Did you know? (Inspirational Islamic Stories)

A reminder on Forgiveness

Forgiving each other, even forgiving one's enemies is one of the most important of Islamic teaching. In the Qur'an, God has described the Believers as:

"those who avoid major sins and acts of indecencies and when they are angry they forgive." (42:37)

- A very striking example of forgiveness we find in the Qur'an in reference to the most unfortunate event of "Slander of Aisha."

Some hypocrites of Madinah accused her. They tried to put dirt on her noble character. One of the slanderers turned out to be Mistah, the cousin of Aisha's father Abu Bakr.

Abu Bakr used to give financial help to this young man. After he slandered his daughter, Abu Bakr vowed not to help him anymore. But God reminded Abu Bakr and through him all the Believers:

"Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen, those in want and those who migrated in the path of God. Let them forgive and overlook. Do you not wish that God should also forgive you. Indeed God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (24: 22)

Abu Bakr came out of his home and said:

"Yes, indeed, I do want God's forgiveness. He did not only continue to help him but he increased his allowance.

Islam emphasizes justice and punishment of the wrong doers, but it equally strongly emphasizes mercy, kindness and love. Justice, law and order are necessary for the maintenance of a social order, but there is also a need for forgiveness to heal the wounds and to restore good relations between the people.

We must keep in mind that as much as we need God's forgiveness for our own sins and mistakes, we must also practice forgiveness toward those who do wrong to us.

- Prophet Muhammad saws was the most forgiving person. He was ever ready to forgive his enemies. When he went to Ta'if to preach God's message to its people, they mistreated him. They abused him and hit him with stones. He left the city humiliated and wounded. When he took shelter under a tree, God's angel appeared to him and told him that God was very angry with the people of Taif and sent him to destroy them because they mistreated God's beloved Prophet. The Prophet prayed to God to save the people of Ta'if, because what they did was out of their ignorance. He said:

"O Allah, guide these people, because they did not know what they were doing." (Al-Bukhari)

When he entered the city of Makkah after the victory, the Prophet had in front of him some of his staunchest enemies. Those who fought him for many years, persecuted his followers and killed many of them. Now he had full power to do whatever he wanted to punish them for their crimes. It is reported that the Prophet asked them:

"What do you think I shall do to you now?"

They expected nothing but retaliation and pleaded for mercy. The Prophet said,

"Today I shall say to you what Yusuf (Prophet Joseph) said to his brothers: 'No blame on you today. Go, you are all free'." (Al-Albani)

Soon they all came and accepted Islam at his hands. He forgave even Hind who had caused the murder of his uncle Hamza. After killing him, she had his body mutilated and chewed his liver. When she accepted Islam, the Prophet even forgave her.
(Taken from Islamcity)

Abu Abdullah Al-Khadali reported: I asked Aisha about the character of the Messenger of Allah Prophet (SAW). Aisha said:

"The Prophet was not indecent, he was not obscene, he would not shout in the markets, and he would not respond to an evil deed with an evil deed, but rather he would pardon and overlook." (Sunan At-Tirmidhi)

In Holy Quran "forgiveness" and "mercy "are mentioned around 100 and 200 times respectively. An entire chapter of the Quran is devoted to the quality of mercy that is (Surah Rahman).

Our beloved Prophet (SAW) said:

"Whoever suffers an injury and forgives (the person responsible), God will raise his status to a higher degree and remove one of his sins."
If we expect forgiveness from Almighty Allah then we also have the ability to forgive others.
(Taken from Qur'anreading)