I found in wiki to that of Islam from mostly from Qur'an.

Grace in Christianity is the free and unmerited favour of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings

analogous to

So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? [Qur'an 55:13]

The whole Chapter Ar-Rahman sets the context of that one line which is highly repeated.

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Common Christian teaching is that grace is unmerited mercy (favor) that God gave to humanity by sending his son to die on a cross, thus delivering eternal salvation.

analogous to

Indeed, in this [Qur'an] is notification for a worshipping people. And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds. [Qur'an 21:106-107]

implying God sent Muhammad as a prophet (not as son) to remind everyone, even those who don't deserve. But, the reminder / blessings will be taken only by those who fear. But, definitely no concept of son's sacrifice in Islam.

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And the child (Jesus) grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. [Luke 2:40]

the same thing in Qur'an

And when Jesus brought clear proofs, he said, "I have come to you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that over which you differ, so fear Allah and obey me. [Qur'an 43:63]

analogous to

And We gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - all [of them] We guided. And Noah, We guided before; and among his descendants, David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward the doers of good. [Qur'an 6:84]

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In this example (of Luke 2:40 above) when using the definition of grace to mean unmerited favor it does not make sense, to some, that the sinless Christ would need this..... This at its root means literally Christ dispenses Gods grace from himself.

There is nothing like that in Islam.

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Equally some say, how can one fall short of grace? (Galatians 5:4) or meekness attract it and pride repel it (James 4:6) if it is unmerited.

The answer to this is,

...For indeed, Allah sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills....[Qur'an 35:8]

And the solution is given as, one should remember God as much as he can.

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Concluding,

Alternatively Bill Gothard has suggested "God's grace gives us the desire and the power to do his will.

If I understood it right, irrespective of what you believe God's grace is, I can best relate it to the term 'guidance' which is frequently used in the Qur'an.

Answer 2

There are several words related to mercy in Quran that don't have exact translations in English and all are translated to mercy but are not really the same.

Two of major names of God related to mercy in Quran are Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim. Typically Ar-Rahman is interpreted to mean the merciful towards all beings while Ar-Rahim is interpreted to mean the merciful towards the righteous. The forgiving of sins is related to other names like Al-Ghafir (الغافر) and Afv (عفوا).

According to Quran God's mercy is all-encompassing in this world. For example, verse 7:155 God responds to Moses as follows:

وَٱكْتُبْ لَنَا فِى هَـٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًۭ وَفِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ إِنَّا هُدْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ۚ قَالَ عَذَابِىٓ أُصِيبُ بِهِۦ مَنْ أَشَآءُ ۖ وَرَحْمَتِى وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَىْءٍۢ ۚ فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

[Moses said:] "And write for us in this world that which is good and in the hereafter, for we have been guided towards you."
[God] said: "My punishment is inflicted upon whom I will; and my mercy extends towards all beings. Thus I will write it [in hereafter] for those who act mindfully and give alms and those who believe in our signs.

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No one deserves to be blessed by themselves, neither in Islam (see e.g. verse 20:21) nor in Christianity (see e.g. the Book of Job in the Old Testament) as far as I understand.

For some verses in Quran with the theme of being good to others even when they are not good towards you see verses 13:22, 24:22, 42:40, and 64:14. I think 24:22 is quite close to what you say in regards to being good towards others as God is towards us.

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Regarding the original sin, according to Quran the original sin was already forgiven when Adam apologized. Therefore the original sin doesn't play much role in Islam. There is no need for some special arrangements for God to be able to forgive a sin. In Quran's view, Adam was destined to be sent to Earth from the start to act as viceroy of God (خليفة الله). For more information see verses 2:29-39.

Answer 3

In Islam the great and only lord "Allah" have mentioned that he is closer to us than our eyelashes and we can ask for anything we need directly from him rather than someone else. This shows that god is merciful and gives us whatever is right and good for us. He doesn't look at it whether we deserve it or not. And we believe that anything wrong that happens or right is from Allah and everything wrong has something "right" behind it because god is never harming us. And our relation with god is only us being generated by him and we must always do as per his directions. Of cours Allah is graceful, when something harmful is going to happen to us, like accidents but as per god's grace we are safe that's how Allah shows his grace to us. In Arabic its called Fazel the one who is graceful. And merciful is Rahman in Arabic. Hope I have helped you somehow.

Answer 4

In Islam, no one deserves anything, Allah first gifts His creatures with a talentive state, so that they will have requests, then will respond back their needs by mercy. The evolution from existing in posse toward completion is wholely based on Him being the Most Gracious (Ar-Rahman: الرحمن) and the Most Merciful (Ar-Raheem: آلرحیم).

... as far as I have understood

Answer 5

Short answer: yes: "fa azallahum al shaytan"...the satan made them fall...from what? from the state of bliss that they were in by being allowed to be in the garden to eat of whatever was therein except "this tree."