Short answer
By returning to God (﷾), and on this Judaism and Islam agree. The prophet Hosea told Israel to "take with you words" and return to the LORD. The Talmud is the rabbis' record of law and debate. One saying there counts those words, for a sin done in private, as offerings of young bulls. A book of rabbinic stories tells of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, a 1st-century rabbi (Jewish teacher). When the Temple fell, he told a student that kindness atones as the Temple altar did. Maimonides, a 12th-century rabbi, ruled that with no Temple, repentance atones for all sins. The Qur'an says Allah (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him. The Hebrew Bible, the rabbis and the Qur'an all reject the claim that God (﷾) cannot forgive without blood. Islam also gives a clean slate to the one who enters it, as the Jerusalem Talmud does for the convert.
Full explanation
The Hebrew Bible: return, and God (﷾) forgives
The prophets tie forgiveness to turning back to God (﷾). Hosea gives Israel the words to say, and calls them the offering of their lips. Ezekiel says none of the returning man's sins will be remembered against him. In the book of Jonah, the city of Nineveh turned from its evil way and was spared, with no sacrifice recorded. King Solomon prayed for Israel's exiles in a far land. He asked God (﷾) to forgive them if they repent and pray toward the Temple, far from its altar. The altar is the place where offerings were burned.
“Return, O Israel, unto the LORD thy God; For thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity. Take with you words, And return unto the LORD; Say unto Him: ‘Forgive all iniquity, And accept that which is good; So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.”
“But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD; and not rather that he should return from his ways, and live?”
“Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.”
“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not.”
“If they sin against Thee—for there is no man that sinneth not—and Thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn back, and make supplication unto Thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying: We have sinned, and have done iniquitously, we have dealt wickedly; if they return unto Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray unto Thee toward their land, which Thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name; then hear Thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause; and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against Thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them;”
What God (﷾) wants more than sacrifice
The same Scripture that commands offerings says what God (﷾) wants more. The prophets do not abolish the offerings; they rank them below a turned heart. Hosea says God (﷾) desires "mercy, and not sacrifice". In Psalm 51, after his sin with Bathsheba, King David says God's (﷾) sacrifice is a broken spirit. He then prays for Jerusalem, and for the day its offerings will please God (﷾) again. But the Torah, the five books of Moses, had no offering for adultery or for the killing of Uriah. So only a broken heart could bring David back. Micah asks whether rams or rivers of oil will please the LORD. His answer is justice, mercy and humility. Proverbs says doing right pleases God (﷾) more than sacrifice. It also says that sin is atoned for "by mercy and truth".
“For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Do good in Thy favour unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then wilt Thou delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt-offering and whole offering; Then will they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.”
“For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.”
“’Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, With calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, And what the LORD doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
“To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
“By mercy and truth iniquity is expiated; And by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”
“And if one person sin through error, then he shall offer a she-goat of the first year for a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that erreth, when he sinneth through error, before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven, both he that is home-born among the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them: ye shall have one law for him that doeth aught in error. But the soul that doeth aught with a high hand, whether he be home-born or a stranger, the same blasphemeth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken His commandment; that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him.”
When the Temple fell: Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai
The rabbis kept this teaching when the Temple was destroyed. A book called Avot de-Rabbi Natan tells how. It is a book of teaching stories and sayings, not of law. It is a companion to Avot, the sayings of the sages in the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the rabbis' first written code of Jewish law, from about 200 CE. Avot de-Rabbi Natan was compiled after it. It tells this of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, a leading sage of the 1st century. He and his student Rabbi Joshua saw the Temple in ruins. Rabbi Joshua mourned the place where Israel's sins were atoned. Rabban Yochanan answered with Hosea 6:6: kindness atones as well. The passage goes on to Daniel, who served God (﷾) in Babylon with prayer and good deeds, far from any altar.
“R. Johanan b. Zakkai once went out of Jerusalem, followed by R. Joshua, and seeing the destroyed Temple, R. Joshua said: "Woe to us, that this is destroyed, the only place where the sins of the Israelites were atoned!" R. Johanan corrected him, saying: "My son, do not grieve over it. We have other means of atonement as effective—namely, bestowal of favors, as it is written [Hosea, vi. 6]: 'For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice.'”
“For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.”
The Mishnah and the Talmud: how repentance works
Jewish law also sets out the steps of repentance with care. The Mishnah, in a ruling of halakha (binding Jewish law), does not say that repentance alone settles every sin. It says repentance atones for light sins. For grave ones, it holds back the punishment until Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It adds that Yom Kippur does not atone for a wrong against another person until he is appeased. The Talmud discusses this in Yoma, its section on the Day of Atonement. On page 86a it sets out the kinds of atonement. On page 86b come its sayings on "great is repentance". These are aggadah, teaching rather than law, and one of them reads Hosea 14:3.
The Mishnah (c. 200 CE, halakha) rules: the sin-offering and the certain guilt-offering atone; death and Yom Kippur atone together with repentance (teshuvah). Repentance atones for light transgressions, of positive and of negative commands; for grave ones it suspends the punishment until Yom Kippur comes and atones. Whoever says "I will sin and repent, I will sin and repent" is given no chance to repent, and whoever says "I will sin and Yom Kippur will atone" gains no atonement from the day. Yom Kippur atones for sins between a person and God, but not for sins against another person until he has appeased him; Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah (1st-2nd century) derives this from Leviticus 16:30. Rabbi Akiva (early 2nd century) says: happy are you, Israel, for your Father in heaven purifies you, as a mikveh purifies the unclean (Jeremiah 17:13).
The Talmud cites the teaching of Rabbi Yishmael (2nd century) on the kinds of atonement, with repentance needed in every one. One who breaks a positive command and repents is forgiven before he moves from his place (Jeremiah 3:22). For a prohibition, repentance suspends the punishment and Yom Kippur atones (Leviticus 16:30). For the gravest sins, repentance and Yom Kippur suspend the punishment and suffering completes the atonement. For one who has desecrated God's name, only death completes it. In a baraita Rabbi Elazar reads Exodus 34:7 to mean that God clears those who repent and does not clear those who do not.
In the Talmud's sayings on "great is repentance" (aggadah), Resh Lakish (3rd century) is reported twice. Through repentance deliberate sins become like errors (Hosea 14:2); and they become like merits (Ezekiel 33:19). The Talmud reconciles the two: like merits when a person repents out of love, like errors when out of fear. Rabbi Yitzhak, citing the Land of Israel in the name of Rabba bar Mari (amoraim of the 3rd-4th centuries), contrasts people and God. A person insulted with words may or may not be appeased, and perhaps not by words. When someone sins in private, God is appeased by words, as Hosea 14:3 says, "Take with you words". Scripture even counts it as though he had offered bullocks: "So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips".
Maimonides: repentance atones for all sins
Maimonides, a 12th-century rabbi, wrote a code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. It states the law for a time with no Temple. Nothing is left but repentance, and repentance atones for all sins. Yom Kippur itself atones for those who repent. He also keeps the Talmud's grades from Yoma 86a: some sins wait for Yom Kippur, and graver ones for suffering. None of them waits for an altar. With no Temple, Jewish law makes forgiveness wait for no altar.
Maimonides rules (halakha) that now, when the Temple does not stand and there is no altar of atonement, nothing remains but repentance (teshuvah), and repentance atones for all sins. Even a man who was wicked all his days and repented at the end is reminded of nothing of his wickedness (Ezekiel 33:12). The Day of Atonement itself atones for those who repent (Leviticus 16:30).
The Talmud cites the teaching of Rabbi Yishmael (2nd century) on the kinds of atonement, with repentance needed in every one. One who breaks a positive command and repents is forgiven before he moves from his place (Jeremiah 3:22). For a prohibition, repentance suspends the punishment and Yom Kippur atones (Leviticus 16:30). For the gravest sins, repentance and Yom Kippur suspend the punishment and suffering completes the atonement. For one who has desecrated God's name, only death completes it. In a baraita Rabbi Elazar reads Exodus 34:7 to mean that God clears those who repent and does not clear those who do not.
The Christian claim: no forgiveness without blood
Christians read the same Scriptures another way. They hold that the Law of Moses requires blood for atonement, and that the Temple's offerings pointed to the death of Jesus. They cite Leviticus 17:11, "it is the blood that maketh atonement". They also cite the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, 9:22: "without shedding of blood is no remission". On this reading, since the Temple fell, only Jesus' blood can take sin away.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.”
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
The Torah itself forgives without blood
The Torah does not bear that reading out. Leviticus 17:11 explains why blood is not to be eaten: its place is on the altar. It does not say blood is the only way God (﷾) forgives. The sin-offering is the offering brought to atone for a sin. The Torah lets the poorest man bring flour for it, with no blood, and he is forgiven. It is still an altar offering, brought for the sins listed in Leviticus 5:1-4. The half-shekel, money each Israelite gave for the sanctuary, is given "to make atonement for your souls". The incense of Aaron, the high priest, made atonement and stopped a plague. And the sin-offering was for sins done "through error". For the one who sins "with a high hand", that is, in open defiance, the Torah gives no sin-offering. He is only cut off. Apart from a few named cases, deliberate sin had no offering of its own. One such case is a false oath over a deposit (Leviticus 5:20-26). The way back from deliberate sin was repentance, as the prophets taught, with the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:30).
“But if his means suffice not for two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he shall bring his offering for that wherein he hath sinned, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon; for it is a sin-offering. And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial-part thereof, and make it smoke on the altar, upon the offerings of the LORD made by fire; it is a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in any of these things, and he shall be forgiven; and the remnant shall be the priest’s, as the meal-offering.”
“The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls.’”
“And Moses said unto Aaron: ‘Take thy fire-pan, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make atonement for them; for there is wrath gone out from the LORD: the plague is begun.’ And Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.”
“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If any one shall sin through error, in any of the things which the LORD hath commanded not to be done, and shall do any one of them:”
“And if one person sin through error, then he shall offer a she-goat of the first year for a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that erreth, when he sinneth through error, before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven, both he that is home-born among the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them: ye shall have one law for him that doeth aught in error. But the soul that doeth aught with a high hand, whether he be home-born or a stranger, the same blasphemeth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken His commandment; that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him.”
The Qur'an: the same door
The Qur'an speaks to sinners as Hosea did: do not despair, for Allah (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him. Whoever does evil in ignorance, then repents and makes amends, finds Him forgiving. Only Allah (﷾) forgives sins, and no one stands between; Judaism since the Temple fell teaches the same. The Qur'an also says Allah (﷾) changes the evil deeds of the one who repents into good. Resh Lakish, a 3rd-century rabbi, said that repentance turns deliberate sins into merits. The Talmud applies this to repentance out of love. On this point, Islam holds, Israel's tradition kept the prophets' teaching.
“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
“When those come to thee who believe in Our signs, Say: "Peace be on you: Your Lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) mercy: verily, if any of you did evil in ignorance, and thereafter repented, and amend (his conduct), lo! He is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
“And those who, having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind, and ask for forgiveness for their sins,- and who can forgive sins except Allah?- and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done.”
“Unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds, for Allah will change the evil of such persons into good, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful,”
In the Talmud's sayings on "great is repentance" (aggadah), Resh Lakish (3rd century) is reported twice. Through repentance deliberate sins become like errors (Hosea 14:2); and they become like merits (Ezekiel 33:19). The Talmud reconciles the two: like merits when a person repents out of love, like errors when out of fear. Rabbi Yitzhak, citing the Land of Israel in the name of Rabba bar Mari (amoraim of the 3rd-4th centuries), contrasts people and God. A person insulted with words may or may not be appeased, and perhaps not by words. When someone sins in private, God is appeased by words, as Hosea 14:3 says, "Take with you words". Scripture even counts it as though he had offered bullocks: "So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips".
Islam's own offerings do not buy forgiveness
Muslims also offer animals, at the Eid festival and during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. But the Qur'an says plainly that neither their meat nor their blood reaches Allah (﷾); only piety reaches Him. The Eid offering is thanks, and its meat is eaten and shared. It recalls the "momentous sacrifice" with which God (﷾) ransomed Abraham's son after a trial (37:103-107). That was a son spared by God's (﷾) mercy, not a sin paid for in blood. Where the Qur'an sets an offering for a breach of the pilgrimage rules, it also allows fasting or feeding the poor. So there too blood is not the only way, as with the poor man's flour. When a Muslim breaks a deliberate oath, he makes up for it by feeding or clothing the poor, freeing a slave, or fasting. Most of these are acts of kindness, the atonement Rabban Yochanan taught. No offering replaces repentance, in Islam or, as Maimonides rules, in the Temple's law.
“It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right.”
“So when they had both submitted their wills (to Allah), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), We called out to him "O Abraham! "Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!" - thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was obviously a trial- And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice:”
“And complete the Hajj or 'umra in the service of Allah. But if ye are prevented (From completing it), send an offering for sacrifice, such as ye may find, and do not shave your heads until the offering reaches the place of sacrifice. And if any of you is ill, or has an ailment in his scalp, (Necessitating shaving), (He should) in compensation either fast, or feed the poor, or offer sacrifice; and when ye are in peaceful conditions (again), if any one wishes to continue the 'umra on to the hajj, He must make an offering, such as he can afford, but if he cannot afford it, He should fast three days during the hajj and seven days on his return, Making ten days in all. This is for those whose household is not in (the precincts of) the Sacred Mosque. And fear Allah, and know that Allah Is strict in punishment.”
“O ye who believe! Kill not game while in the sacred precincts or in pilgrim garb. If any of you doth so intentionally, the compensation is an offering, brought to the Ka'ba, of a domestic animal equivalent to the one he killed, as adjudged by two just men among you; or by way of atonement, the feeding of the indigent; or its equivalent in fasts: that he may taste of the penalty of his deed. Allah forgives what is past: for repetition Allah will exact from him the penalty. For Allah is Exalted, and Lord of Retribution.”
“Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His signs, that ye may be grateful.”
Maimonides rules (halakha) that whoever breaks a command of the Torah, deliberately or in error, must confess before God when he repents. Those who bring sin-offerings or guilt-offerings for their errors or their deliberate sins are not atoned by their offering until they repent and confess in words (Leviticus 5:5).
“R. Johanan b. Zakkai once went out of Jerusalem, followed by R. Joshua, and seeing the destroyed Temple, R. Joshua said: "Woe to us, that this is destroyed, the only place where the sins of the Israelites were atoned!" R. Johanan corrected him, saying: "My son, do not grieve over it. We have other means of atonement as effective—namely, bestowal of favors, as it is written [Hosea, vi. 6]: 'For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice.'”
A clean slate, as for the convert
Both faiths also wipe clean the past of the one who joins them. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the Land of Israel about 400 CE. It takes it as known that a convert to Judaism is forgiven all his sins. Islam says the same of the one who enters it. When Amr ibn al-As came to accept Islam, he asked first to be forgiven. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked whether he did not know that Islam wipes out everything before it. This is not a gap in Judaism that Islam fills. It is one more point where the two agree.
The Jerusalem Talmud (aggadah) cites a teaching that the sins of a sage, a bridegroom and a prince are atoned when they rise to their new standing. For the sage it reads Leviticus 19:32-33: the verse on honouring the elder is followed by the verse on the proselyte, so "just as all his sins are forgiven to the proselyte", all sins are forgiven to one who is ordained. Rabbi Zeira (3rd-4th century) accepted ordination when he heard it.
Amr ibn al-As, near death, said that before Islam no one was more hateful to him than the Prophet (ﷺ), and he had wished to kill him. He told how he came to the Prophet to accept Islam. He asked the Prophet to stretch out his right hand so he could pledge, then drew his own hand back. Asked why, he said he wanted a condition: that he be forgiven. The Prophet asked whether he did not know that Islam wipes out everything that came before it.
Reply by reply
Leviticus 17:11 — Torah, Vayikra, chapter 17, verse 11
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.”
Cited for
Christians and missionaries read this verse as a rule: only blood atones. So since the Temple fell, Jews have no atonement except through Jesus.
The response
The verse gives the reason blood may not be eaten: it belongs on the altar. It does not say blood is the only way. The sin-offering was for sins done in error; most deliberate sins had no offering of their own. The same Torah lets the poorest man bring flour, with no blood, and he is forgiven. Money and incense also "make atonement". Solomon asked forgiveness for exiles who repent far from any altar.
Where it lands — The Torah itself names ways of atonement without blood, and the prophets name repentance.
Hebrews 9:22 — Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 22
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Cited for
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness at all, so only the blood of Jesus can take sin away.
The response
Hebrews itself says only "almost all things" are purged with blood "by the law". That concedes exceptions, and the Torah names one: the poor man's flour sin-offering, with no blood, and he is forgiven. So the Law itself gave remission without shed blood. Nineveh turned and was spared, with no sacrifice recorded. Hosea put the offering of the lips in place of bullocks. The rabbis, from Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai to Maimonides, read Scripture the same way. The live page on Hebrews 9:22 answers the verse in full.
Where it lands — The Hebrew Bible records forgiveness without blood, and Jewish law has always held it.
Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 5a — tractate Yoma, folio 5a
In a baraita on the burnt-offering (halakha), the Talmud asks whether laying hands on the animal (semikhah, Leviticus 1:4) atones. It answers that atonement comes only through the blood, citing Leviticus 17:11. If a man treats the laying on of hands as a minor detail and leaves it out, Scripture counts it as if he had not atoned; yet he has atoned. The same baraita appears at Zevachim 6a.
Cited for
A missionary may quote the Talmud itself: "there is no atonement except with blood". So even the rabbis admit that forgiveness needs blood.
The response
The Talmud says this about the parts of an offering. It asks whether laying hands on the animal atones, and answers that the blood does. That is a rule of the altar service, not a denial of repentance. The same Talmud, on Yoma 86a-b, teaches that God (﷾) forgives the one who repents, with no offering at all.
Where it lands — Within an offering the blood atones; without one, repentance does, as the Talmud itself teaches.
Mishnah Yoma 8:8-9 — tractate Yoma, chapter 8, mishnayot 8-9
The Mishnah (c. 200 CE, halakha) rules: the sin-offering and the certain guilt-offering atone; death and Yom Kippur atone together with repentance (teshuvah). Repentance atones for light transgressions, of positive and of negative commands; for grave ones it suspends the punishment until Yom Kippur comes and atones. Whoever says "I will sin and repent, I will sin and repent" is given no chance to repent, and whoever says "I will sin and Yom Kippur will atone" gains no atonement from the day. Yom Kippur atones for sins between a person and God, but not for sins against another person until he has appeased him; Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah (1st-2nd century) derives this from Leviticus 16:30. Rabbi Akiva (early 2nd century) says: happy are you, Israel, for your Father in heaven purifies you, as a mikveh purifies the unclean (Jeremiah 17:13).
Cited for
A Jewish reader may say the page makes repentance too simple. In the Mishnah, repentance alone atones only for light sins, and grave sins wait for Yom Kippur. The traditional prayers also ask for the Temple service to return.
The response
The page says exactly that. But none of these steps needs blood. Yom Kippur atones for the one who repents by the day itself, as Maimonides rules from Leviticus 16:30. With no Temple, he rules, repentance atones for all sins. The point stands: God's (﷾) forgiveness is not withheld while there is no altar.
Where it lands — In rabbinic law, as in Islam, forgiveness does not wait for an altar.
Qur'an 5:89 — Surat al-Ma'ida (The Table), verse 89
“Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His signs, that ye may be grateful.”
Cited for
A Jewish reader may turn the argument round. Islam also sacrifices animals at the Eid and on the pilgrimage, and it demands expiations. So it is no freer of offerings than the Temple was.
The response
The Qur'an answers this directly: neither the meat nor the blood reaches Allah (﷾), only piety. The Eid offering is thanks, and its meat is eaten and shared. It recalls the "momentous sacrifice" with which God (﷾) ransomed Abraham's son after a trial (37:103-107). That was a son spared by God's (﷾) mercy, not a sin paid for in blood. Where the Qur'an sets an offering for a breach of the pilgrimage rules, it also allows fasting or feeding the poor (2:196, 5:95). No offering in Islam replaces repentance, and Maimonides says the same of the Temple's offerings. The expiation for a broken oath is feeding or clothing the poor, freeing a slave, or fasting. Most of these are the kindness Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai called atonement.
Where it lands — In Islam, as in the rabbis' law, no offering replaces repentance. Where an offering pays for a breach, fasting or charity may take its place.
Mishneh Torah, Repentance 1:3 — Book of Knowledge, Laws of Repentance, chapter 1, halakha 3
Maimonides rules (halakha) that now, when the Temple does not stand and there is no altar of atonement, nothing remains but repentance (teshuvah), and repentance atones for all sins. Even a man who was wicked all his days and repented at the end is reminded of nothing of his wickedness (Ezekiel 33:12). The Day of Atonement itself atones for those who repent (Leviticus 16:30).
Cited for
If Judaism already has full repentance, as Maimonides says, then Islam adds nothing, and a Jew has no reason to look at it.
The response
This page does not claim Judaism lacks repentance; it shows the two agree. Islam also gives the newcomer a clean slate, as the Jerusalem Talmud says of the proselyte. What divides Judaism and Islam is not forgiveness. It is the prophet God (﷾) promised Moses to raise up, which other pages on this site take up.
Where it lands — On forgiveness Judaism and Islam agree; the question between them is the last prophet.
Perspectives
Rabbinic Judaism
Teshuvah, returning to God with regret, confession and a changed life, brings His forgiveness. While the Temple stood, offerings atoned together with repentance. Now there is no altar, so repentance atones for all sins and Yom Kippur atones for those who repent. Prayer and kindness stand in the place of offerings, and the traditional prayers ask for the Temple service to be restored. Reform Judaism, a modern liberal movement, removed the prayers for restored offerings; it holds that prayer and good deeds have replaced them for good.
Hosea tells Israel to bring words of repentance. A saying in the Talmud reads those words, for a sin done in private, as offerings of young bulls.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that repentance is the way back: the Qur'an says Allah (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him. The Qur'an says Allah (﷾) changes the evil deeds of the one who repents into good. The Talmud keeps the same teaching: repentance out of love turns deliberate sins into merits.
Avot de-Rabbi Natan tells what happened after the Temple fell. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai taught that deeds of kindness atone as the altar did.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that no offering replaces a good heart. The Qur'an says neither the meat nor the blood of an offering reaches Allah (﷾), only piety. In Islam a broken oath is made up for by feeding or clothing the poor, freeing a slave, or fasting. Most of these are kindness, as Rabban Yochanan taught.
The Mishnah rules that repentance atones for light sins and, for grave ones, holds back punishment until Yom Kippur atones.
Rebuttal
Granted, and none of these steps needs blood. Yom Kippur atones for the one who repents by the day itself, as Maimonides rules from Leviticus 16:30. So for the one who repents, God's (﷾) forgiveness does not wait for an altar.
Maimonides rules that, with no Temple, repentance atones for all sins.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that repentance atones with no altar, and this page says the same. Islam teaches the same forgiveness, and gives the newcomer a clean slate, as the Jerusalem Talmud does for the convert. What divides the two is not forgiveness but the prophet God (﷾) promised Moses to raise up.
Mainstream Christian
The Law teaches that atonement needs blood, and the Temple's sacrifices pointed ahead to Jesus. Since the Temple fell, forgiveness comes only through his blood.
Leviticus 17:11 says it is the blood that makes atonement.
Rebuttal
Granted: on the altar the blood atones, but the verse says so to explain why blood may not be eaten. It never says blood is the only way: the same Torah forgave the poorest man for an offering of flour. Most deliberate sins had no offering of their own, and the prophets called sinners back by repentance.
Hebrews 9:22 says that without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Rebuttal
Hebrews itself says only "almost all things" are purged with blood "by the law". The Law's own exception is the poor man's flour, of which the Torah says "he shall be forgiven". While he was still preaching, Jesus told the paralysed man, "thy sins be forgiven thee": forgiven by God (﷾), with no blood shed. He also quoted Hosea: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."
The Islamic perspective
Allah (﷾) forgives whoever turns to Him, by His mercy alone, with no blood and no go-between. The Hebrew Bible and the rabbis teach the same, and the Qur'an confirms it.
The Hebrew Bible records sins forgiven without blood, in the poor man's flour offering and at Nineveh. Solomon asks forgiveness for exiles far from the altar.
The Qur'an teaches that Allah (﷾) forgives all sins to those who turn to Him.
The Qur'an says Allah (﷾) changes the evil deeds of the one who repents into good. Resh Lakish said that repentance turns deliberate sins into merits.
The Qur'an says neither the meat nor the blood of an offering reaches Allah (﷾), only piety.
The Prophet (ﷺ) taught that Islam wipes out everything before it. In the same way, the Jerusalem Talmud says the proselyte is forgiven all his sins.