Islam's answer is simple: each person is morally accountable for his or her own choices, and Allah forgives by mercy, repentance, and justice - not by punishing an innocent person in place of the guilty. So the issue is not "which verse" in isolation, but which picture of God, sin, and forgiveness is coherent.
The strongest form of the challenge
The objection is usually put like this: the Bible itself contains verses saying each person bears his own sin, such as Ezekiel 18:20, yet Christians also cite verses like 1 Peter 2:24, saying Jesus "bore our sins." If God says no one bears another's guilt, how can Jesus' sacrifice be the basis of forgiveness? And if Islam agrees with personal accountability, why should one trust the Quran over the Christian reading of atonement?
That is a fair question. The strongest Christian reply is that Jesus was not an unwilling victim; he voluntarily offered himself, and his innocence made his sacrifice redemptive. On that reading, it is not unjust punishment but loving substitution.
What the Quran actually teaches
"No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you concerning what you used to do."
Quran 6:164
"That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another, and that there is not for man except what he strives for."
Quran 53:38-39
The Quran repeats this principle because it is central to divine justice. Guilt is not a transferable object. A righteous person may pray for you, teach you, intercede by Allah's permission, or suffer because of others' wrongdoing. But he does not become guilty of your sins, nor does God need to punish him in order to forgive you.
Islam does not deny sacrifice as worship. It denies the idea that blood itself reaches God or that God requires an innocent life before He can show mercy.
"Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you."
Quran 22:37
Jesus in Islam is honored, not made a sin-bearer
The Quran honors Jesus as the Messiah, born miraculously, a prophet of purity and truth. But it rejects the claim that he was killed on the cross as a sacrifice for human sin.
"They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them."
Quran 4:157
This is not a demotion of Jesus. It is a protection of both Jesus' honor and God's justice. In Islam, Adam sinned and repented; humanity did not inherit his guilt. Every child begins innocent. The Prophet (PBUH) taught that every child is born upon the natural disposition, as reported in Bukhari and Muslim.
What the argument proves - and what it does not
The argument does establish a real difference between Islam and Christianity. Christianity, especially in its later theological formulations, makes the crucifixion central to salvation. Islam makes repentance, faith, righteous action, and Allah's mercy central.
It also shows that the Christian doctrine of substitutionary atonement must explain why punishing or sacrificing the innocent is compatible with perfect justice. Saying "Jesus volunteered" answers part of the emotional objection, but not the deeper legal and moral question: why must sin be paid for by someone else at all, when the Creator can forgive the repentant without injustice?
What the argument does not establish is that Islam has a problem. The Quran's position is consistent: no inherited guilt, no transfer of sin, no need for divine bloodshed, and no despair for sinners. Allah forgives whom He wills, and He wrongs no one.
So the verse to trust is the one that preserves both mercy and justice without making the innocent guilty. That is the Quran's teaching: you are responsible for your own soul, and the door of repentance is open.