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The Infinite Mercy of God
By: Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali
God’s mercy has no limit and does not accept any restriction. The only restriction is in our understanding and therefore we may not be able to grasp all aspects of His mercy. His mercy is all-embracing and all-inclusive; nothing falls out of it. In a beautiful supplication which is recommended to be recited after each daily prayer, we say: O Allah! Your forgiveness gives me hope more than my actions.
However, we need to keep in mind that performing good actions is pertinent. Merely having faith is not enough. Imam Ali (a) said: Do not be like him who hopes for (bliss in) the next life without action.
In order to achieve a good status in the hereafter, one should perform good deeds. But the question is: is it a person’s deeds that will be the main factor in saving him and raising him to higher levels in heaven, or is it Allah’s forgiveness that does so?
As we will see later, it is by His generous reward that our little actions become very significant. This is why we say: “Your forgiveness gives me more hope than my actions.” For example, imagine there is a student who is about to take a difficult exam. Although he has studied a lot, he knows that if his teacher marks his paper without leniency he will fail. Despite all his effort, the subject is too difficult for him to learn all there is to know about it.
Then we say to God: O Allah! Indeed Your mercy is greater than my sins.
Here the supplicant confesses before Allah that he has committed great and major sins. But how do sins become great? When a person commits a sin he is, in fact, disobeying the Lord of the heavens, the Lord of the earth, and the Lord of whatever is between them.
Therefore, even a slight disobedience of such a grand Lord is great. This is not because this person is significant or that his disobedience harms Allah, but the fact that he dared to disobey such a Lord is by itself a mistake and a great sin. Therefore, from one perspective it can be said that there are no minor sins.
However, when comparing the sins with each other, there will be major and minor sins. In any case, though our sins are very large, we have hope in Allah’s mercy, which is greater.
Then we say: O Allah! If I am not qualified to reach your mercy, Your mercy is able to reach and embrace me.
It is not that the person who hopes for Allah’s mercy is qualified for it. But it is His mercy that is qualified to come and embrace us. Why is it so?
Because Your mercy has embraced everything.
As Allah says in the Qur’an: My mercy has encompassed everything. (7: 156)
You cannot imagine anything not benefiting from His mercy; otherwise, nothing could have come to existence, and even if so, nothing could have survived. Even the fact that Satan is able to continue his life is due to Allah’s mercy. When Satan insisted on his wrong behaviour and was cursed, he requested God to be given time until the day of Resurrection: My Lord. Respite me until the day they will be resurrected (15:36)
Allah replied: You are indeed among the reprieved until the day of the known time. (15:37-38)
Thus, Satan has been given a chance to survive. Of course, this will not continue, as he requested, up to the Day of Resurrection. It will be up to “the day of the known time.” There will be a time before the Day of Resurrection when Satan will be stopped. In any case, even Satan benefits from Allah’s mercy. God is even merciful to those who do not believe in Him or dare to fight against Him.
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