Despair not of the mercy of Allah [2]

Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgives anything else, to whom He pleases; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin most heinous indeed. (An-Nisaa’: 4:48)

Regarding this ayah, scholars of Islam understand it in this way:

- If one die in a state of doing shirk without repenting during his lifetime, there is no chance he will be forgiven during his meeting with his Lord in the hereafter. Only with repentance during the lifetime that one can be forgiven if one had commit shirk.

- For other sins, Allah may forgive His slaves by His mercy during the day of judgement.

Sources:

1. Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury [1]

2. Ibnu Kathir commentaries on verses 4:48 and 39:53.

Hope this clarifies the matter…..

Going back to the main question:

Why we should not give up on His mercy?

We can make a full-page list of answers for this question. Nonetheless, one thing should be emphasized here:

- When we start to despair of His mercy, unconsciously we had already removed one of His main attribute from Him; the All-Merciful.

- No doubt, this will defect our own creed and is a very x99 serious matter.

Thus, with the belief on the All-Merciful, let us not be despair of His mercy. Think about the mercy that He had bestowed upon us. Haha, too much to think about right? Hope the hadith below can give us some idea on His mercy upon us as His slaves:

'Umar b. Khattab reported that there were brought some prisoners to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) amongst whom there was also a woman, who was searching (for someone) and when she found a child amongst the prisoners, she took hold of it, pressed it against her chest and provided it suck. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Do you think this woman would ever afford to throw her child in the Fire? We said: By Allah, so far as it lies in her power, she would never throw the child in Fire. ' Thereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah is more kind to His servants than this woman is to her child.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 37: #6635)

Maybe, for this reason, one of the great scholar of islam; sufyan at-thawri had said:

‘I’ll never replace Allah as my judge with my parents on the day of judgement, for indeed I know Allah loves me more than my parents’[1]

What an amazing statement!....Only because he knows that Allah is more merciful to him than his own parents, that he is able to say this. This should be enough to make us ponder upon His mercy towards us.

Have nothing much to say here, just REMEMBER: The ‘KEY’ is to never stop going back to Allah in repentance. With His mercy, insyaAllah, those that are truly sincere in seeking for His forgiveness will always be successful in this life and the hereafter. WAllahu'alam.. :)

[1] Instructor of Al-Kauthar institure (check www.alkauthar.org to know more about him)