Al Muʿakh·khir " ٱلْمُؤَخِّرُ " - The Delayer is one of the 99 attributes of Allah. Though this attribute is not specifically mentioned as such in the Qur'an but has been derived from one of the abilities of ALLAH wherein He delays His wrath on nations and people who go against His commandments and gives them ample time to repent their sins and wrongdoings. And when they still do not realize their misdeeds and sins, then Allah's wrath befalls upon them.
يَغۡفِرۡ لَـكُمۡ مِّنۡ ذُنُوۡبِكُمۡ وَيُؤَخِّرۡكُمۡ اِلٰٓى اَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّىؕ اِنَّ اَجَلَ اللّٰهِ اِذَا جَآءَ لَا يُؤَخَّرُۘ لَوۡ كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ
"He will forgive your sins and will grant you respite until an appointed term. Indeed when Allah's appointed term comes, it cannot be deferred; if you only knew!" (Surah 71. Nuh: 4)
In the verse above it is being said:
The sentence yaghfir la-kum min dhunub-i-kum in the original does not mean that Allah will forgive some of their sins, but its correct meaning is: If you accept and acknowledge the three things which are being presented before you, He will forgive all the sins that you have committed in the past.
That is, if you accepted these three things, you would be given respite to live in the world until the time that Allah has appointed for your natural death.
“A term appointed”: The time fixed by Allah for sending down a torment on a people. In this regard the Quran has at several places stated explicitly that when Allah’s torment has been decreed for a certain people, they are not pardoned even if they affirm the faith after it.
That is, if you come to know that the time which is now passing after you have received Allah’s message through me is, in fact, a period of respite that has been granted to you for affirming the faith and there is no chance of escape from Allah’s torment after the term of respite has elapsed, you would testify to the faith without delay and would not like to postpone it until the torment actually started descending on you.
The disbelievers of Makkah when hear such commandments of Allah, would ridicule the Messenger of Allah and ask him that why does wrath of Allah not befall on us or when the wrath of Allah you talk about will befall on us. They forgot that in the past many a thriving natives like Ad and Thamud had perished when the wrath of Allah hit them for their disobedience and that Allah gave them sufficient time to repent and seek truth. And when they still didn't listen to the prophets sent to them, wrath of Allah came with such fury that only the remains of their abode remained for future generations to see.
The attribute Al Muʿakh·khir takes it roots from a-kh-r which in classical Arabic means: (1) to postpone, put off, delay, retard, (2) to retire, to drive back, (3) to cause to go back, backwards, retreat, recede. The attribute Al Muʿakh·khir (delayer) is the opposite of Al Muqaddim (promoter).
Another attribute of Allah, Al-ʿĀkhir (last) also comes from this same a-kh-r root, and is the opposite of Al ʿAwwal (first).
The Messenger of Allah used to supplicate by saying, "Lord! I plead to You to forgive my sins, my ignorance, my extravagance, and to grant me that which You know to be better for me. Lord! I plead to You to forgive my (unintentional) sins, my deliberate sins, my ignorance, when I am serious and when I am not, and I am guilty of all of that. Lord! I plead to You to forgive what I have advanced and what I have postponed, what I have revealed and what I have declared, for You are Al-Muqaddim, and You are Al-Mu'akhkhir, and surely You can do whatever You please."
You may refer to our post "99 Attributes of Allāh" for complete list of 99 attributes of Allah Almighty with meaning and explanation.
You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran
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