The Mercy of Allah in Regard to Forgiveness

"O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and put your hope in Me, I
have forgiven you for what you have done and I do not mind. O son of
Adam, ifyour sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you
would seek My forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, if you
were to come to Me with sins that are close to filling the earth and
then you would meet Me without ascribing any partners with Me, I would
certainly bring to you forgiveness close to filling it."
In this Hadithi Qudsi, Allah gives hope to mankind more than any other
narration. It displays the quality and attribute of Allahs mercy.
Indeed, He is ar-Rahman, the Most Compassionate, and ar-Raheem, the
Most Merciful. In this HadithiQudsi, Allah tells man of the greatness
of His forgiveness and mercy so that no one would despair due to the
amount of sins he may have committed. This is supported by the
following verse of the Holy Quran:
Say: O My servants whohave transgressed against their own souls,
despair not of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.
Truly, He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surah az-Zumar 39:53)
This hadith teaches us the importance of realizing Allahs mercy,
having faith and hope in Him especially whenmaking dua, calling to
Allah alone for forgiveness, and the importance of repentance in the
life and faith of a believer.
Allah catches the attention of mankind by calling out, O son of Adam!
This is a call to every human being. Why didnt Allah say, O mankind or
O People? The significance of thisspecific call is because it was the
first human being, Adam (alaiyhis-salam) who committedthe first sin.
Adam was an example to all humans of the consequences of sin and how
to turn to Allah for forgiveness ofones sins. This gives hope that
even after committing a violation, ones sins canbe forgiven if one
repents to Allah sincerely the same waythat the father of mankind
sinned, repented, and was forgiven by Allah.
Allah calls out to His servants, a call of forgiveness, mercy, and
compassion. For He knows that man was created weak and is prone to
fall into sin.After calling out to mankind, Allah informs them that as
long as they call on Him and put their hopein Him, He will forgive
them and not mind. This statement alone can convince one to have hope
and never to despair. When one calls out to Allah or makes dua, he is
displaying his need and dependence of Allah. He is demonstrating his
weakness to the fact that he has no power to do anything for himself.
It is the essence of submission and servitude. It is alsoa recognition
of Allahs attributes of kindness, generosity, forgiving and merciful
nature, and His unlimited power and knowledge.Humans are never in a
situation where they are not in need of Allah. A believer always turns
to Allah to ask for guidance as well as to seek forgiveness of sins
andshortcomings.
Allahs says, Call on me and I will respond to you. One of the most
important conditions of making dua is that one must completely trust
that Allah will respond. One must alsosupplicate with sincerity, hope,
and seriousness. One must not have any doubt at all on whether Allah
will respond to ones call or if He accepts the dua. The Messenger of
Allah (sallallahu alaiyhiwa sallam) said, Supplicate Allah while you
are certain of a response. And know that Allah does not respond to a
supplication from a heart that is heedless and inattentive. He also
forbade that one say, Oh Allah, forgive me if You will. But he said,
Instead, you should ask with will and conviction for there is nothing
so great to Allah that He cannot grant it.
When supplicating, one should truly seek Allahs aid and His
forgiveness and demonstrate his need for Allah and submit toHim with
fear and hope in receiving the desired response. Allahadvises in Surat
al-Araaf 7:56:
And invoke Him in fear and aspiration (of hope). Indeed, the mercy of
Allah is near to those who do good.
Another important condition of supplication is that one must not
become hasty and impatient and stop supplicating because he did not
receive a response sooner or at all. The Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi
wa sallam) said, You are responded to as long as you do not become
hasty and say, I supplicated and it is not being or was not responded
to.
And the final conditionof ones dua being responded to is that one must
make sure heis living off of halal andpermissible means.
Allah says, Put your hope in Me. Man was not created sinful, but he
was created weak. He is prone to fall into the temptations of sin and
the whispers of Satan and when he does, he should alwaysremember to
turn to Allah, call upon Him, and ask for forgivenesswith hope in His
mercy. Allah stated in aHadithi Qudsi, I am with My servant as He
expects of Me. The meaning of this is that Allah treats His servants
the way he expects Him to. If one has hope in Allah and trusts Him,
Allah will act accordingly to that servants beliefs and faith. And if
he does not have faith and is in despair of his Lords mercy, Allah
will act accordingly. Not having hope in Allah and despairing of His
mercy is a great sin and an act of kufr. Allah quotes Prophet Yaqoob
(alaiyhis-salam) in the Quran:
Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving
people. (Surah Yusuf 12:87)
One must be hopeful ofAllahs mercy and forgiveness and fearfulof His
punishment. It isthis fear that should lead one to seek Allahs
forgiveness with hope.Allah says:
Know that Allah is severe in punishment and that Allah is Forgiving
and Merciful.(Surat al-Maaidah 5:98)
In the above verse, Allah gives us reason to fear because His
punishment is justly severe, as well as goodreason to have hope, since
He is the Most Forgiving and Merciful.There should be a balance
between fear and hope and not too much or too less of oneor the other.
If there is too much fear, then a person may negate Allahs quality of
mercy and ascribe to Him unkindness (Allah forbid!).
There was a sect calledKhawaarij, who worshipped Allah only in fear
and held the belief that anyone whocommits major sins was a
disbeliever and would be thrown into the Hellfire forever. This is a
gross extremism and straying from the correct path.
Yet, another sect, which emerged withinthe first century of Islam, had
no fear and believed that sins did not affect ones faith and that as
long as onebelieved and testified in Islam, he would enter Paradise
regardless of his actions. Both of these extremes lead to a dangerous
consequence.
To understand the balance of fear and hope of Allah, let us look at
the very first chapter of the Quran, Surat al-Fatiha. The first verse
says, All praise be to Allah, Lordof all the worlds. In this verse,
love for Allah is expressed. We acknowledge that Allah is our Lord and
the Lord of all the worlds. He is the Creator of all things;
Hesustains and nourisheseverything; He gives life and death; anything
good that we have is from Him; and everything is dependant on him and
nothing can happen unless Allah wills it to happen.
In the second verse we express our hope in Him by stating,
ar-Rahma-nir-Raheem.The meaning of which is: The Beneficent, the
Merciful. When we mention these two names of Allah, then we have hope,
since Heis the One, who is full of mercy and we hope He will forgive
out mistakes and shortcomings. We should never lose hopebecause there
is no reason to.
And in the third ayah of Surat al-Fatiha, fear of Allah is expressed
when we recite, Master(King) of the Day of Judgement. When we recite
this verse, we remind ourselves of the Day that we will bestanding in
front of ourLord and be questioned for our deeds, a Most Awful Day. It
will be a day in which not even the smallest action will be hidden.
This reminder of the Day of Judgement should bring fear to our hearts.
Fear and hope, both should be equally proportioned in our hearts, in
our worship, and in our dua to Allah.Allah says:
Call out to Him with fear and hope. (Surat al-Araaf 7:56)
They forsake their beds to call their Lord in fear and hope. (Surat
as-Sajdah 32:16)
The Prophet (sallallahualaiyhi wa sallam) said, The like of these two
qualities do not unite in the heart of a servant except that Allah
gives him what he hopes for and protects him from what he feared.
In the Hadithi Qudsi that is being discussed in this paper, Allah
says, O son of Adam, if your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky
and you would then seek My forgiveness, I would forgive you. Here, we
will discuss the importance of repentance and seeking forgiveness and
its virtues.
First of all, we should never lose hope or stop asking for Allahs
forgiveness. Its importance is shown to us in the following hadith of
the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam): O people! Turnto Allah in
repentance and seek His forgiveness, for surely Imake repentance a
hundred times every day. Repentance is such a great act of worship
that doing it can totally erase ones sins altogether, as the Noble
Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) said, One who repents from sins
is like one without sin.
When a person sins and then sincerely turns to Allah for forgiveness,
one will find Allah ready to accept his repentance and to forgive him,
as this verse indicates:
And whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself, but then seeksforgiveness
from Allah,he will find Allah forgiving and merciful.(Surat an-Nisaa
4:110)
Everyone commits sin and does wrong, but Allah is always willing to
forgive and He always gives them a chance to repent and seek His
forgiveness. A believer should never forget the fact that Allah is so
forgiving. If Allah had willed, He could have held everyone
accountable for his or her sins, but He has decreed that He shall
allow His servantsto seek His forgivenessand that He shall in
factforgive who and what He wills. In fact, Allah commands that His
servants seek His forgiveness:
And seek Allahs forgiveness. Certainly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
(Surat al-Muzzammil 73:20)
Repentance is an act, which purifies the souland brings the servant
closer to His Lord. It puts the heart at rest from guilt. It protects
one from falling prey to his desires and lusts and increases his
faith.
Allah then says in the Hadithi Qudsi that is being discussed, O son of
Adam, if you were tocome to Me with sins close to filling the earth
and then you would meet Me without ascribing any partners with Me, I
would certainly bring you forgiveness close to filling it. Look at how
great Allahs mercy, compassion, and love is! The least Allah asks for
is that one not ascribe any partners and gods with Him, for, He is
alone in His Sovereignty. And after that if one commits sins and seeks
sincere forgiveness, Allah will forgive him and shower His mercy upon
him.
However, one is not forgiven if he seeks repentance from Allah at the
time of death when he sees the angels or when the sunrises from the
west at the approaching of the Day of Judgement. Thisis confirmed by
the following verse:
And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil
deeds until death faces one of them and he says, Now I repent, nor of
those who dies while they are disbelievers. For them, We have prepared
a painful torment. (Suratan-Nisaa 4:18)
Allah also does not forgive one who commits shirk, which is the
association of partners with Allah. Forgiveness will only come to
those who die while adhering to tawheed and avoiding any form of
shirk.
Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners should be set up with
Him, but He forgives whatever is less than that for whomever He wills.
And whoever sets up partners with Allah has indeed invented a
tremendoussin. (Surat an-Nisaa 4:48)
Verily, Allah forgives not the setting up of partners with Him, but He
forgives whom He pleases whatever is less than that. And whoever sets
up partners with Allah hasindeed strayed far away. (Surat an-Nisaa
4:116)
We must ask ourselves this question: Would we be willing to forgive
anyone who hurts us and disobeys us constantly as easily as Allah is
Able to forgive? Most probably, the answer would be no. But our
Creator is the Most Kind and He is the MostPerfect.
Lo! Allah is a Lord of Kindness to mankind, but most of mankind give
not thanks. (Surat al-Baqarah 2:143)
In this Hadithi Qudsi, mankind is encouraged to seek Allahs
forgiveness and repent, but there are five conditions of repentance,
which must be met for ones repentance to be accepted. The first and
most important is that the act of repentance be sincerely for Allah
alone. Secondly, the person must feel remorse and guilt overhis
actions so much so that he wished he had never done it in the first
place. The third condition is that the person must immediately cease
performing the wrong and sinful act. Fourthly,the repentant person
must have a firm intention to never commit the sin again. And lastly,
the person must repent before it is too late, meaning before death
approaches.
Allah, Blessed and Exalted, finishes the Hadithi Qudsi with the
following words, O sonof Adam! If you were to come to Me with sins
that are close to filling the earth and you would then meet Me without
ascribing any partners to Me, I would certainly bring to you
forgiveness close to filling it. Again, the mercy of Allah is clearly
demonstrated by His Divine Words. However, there is a condition. One
must not associate any partners with Allah, which is shirk. And Allah
does not forgive shirk and if one dies without believing in Allah
alone as ones Creator, then he will bedoomed to the Hellfire for all
of eternity. So, Allah emphasizes the importance of calling on Him
alone. He has no and needs no partners, associates, wives, children,
etc. There is no god, but Allah. None forgives sins except Him, so
oneseeking forgiveness should seek it only from Allah.
Will they not repent to Allah and ask His forgiveness? For Allah is
the Forgiving, the Merciful. (Surat al-Maaidah 5:74)
And who can forgive sins except Allah? (Surah Ali Imran 3:135)
Allah praises the one who truly believes, hashope, and seeks the
forgiveness of his Creator, as did his father, Adam:
Say: Shall I not inform you of things far betterthan those (things of
this world)? For the pious, there are gardens with their Lord, wherein
rivers flow. Therein (is their) eternal home and purewives. And Allah
will be pleased with them. And Allah is Seer of theslaves. Those who
say, Our Lord! We have indeed believed, so forgive us our sins and
save us from the punishment of the Fire.They are those who are
patient, those who are true and obedient with sincere devotion in
worship to Allah. Those who spend (in charity) and those whopray and
beg for Allahsforgiveness in the last hours of the night. (Surah Ali
Imran 3:15-17)
Allahs forgiveness and mercy is far greater and more vast than thesins
of the creation. One must always have trust and hope in Allah in both
good times andbad times and especially when seeking Allahs
forgiveness. And the believer who calls out to his Lord for
forgiveness demonstrates his true weakness and that he is totally
dependent onthe Creator. When one confesses his sins to Allah and
sincerely repents with hope in Allahs mercy, the heartshould come to
peace and the soul should feel rest. When a person has hope, he has no
reason to despair because it onlyleads to destruction. Allah gives
hope to all, especially those who despair that there is noreason to
despair because Allah is the Most Merciful of all those who show
mercy. Allah praises those who repent and turn to Him:
And those who, when they commit a lewd actor wrong themselves with
evil, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sinsand who
forgives sins except Allah? And they do not persist in what (wrong)
they were doing while they knew it. For such, the reward is
forgiveness from their Lord and Gardens with rivers flowing through,
wherein they shall abide forever. How excellent is the rewardof the
doers (of good)! (Surah Ali Imran 3:135-136)

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