# Why Can’t God Just Forgive? > Qur’an 4:48 says God does not forgive shirk, and 39:53 calls sinners to his mercy. Romans 3:26 says God is just and the justifier through Christ. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/why-cant-god-just-forgive - Religions: Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: islam, forgiveness, cross, salvation - Updated: 2026-10-19 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) God does forgive, and he does not do it by calling guilt innocence. [Qur’an 4:48](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) says Allah does not forgive association with him, and that he forgives what is less than that for whom he wills. [Romans 3:26](/bible/romans/3/26) says God set forth Jesus so that he might be just, and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus. The cross is how mercy and justice stand in the same act. [Is the Atonement Unjust?](/christianity/is-the-atonement-unjust) answers the charge that a substitute is unfair, from Ezekiel 18 and Qur’an 6:164. [Original Sin and Forgiveness](/islam/original-sin-and-forgiveness) is fitrah beside Romans 5. This page is the other question: why forgiveness is not a bare decision to ignore the debt. ## Key Points - [Qur’an 4:48](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) says Allah does not forgive shirk, and that he forgives lesser sins for whom he wills. [Qur’an 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53) tells the servants who have transgressed not to despair of Allah’s mercy, because he forgives all sins. - [Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) says the verse calls sinners to repent, and that it cannot mean sins are forgiven without repentance, because shirk is forgiven for the one who repents of it. - [Exodus 34:6–7](/bible/exodus/34/6) proclaims the LORD merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, and says he will by no means clear the guilty. - [Proverbs 17:15](/bible/proverbs/17/15) says the one who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the LORD. [Romans 3:26](/bible/romans/3/26) says God is just and the justifier. - [Hebrews 9:22](/bible/hebrews/9/22) says that under the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. [Isaiah 53:6](/bible/isaiah/53) says the LORD laid on the servant the iniquity of us all. - [Salvation by Scales or by Grace?](/islam/salvation-by-scales-or-by-grace) is the Islamic picture of the balance. [What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-salvation) is grace. ## Mercy in the Qur’an, and What Ibn Kathir Said It Requires [Qur’an 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53), Saheeh International: > Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” The brackets around “by sinning” are the translators’ supply. The invitation is to servants who have transgressed. [Qur’an 4:48](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) draws a line inside that mercy: “Indeed, Allāh does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.” [Qur’an 4:116](https://quran.com/an-nisa/116) repeats the sentence. Mercy in these verses is real, and it is not a promise that every guilt, including shirk, is simply cancelled. [Ibn Kathir on 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) says, “This Ayah is a call to all sinners, be they disbelievers or others, to repent and turn to Allah.” The same comment says Allah “will forgive all the sins of those who repent to Him and turn back to Him, no matter what or how many his sins are, even if they are like the foam of the sea.” Then it refuses the reading that skips repentance: “This cannot be interpreted as meaning that sins will be forgiven without repentance, because Shirk can only be forgiven for the one who repents from it.” Ali bin Abi Talhah’s report of Ibn Abbas, as Ibn Kathir prints it, says Allah invites to his forgiveness those who claim that the Messiah is God and those who claim that the Messiah is the son of God, and it quotes the call to turn in repentance. The tafsir does not set 39:53 against 4:48. It reads “all sins” as the sins of the one who turns. That is a fair Muslim account of mercy. Forgiveness is God’s, it is wide, and the commentary ties it to turning from shirk. The page that asks whether a person can bear another’s burden is [Is the Atonement Unjust?](/christianity/is-the-atonement-unjust). The question here is the one those verses still leave open: when God forgives, does he clear the guilty, or does he deal with the guilt? ## Just, and the Justifier [Exodus 34:6–7](/bible/exodus/34/6) is the LORD’s own proclamation of his name. He is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. The same proclamation says he “will by no means clear the guilty.” Mercy and the refusal to clear guilt are one speech. A forgiveness that only cancelled the record, and left the guilt uncleared, would cut the verse in half. [Proverbs 17:15](/bible/proverbs/17/15) says, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” Justifying the wicked is named beside condemning the just. Both are abominations. If God declared sinners righteous and did nothing about the sin, the proverb would call that an abomination in the LORD himself. [Romans 3:23–26](/bible/romans/3) says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that sinners are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood, “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” The point of the propitiation is that God remains just in the act of justifying. [Hebrews 9:22](/bible/hebrews/9/22) says that under the law almost all things are purged with blood, “and without shedding of blood is no remission.” The verse is about the copies in the tabernacle, and the chapter goes on to the blood of Christ. [Isaiah 53:5–6](/bible/isaiah/53) says the servant was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, and that “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” [Who Is the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53?](/christianity/who-is-the-suffering-servant-in-isaiah-53) is that chapter. The servant bears iniquity the LORD laid on him. That is not God pretending the sin was never there. [Does Allah Love Sinners?](/islam/does-allah-love-sinners) quotes the Qur’an on whom Allah loves. The Christian claim is that the love and the justice meet in the Son, who is God, laying down his life. Jesus is God. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Why Did Jesus Have to Die? [Romans 3:25–26](/bible/romans/3) says God set him forth as a propitiation in his blood so that God might be just and the justifier. [Isaiah 53:6](/bible/isaiah/53) says the LORD laid our iniquity on the servant. The death is how guilt is borne, not a spectacle added after a pardon that needed nothing. ### Why Does God Require Blood for Forgiveness? [Hebrews 9:22](/bible/hebrews/9/22) says that without shedding of blood there is no remission, in the sentence about the law’s purgings. The chapter’s claim is that Christ’s blood does what the copies could not finish. ### Can Allah Forgive Without a Sacrifice? [Qur’an 4:48](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) says he forgives what is less than shirk for whom he wills, and that he does not forgive association with him. [Ibn Kathir on 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) says the wide promise is for those who repent, and that shirk is forgiven for the one who repents of it. The Qur’an states mercy. It does not say God clears the guilty by leaving the guilt unpaid. [Exodus 34:7](/bible/exodus/34/7) says he will by no means clear the guilty, in the same breath as forgiving iniquity. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Qur’an 4:48 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) > Indeed, Allāh does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allāh has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. ### Romans 3:26 King James Version. > To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ### Qur’an 39:53 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53) > Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." ### Ibn Kathir on Qur’an 39:53 Abridged English on Quran.com. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) > This Ayah is a call to all sinners, be they disbelievers or others, to repent and turn to Allah. This cannot be interpreted as meaning that sins will be forgiven without repentance, because Shirk can only be forgiven for the one who repents from it. ### Exodus 34:6 King James Version. > And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ### Hebrews 9:22 King James Version. > And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. ### Isaiah 53:6 King James Version. > All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. ### Qur’an 4:116 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/an-nisa/116) > Indeed, Allāh does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allāh has certainly gone far astray. ### Romans 3:23–26 King James Version. > [3:23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [3:24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: [3:25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [3:26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ### Isaiah 53:5–6 King James Version. > [53:5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [53:6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. ### Romans 3:25–26 King James Version. > [3:25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [3:26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ### Exodus 34:7 King James Version. > Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. ### Exodus 34:6–7 King James Version. > [34:6] And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, [34:7] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Qur'an, 4:48; 39:53](https://quran.com/an-nisa/48) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. Words in square brackets are part of that translation. The link is 4:48.) 2. [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 39:53](https://quran.com/az-zumar/53/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) (Abridged English published on Quran.com.) 3. [Letter to the Romans, 3:23–26](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/romans/3). King James Version 4. [Book of Exodus, 34:6–7](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/exodus/34). King James Version 5. [Book of Proverbs, 17:15](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/proverbs/17/15). King James Version 6. [Letter to the Hebrews, 9:22](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/hebrews/9/22). King James Version 7. [Book of Isaiah, 53:5–6](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/isaiah/53). King James Version ## See Also - [Is the Atonement Unjust?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/is-the-atonement-unjust) — No. Ezekiel 18:20 and Qur’an 6:164 say guilt is personal. The Son lays down his life himself. That is not a bystander seized by a court. - [Does Allah Love Sinners?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/does-allah-love-sinners) — The Qur’an says Allah loves those who do good and does not like disbelievers. Romans 5:8 says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. - [Original Sin in Islam and Christianity: Fitrah and the Fall](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/original-sin-and-forgiveness) — Bukhari 1358 says every child is born on the natural faith. Qur’an 2:37 says Adam’s Lord accepted his repentance. Romans 5 says death spread to all. - [Qur’an 46:9: Did Muhammad Know He Was Saved?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/assurance-of-salvation-quran-46-9) — Qur’an 46:9 has Muhammad say he does not know what will be done with him. 1 John 5:13 says believers may know they have eternal life. - [Salvation by Scales of Deeds or by Grace?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/salvation-by-scales-or-by-grace) — Qur’an 7:8–9 weighs deeds on scales. Qur’an 39:53 says God forgives all sins. Ephesians 2:8–9 says salvation is by grace through faith, not of works.