HAVE YOU NOTICED in the opening of the Book that Allah ﷻ mentions His Mercy- ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim four times before His accounting?
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
‘In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. [All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds. The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Master of the Day of Recompense.’ (al-Fatiha 1-4)
Reciting this in every prayer is a constant reminder of this.
As parents, mercy is especially important. We are in a position of power over our children. It is very easy to be harsh. At the same time, we live in a world which is very much a dog-eat-dog, ‘survival of the fittest’ in which mercy is seen as weakness. This is a world in which Islam’s way of life is absent and as such everyone and everything is deprived of its mercy, justice and peace.
In that merciless world, how we behave with our children can shape their behaviours, relationships and worldviews for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps the best way to modify our own behaviours is to remind ourselves of those times as a child when others had mercy on us. How did that make us feel? I earlier give an example from my own life of how my own father modelled mercy which affects my own behaviours to this day.
But what if we can’t think of any acts of mercy from those around us? If we can’t, then connect to Allah ﷻ and remind ourselves of just how merciful He has been to us. Indeed we cannot even comprehend how much we must appreciate His Mercy.
From our life, our senses, each breath, each step, the food that we eat to the clothes that we wear, is there anything that He has not given us?
Is it not from His mercy that He does not take us to task immediately for the many sins that we do every day, rather He hopes for and gives us an opportunity to repent? Is He not the one who forgives time and time again? Does He not give us hope when He reassures us that He forgives all sins, provided we turn to Him?
Just consider His mercy when it comes to recording our sins. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Whosoever intended to perform a good deed but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and then did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred times, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed.” (al-Bukhari)
And even when writing down the sin, there is a delay. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Indeed, the angel on the left side will raise his pen over the error or sin of a Muslim servant for six hours. If he sincerely regrets it and seeks forgiveness from Allah, the angel will throw it aside. Otherwise, he will record it as one sin.’ (al-Mu’jam al-Kabīr)
Being merciful of course does not mean that we have no limits or let everything go. Whilst we aim to show mercy for misdeeds against ourselves, we are not in a position to forgive or let go of misdeeds done against the rights of others, be it Allah, His Messenger ﷺ or other people.
But when it comes to us, how can we expect Allah’s mercy yet not be merciful ourselves?
The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to people.’ (al-Bukhārī)
Related Articles
The new moon of Dhul Hijjah
THE GOVERNOR OF Makkah delivered a speech and said: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ took a pledge from us that we should perform the rites of Hajj after sighting the moon. If we do not sight it and two reliable persons bear witness, we should perform the rites of hajj on the basis of their […]
Palestine in UK schools: A listening hour
ARE YOU A teacher or parent facing pushback or silencing for raising the war in Gaza at school? Are you uncertain about how to introduce the topic into the classroom, or perhaps struggling to manage students’ conflicting views? Is your school failing to address issues of Islamophobia and antisemitism as a result? In this session, […]
The Day of Catastrophe
‘SO WHY CAN’T they all live in peace?’ our 9-year-old daughter asked the other day. We had been talking about the current situation in Palestine and reflected on our own visit to Jerusalem a few years ago where we saw first-hand the daily oppression our brothers and sisters are facing. It is ironic that the […]
