The reason Muslims do not accept this doctrine is that the word of God, the Qur'an, does not agree with it. The Qur'an teaches that God is ever willing to forgive anyone who turns to him in sincere repentance. We find in the Qur'an that God taught Adam and Eve how to seek His forgiveness. When they did as God taught them, God forgave them (see Qur'an 20:122).
Adam and Eve were created with the potential to do either good or evil. They had a free choice either to obey God or disobey Him. They did not realise how deceptive the devil was and so, prompted by him, they made one wrong choice. Will God remain forever angry with them over that one mistake? No! Instead, God taught them how to repair their relationship with Him by praying for forgiveness. Muslims still often recite the same prayer, as follows:
"Our Lord, we have wronged our souls. If you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, then surely we are lost" (Qur'an 7:23).
What we obtain from that incident is not original sin, but original forgiveness, and an original lesson on how to seek that forgiveness. God set the precedent that He will forgive those who turn to Him in sincere repentance. We will all find ourselves in a similar situation as Adam and Eve. The Prophet, on whom be peace, said that every child of Adam is a sinner, and the best of them are those who turn back to God in sincere repentance.
This shows that God does not demand absolute perfection from us humans. That would be an impossible demand, since God alone is absolutely perfect. To err is human. God wants us to know that he will accept us as we are, shortcomings and all, as long as we are trying our best to obey Him.
Even in our human situations, it is well understood that absolute perfection is not to be demanded from anyone. Suppose teachers were to demand that all students must score 100% on all their tests, and that if they make even one mistake they will not pass. No one of sound mind will demand this, for it is clearly beyond human capacity. Similarly, God does not demand from people what is beyond their capacity (see Qur'an 2:226).
Some will say that Adam was created perfect and that when he sinned he ruined that perfection. This suggestion makes no sense. If perfection meant that Adam had no ability to choose between good and evil, then how did he exercise that choice which he supposedly did not have? And if he had the ability to choose, as Muslims believe, then why would God remain forever angry with him for his first mistake? Humankind was then in its infancy. We needed someone to pick us up when we fall, not someone to bulldoze us with a tremendous burden of sin and guilt.
Some will say that God could not forgive Adam even if He wanted to do so, since God is Just and He must exact justice. This is as if to say that justice is contrary to mercy, and that God is so fenced in by His own law that He has no freedom to do what He wants to do. How silly! The truth is that God warns us of His punishment, but He also promises forgiveness for those who sincerely repent. If He decides to save sinners, who is there to say He cannot do what He wishes?
No. Muslims believe that every child is born in a pure, natural state. Left to their own, children will grow up instinctively seeking the one true God, Allah. However, environmental influences and parents turn a child away from the pure, natural state. A saying of the prophet, on whom be peace and the blessings of God, confirms this. It says that each child is born in a natural state just as, for example a baby animal is born without any brand on its body; then the owner brands it with his own mark. Similarly, parents too would give a newborn their own religious identity (see Sahib al-flukhari, Arabic-English, vol.8, no.597, and Sahih Muslim, Eng. Trans. vol 4, no.6423).
The saying "every child of Adam is a sinner means that every human being is a sinner, sin being an inevitable outcome of a fallible human nature. No matter how righteous a person is, he or she may at times disobeys God through ignorance or forgetfulness. The prophet, on whom be peace, meant to emphasize that the best person is the one who seeks forgiveness for his or her sins. Furthermore, he said that one who repents from sin is like one without sin. God says in the Qur'an that He will replace the evil deeds with good for those who repent, believe, and do righteous deeds (see Qur'an 25:70).
Another saying of the prophet indicates that God actually intended that humans will be a species that commit sins so they can turn to Him and He would forgive them . This is a much better explanation than the popular conception according to which God at first sees that humans are good, then God discovers that they are wicked and so, being sorry that He made them in the first place, God eventually decides to wipe them off the face of the earth; but then he changes His mind again and lets them eventually procreate and fill the earth although they are still sinful as ever. The better explanation is that God knew in advance that we would sin, and we turned out just the way God planned. God does not discover new things He knows everything always.
So, simply put, the Islamic belief is that people are not born in sin but they will eventually commit sins for which they should sincerely repent, and God will wipe out their sins. People do not inherit sins. Sin is something you do wrong. You couldn't have done anything before you were born, therefore you were born without sin. The Qur'an teaches that God does not hold us responsible for what others did before we were born, and no innocent person would carry the guilt of another (see Qur'an 4:111; 6:164). This coincides with our own sense of justice. No one considers it right to blame children for the sins of their ancestors, or to punish the innocent so that the guilty may go free.
Muslims have a very positive view of life and death. Life on earth is
temporary. Death is the door through which one enters into everlasting life.
Muslims do not see death as something scary or frightful. Death is the way one
returns to Allah.
God says in the Qur'an:
"Say: The angel of death, who has been given charge of you, will carry off your souls, Then to your Lord you shall all return" (Qur'an 32:11).
Muslims hopeful of God's mercy look forward to the day when God will address them as stated in the Qur'an:
"0 peaceful and fully satisfied soul, return to your Lord: you are well-pleased (with your good end) and well-pleasing (in the sight of your Lord). Join My (righteous) servants and enter my Paradise" (Qur'an 89: 27-30).
Viewed in this way, death becomes a joy for the true believer. This view of
death was further exptained in a saying of the Prophet, on whom be peace. He
said:
"Allah loves to meet whoever loves to meet Him."
It is true that no one likes to die. But the prophet, on whom be peace, said:
"When death comes to a believer, he is given good news of the pleasure of Allah and His gifts. There is then nothing dearer to him than what is ahead of him. So he loves to meet Allah, and Allah loves to meet him" (This was reported by Bukhari and Muslim).
This positive view of death should not imply a negative view of life. Life should be lived to its fullest, and believers should not wish for an end to their lives. The prophet said:
That no believer should wish for death, for, as long as there is life in you, if you are righteous, perhaps you may increase your good deeds, and if you are sinful, perhaps given time you may repent (reported by Bukhari).
God in His plan devised this earthly life as a temporary life. The earth is a
testing ground. Those who accept God's guidance in this life will be given
the abundance of God's grace in the next, the everlasting life. When God decreed
for humans to live on the earth. He declared:
"Henceforth there shall come to you guidance from Me now and again; whoever will follow it shall have neither fear nor sorrow, and whoever will refuse to accept it and defy Our Revelation, they shall be doomed to the Fire wherein they shall remain forever" (Qur'an 2:38-39).
Again, God says that He
"created life and death so that He may try you, which of you is best in conduct" (Qur'an 67:2).
God says further:
"Indeed We created man from a mixed drop to try him and therefore We made him capable of hearing and seeing. We showed him the way, whether to be grateful or disbelieving" (Qur'an 76:2-3; see also 90:8-1 0).
In this life we should use our God given faculties to learn and follow God's message. The Qur'an says that those who end up being punished for their sins will regret that they neither listened nor used their brains when God's message had reached them (see Qur'an 67:10).
Incidentally, in the Qur'an it is not said that God warned Adam and Eve of death if they ate from the forbidden tree. What God actually said to them was that if they ate from the tree they would become wrongdoers (see Qur'an 2:35). Given the Qur'anic viewpoint there is no reason to consider death as a consequence for sin.