Forgiveness - A Noble Quality

Part of the test of life is to take the attributes of Allah and practice them in our lives. We all know that Allah has 99 attributes and more. We should aim to practice some of these qualities in our lives. For example, one of the attributes of Allah is Al Ghaffar which means the Forgiver. We should take this quality and implement it in our lives by showing our forgiveness towards others. Another attribute of Allah is Al Fattah which means the Opener. We should also be ‘an opener’. Open doors to good things; for example, open doors to Islam, open doors so then people can learn about the lives of the prophets. Open doors to the Qur’an so then people will love the Qur’an. Allah is Al Aleem which means Al-Knowing. We should also seek Ilm, knowledge. We should spend time during the day learning about Allah, the angels, the prophets and about the Hereafter. So the message is that we should try to incorporate some of the noble qualities of Allah in our daily lives.

The nature of this life is that no one is perfect; we all make mistakes. Due to our imperfections and shortcomings, we constantly ask Allah to forgive us. The quality that I would like to focus on today revolves around forgiveness and more so forgiving others. It is a fact of life that people will, sooner or later, hurt us. People do bad things to each other, intentionally or unintentionally, and this results in people being upset. I am sure everyone has been disturbed and troubled. Alhamdulillah, Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have given us guidance on how to deal with such situations.

Allah says,
خُذِ الْعَفْوَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْعُرْفِ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْجَاهِلِينَ
“Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant”. [7:199]

The Prophet ﷺ said, “No one forgives except that Allah increases his honour”. [Muslim]

So from these two hadith we learn that if you forgive, no matter what people do to you, then Allah will show forgiveness to you. In fact, Allah will raise your honour. Sooner or later, people will really respect you and will think highly of you. There may be some people who think that if a person forgives others then they are weak, but this is not the case. Forgiving others means that you are strong. We must bear in mind that Allah will deal with wrong doers as they deserve. No one will get away by doing wrong to others, or harming them. But if you forgive people then you will receive a lot of forgiveness in return.

Second Part

If we analyse the life of the best human being, our Prophet ﷺ, then we will see numerous occasions where he forgave people. The Prophet ﷺ went through a lot of hardship and pain. People were very disrespectful to him; they called him inappropriate names, he was forced out of his hometown and people physically assaulted him. How did the Prophet ﷺ deal with the worst day of his life? According to the hadith reported by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), the worst day was the day when the people of Taif rejected the message. What did they do? On top of rejecting the message, they pelted the Prophet ﷺ with stones. They threw stones at the Prophet ﷺ until he had bloody injuries from his head to his toes, and they chased him away. The Prophet ﷺ was so upset, not because he was physically tortured, but because he thought he hadn’t conveyed the message properly. The angels wanted to crush the people of Taif, but the Prophet ﷺ forgave those people. The Prophet ﷺ did not want revenge or curse the people like most of us would do, rather, he was patient and calm in that very difficult situation and in fact made dua for the people of Taif.

In another hadith, a man was guaranteed Jannah simply because he would genuinely forgive people who had wronged him before he would go to sleep every night. There was nothing special about this man; he did not perform any extra prayers, he did not do extra fasts, all he did was forgive people and that earned him Paradise. So if anyone here finds it very difficult to forgive others, simply remind yourself of what the Prophet ﷺ experienced in Taif and how he forgave its people and made dua for their guidance. And remember how a man was guaranteed Paradise due to forgiving people every night.

There are various other wisdoms behind forgiving people. Psychologists say that it is one of the best ways to release your anger, discomfort and painful feelings. Doctors have linked forgiveness with improved mental health, less anxiety, and lower stress. Moreover, there will be less incidents caused by hostility and your relationship with your fellow human beings will improve.

To conclude, ghaffar (being continually forgiving) is one of the attributes of Allah that we should incorporate in our lives. Our Prophet ﷺ would forgive people, regardless of the physical and mental torture he went through. The benefits are huge in this world and in the Hereafter for those who forgive.

I ask Allah to forgive us and to give us the tawfeeq to forgive others. Ameen.