Sinning is a natural attribute of man dating back to Adam (AS), the first man created by Allah and also the first to commit sin by disobeying Allah’s command. But Allah made him realize his sin and taught him to repent for the same. So when he sought repentance, Allah surely forgave him. Is this not an example of Allah’s mercy to ponder upon?
Someone has truly stated ‘to err is human and to forgive is divine’. We all tend to commit sins, either major or minor, intentionally or unintentionally. We can’t claim to be pure from sins. Basically by committing sin we find a way to go back to Allah. Imagine what would it be like if a person never committed any sin.Such a person would be filled with pride and arrogance, thinking himself to be prefect.
Allahs wisdom lies in the slightest of matters and hence he gave us that tendency to fall into sins and guided us to return to him through sincere repentance. The status of a man who repented after sinning is much more than a person who is sinless. Moreover the beauty of committing sins and then seeking Allahs forgiveness is that it brings us closer to the Almighty and increases our ranks before Him since Allah loves those who repent as mentioned several times in the Quran.
We should never be reluctant to ask Allah for his mercy because we all are desperately in need of it. Our tiny, limited minds can’t comprehend Allahs mercy. His mercy with regard to His creation is so vast that a Hadith from Sahih Muslim (2753) mentions:
Allahs Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
Verily, there are one hundred (parts of) mercy for Allah, and it is one part of this mercy by virtue of which there is mutual love between the people and ninety-nine reserved for the Day of Resurrection.
Allah loves to forgive His slaves who humble themselves before Him and ask for His mercy. Indeed He is Ar-Rahman (The Most Merciful) and Ar-Raheem (The Always All Merciful). In fact 113 Surahs of the Glorious Qur’an begin with Bismillah-irrehman-irraheem (In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful). So how can we ever imagine our sins to be too great to seek forgiveness? The gates of forgiveness are opened to all the believing men and women irrespective of the severity of their sins as proven from a Hadith Qudsi,
Allah, the Almighty said: ‘O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.’
(Related by At-Tirmidhi)
Another blessing for a believer is that Allahs mercy prevails over his wrath. Our rewards are multiplied for every good deed while our sins do not multiply for the bad deeds we commit. Undoubtedly, Allah loves us the most and is always mindful about us. We are constantly reminded in the Quran about His abundant mercy so that we may realize.
There are a number of evidences from the Quran and Sunnah which shed light on Allahs mercy and the essence of seeking forgiveness. There is an entire Surah in the Quran named ‘Ar Rahman ‘ which signifies Allah’s merciful nature and teaches us the true value of being merciful to others. So Is there still room left to doubt Allahs mercy? Allah mentions,
…..Certainly no one despairs of Allahs Mercy, except the people who disbelieve.” (Quran 12:87)
So do not despair the mercy of your Rabb, verily His infinite mercy covers the greatest of sins only if we truly repent.
“Oh Lord the Most Compassionate, All aware of my deeds,
The ones which I reveal and the ones concealed.
Oh Lord forgive me before death overtakes me,
Sufficient will be a tiny portion of your vast mercy.
Let Your mercy cover the entire ummah,
Truly we all wish to dwell in Your eternal Jannah.”
