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Saturday 30 April 2022

The Criterion for Divine Forgiveness

Man has been created as a test between two choices: The good and the evil, virtues and the vices. Lucky are those with strong faith whom lust cannot lure in and they remain steadfast even under the most demanding tests and trials. But believers of weaker faith often stumble and fall into the trap of Evil and commit sins and get attracted to evil ways to satisfy their evil desires.

Allah, Who created us, knew well that His servants will faulter and will mostly fell ashamed of their acts thereafter. Therefore, Allah has remained the door of His mercy and forgiveness for defaulters to turn back to Him, repent their sins and wrongdoings and seek forgiveness. And Allah, Who is Dhu-l-Jalali wal-Ikram (ذو الجلال و الإكرام) - The Lord of Majesty and Generosity,  Al Ghaffar  (الغفار) - The Repeatedly Forgiving, Al-Ghafur (الغفور) - The Forgiving, The Pardoner and Ar Rahim (الرحيم) -  The Most merciful promises them that He would forgive them no matter how big is the crime and fault. Even Allah promises to forgive those who have committed Shirk and associated others with Him provided they earnestly repent. 

Now here are two types of sins that come into play: One related exclusively to Allah like Shirk, skipping Salat (obligatory prayer) and Fasts (Saum) and not paying Zakat or not performing Hajj even if someone has the means and health to go to the Holy Lands. All such sins may be pardoned by Allah for Allah likes His servants to look up to Him for forgiveness and He has His own way of justice and that of pardoning.

The second type of sins are related to the mankind. Now the forgiveness here adds another party to the defaulter and Allah. Scholars are of the view that unless the aggrieved party contends to forgive the offender, their mere repentance has no meaning.

For example a man usurps someone's land, property or money and then asks for repentance without returning the land or money he has illegally usurped, his forgiveness will not accepted. Likewise, if someone unduly hurts a person physically, morally or spiritually by hands or by mouth or by any means, so without seeking pardon from the one who has been wronged and then voluntarily forgiven can then only be a candidate for forgiveness by Allah.

And if this mutual arrangement is not made, then on the Day of Judgement, the aggrieved party may stand up and ask for redemption which will be very severe on that day as the good doings of the offender will be exchanged with the bad deeds of the aggrieved party as penalty.

Now what a loss would be for someone on that day that when every good deed would be needed for one's forgiveness, these would be taken away from him and in return more bad deeds would be added to his credit. That would be the Divine Justice on that day.

So my brothers and sisters, make amends now for the Divine Criterion in cases where others are a party, will be very tough and without an iota of injustice. Be always forgiving and always be in pursuit of people who have been wronged by you to seek their acceptance of your forgiveness lest it is too late.

Please watch the video below by Professor Javed Ahmad Ghamidi,  on the subject. The video is in Urdu, but has English subtitles for those who cannot understand Urdu:
Professor Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, is a Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar, Islamic modernist, exegete and educationist.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the video above are that of the concerned scholar . We have shared these view as added information in better understanding of Islam. The reader may or may not agree with the view owing to their own perception. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

For more Scholarly views and videos, please read our reference page: Scholars' Viewpoint on Important Issues Related to Islam.

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.
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1 comments:

Jazak Allah khair for your consistant efforts in sharing Quranic verses n their in depth understanding.
May Almighty Allah bless you.
And give us toufiq to follow Quran in true spirit, forgive others and always seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah for our unlimited follies. Allah is forgiving , Ghafoor ur Raheem.

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