Surah Ghafir ayat 3 Tafsir Quran 40:3

﴿غَافِرِ الذَّنبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ شَدِيدِ الْعِقَابِ ذِي الطَّوْلِ ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ﴾
[ غافر: 3]

40:3 The forgiver of sin, acceptor of repentance, severe in punishment, owner of abundance. There is no deity except Him; to Him is the destination.

Forgiver of sins for believers and Accepter of repentance from them al-tawb is the verbal noun Severe in punishment of disbelievers — in other words One Who makes it severe for them — One of abundant bounty bestower of abundant grace — God is eternally possessed of all of these attributes and so the annexation construction using the derivatives of these attributes is for the purposes of characterisation as in the case of the last. There is no god except Him; to Him is the journeying the ultimate return.

Who gives up claim to requital for a violation of a religious or a moral principle, Who accepts penitence of those who in lowliest plight repentant stood, Who also justly strikes at the root or foundation tending to the utter destruction, Who has the rightful claim to Omnipotence; No Ilah there is but He; He is the end and the purpose for which all are destined

The Virtues of the Surahs that begin with Ha Mim Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Everything has an essence and the essence of the Qur'an is the family of Ha Mim," or he said, "the Ha Mims." Mis`ar bin Kidam said, "They used to be called `the brides'." All of this was recorded by the the Imam, great scholar, Abu `Ubayd Al-Qasim bin Sallam, may Allah have mercy upon him, in his book Fada'il Al-Qur'an.
Humayd bin Zanjuyah narrated that `Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The parable of the Qur'an is that of a man who sets out to find a place for his family to stay, and he comes to a place where there is evidence of rainfall.
While he is walking about, admiring it, he suddenly comes upon beautiful gardens.
He says, `I liked the first traces of rainfall, but this is far better.' It was said to him, `The first place is like the Qur'an, and these beautiful gardens are like the splendor of family of Ha Mim in relation to the rest of the Qur'an'." This was recorded by Al-Baghawi.
Ibn Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "When I reach the family of Ha Mim, it is like reaching a beautiful garden, so I take my time." بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
«إِنْ بُيِّتُّمُ اللَّيْلَةَ فَقُولُوا: حم لَا يُنْصَرُون»
( When you go to bed tonight, recite Ha Mim, La Yunsarun. )" Its chain of narrators is Sahih. تَنزِيلُ الْكِتَـبِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ( The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knower. ) means, this book -- the Qur'an -- is from Allah, the Owner of might and knowledge, Who cannot be overtaken and from Whom nothing is hidden, not even an ant concealed beneath many layers. غَافِرِ الذَّنبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ( The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, ) means, He forgives sins that have been committed in the past, and He accepts repentance for sins that may be committed in the future, from the one who repents and submits to Him. شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ( the Severe in punishment, ) means, to the one who persists in transgression and prefers the life of this world, who stubbornly turns away from the commands of Allah and commits sin.
This is like the Ayah: نَبِّىءْ عِبَادِى أَنِّى أَنَا الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ - وَأَنَّ عَذَابِى هُوَ ٱلْعَذَابُ ٱلْأَلِيمُ ( Declare unto My servants that truly I am the Oft-Forgiving, the Most-Merciful.
And that My torment is indeed the most painful torment. ) ( 15:49-50 ).
These two attributes ( mercy and punishment ) are often mentioned together in the Qur'an, so that people will remain in a state of both hope and fear. ذِى الطَّوْلِ ( the Bestower. ) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "This means He is Generous and Rich ( Independent of means )." The meaning is that He is Most Generous to His servants, granting ongoing blessings for which they can never sufficiently thank Him. وَإِن تَعُدُّواْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لاَ تُحْصُوهَا ( And if you would count the favors of Allah, never could you be able to count them... ) ( 16:18 ). لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ ( La ilaha illa Huwa ) means, there is none that is equal to Him in all His attributes; there is no God or Lord besides Him. إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ( to Him is the final return. ) means, all things will come back to Him and He will reward or punish each person according to his deeds. وَهُوَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ ( and He is Swift at reckoning ) ( 13:41 ).

(40:3) the Forgiver of sins, the Accepter of repentance, the Stern in retribution, the Bountiful. There is no god but He. To Him are all destined to return. *1

The forgiver of sin, acceptor of repentance, meaning

*1) This is the introduction to the discourse.
By this the listener has been forewarned to the effect: 'What is being presented before you, is not the word of an ordinary being but of that God Who has infinite power." After this, some of Allah's attributes have been mentioned, one after the other, which bear a deep relevance to the following theme: First, that He is "All-Mighty" , i.e.
He is Dominant over everything.
His every decree concerning anybody is always enforced; none can fight Him and win; none can escape His grasp.
Therefore, a person who expects to be successful after turning away from His Command and expects to frustrate His Message after having a dispute with Him is himself foolish.
Such notions are only deceptions.

Second, that He is "All-Knowing" , i.e.
He dces not say anything on mere conjecture, but has the direct knowledge of everything.
Therefore, whatever information He gives about the supernatural realities, is lure, and the one who dces not accept it, is following nothing but ignorance.
Likewise, He knows in what lies the true success of tnan and what rules and laws and commands are necessary for his well-being.
His every teaching is based on wisdom and correct knowledge, which dces not admit of any error.
Therefore, if a person does not acecpt His guidance, he only wants to follow the path of his own ruin.
Then, nothing from the acts and deeds of man can remain hidden from Him; so much so that He even knows the intentions of man, which arc the real motives of his deeds.
Therefore, man can never escape His punishment.
The third attribute is that He is "Forgiver of sin and Acceptor of repentance.
" This attribute brings hope and causes inducement, which has been mentioned so that the people who have led lives of sin, should not despair but should reform themselves with the hope that if they refrained from their behaviour even now, they could still be redeemed by Allah's mercy.
Here, one should understand well that forgiving of sins and accepting of repentance are not necessarily one and the same thing, but in most cases Allah forgives sins even without the repentance.
For example, a person commits errors as well as does good, and his good acts become the means of forgiveness for his mistakes, whether or not he had opportunity to show repentance for the errors, but might even have forgotten them.
Likewise, all the troubles and hardships and diseases and calamities that afflict man and cause him grief in the world, serve as penance for his mistakes.
That is why mention of forgiveness of sins has been made separately from the acceptance of repentance.
But one should remember that the concession of forgiveness of errors without repentance only refers to those believers, who are free from defiance and who committed sins due to human weakness and not persistence in pride and sin.

The fourth attribute is that "He is stern in punishment." By this the people have been warned that just as Allah is Merciful for those who adopt the way of His service, so He is stern for those who adopt an attitude of rebellion against Him.
When a person ( or persons ) transgresses the limits where he can still deserve pardon and forgiveness from Allah, then he becomes worthy of His punishment, and His punishment is so dreadful that only a fool would persist in his wrongdoing.

The fifth attribute is that "He is Bountiful", i.e.
He is Generous and Beneficent: all creatures are being showered with His blessings and favours every moment: whatever the servants are getting, they are getting only through His bounty and beneficence.
After these five attributes, two realities have been stated expressly: ( 1 ) That none but Allah is the Deity no matter how many false gods the people might have set up; and ( 2 ) that to Him everyone must return: there is no other deity which can call the people to account and reward or punish them.
Therefore, if somebody makes another his deity, apart from Him, he will himself face the consequences of his folly.

 

The Virtues of the Surahs that begin with Ha Mim Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Everything has an essence and the essence of the Qur'an is the family of Ha Mim," or he said, "the Ha Mims." Mis`ar bin Kidam said, "They used to be called `the brides'." All of this was recorded by the the Imam, great scholar, Abu `Ubayd Al-Qasim bin Sallam, may Allah have mercy upon him, in his book Fada'il Al-Qur'an.
Humayd bin Zanjuyah narrated that `Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The parable of the Qur'an is that of a man who sets out to find a place for his family to stay, and he comes to a place where there is evidence of rainfall.
While he is walking about, admiring it, he suddenly comes upon beautiful gardens.
He says, `I liked the first traces of rainfall, but this is far better.' It was said to him, `The first place is like the Qur'an, and these beautiful gardens are like the splendor of family of Ha Mim in relation to the rest of the Qur'an'." This was recorded by Al-Baghawi.
Ibn Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "When I reach the family of Ha Mim, it is like reaching a beautiful garden, so I take my time." بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. «إِنْ بُيِّتُّمُ اللَّيْلَةَ فَقُولُوا: حم لَا يُنْصَرُون» ( When you go to bed tonight, recite Ha Mim, La Yunsarun. )" Its chain of narrators is Sahih. تَنزِيلُ الْكِتَـبِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ( The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knower. ) means, this book -- the Qur'an -- is from Allah, the Owner of might and knowledge, Who cannot be overtaken and from Whom nothing is hidden, not even an ant concealed beneath many layers. غَافِرِ الذَّنبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ( The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, ) means, He forgives sins that have been committed in the past, and He accepts repentance for sins that may be committed in the future, from the one who repents and submits to Him. شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ( the Severe in punishment, ) means, to the one who persists in transgression and prefers the life of this world, who stubbornly turns away from the commands of Allah and commits sin.
This is like the Ayah: نَبِّىءْ عِبَادِى أَنِّى أَنَا الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ - وَأَنَّ عَذَابِى هُوَ ٱلْعَذَابُ ٱلْأَلِيمُ ( Declare unto My servants that truly I am the Oft-Forgiving, the Most-Merciful.
And that My torment is indeed the most painful torment. ) ( 15:49-50 ).
These two attributes ( mercy and punishment ) are often mentioned together in the Qur'an, so that people will remain in a state of both hope and fear. ذِى الطَّوْلِ ( the Bestower. ) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "This means He is Generous and Rich ( Independent of means )." The meaning is that He is Most Generous to His servants, granting ongoing blessings for which they can never sufficiently thank Him. وَإِن تَعُدُّواْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لاَ تُحْصُوهَا ( And if you would count the favors of Allah, never could you be able to count them... ) ( 16:18 ). لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ ( La ilaha illa Huwa ) means, there is none that is equal to Him in all His attributes; there is no God or Lord besides Him. إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ( to Him is the final return. ) means, all things will come back to Him and He will reward or punish each person according to his deeds. وَهُوَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ ( and He is Swift at reckoning ) ( 13:41 ).

( The Forgiver of sin ) He forgives the sins of those who say: " there is no deity except Allah " , ( the Acceptor of repentance ) He accepts those who repent of idolatry, ( the Stern in punishment ) regarding those who die as idolaters, ( the Bountiful ) the Possessor of favour and grace and independence from need; that is to say he has favours and graces for those who believe in him and is independent from need of those who disbelieve in Him. ( There is no God ) who does this ( save Him. Unto Him is the journeying ) to Him is the journeying of those who believe in Him as well as of those who do not believe in Him.

The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, the Severe in punishment, the Bestower (of favours), La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), to Him is the final return.

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