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When sinners listen to this verse: {For those it is expected that Allah will pardon them, and Allah is ever Pardoning, All-Forgiving} [Surat an-Nisā’: 99], they raise their hands in supplication to their Lord and stand humble and submissive at His door, seeking His protection and pardon. They call out: “O the Pardoner, the All-Forgiving, we have none but You to turn to.”
Thereupon, the Generous and the Pardoner looks at their condition and knows their innermost thoughts, and He erases their sins and misdeeds and elevates their ranks.
Glory be to Allah, the Pardoner, the Forgiving!
If afflictions and hardships come your way and sins overburden you, call out His name and ask Him for pardon.
O Lord, no matter how great my sins are, I supplicate You as You have commanded me in humility; if only the doers of good seeks refuge in You!
then in who can the evildoer seek refuge? I know that Your pardon is far greater than my sins. If You turn down my supplication, then who would show mercy to me?
Allah Almighty says: {...Indeed, Allah is Pardoning and Forgiving.} [Surat al-Hajj: 60]
Our Lord, Exalted be He, frequently pardons His servants and forgives their sins to an infinite extent. In addition to forgiving sins, He also erases their traces altogether, thus, people will not be held accountable for them on the Day of Judgment, and He removes them from the records of the honorable scribes, i.e. the angels who write down good and bad deeds. More than that, He even causes those sinners to forget those sins so that they will not remember them and feel ashamed, replacing those evil deeds with good ones.
The Almighty Lord is ever Pardoning and Forgiving. Everyone is in need of His pardon, mercy, and bounty. He promises forgiveness and pardon to those who meet their requirements.
Allah Almighty accepts pardon on the part of His servants and facilitates for them the duties they are obligated to perform, given the shortcoming and weakness they will necessarily show. For example, Allah ordained ablution for the performance of prayer. But if a person cannot find water for ablution, He pardons that and allows him to make dry ablution, considering his helplessness.
It was said that pardon is higher than forgiveness, for the former gives a feeling of elimination while the latter gives a sense of mere concealment. Elimination is more profound than concealment.
General pardon, which encompasses all wrongdoers from the disbelievers and others, as He removes from them punishments entailed as a result of certain actions and requiring the cessation of blessings to them. Indeed, they offend Him by reviling Him and associating partners with Him, yet He pardons and provides for them, spreads out the world for them, and gives them respite, out of His pardon and forbearance. Thus, Allah sends down the best to His servants, and evil ascends to Him from them. Indeed, Allah Almighty does not need the worship of His servants. Nonetheless, He shows affection to them through His blessings, and they incur His wrath by disobeying Him, though they stand in need of Him.
Special pardon, which is given to the repentant, the seekers of His forgiveness, and the supplicants and worshipers among the believers who get afflicted and seek His reward for their patience.
Out of Allah’s supreme pardon, if He pardons one of His servants in this world, He does not retract it on the Day of Judgment. He is the Most Bountiful. That is the immutable rule Allah Almighty applies with His close servants.
Out of His majesty, as He pardons the repentant sinners in this world, He also pardons persistent sinners among the monotheistic believers in the Hereafter.
And out of His majesty, He pardons sins, no matter how serious they may be, even if they include transgression against His own rights, and He replaces sins with good deeds. Who could ever deal with sins like that except the Almighty Lord? If it were not for the greatness of His pardon, the earth and its inhabitants would be ruined on account of the sins committed thereon.
Out of His great pardon, He guides His servants to the means whereby they can attain His pardon, including good deeds and words and noble morals. Indeed, if a person engages in a lot of righteous acts, they prevail his sins and misdeeds.
The Pardoner calls you from above the seven heavens saying: {And your Lord said: “Call upon Me and I will respond to you”...} [Surat Ghāfir: 60] So, what keeps you from winning His bounty?! And what keeps you from joining the caravan of the oft-repentant?
If people knock on the doors of the kings in this world and stand there in humility, you stand in humility before the King of all kings, the Bountiful and Pardoning Lord, in Whose Hand are the keys to relief, happiness, pardon, and forgiveness.
{Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants...} [Surat at-Tawbah: 104] Bilāl ibn S‘ad said: “You have a Lord Who does not hasten to punish anyone of you; He forgives sins, accepts repentance, draws near to those drawing near to Him, and shows compassion to those turning away from Him.”
The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) used to supplicate Allah saying: “Allāhumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbu al-‘afwa fa‘fu ‘anni (O Allah, You are Pardoning and love pardon, so pardon me).” [Narrated by Ibn Mājah; Sahīh (authentic)]
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “If He pardons you, your needs will be fulfilled without asking.”
Sufyān al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “I would not like my reckoning to be handled by my father and mother, for I know that Allah Almighty is more merciful to me than them.”
When my heart hardens and I see my sins too great, I compare them to Your pardon, and behold! They are nothing.
My hope for Your mercy is the path in which I walk to You. My Lord, Your pardon is far greater than my sins. Pardon, O the Most Generous.
Scholars said that the dearest among people in the sight of Allah Almighty are those who act in accordance with His names and attributes. Indeed, He is merciful and loves the merciful and pardoning and loves those who pardon others. Allah Almighty treats a person the way he treats other people. Allah Almighty says: {So by mercy from Allah, you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you...} [Surat Ᾱl-‘Imrān: 159]
Pardon from a position of strength is one of the highest levels of piety. Out of His generosity, Allah Almighty rewards pardon on people’s side with greater pardon. He says: {If [instead] you show [some] good or conceal it or pardon an offense - indeed, Allah is ever Pardoning and Omnipotent.} [Surat an-Nisā’: 149]
When Abu Bakr al-Siddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) swore not to spend on Mistah, one of his relatives, after he slandered the Prophet’s wife ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), as part of what came to be known as the Incident of Slander, Allah Almighty revealed: {And let not those of virtue among you and wealth swear not to give [aid] to their relatives and the needy and the emigrants for the cause of Allah, and let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.} [Surat an-Nūr: 22]
If a person pardons others in pursuit of reward from his Lord, Allah Almighty will give him beyond what he expects, in this world and in the Hereafter.
The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) is authentically reported to have said: “Allah increases the one who pardons in honor.” [Narrated by Muslim]
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “A person who is known for his pardon and forgiveness grows in respect, prestige, and honor among people.”
As the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abdul-Malik ibn Marawān was delivering a profound sermon, he stopped and cried hard. Then, he said: “O Lord, my sins are great, and only a small part of Your pardon is greater than them. So, remove with a little of Your pardon my great sins.”
News of this reached Al-Hasan al-Basri, who wept and said: “If there were words to be written in gold, it would be these words.”
A Bedouin once supplicated: “O Allah, You commanded us to pardon those who wrong us, and we have wronged ourselves, so pardon us.”
And we supplicate You: {...Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.} [Surat al-A‘rāf: 23]
O Allah, You are Pardoning and You love pardon, so pardon us, O the Most Merciful of those who show mercy!