Forgiveness and Mercy: Reflections from surah al-A'raf

If there were two suras in the limelight more than the others for me this Ramadan, they would be:

1) surah al-An'am, and
2) her sister, al-'Araf.

Why? Simply because these two suras, somehow, I read and listened to the most, as a result of going to different masjids which recite at different speeds (speed as in how much of the Quran they cover per night, not the speed of their recitation) and because Sheikh Iskandar Dzulkarnain al-Montpeliery (^_^) recited these 2 suras most frequently in my night prayers with him as the Imam (I haven't memorised much of the Quran, but Iskandar has. Thus I made him the Imam so we could stand for longer in each raka'ah). Also, earlier in Ramadan, I was going through surah al-An'am with Adif before he left for Malaysia. So yeah, these two suras were the most prominent suras this Ramadan, for me at least.

With that in mind, I wish to share one observation from surah Al-A'raf i.e. the combination of forgiveness and mercy. This surah has so many awesome verses like the vivid discussion between the poeple of Jannah and the Fire along with those on the al-A'raf (barrier) from which the sura gets its name, the 'camel entering the eye of a needle' verse which is one of my favourites in the whole Quran because of how powerful it is (moves me to tears sometimes if I'm listening to it intently in prayer), the description of how some Prophets like Soleh and Shu'aib turned away after seeing the destruction of their people whilst lamenting their refusal to listen to advice (you can almost hear the sadness in their voice!), the manifest Signs of Moses, and more. But I want to focus on the combination of forgiveness and mercy because of how many times this combination occurs in this surah. Any guesses? Yes, four times! Below are the four verses:

1) The famous dua' that we all have (or should have if you haven't) memorised on the tongue of our father Adam and his wife Hawwa after they ate from the forbidden tree:-


"They said, "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers."" Verse 23

2) The prayer of the children of Israel when they realized they committed a grave error by building the golden calf:-



"And when regret overcame them and they saw that they had gone astray, they said, "If our Lord does not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we will surely be among the losers."" verse 149 [notice how similar this and the above dua's are]

3) In the same context as above, Musa's prayer after getting angry with his brother Harun ('alaihimassalam)



"[Moses] said, "My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the most merciful of the merciful."" verse 151

4) and finally also on the tongue of Musa a.s after the earthquake on mountain:




"....so forgive us and have mercy upon us; and You are the best of forgivers." verse 155

If you combine the descriptions of Allah the Most High in the latter two verses: 'the most merciful of the merciful' in verse 151 with 'the best of forgivers' in verse 155 above, we would have 5 combinations then!

There are other places in the Quran where this combination occurs and the one that comes to mind right away is the last verse in surah al-mu'minoon:



"And, [O Muhammad], say, "My Lord, forgive and have mercy, and You are the best of the merciful."" Quran 23:118

These verses clearly shows us the importance of asking Allah both for His forgiveness AND His mercy. Why? Because forgiveness saves us from the Fire, and mercy helps us enter Jannah. As we already know, none of us including the Prophet SAW will enter Jannah because of our deeds, as reported is in a hadith:

Narrated by Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "No one of you will be saved because of his deeds." They (the companions) said: "Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "Not even me, unless Allah bestows mercy upon me. So do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship Allah in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and adopt a moderate course, adopt a moderate course (he said it twice) whereby you will reach your target (Paradise)." [Bukhari]


Hence the need to ask for both forgiveness and mercy. And perhaps that too is the reason the main story of this surah is the story of those who will be waiting on Al-A'raf (the barrier), who are neither in the Fire, nor in Jannah but hopeful of entering it. The scholars of tafseer tell us that the people of al-A'raf are those whose good deeds equal their bad deeds, hence they are between the Fire and Jannah. But perhaps also, they are those who have been forgiven and hence have escaped the Fire, but have not yet received Allah's mercy which is why they have not entered Jannah. Their ending though is good, for Allah grants them His mercy and they finaly enter Jannah:


"[ Allah will say], "Are these the ones whom you [inhabitants of Hell] swore that Allah would never offer them mercy? Enter Paradise, [O People of the Elevations]. No fear will there be concerning you, nor will you grieve."" verse 49. 

Thus, the 4 occurrences in this surah where forgiveness and mercy are paired, act as a reminder for us to ask Allah for both when we make dua'. 

This is my own reflection of this discussion, so take it or leave it. If it is an acceptable understanding and beneficial, then alhamdulillah. If not, then I ask Allah to forgive me, for there is no protection from error accept by His grace.