forgiveness

3:21:4

2018-04-05

1168

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.

Human beings are extremely prone to making mistakes. We are constantly committing sins. With this said, forgiveness is a critical aspect in Islam. Muslims believe that Allah is Merciful and Forgiving. There are two kinds of forgiveness in Islam: Allah’s forgiveness and human forgiveness. Human beings are in need of both since they make mistakes in their relations to Allah as well as their relations to each other. In Islam, all that is needed is to recognize the mistake/sin, rectify it and seek forgiveness.

The first step in seeking forgiveness in recognizing that your actions are wrong, this a very important and crucial step because the ego prevents individuals from even acknowledging that they have wronged. Prophet Muhammad (PBH) said, “O Allah! Make me among those who, when they commit an act of virtue, feel good, and when they commit a mistake, they seek forgiveness.”

In the Quran it says, “God loves those who turn unto Him in repentance and He loves those who keep themselves pure.” It also says, “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful is repeated many times throughout the Quran, this is because it wants to emphasize on Allah’s forgiveness, and regardless of ones sins, they should not turn away from Allah because they believe that Allah won’t forgive them.

What was just mentioned is regarding the sins only towards Allah, now if an individual hurts another human being, they should ask repentance from the person they have wronged before asking repentance from Allah. The Prophet said, "Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Resurrection when there will be no money (to compensate for wrong deeds), but if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him."

Islam also teaches human beings to be forgiving and if someone sincerely asks for forgiveness, the wronged person should forgive him. The Prophet said, "Whoever suffers an injury and forgives (the person responsible), God will raise his status to a higher degree and remove one of his sins."

Allah tells His servants, “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." When an individual comes to Allah seeking his repentance he should have the intention of not repeating this sin, and if he did repeat it forgiveness should be asked for again, for there is no limit to Allah’s forgiveness,

With this said we ask Allah to forgive us for any sin we may have committed, and give us the courage to admit to our sins and seek repentance before the day of judgement.