Mercy
Hadith 42 of 42
Title
The expanse of Allah's forgiveness
Arabic
يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتَنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ فِيكَ وَلَا أُبَالِي، يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، لَوْ بَلَغَتْ ذُنُوبُكَ عَنَانَ السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ اسْتَغْفَرْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ وَلَا أُبَالِي، يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، إِنَّكَ لَوْ أَتَيْتَنِي بِقُرَابِ الْأَرْضِ خَطَايَا ثُمَّ لَقِيتَنِي لَا تُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْئًا لَأَتَيْتُكَ بِقُرَابِهَا مَغْفِرَةً.
Translation
Son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you whatever you have done, and I will not mind. Son of Adam, if your sins reached the clouds of the sky and then you sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you. Son of Adam, if you came to Me with sins nearly as vast as the earth and then met Me without associating anything with Me, I would come to you with forgiveness nearly as vast as it.
Narrator
Anas ibn Mālik (qudsī)
Source
Tirmidhī 3540
Commentary
Nawawī closes on mercy by design — the reader's last impression. No number of sins, short of dying upon shirk, overwhelms Allah's forgiveness when the servant turns. The hadith was chosen to be the door through which one walks out of the book and back into life.