1. When discussing the concept of religious forgiveness, it is necessary to look at the two dimensions the concept has in every religion, i.e. human and divine. In the Catholic tradition, the forgiveness of God is received through repentance in conjunction with the Body of Christ. Sins are confessed individually in the presence of a priest, and absolution is obtained as a formal expression by the Church of the forgiveness of God. Through the sacrament of Baptism the sin inherited from Adam i¿½ also referred to as i¿½the original sini¿½ i¿½ is absolved. As far as the sins committed after baptism, a different sacrament is needed. This consists of three phases, namely penance, confession and reconciliation. In the case of Christian forgiveness, it is important to look at a particular aspect i.e. the holy power invested in the priests, more precisely its religious justification. According to the Christian tradition (John and Luke), it was in his human capacity that Christ forgave peoplei¿½s sins during his life. Since he would not always be present to perform this sacrament, Christ gave his power to other men of the Church i.e. to his apostles who in turn, passed it on to their successors.
             Islam preaches about both types of forgiveness, because humans wrong both Allah and other humans. As with Christianity, Islam holds that forgiveness requires repentance which can be acquired either directly from Allah, or from onei¿½s fellow man whom received the wrong, depending on the type of wrong committed. According to the holy book of Islam, the Quri¿½an, Allah is the Judge of all things, and thus has the capacity to punish but is not bound to do so. The justice of Allah consists of not inflicting undue punishment on anyone; in this sense, his mercy, love and sense of justice are unlimited. There is only one wrong which cannot be forgiven by Allah namely having other gods apart from Allah. This can be explained by the fact that Is...