Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Salam,

My question is HOW FORGIVING IS ALLAH? I ask this question cuz i am the biggest sinner anyone can come across. I hate myself that i wish to end my life but i dont want to commint another sin. My life is full of unfortuante events. At 16, i did zina. I didnt care of this sin. I fall in love with a guy and comminted zina again. Once he left me, i turned to Allah for forgivness to such an extent that 24/7 my lips would read Allah`s name. After sometime, i was forced in a marriage. I suffered ALOT in that marriage. I left Allah behind. Allah to me was someone who never gave me what i wanted. I carried angreness in my heart. I got divorced and suffered more. I was preganant. I hated life and hated the baby i had. I didnt like anything. Than i met another guy we fall in love with me and i did overtime 2. He accepted me and my daughter BUT even in that relationship i commited zina over and over again. Than i found out i was preganant. I got an abortion. I hated more of myself. I turned to Allah for forgivness. And promised i would change. But again i went to old habits and me and that guy went back to zina. And again i was preganant and had another abortion. I killed two babies cuz of my pathatic pleasure. Today, i and that guy finished everything. After the second abortion i try to pray and i see myself not able to ask Allah for anything. I think i lost the right to ask Allah for forgivness. I pray but after when it is time to make dua, i hide my face and leave quickly. I CAN`T MAKE DUA AND ITS KILLING ME FROM INSIDE. PLZ HELP. I dont want Allah to forgive me but I NEED HIM. So i ask Will ALLAH EVER FORGIVE ME??? PLZ HELP. I really want to change but i dont know why i can`t. I want to get back with that guy but i ask myself `I DONT HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK ALLAH FOR ANYTHING`. PLZ HELP. I`m so far from Allah that its killing me. PLZ HELP!!!!!! Plz pray for me to have Allah forgive me. And give me some dua. PLZ. PLZ TELL ME THAT ALLAH WILL FORGIVE ME...PLZ.. 

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Answer:

Repentance

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Respected sister in Islam, whatever deeds one might have done in one’s past, if one turns to Allah Subhanah in sincere ‘Taubah’ and seeks forgiveness, Allah Subhanah has promised in the Holy Quran that He will forgive all the sins of such a repentant believer, even if one has committed the gravest sin of all: ‘Shirk’! Not only that, our Lord is so Merciful and Generous, that He not only will forgive all the sins of such sincerely repentant believers, He will change their evil deeds done into good deeds!

The conditions or ways to seek sincere Taubah or Repentance from the Merciful Lord are:

·                     One is aware that he has sinned, and feels sorry and ashamed at his sin.

·                     Makes a solemn covenant and promise with Allah that he will not repeat his sin again.

·                     Turns to Allah and seeks forgiveness, before he has met with his appointment of death.

·                     Is a believer and does righteous good deeds thereafter.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumur verses 53-54:

(O Prophet) say: “O My servants who have wronged their own souls….Do not despair of Allah’s Mercy! Surely, Allah forgives all sins. He indeed is the All Forgiving, All Merciful. Return to your Lord and submit to Him before the scourge overtakes you; for then you may get no help from anywhere.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imraan verse 135-136:

Allah likes such good people very much, who, if ever they commit a base deed or wrong their own soul by the commission of a sin, remember Allah instantly, and ask for forgiveness from Him for their shortcomings. For who, but Allah, can forgive sins? (And Allah loves those) who do not knowingly persist in the wrongs they did. These will be rewarded with forgiveness from Allah, and with Gardens beneath which canals flow, and they will reside therein forever! How excellent is the reward of those who do good deeds!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqaan verses 63-71:

The (true) servants of the Merciful are those who walk humbly on the earth. When the ignorant people behave insolently towards them, they say, “Peace to you”; (And those) who pass their nights in prostrating themselves and standing before their Lord and pray, “O our Lord, save us from the torment of Hell, for its torment is killing! It is an evil abode, and an evil resting place”. (And those) who, when they spend are neither extravagant, nor miserly, but keep the golden mean between the two extremes. (And those) who do not invoke any god but Allah Alone, nor kill a soul unjustly, which Allah has forbidden, nor commit adultery… He who does this shall be punished for his sin, and his torment shall be doubled on the Day of Resurrection, and he shall abide in a state of ignominy; EXCEPT THE ONE WHO MAY HAVE REPENTED (AFTER THOSE SINS), AND HAVE BELIEVED AND DONE RIGHTEOUS DEEDS. For then, Allah will change his evil deeds into good deeds, and He is very Forgiving and Merciful. In fact, one who repents and does righteous deeds, returns to Allah as one rightly should!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 54:

When those come to you who believe in Our Signs, say: "Peace be on you! Your Lord had inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy. Verily if any of you did evil in ignorance, and thereafter repented and amended (his conduct), Lo! He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2357 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

Allah's Messenger (saws) said, "He who repents of a sin is like him who has committed no sin."

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2338 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar

Allah's Messenger (saws) said, "Allah accepts a servant's repentance (taubah) till he gives up his spirit in death."

Hadrat Abu Hurayrah (r.a.) reported that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘By Him in Whose Hands is my life, if none of you (mankind) committed sin, Allah would annihilate you (from the face of this earth) and instead bring forth a people who would commit sin, then seek His forgiveness…so that He may forgive them.’

Related by Muslim

Thus my respected sister, never never ever despair of the Mercy of your Lord Most Gracious…..regardless of whatever you might have done in your past, if you turn back to your Lord in ‘taubah’ and seek sincere repentance, it is expected that you will find your Lord Forgiving and Merciful.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2339 Narrated by Abu Sa'id

Allah's Messenger (saws) said that the Shaytaan said, "By Thy Might, my Lord, I shall continue to lead Thy servants astray as long as their spirits are in their bodies!" The Lord, Who is Great and Glorious, replied, "By My Might, Glory and Exalted Station, I shall continue to pardon them as long as they ask My forgiveness!"

Sahih Muslim Hadith 6499 Narrated by Abu Dharr Ghaffari

Allah's Messenger (saws) said that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, stated: “He who comes with goodness, there are in store for him ten like those and even more than those; and he who comes with vice, it is only for that that which he is called to account. I even forgive him as I like, and he who draws close to Me by the span of a palm, I draw close to him by the cubit; and he who draws close to Me by the cubit, I draw close to him by the space (covered) by two hands; and he who walks towards Me, I rush towards him; and he who meets Me in the state that his sins fill the earth, but not associating anything with Me, I would meet Him with the same (vastness) of pardon (on My behalf)."

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan