Of all things that Allah Almighty has created, human beings are very special, much exalted in their status as compared to everything else that we see furnishing and beautifying the whole universe. This is because human beings embrace Allah Almighty’s biggest blessing that also leads to toughest accountability, i.e., the intellect.
Human Intellect
People might end up defining human intellect in myriads of ways, but its simple interpretation pertains to human being’s decision and opinion in favor or against anything (or any matter). However, Allah (SWT) awarded human beings the custodianship of this intellect not without the bar of accountability, and that is what makes being human so special. It is simply analogous to “higher the risk higher the reward”.
Forgiveness in relation to human intellect
Forgiveness is an aspect that makes the concept of intellect and accountability even more challenging. How, one may ask? Well, according to Islamic perspective, intellect is not only confined to making choice between right and wrong, but it also entails a person to forgive or overlook other’s wrongs despite the realization that they are wrong.
Islamic perspective to forgiveness
In fact, when we Learn Quran, we come to know of two aspects of forgiveness, i.e. Allah Almighty’s forgiveness and human forgiveness.
Allah’s Forgiveness – Quran reveals to us that forgiveness is one of the most important one of Allah Almighty’s countless characteristics. This is clearly evident from the narrations of Quran that refer to The Mightiest Lord’s forgiveness in many names and many dimensions, such as:
Al-Ghafur – This graceful name of Allah graces Quran more than 70 times through its entirety. In Arabic, it is interpreted as “to pardon”, “to excuse”, “to cover”, etc. In fact, Quran reveals the fact that there is only thing Allah (SWT) exempts from his generous forgives; other than that, everything might be forgiven by His mercy. Consider the following verse
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.[Surah Al-Nisa 4:116]
Al-Afuw – This name appears 5 times in Qur’an, meaning “to heal”, “to remit”, “and “to release”. Now, this refers to the fact that Allah Almighty is most generous in releasing human beings from the burden of their intentional or unintentional sins
Al-Haleem – We see this beautiful name of Allah 15 times in Quran. It relieves human beings by telling them Allah is not quick in judgment. He bestows human beings plenty of time and acts very patient in seeing His servants return to Him and seek His forgiveness
These are not the only aspects of Allah Almighty’s forgiveness; there are plenty more that are clearly mentioned to us and even more that we might never be able to know of properly, such as Al-Tawwab, Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim, etc.
Human Forgiveness
Just seeing how forgiving and merciful our Lord Allah is, human beings are entailed to express this beloved characteristic of Allah Almighty into their characters as well, to a degree possible to achieve humanly. One should not think of being honored with Allah’s forgiveness unless they inculcate some of it into their own being for betterment of fellow human beings. The best source to get inspiration of doing so is none other than Quran, so every one of us should look for a learned Quran Tutor who can help us better understand its teachings to enjoy a rewarding life in this world and the world hereafter.
Conclusion
In fact, forgiveness and patience is best of the virtues of a wonderful social life, where everyone is helping others. One should pay heed to the likes of following verse:
The reward of the evil is the evil thereof, but whosoever forgives and makes amends, his reward is upon God [Surah Al-Shura 42: 40]
