The Mercy of Almighty Allah

Allah Most High, the Creator and Lord of the worlds, is limitlessly benevolent on His slaves and extremely merciful with them.  In rewarding His pious slaves and chastising His sinful ones, He has made His attribute of mercy dominant over His wrath.  In spite of the magnitude and frequency of our sins, He has created various opportunities and chances to forgive them.  He has given us sacred days and nights and has thereby designed paths of repentance.  All these are nothing but manifestations of His infinite mercy.

 

That Allah’s mercy exceeds His wrath is established by the following words of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam):

 

Translation: Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be well pleased with him) relates from the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), that He said:  After the creation, Almighty Allah wrote on the ‘Arsh: My mercy has exceeded my wrath.  (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No. 7422)

 

The bondsmen of Allah do violate His rules.  Due to their own Selves (Nafs) and the intrigues of Satan, they end up committing innumerable sins.  They get involved in various misdemeanors and improprieties.  It is only the mercy of Allah Most High that doesn’t allow them to be debased in this world.  To top it all, through various worships and good deeds, He has created numerous paths of forgiveness.  For forgiveness of sins, short but beneficial deeds have decreed.

 

Almighty Allah is beyond the fetters of time and space and His attributes are also boundless.  Consequently, His mercy is also limitless.  It is immeasurably expansive and covers all.  The whole creation drawn benefits from His mercy.  Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran:

 

And ordain for us good in (the life of) this world and in the Hereafter (as well). Surely, we have turned and totally inclined towards You.’ (Allah) said: ‘I inflict My punishment on whom I will and My mercy encompasses everything. So, I shall soon prescribe this (mercy) for those who adopt Godwariness and pay Zakat (the Alms-due) regularly, and it is they who have faith in Our Revelations.  Surah A’araaf (7:156)

 

The sins of His slaves will also be obliterated with the blessings of this mercy.

 

Almighty Allah created human beings and gave them great powers like intellect, hearing, seeing, talking, etc.  He bestowed upon them many outward and inward bounties and made the whole world subservient to them.  These are all the blessings of Allah Most High.

 

The manifestation of His mercy on the creation

 

Whether it is humans of genies, animals or insects, Allah Most High has benefited everyone with His mercy.  He has placed 1% of His mercy in the creation.  When just 1% of His mercy has filled the bosoms of the creation then what can we say about the bestowals and grants beyond it!

 

Thus, there is a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari:

 

Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be well pleased with him), he says:  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  When Almighty Allah created mercy, at that time itself, He made 100 parts of mercy.  He kept 99 parts of it for Himself and gave 1 part of mercy to all creation.  If a disbeliever realizes the mercy with Allah, he (or she) will never despair of paradise and if a believer knows of the punishment which is with Allah Most High, he (or she) will never be free of the fear of hell.

 

The bestowals of the Lord Almighty on His slaves

 

Affection is that quality which has been placed in the very nature of all creation.  Be it the human beings or the animals, they are affectionate with their favorites.  Among them all, the love of the mother is of a special nature.  Other people are not included in it.  As the love and affection of the mother is distinguished over all others, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) illustrated the mercy of Allah with it and informed us that the mercy of Allah will be much much more than the affection that a mother has for her children.  As given in Sahih Bukhari:

 

Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him), he says:  Some prisoners came to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  Among them was a woman who was lactating.  When she would find an infant from among the prisoners, she would suckle it.

 

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Do you think that this woman will throw her child into fire?  We said:  No.  Although it is within her power, she would never do so.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Almighty Allah is much more benevolent on His slaves than this woman on the infant.

 

The immeasurable expansiveness of the mercy of Allah Most High

 

We are also finite and our minds and intellects are also finite.  How can this limited intellect understand the expansiveness of the mercy and love of Allah Most High?

 

The Hadith show us one illustration of the expansiveness of Allah’s mercy that 70,000 people from this Ummah will enter paradise without any reckoning:

 

Translation: Hadhrat Abu Umama (May Allah be well pleased with him) says:  I heard the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) say:  My Lord has promised me that He will let 70,000 people from my Ummah enter paradise without any reckoning and along with every 1000 there will be 70,000 and will enter 3 handfuls of the whole creation into paradise.  (Jame’ Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2624; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith No. 4427)

 

The love of Allah Most High and His Beloved Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is the very essence of faith.  In the previous nations, this nation was introduced as the lovers.  In the Holy Quran, Almighty Allah has described this Ummah saying that they are the beloved of Allah Most High and loves Allah Most High.  Surah Maaida-54

 

It is the mark of this love that the Lord Almighty saves His slaves from trials and tribulations and conceals their sins and pardons them.

 

All these are themselves the mercy of Allah Most High.  If the slaves love Allah, it is imperative for them to stay away from sins.