ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Al-Qur`an 1:2-3
All praise is for Allah—Lord of all worlds. The Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
We win when we choose good. We win when we end up choosing evil and go to our Lord with sincerity. An absolute win-win situation
When we step back from worldly worries and truly ponder upon our existence, we will realize how fortunate we are. It is a huge blessing of Allahﷻ that He made us human beings and gave us free-will. The capacity to choose between right and wrong. Then return to Him for forgiveness in case we end up picking the wrong side. Allahﷻ is the Most Merciful. He loves when His creation comes to Him in sincerity, regardless of the sin. We are blessed to be able to share this intimate moment with our Creator. We win when we choose good. We win when we end up choosing evil and go to our Lord with sincerity. An absolute win-win situation. Lets take a look at our Lords mercy in action. We will then conclude with a brief summary.
Lost Camel In A Waterless Desert
Abu Hurairaؓ reported Allah’s Messengerﷺ as saying that Allahﷻ, said: I live in the thought of My servant and I am with him as he remembers Me. Prophetﷺ further said: By Allah, Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than what one of you would do on finding the lost camel in the waterless desert. When he draws near Me by the span of his hand. I draw near him by the length of a cubit and when he draws near Me by the length of a cubit. I draw near him by the length of a fathom and when he draws near Me walking I draw close to him hurriedly.
Sahih Muslim 2675 – Book 50:1
The Sinner Without Any Good Deeds
Abu Hurairaؓ reported Allah’s Messengerﷺ as saying that a person who had never done any good deed asked the members of his family to burn his dead body when he would die and to scatter half of its ashes over the land and half in the ocean. By Allah, if Allah finds him in His grip, He would torment him with a torment with which He did not afflict anyone amongst the people of the world; and when the person died, it was done to him as he had commanded (his family) to do. Allah commanded the land to collect (the ashes scattered on it) and He commanded the ocean and that collected (ashes) contained in it. Allah questioned him why he had done that, He said: My Lord, it is out of your fear that I have done it and you are well aware of it, and Allah granted him pardon.
Sahih Muslim 2756 – Book 50:28
His Mercy Predominates His Wrath
Abu Hurairaؓ reported that Allah’s Messengerﷺ said that When Allah created the creation as He was upon the Throne, He put down in His Book: Verily, My mercy predominates My wrath.
Sahih Muslim 2751 – Book 50:17
وَإِنِّى لَغَفَّارٌۭ لِّمَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًۭا ثُمَّ ٱهْتَدَىٰ
Al-Qur`an 20:82
I am truly Most Forgiving to whoever repents, believes, and does good, then persists on ˹true˺ guidance
100 Parts Of His Mercy
Abu Huraira reported that I heard Allah’s Messengerﷺ as saying that Allah created mercy in one hundred parts and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and He has sent down upon the earth one part, and it is because of this one part that there is mutual love among the creation so much so that the animal lifts up its hoof from its young one, fearing that it might harm it. The jinn and human beings love one another, show kindness to one another and even the beast treats its young one with affection.
Sahih Muslim 2752 – Book 50:20-26
The Repeated Sinner
Abu Hurairaؓ reported from Allah’s Messengerﷺ that Allah said – A servant committed a sin and he said: O Allah, forgive me, and Allah said: My servant committed a sin and then he came to realize that he has a Lord Who forgives the sins and takes to account (the sinner) for the sin. O servant, do what you like. I have granted you forgiveness. He then again committed a sin and said: My Lord, forgive me, and Allah said: My servant committed a sin and then came to realize that he has a Lord Who would forgive his sin or would take (him) to account for the sin. O servant, do what you like. I have granted you forgiveness. He again committed a sin and said: My Lord, forgive me, and Allah said: My servant committed a sin and then came to realize that he has a Lord Who forgives the sins or takes (him) to account for sin. O servant, do what you like. I have granted you forgiveness.
Abd al-A’laؓ said: I do not know whether he said thrice or four times to do” what you desire”.
Sahih Muslim 2758 – Book 50:33
Good Wipes Out Evil
Abdullah b. Mas’udؓ reported that a person kissed a woman and he came to Allah’s Messengerﷺ and made a mention of that to him. It was on this occasion that Al-Qur`an verse 11:114 was revealed. That person said: Allah’s Messengerﷺ, does this verse concern me only? Prophet Muhammadﷺ said: It concerns every one of my followers, who acts according to it.
Sahih Muslim 2763 – Book 50:47
إِنَّ ٱلْحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّٰكِرِينَ
Al-Qur`an 11:114
Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. That is a reminder for the mindful
The Serial Killer
Abu Sa’id al-Khudriؓ reported Allah’s Messengerﷺ as saying that there was a person before you who had killed ninety-nine persons and then made an inquiry about the learned persons of the world (who could show him the way to salvation). He was directed to a monk. He came to him and told him that he had killed ninety-nine persons and asked him whether there was any scope for his repentance to be accepted. He said: No. He killed him also and thus completed one hundred. He then asked about the learned persons of the earth and he was directed to a scholar, and he told him that he had killed one hundred persons and asked him whether there was any scope for his repentance to be accepted. He said: Yes; what stands between you and the repentance? You better go to such and such land; there are people devoted to prayer and worship and you also worship along with them and do not come to the land of yours since it was an evil land (for you). So he went away and he had hardly covered half the distance when death came to him and there was a dispute between the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment. The angels of mercy said: This man has come as a penitent and remorseful to Allah and the angels of punishment said: He has done no good at all. Then there came another angel in the form of a human being in order to decide between them. He said: You measure the land to which he has drawn near. They measured it and found him nearer to the land where he intended to go (the land of piety), and so the angels of mercy took possession of it. Qatada said that Hasan told him that it was said to them that as death approached him, he crawled upon his chest (and managed) to slip in the land of mercy.
Allahﷻ commanded the earth (from where) he wanted to come out to move itself away and to the other side (where he wanted to go) to draw nearer.
Sahih Muslim 2766 – Book 50:54-56
He is the only one who understands us. He is the only one who welcomes us without condition
Alhamdulillah. What we are seeing is that Allahﷻs mercy has no limits. When you take a step towards Him with sincerity, Allahﷻ takes multiple steps towards you. If you sin repeatedly or have even committed heinous crimes, Allahﷻ only looks at your pure heart and not the weight of your sin. We sometimes fall victim to hopelessness but He never looses hope in us. Any amount of sin should never deter us from going to our Creator and opening up our heart. He is the only one who understands us. He is the only one who welcomes us without condition. He is the only who cares about us when we are so careless of Him that we don’t so much as take a second to acknowledge His blessings. He is the only one who forgives us time and again when we are heedless of his warnings. He is the only one who sees through the baggage of our sins into our heart. We may go by our entire lives ignoring Him. Yet He gives more weight to one small good deed that goes unnoticed in this world, than all the sin we can ever commit.
