The mention of forgiveness and repentance appears at numerous places in Qur'an and we have already shared about a dozens of these verses (please refer to the Forgiveness and Repentance section of our reference page on Selected from Qur'an) so as to continue reminding our brothers and sisters who have mistaken or have fallen into the trap of evil forces to earnestly repent and seek forgiveness of Allah. The 135th verse for Surah 3. Al-i'Imran is yet another verse from Qur'an in which Allah asks His servants to remember Him instantly if they have sinned and implore forgiveness:
وَالَّذِيۡنَ اِذَا فَعَلُوۡا فَاحِشَةً اَوۡ ظَلَمُوۡۤا اَنۡفُسَهُمۡ ذَكَرُوا اللّٰهَ فَاسۡتَغۡفَرُوۡا لِذُنُوۡبِهِمۡ وَمَنۡ يَّغۡفِرُ الذُّنُوۡبَ اِلَّا اللّٰهُ وَلَمۡ يُصِرُّوۡا عَلٰى مَا فَعَلُوۡا وَهُمۡ يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ
(3:135) And those who having done something to be ashamed of or wronged their own souls earnestly bring Allah to mind and ask for forgiveness for their sins and who can forgive sins except Allah? And are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done..
Explaining the meaning of the abovesaid verse, Yousaf Ali defines sin as a sort of oppression of ourselves by ourselves. This follows from the doctrine of personal responsibility, as opposed to that of blind fate or of an angry God or gods lying in wait for revenge or injury on mankind.
And then notes that righteous man, when he finds he has fallen into sin or error, does not whine or despair, but asks for Allah's forgiveness, and his faith gives him hope. If he is sincere, that means that he abandons his wrong conduct and makes amends.
Ibn Kathir adds that if the servants of Allah commit an error they follow it with repentance and ask forgiveness.
Qur'an Wiki:
Another quality of the God-fearing is highlighted here. They are those who seek forgiveness whenever they slip into sin and make sure of not knowingly disobeying God’s orders. How compassionate this religion is. Before He calls on people to be compassionate to one another, God, limitless is He in His glory, shows them one aspect of His own compassion of which they themselves are the recipients, so that they may learn.
In Islamic terminology, the God-fearing are among the elite of believers. God’s compassion and mercy, however, include among them those who remember God after committing a gross indecency or who wrong themselves and pray to Him for forgiveness of their sins. The term “gross indecency” includes the most ghastly of all sins. This religion of ours, however, is so tolerant that it neither considers those who sink to its depth as outcasts, nor deprives them of God’s mercy. They are not even given the bottom rank among the believers. Rather, they are elevated to the rank of the elite, the God-fearing, on one condition only. That condition is that they should remember God and pray to Him to forgive their sins, that they should not persist with their wrongdoing, knowing that it is sinful, and that they should not unashamedly boast about the sins they have committed. In other words, they should remain within the framework of servitude to God and ultimate submission to Him. By doing so, they remain entitled to His forgiveness, mercy and bounty.
Islam recognizes man’s weakness. Man may always succumb to his physical desires which may bring him down to the depths of gross indecency. His lust, ambitions or temptations may cause him to lose-- control and drive him to disobedience of God. Recognizing this weakness in man, Islam does not adopt harsh punishments, rejecting a sinner altogether and depriving him of God’s mercy when he wrongs himself by committing a gross indecency. In the Islamic view there is something important to add to his credit which is the fact that the light of faith has not been put out altogether in his soul. His heart is not totally hardened, his relationship with God is still alive and he knows that he is merely a servant who slips and makes mistakes, and that he has a Lord who forgives. This weak, sinful creature, then, remains essentially good. He clings to his bond with God and lie does not sever it. He may, then, slip as many times as his weakness imposes on him. Eventually, he will get there, as long as he holds to his bond with God and keeps the light of faith within him. He must always remember God, pray to Him for
forgiveness and acknowledge his submission to Him and refrain from boasting about his sins.
Never does Islam slam the door in the face of a weak sinner leaving him lost in the wilderness. Never does it let him feel permanently rejected, afraid to turn back. On the contrary, it holds for him the prospect of forgiveness. It shows him the way and holds his trembling hand, steadying him and giving him the light he needs to return to his secure refuge. It only requires one thing of him, namely, that his heart and soul are not so hardened so as to make him forget God. As long as he remembers God and keeps alive in his conscience the voice of guidance and maintains in his heart the yearning for God’s grace, then light will shine again in his soul and the seed of faith will burst forth with a new plant.
When your misbehaving son who has run away knows that nothing awaits him at home except flogging, he will never return. But if he knows that there is also a tender hand which will pat his shoulder when he apologizes for his misdeeds and which excuses him when he asks for pardon, he will certainly come back.
Islam knows that side by side with man’s weaknesses and carnal desires there exist strength and sublime aspirations. For this reason, Islam is sympathetic to man in his moment of weakness, places him back on his way to a higher horizon, as long as he remembers God and does not knowingly persist with his wrongdoing. The Prophet says: “He who prays for forgiveness does not persist with his sin, even if he commits it 70 times a day.” (Related by Abū Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhī.) In doing so, Islam does not advocate complacency, nor does it praise the one who frequently slips or who describes sinful actions as beautiful, as those who call themselves “realists” do. It simply overlooks such errors in order to awaken both hope and a sense of shame within man. Forgiveness by God, the only One to forgive sins, does not lead to complacency; it fills the sinner with shame. Only those who persist and pay no heed remain outcasts. Thus, Islam combines its call to man to aspire to a higher horizon with its mercy and compassion, knowing man’s weakness and capability. It ensures that the door of hope is always open in front of man as it motivates him to exert his utmost in his aspiration towards the sublime.
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and be always ready to remember Allah if we faulter and instantly invoke His infinite mercy to forgive us. May Allah help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
You may read this post in our series of posts related to: Al Qur'an guides and helps those who sincerely seek Divine guidance and help
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the 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.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, 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, 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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