Most comparisons of forgiveness in the Quran and the Bible fail before they begin, because they compare a book with a library.
The Quran is a single text of 114 surahs in one language, and Muslims read it as the direct speech of God. "The Bible" names at least three different collections, in three ancient languages, read by two religions that do not share a canon, an order, or a set of interpretive assumptions. A sentence that starts "the Quran says X but the Bible says Y" has usually already decided which Bible, whose reading, and which of that reading's many internal positions counts.
Once the source sets are named, the genuine differences become sharper rather than softer. All three bodies of text describe a merciful God, ask for repentance, and take seriously what is owed to a person who was harmed. They diverge on whether forgiveness requires a mediator, on when the window for turning back closes, on whether God's forgiveness waits on yours, and on who is able to release a claim.
In brief: Define the sources first. This article compares the Quran, the Hebrew Bible as read in Judaism, and the New Testament as read in Christianity. All three name mercy as a divine attribute in strikingly similar language and all three tie forgiveness to repentance and to repair with the person harmed. They differ on mediation—mainstream Christian theology locates forgiveness in Christ's atoning death, while the Quran states that no soul bears another's burden and Jewish sources after the Temple locate it in teshuvah without an intermediary. They also differ on whether forgiving others is a stated condition of being forgiven.
One text, in Arabic, of 114 surahs, in the standard Cairo verse numbering. Muslims regard it as the direct, unaltered speech of God delivered to Muhammad, which is why translations are conventionally described as interpretations rather than as the Quran itself.
This article quotes M. A. S. Abdel Haleem's English throughout so that the rendering is consistent and checkable. It reads Quranic verses only—not ḥadīth, not the major commentaries, and not the legal literature, each of which would extend the picture considerably. The Quranic forgiveness deep dive sets out that vocabulary in detail.
The Quran also makes its own claim about the other collection under discussion. It names the tawrāt (Torah) and the injīl (Gospel) as revealed scripture, and calls Jews and Christians ahl al-kitāb, People of the Book. Muslim tradition generally holds that the texts now in circulation have been altered or misread, a position discussed under the term taḥrīf. That framing is reported here because it shapes how many Muslim readers approach the comparison. It is not adjudicated here, and neither is the Jewish or Christian counter-position.
Not one thing. The three biblical canons differ in contents, and the difference is not marginal.
Bible Odyssey's explanation of the difference between the Old Testament, the Tanakh, and the Hebrew Bible makes the more important point: the shared books are not read the same way. Calling the Tanakh "the Old Testament" already frames it as the first half of a Christian story.
So this article uses three columns, not two:
That third column needs its own warning. "Christianity says" is safe for very little here. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions locate the application of forgiveness differently, and this article says which is which.
|
Question |
Quran |
Hebrew Bible as read in Judaism |
New Testament as read in Christianity |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Who forgives? |
God, described by several names of mercy and forgiveness |
God, described in the same register; Exodus 34:6–7 is the anchor text |
God; the Gospels also present Jesus forgiving sins, which Mark 2:7 frames as a claim about who he is |
|
Is a mediator involved? |
No. 6:164: no soul bears another's burden |
Temple sacrifice while the Temple stood; after 70 CE, teshuvah, prayer, and deeds, without an intermediary |
Mainstream theology: Christ's atoning death (Romans 3:24–25, Hebrews 9:22). Catholic and Orthodox practice adds sacramental confession; most Protestants do not |
|
What is repentance called? |
tawba — turning back |
teshuvah — returning |
metanoia — a change of mind or turning |
|
Does the window close? |
Yes. 4:17–18: not at the point of death, and not while defiant |
Yom Kippur is annual and the Days of Awe are its season; Ezekiel 18:21–23 stresses that the turn is always available in life |
Widely held to be available throughout life; traditions differ on death, judgment, and any intermediate state |
|
Must the harmed person be dealt with first? |
Repentance is repeatedly paired with aṣlaḥa, making amends (5:39) |
Yes, explicitly. Mishnah Yoma 8:9: Yom Kippur does not atone until the offender appeases the person wronged |
Matthew 5:23–24 requires reconciliation before the offering; Luke 19:8 shows restitution offered voluntarily |
|
Is forgiving others a condition of being forgiven? |
Urged by analogy, not stated as a condition (24:22) |
For interpersonal offences, the wronged party's forgiveness is what completes the process |
Stated as a condition at Matthew 6:14–15; Luke 17:3–4 conditions it on the offender's repentance |
|
Are enemies included? |
Commended and rewarded (41:34, 42:40), with self-defence protected at 42:41 |
Concrete duties toward an enemy (Exodus 23:4–5, Proverbs 25:21) without a general command to love enemies |
Commanded at Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27, grounded in imitation of God |
|
What happens to the victim's claim? |
Held by the aggrieved party, who may pardon while compensation is still paid (2:178) |
Held by the wronged person; Maimonides requires restitution and appeasement, repeatedly if necessary |
Restitution appears (Luke 19:8) but the New Testament does not systematise it; later traditions differ |
The table is a map of where each source locates its answer. It is not a scorecard, and none of its rows supports a claim that one tradition forgives more readily than another.
Exodus 34:6–7 gives the Hebrew Bible's central self-description of God: "a Deity compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness… forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment." Psalm 103:8–14 restates it and adds an image of distance: "As east is far from west, so far have our sins been removed from us."
Set that beside the Quran's opening formula—"the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy" (1:1)—and 6:12, where God "has taken it upon Himself to be merciful," and the family resemblance is unmistakable. Both bodies of text pair abundant mercy with real accountability in the same sentence rather than choosing between them. Micah 7:18–20 does the same in miniature.
Teshuvah, metanoia, and tawba are all built on the idea of turning or returning. Isaiah 55:7 asks the wicked to "give up their ways… turn back to God." Ezekiel 18:21–23 insists God does not desire the death of the wicked "but rather that they shall turn back from their ways and live." The Quran's 25:70 promises that God will change the repentant person's bad deeds into good ones. None of the three treats a formula of words as sufficient.
This is the strongest convergence, and the least discussed.
Numbers 5:5–7 requires confession plus restitution of the principal "and add one-fifth to it, giving it to the one who was wronged." Leviticus 5:20–26 makes the same demand for fraud and false swearing, with the payment preceding the offering. Mishnah Yoma 8:9 states the principle: "for transgressions between a person and God, Yom Kippur atones; however, for transgressions between a person and another, Yom Kippur does not atone until he appeases the other person." Maimonides, in Mishneh Torah, Repentance 2:9, spells out the procedure and adds a striking reversal: if the wronged party refuses forgiveness after three approaches, "the person who refuses to grant forgiveness is the one considered as the sinner."
Matthew 5:23–24 puts the same priority in the language of the Temple: "leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled." Luke 19:8 has Zacchaeus volunteer fourfold repayment.
The Quran pairs repentance with _aṣlaḥa_—making amends—at 5:39, 2:160, and 24:5, and pairs pardon with the same verb at 42:40.
Three source sets, three vocabularies, one insistence: a private turn toward God does not close an account held by another human being.
This is the deepest divergence, and it is not a matter of emphasis.
Mainstream Christian theology holds that divine forgiveness is made available through Christ's death. Romans 3:24–25 describes believers "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood." Hebrews 9:22 states that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." Ephesians 4:32 makes the pattern normative for believers: forgive "as God in Christ has forgiven you."
The Quran states the opposite principle directly. 6:164: "each soul is responsible for its own actions; no soul will bear the burden of another." Forgiveness in 4:110 runs from the person to God with nothing in between.
Jewish sources hold a third position that is neither. The Temple sacrificial system did mediate atonement for defined categories while the Temple stood; Leviticus 16:30 is its Yom Kippur charter. After 70 CE the rabbinic tradition located atonement in teshuvah, prayer, and deeds without an intermediary—which is why Jonah 3:10, where God relents at Nineveh's turning with no sacrifice mentioned, is read as a Yom Kippur text.
Flattening any of these into the others removes the actual disagreement.
Matthew 6:14–15 is unusually blunt: "if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." The Lord's Prayer builds the same reciprocity into its petition at 6:12.
The Quran's 24:22 argues from the same intuition without legislating it: "let them pardon and forgive. Do you not wish that God should forgive you?" It is a question put to the wronged person, not a stated condition on divine forgiveness.
Jewish sources reach the requirement from a different direction. Divine forgiveness is not made contingent on the injured party's magnanimity in general; rather, an offence against a person is not settled by God's forgiveness at all until the person is appeased.
A recent peer-reviewed study of how theologians and lay believers in the three traditions describe divine forgiveness found this among its clearest points of divergence, alongside broad agreement that God's mercy exceeds God's justice (Paleari et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2025). That study describes how communities articulate their beliefs; it is not an exegetical authority, and its Christian sample reflects a largely Catholic setting.
The New Testament contains both answers, which is worth stating plainly rather than resolving. Matthew 18:21–22 answers "how often should I forgive?" with "seventy-seven times" and no stated condition. Luke 17:3–4 attaches one: "if a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive."
The Quran's interpersonal verses generally commend pardon without requiring the offender's repentance (3:134, 42:37, 64:14), while attaching repentance to God's forgiveness of that person.
Jewish sources place the weight on the offender's obligation to seek forgiveness, and on the wronged party's obligation not to withhold it unreasonably once it is sought.
Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27 issue a general command to love enemies, grounded at Matthew 5:45 in imitation of a God who "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good."
The Hebrew Bible contains concrete duties toward an enemy—return their wandering ox, help raise their fallen donkey (Exodus 23:4–5), feed them when hungry (Proverbs 25:21)—without generalising to a command to love enemies as such. Leviticus 19:17–18 forbids hatred, vengeance, and grudge-bearing, and commands love of the fellow.
The Quran commends the equivalent conduct and promises what it can produce: "repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an old and valued friend" (41:34). It also protects the wronged from a duty of endurance, at 42:41.
A command, a set of duties, and a commended practice with a stated limit are three different things.
The Quran locates the pardon of a homicide claim in the aggrieved family, with compensation still passing "in a good way" (2:178), and treats waiving an injury claim as an act of merit (5:45).
Jewish sources locate it in the wronged person, and Maimonides makes even a wholly verbal offence require direct appeasement.
Christian traditions differ internally. Catholic and Orthodox practice includes sacramental confession and absolution for the sinner's relation to God, which does not remove the obligation of restitution but does add a channel most Protestant traditions do not have. Presenting confession as "the Christian view" misdescribes a large part of Christianity.
Both scriptures narrate Joseph forgiving the brothers who sold him, and the two versions show how the same event carries different weight.
Genesis 50:15–21 has the brothers fear retaliation after Jacob's death. Joseph weeps and answers: "Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God? Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result—the survival of many people."
The Quran's 12:92 puts it in a single line: "You will hear no reproaches today. May God forgive you: He is the Most Merciful of the merciful."
Both refuse retaliation. Both defer to God. But Genesis makes the refusal turn on providence reinterpreting the harm, while the Quranic Joseph waives the reproach and refers the brothers to God's forgiveness rather than to a purpose the harm served. Two sentences, one story, and a real difference in where the resolution is placed. Neither version is a summary of the other.
The comparison has to name a canon and a reading community before it can proceed. This article's opening section exists for that reason.
Describing Judaism through the Christian Old Testament, or through what the New Testament says about its opponents, produces a caricature with a long and damaging history. Where a Jewish position is stated here it is stated from Jewish sources—the Mishnah and Maimonides—not inferred from a Christian text.
"Which religion forgives more?" cannot be answered from texts, because the traditions are not answering the same question. One is describing what makes forgiveness possible, another what completes it, another what it costs the one who grants it.
Quoting Matthew 5:44 against the history of Muslim empires, or 41:34 against the Crusades, compares two different kinds of evidence. Ideals and institutional records are both real; they are not interchangeable.
Ḥesed, raḥma, eleos, and English "mercy" overlap without being equivalent. So do teshuvah, tawba, and metanoia. The overlap is what makes the comparison possible; the remainder is what makes it worth doing.
Before setting any two passages side by side:
This is the general method from the guide to comparing religions without flattening their differences, tightened for scriptures that share prophets, stories, and vocabulary—the case where flattening is easiest.
No. They converge on divine mercy, on repentance as a turn rather than a formula, and on the duty to repair harm with the person you wronged. They diverge on mediation—Christian theology locates forgiveness in Christ's atoning death, while the Quran states that no soul bears another's burden—and on whether forgiving others is a stated condition of being forgiven.
Mediation. Romans 3:24–25 and Hebrews 9:22 present forgiveness as made available through Christ's death; Quran 6:164 states that "no soul will bear the burden of another," and 4:110 describes a person asking God directly. This is a difference in mechanism, not merely in emphasis.
Not since the Temple's destruction in 70 CE. The sacrificial system mediated atonement for defined categories while the Temple stood, and Leviticus 16:30 remains the charter for Yom Kippur. Rabbinic Judaism locates atonement in teshuvah, prayer, and deeds, with no human intermediary required.
It commends and rewards forgiveness strongly—41:34, 42:40, 42:43—without making it obligatory in every case. 42:41 explicitly protects a person who defends themself after being wronged. The New Testament's Matthew 5:44 issues a command with a different grammar.
Matthew 6:14–15 says exactly that: "if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Luke 17:3–4 adds a condition on the other side, requiring the offender's repentance. Christian traditions weigh these passages differently, and neither is the whole New Testament position.
All three source sets do. Numbers 5:5–7 requires the principal plus a fifth paid to the one wronged. Mishnah Yoma 8:9 holds that Yom Kippur does not atone for offences against another person until that person is appeased. Matthew 5:23–24 requires reconciliation before the offering, and the Quran pairs repentance with making amends at 5:39.
The Quran names the Torah and the Gospel as revealed scripture and calls Jews and Christians People of the Book. Muslim tradition generally holds that the texts now in circulation have been altered or misread, a position discussed under the term taḥrīf. Jewish and Christian traditions do not accept that account, and this article does not adjudicate between them.
Set the Quran and the Bible side by side without naming the canon, the reading community, and the translation, and you will produce a comparison of two labels. The result feels informative and settles nothing, because each label is doing the work of a dozen positions.
Name them, and something better becomes possible. You can see that Exodus 34:6–7 and the opening formula of the Quran are describing God in almost the same register. You can see that Numbers 5, Mishnah Yoma, Matthew 5, and Quran 5:39 all refuse to let a private turn toward God settle a debt owed to a person. And you can see, with the same clarity, that Romans 3 and Quran 6:164 are not two ways of saying one thing.
Read the Quranic forgiveness deep dive for the Arabic vocabulary behind the first column.
Then open Plurilore with the Islam and Christianity source guides in view, select both traditions, and ask your question about a passage rather than about a religion.
