The reports in Sahih Muslim should not be brushed aside: their surface wording is indeed strong. But they cannot mean that innocent Jews or Christians are made guilty for Muslims' sins. The Quran establishes personal accountability, and the hadith is understood in that light.
The Hadith in Question
The common objection often misquotes the report by mixing it with unrelated narrations. The relevant reports from Abu Musa al-Ashari in Sahih Muslim say:
إذا كان يوم القيامة دفع الله عز وجل إلى كل مسلم يهوديا أو نصرانيا، فيقول: هذا فكاكك من النار.
"When it is the Day of Resurrection, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will hand over to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and will say: 'This is your release from the Fire.'"
Sahih Muslim 2767
يجيء يوم القيامة ناس من المسلمين بذنوب أمثال الجبال، فيغفرها الله لهم، ويضعها على اليهود والنصارى.
"Some people from among the Muslims will come on the Day of Resurrection with sins like mountains. Allah will forgive them and will place them upon the Jews and the Christians."
Sahih Muslim 2767
The second wording is the difficult wording: "place them upon the Jews and the Christians." A fair answer must not deny that this wording exists. The question is what it means in light of the Quran and the rest of Islamic doctrine.
The Quranic Principle
The Quran repeatedly states that no innocent person bears another person's moral guilt:
No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.
Quran 6:164
That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.
Quran 53:38
The Quran also affirms that Allah does not punish people without just proof being established against them:
And We would never punish until We had sent a messenger.
Quran 17:15
What the Hadith Does Not Mean
- It does not mean vicarious guilt. Allah does not take the moral blame of a Muslim and make an innocent Jew or Christian guilty for it.
- It does not mean punishment for a mere label. The Jews and Christians mentioned are those whom Allah knows to be deserving of punishment because of their own culpable disbelief and deeds, not merely because of ancestry or social identity.
- It does not cancel the warnings to sinful Muslims. Other authentic texts state that some sinful Muslims may be punished before eventually being saved by tawhid and Allah's mercy. This report concerns those whom Allah forgives and releases.
How Scholars Reconciled the Reports
1. "This is your release from the Fire"
The Arabic phrase in the first report is "فكاكك من النار" - "your release from the Fire." The point is that the Muslim had been exposed to punishment because of his sins, then Allah forgave him and saved him. The Jew or Christian mentioned is not carrying that Muslim's guilt; he is a person already deserving punishment by his own disbelief and sins. The "exchange" is in final outcome: the believer is released and granted Paradise, while the unbeliever enters the punishment he himself deserved.
2. "Placed upon them" is not innocent sin-transfer
Al-Nawawi, in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, explains that these narrations must be understood with the Quranic rule: they are not punished for the Muslims' sins. Rather, Allah forgives the Muslims and removes those sins from them, while the unbelievers in question bear their own burdens. Some scholarly explanations understand the "placing" language as condensed or elliptical: the Muslims' sins are erased by forgiveness, and the others are burdened with their own equivalent culpability, including disbelief, sins, and evil they caused.
This distinction is already found in the Quran. A person may bear an additional burden when he misleads or corrupts others, but that additional burden is still his own crime of causing misguidance:
They will bear their burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and some of the burdens of those whom they misled without knowledge.
Quran 16:25
So the Quranic rule remains intact: no innocent person is punished for another's guilt. But a person can be accountable for his own disbelief, his own sins, and the evil consequences he knowingly caused.
Bottom Line
Sahih Muslim 2767 is authentic, and its surface wording is weighty. But it is not a doctrine of innocent Jews and Christians being forced to carry Muslims' moral guilt. The Muslim is forgiven by Allah's mercy; the Jew or Christian mentioned is punished only for his own culpability after Allah's justice; and any additional burden concerns wrongs he himself caused.
For related discussions, see the topics of individual accountability, the fate of those unreached by the message, and how Islamic texts understand intercession and forgiveness.