And Hasten to the Forgiveness of your Lord, and to Paradise

Man is born free from sins and any mental and physical pollution. But there is always a devils within and without which keeps tempting the man and lure them into a life lewdness and deviation from the path of truth as shown to them by Allah. In fact all Divine Scriptures forbid man from even going near the sin what to talk of attempting it. Not even ordinary men, even the prophets have been fallen prey to the devil's trap but have always been saved by Allah when the sincerely repented.

Prophet Adam and his wife Hawwa (Eve), peace be upon them both, too fell into the trap of the Devil in the Heavens and committed an unforgivable sin from which they had been cautioned by Allah. However, it was their sincere repentance that saved them from the wrath of Allah and they descended on earth to begin a life they were actually created:

“Then they both ate of that tree, and so their private parts appeared to them, and they began to stick on themselves the leaves from Paradise for their covering.  Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he went astray.  Then his Lord chose him, and turned to him with forgiveness and gave him guidance.” (Quran 20:121-122)

Even when Prophet Younis (peace be upon him) abandoned his people in disgust and boarded a ship which ran into to rough seas and he was thrown off board as a means to please angry gods, he had to repeatedly plead guilty when swallowed by a big fish and repented: “Oh my Lord! I have made a place of prayer where nobody else has even worshiped you.” [Surah Al-Anbya]. Thus Allah accepted his Tawba and the fish came ashore and vomited him out alive and unhurt. “So We answered his call, and delivered him from the distress. And thus We do deliver the believers (who believe in the Oneness of Allah, abstain from evil and work righteousness.)” (Surah Al-Anbya 21:88) 

Thus we see all those who repented and begged for forgiveness, Allah did forgave them. In Surah Az-Zumar [39:53] Allah says: Tell them, (O Prophet): “My servants who have committed excesses against themselves, do not despair of Allah's Mercy. Surely Allah forgives all sins. He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful."

The verse selected for this post is the verse 133 fro Surah 3. Al i'Imran in which Allah encourages believers to hasten to the His forgiveness for those who do have a great reward awaiting in the hereafter: 

وَسَارِعُوۡۤا اِلٰى مَغۡفِرَةٍ مِّنۡ رَّبِّكُمۡ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرۡضُهَا السَّمٰوٰتُ وَالۡاَرۡضُۙ اُعِدَّتۡ لِلۡمُتَّقِيۡنَۙ‏ 

(3:133) And hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord and to a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing.

Allah encourages His servants to perform righteous deeds and to rush to accomplish the acts of obedience. Allah said, "And march forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Lord, and for Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the Muttaqin (the pious."

Who else other than Allah can be the ultimate forgiver, Who is  Al Ghaffar  (الغفار) - The Repeatedly Forgiving, and Al-Ghafur (الغفور) - The Forgiving, The Pardoner. So we must always repent and ask forgiveness when we sin or do something against the Divine commandments, and must not delay in doing so for Devil within may prompt us to delay it for better times and may lure us into more sinful activities.

And Allah promises that who hastens to His forgiveness, He has for them "عَرْضُهَا السَّمَـوَتُ وَالاٌّرْضُ" - (as wide as the heavens and the earth). Allah in this verse draws the attention to the spaciousness of Paradise. For instance, Allah say in 54th ayat of Surah 55 Ar Rahman while describing the couches of Paradise:

" بَطَآئِنُهَا مِنْ إِسْتَبْرَقٍ" (lined with silk brocade) 

It was also said that Paradise is as wide as its length, because it is a dome under the Throne. The width and length of a dome or a circle are the same in distance. This is supported by what is found in the Sahih; 

«إِذَا سَأَلْتُمُ اللهَ الْجَنَّـةَ فَاسْأَلُوهُ الْفِرْدَوْسَ، فَإِنَّهُ أَعْلَى الْجَنَّـةِ، وَأَوْسَطُ الْجَنَّةِ، وَمِنْهُ تَفَجَّرُ أَنْهَارُ الْجَنَّةِ، وَسَقْفُهَا عَرْشُ الرَّحْمَن»

 

(When you ask Allah for Paradise, ask Him for Al-Firdaws which is the highest and best part of Paradise. From it originate the rivers of Paradise, and above it is the Throne of the Most Beneficent (Allah).)

This Ayah "3:133" above, is similar to Allah's statement in Surat 57Al-Hadid 21: 

"سَابِقُواْ إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا كَعَرْضِ السَّمَآءِ وَالاٌّرْضِ"

 

(Race with one another in hastening towards forgiveness from your Lord (Allah), and Paradise the width whereof is as the width of the heaven and the Earth).

 Al-Bazzar recorded that Abu Hurayrah said that a man came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him, about Allah's statement, (Paradise as wide as the heavens and the Earth) -3:133; "Where is the Fire then'' The Prophet said,

«أَرَأَيْتَ اللَّيْلَ إِذَا جَاءَ لَبِسَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ، فَأَيْنَ النَّهَارُ؟»

 

(When the night comes, it overtakes everything, so where is the day) The man said, "Where Allah wants it to be.'' The Prophet said, (Similarly, the Fire is where Allah wants it to be.) 

This Hadith has two possible meanings. First, when we do not see the night during the day, this does not mean that the day is not somewhere else, even though we cannot see it. Such is the case with Hell-fire, for it is where Allah wants it to be. The second meaning is that when the day overcomes this part of the world, the night overtakes the other part. Such is the case with Paradise, for it is in the utmost heights above the heavens and under the Throne. 

The width of Paradise is, as Allah stated, "كَعَرْضِ السَّمَآءِ وَالاٌّرْضِ" - (whereof is as the width of the heaven and the Earth) [57:21].

The Fire, on the other hand, is in the lowest of lows. Therefore, Paradise being as wide as the heavens and Earth does not contradict the fact that the Fire exists wherever Allah wills it to be.

Why Allah asks us to hasten towards his forgiveness is that He has promised that He would forgive sins of His believers and faithfuls as long as they hasten to it till the time the angel of death appears in front of them. Since we none knows when that would happen as death takes not even a second to strike. So be in haste always to seek Allah's forgiveness lest it is too late.

May Allah help us understand Qur'an and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.

For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an

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Reading the Holy Quran should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully.

An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Holy Qur'an from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that:

• The plain translation has been taken from the Holy Quran officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [1]
• The exegesis of the chapters of the Holy Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. [2]  

In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided by [2], additional input has been interjected from following sources: 

• Towards Understanding the Quran
• Tafsir Ibn Khatir
• Muhammad Asad Translation
• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
• Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
• Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle

In addition the references of  other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.

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