O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and put your hope in Me, I have forgiven you for what you have done and I do not mind. O son of Adam, if your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you would seek My forgiveness, I would forgive you.
O son of Adam, if you were to come to Me with sins that are close to filling the earth and then you would meet Me without ascribing any partners with Me, I would certainly bring to you forgiveness close to filling it."(Hadith Qudsi)
In this Hadith Qudsi, Allah tells man of the greatness of His forgiveness and mercy so that no one would despair due to the amount of sins he may have committed. It displays the quality and attribute of Allahs mercy. Indeed, He is ar-Rahman(Most Compassionate), and ar-Raheem(Most Merciful). This is supported by the following verse of the Holy Quran:
Say: O My servants who have transgressed against their own souls, despair not of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surah az-Zumar 39:53)
Allah catches the attention of mankind by calling out, O son of Adam! This is a call to every human being. Why didnt Allah say, O mankind or O People? The significance of this specific call is because Adam, the first human being, committed a sin. In fact, there is no single human on earth that did not sin! It is important to note that while Man was not created sinful, he was created weak. He is prone to fall into the temptations of sin and the whispers of Satan and when he does, he should always remember to turn to Allah, call upon Him, and ask for forgiveness with hope in Allah's mercy. Adam was an example to all humans of the consequences of sin and how to turn to Allah for the forgiveness of one's sins. Even after committing a violation, ones sins can be forgiven if one repents to Allah sincerely the same way that the father of mankind sinned, repented, and was forgiven by Allah.
Will they not repent to Allah and ask His forgiveness? For Allah is the Forgiving, the Merciful. (Surat al-Maaidah 5:74)
Lo! Allah is a Lord of Kindness to mankind, but most of mankind give not thanks. (Surat al-Baqarah 2:143)
Allah calls out to His servants, a call of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. After calling out to mankind, Allah informs them that as long as they call on Him and put their hope in Him, He will forgive them. This statement alone can convince one to have hope and never to despair. When one calls out to Allah or makes dua, he is displaying his need and dependence of Allah. He is demonstrating his weakness to the fact that he has no power to do anything for himself. This is in the essence of Islam, which is submission and servitude. It is also a recognition of Allah's attributes of His kindness, generosity, forgiving and merciful nature, and His unlimited power and knowledge. Humans are never in a situation where they are not in need of Allah. A believer should always turns to Allah to ask for guidance as well as to seek forgiveness of sins and shortcomings. In another hadith Qudsi, Allah says:
I am with My servant as He expects of Me.
The meaning of this is that Allah treats His servants the way he expects Him to. If one has hope in Allah and trusts Him, Allah will act accordingly to that servants beliefs and faith. And if he does not have faith and is in despair of his Lords mercy, Allah will act accordingly. We should never lose hope or stop asking for Allah's forgiveness. In fact, repentance is such a great act of worship that doing it can totally erase ones sins altogether, as the Noble Prophet (s.a.w) said:
"One who repents from sins is like one without sin." (Hadith)
Take note that not having hope in Allah and despairing of His mercy is a great sin and an act of disbelievers, as mentioned in the Holy Quran:
Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people. (Surah Yusuf 12:87)
Everyone commits sin and does wrong, but Allah is always willing to forgive and He always gives them a chance to repent and seek His forgiveness. A believer should never forget that fact. Look at how great Allahs mercy, compassion, and love is!
And those who, when they commit a lewd act or wrong themselves with evil, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins and who forgives sins except Allah? And they do not persist in what (wrong) they were doing while they knew it. For such, the reward is forgiveness from their Lord and Gardens with rivers flowing through, wherein they shall abide forever. How excellent is the reward of the doers (of good)! (Surah Ali Imran 3:135-136).
In this verse, mankind is encouraged to seek Allah's forgiveness and repent. There are two simple conditions of repentance, which must be met for one's repentance to be accepted.
-(1) Seek forgiveness from Allah
-(2) The person must feel remorse and guilt over his actions that and must immediately cease performing the wrong and sinful act.
Hope in the Mercy of Allah should be accompanied by regret and remorse of the heart upon the sins committed, sincerity, hastening in repentance and avoiding sins as is clearly manifest from the following verses of the Qur'aan. Allah says:
“And whosoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [an-Nisa 4: 110]
Yahyaa Ibn Muaadh once said: "In my view, the worst kind of self-delusion is to greatly sin, yet hope for forgiveness without feeling any regret; and to hope to draw close to Allah - the Most High - without obedience to Him; and to await the fruits of Paradise, by planting the seeds for Hell-Fire; and to seek the abode of the obedient ones, by doing acts of disobedience; and to expect a reward, without doing any worthy action; and to hope in Allah - the Mighty and Majestic - after overstepping the bounds. You hope for salvation but do not tread its path. A ship never sails upon dry land."
My dear brothers and sisters, we need to remind ourselves of the Day of Judgement that we will be standing in front of our Lord and be questioned for our deeds. It will be a day in which not even the smallest action will be hidden. Seek forgiveness from Allah with sincere repentence! When a person sins and then sincerely turns to Allah for forgiveness, one will find Allah ready to accept his repentance and to forgive him.
"Those who say, Our Lord! We have indeed believed, so forgive us our sins and save us from the punishment of the Fire." [Ali Imran 3:16]
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Acknowledgement:
-Holy Quran
-Hadith