There is in Islam a great awareness of sin and the need to be forgiven by Allah. Almost every Surah of the Koran begins with

"In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, 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.
For those is forgiveness from their Lord ...."
(Surah 3:135-136)

Indeed who can forgive sin except God?

One day Jesus said to a paralytic"Your sins are forgiven." (Mk2:5) The scribes who were sitting there thought he had blasphemed since only God can forgive sin. Jesus knowing what they were thinking asked them which was easier to forgive sin or to say to the paralytic to pick up his mat and walk. Both are equally difficult. To show that the Son of Man had power to forgive sin, he said to the paralytic"Rise, pick up your mat and go home." This incident reveals that there was more to Jesus than his humanity - his being had a divine dimension.

But Christ came to deliver us from the deeper darkness which Christians call Original Sin, the Sin of the Human Race. Islam in general goes not believe in Original Sin but there are indications in the Koran which suggest this reality. For Example:

"Then did Satan make them slip from the (Garden), and get them out from that state (of felicity) in which they had been.
We said:
"Get them down, all (you people), with enmity between yourselves.
On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood for a time." (Surah 2:36)

Here we are faced not only with a personal sin but with a change of state and a loss of happiness not only for themselves but for all the people virtually present in Adam and Eve. The human race has not been able by its own power to return to this primal state of happiness.

Further Muhammad states, "If God were to punish men for their wrong-doing, He would not leave, on the (earth), a single living creature...."(Surah 16:61) Now, if everyone is born without sin, how do we explain that not one of them remained without sin? There has to be in human nature a flaw, a propensity or inclination toward sin with which we are born and this can be traced back to the Sin of the race in Adam, that is, his revolt against God. In the Psalms we read, "True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me." (Ps 52:7)

Original Sin or the Sin of the Human Race in Adam prevented mankind from entering the "Garden" or the glory of Heaven. Before the advent of Christ even Abraham was in a place referred to as the "Bosom of the fathers" (Lk16:22) and there he waited. Christ said to the Jews "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad." (Jn 8:56) Why was he glad?

Christ death and resurrection paves the way for mankind entrance into God's glory. This is why Jesus said to his apostles, "I am going to prepare a place for you." (Jn 14:2) And while the Son of God in his human nature was dying of the cross he said to the repentant criminal crucified with him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." (Lk 23:43)

As Muhammad said,

Allah (God) is Most Gracious and Most Merciful.

The Resurrection in Perspective