Mercy, Repentance and Hope

Allah's mercy is vast: ﴿وَرَحْمَتِى وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ﴾ (“My mercy encompasses all things”) (7:156). The Prophet ﷺ said that when Allah completed creation, He wrote in His Book, which is with Him above the Throne: "My mercy prevails over My anger" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3194).

No one who turns back to Allah should ever give up hope, whatever they have done: ﴿قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا﴾ (“Say, O My servants who have wronged themselves, do not despair of Allah's mercy. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins”) (39:53).

Repentance (tawbah) means turning back to Allah: regretting a wrong, leaving it, and asking His forgiveness, directly and with no one in between. Allah loves it: the Prophet ﷺ said that Allah is more pleased with His servant's repentance than a man who finds the camel he had lost in the desert (Sahih al-Bukhari 6309). The righteous hope for Allah's mercy and fear His punishment (17:57), so a Muslim neither despairs nor grows careless.