توبة
Tawba
Topic
In Islam sins are forgiven by God on repentance, without a blood sacrifice or the suffering of another.
What it means
“God accepts repentance from His servants and pardons sins” (42:25). “No bearer of burdens bears the burden of another” (6:164), and each person receives what he strives for (53:38–41). Of the sacrifice at Eid the Quran says “their flesh and blood do not reach God; it is your piety that reaches Him” (22:37).
Often misunderstood as
That without a blood atonement Islam has no way of forgiving sin.
What the sources say
A hadith qudsi reported in al-Tirmidhi has God saying: “O son of Adam, if you came to Me with sins as large as the earth and met Me without associating anything with Me, I would meet you with forgiveness as large.” The conditions of repentance are to stop, to regret, to resolve not to return, and to put right any wrong done to another.