Supplications

Asma’ daughter of Yazid said she heard God’s messenger reciting, “My servants who have transgressed against their souls, do not despair of God’s mercy, for God pardons all sins,”* [adding] “and He does not care.” *Qur’an, xxxix, 53. Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it, the latter saying this is a <i>hasan gharib</i> tradition. <i>Sharh as-sunna</i> has “saying” instead of “reciting.”

With reference to God’s words, “Except for slight faults ”* Ibn ‘Abbas reported God's messenger as saying, “If You forgivest, O God, You wilt forgive much sin, for which of Your servants has not committed slight faults?” *Qur'an, liii, 32. Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a <i>hasan sahih gharib</i> tradition.

Abu Dharr reported God’s messenger as stating that God most high says, “My servants, all of you are astray except him whom I have guided, but if you ask me for guidance I will guide you; all of you are poor except him whom I have enriched, but if you ask of me I will give you provision; all of you are sinners except him whom I have preserved [from sin], but if any of you knows that I have power to pardon and ask my pardon I will pardon him, and I do not care; if the first and the last of you, the living and the dead among you, those of you who are fresh and those of you who are withered, 3 had all hearts as pious as the heart of the most pious of my servants, that would not add as much as a gnat’s wing to my dominion; if the first and last of you, the living and the dead among you, those of you who are fresh and those of you who are withered, had all hearts as wretched as the heart of the most wretched of my servants, that would not diminish as much as a gnat’s wing from my dominion; if the first and last of you, the living and the dead among you, those of you who are fresh and those of you who are withered, were gathered in one plain, each one of you asking all he could hope for, and I were to grant the request of each of you who asked, that would cause no more diminution in my dominion than if one of you passed by the sea and, after dipping a needle in it, took it out, that being because I am generous and glorious, doing what I wish. My giving is speech and my punishment is speech. My command to a thing when I want it is just to say to it ‘Be’ and it comes into being.” [cf. Qur’an, xvi, 40; xxxvi, 82.] 3. <i>i.e.</i>, young and old. Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

Anas reported that after the Prophet (ﷺ) had recited, “He is entitled to be feared and He is entitled to grant pardon,” 2 he stated that their Lord has said, “I am entitled to be feared, and to him who fears me I am entitled to grant pardon.” 2. Qur’an, lxxiv, 56. Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Umar said:

We counted that God’s messenger would say a hundred times during a meeting, “My Lord, forgive me and pardon me; You are the Pardoning and Forgiving One.” Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

Bilal b. Yasar b. Zaid, the Prophet’s client,1 told on his father’s authority that his grandfather said he had heard God's messenger state that if anyone says, “I ask pardon of God than whom there is no god, the Living, the Eternal, and I turn to Him in repentance,” he will be pardoned, even if he has fled in time of battle. 1. The client was Zaid, Bilal’s grandfather. Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it; but Abu Dawud has Hilal b. Yasar, and Tirmidhi calls this a <i>gharib</i> tradition.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “God who is great and glorious will raise a righteous servant’s degree in paradise, and when he asks his Lord how this has been granted him, He will reply that it is because his son has asked pardon for him.” Ahmad transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Abbas reported God’s messenger as saying, “A dead man in his grave is just like a drowning man calling for help, for he hopes that a supplication from a father, a mother, a brother, or a friend may reach him, and when it does it is dearer to him than the world and what it contains. God most high brings to those who are in the graves blessings several times as great as the size of the mountains because of the supplication of those who are on the earth. The gift of the living to the dead is to ask pardon for them.” Baihaqi transmitted it in </i>Shu'ab al-iman</i>.

‘Abdallah b. Busr reported God's messenger as saying, “Blessed is he who finds a great amount of asking for pardon in his record.” Ibn Majah transmitted it, and Nasa'i transmitted in <i>'Amal yaum walaila.</i> 1 1. <i>Mirqat</i>, iii, 78 gives this as the title of a book by Nasa’i. The only reference to this tradition in the Concordance is Ibn Majah, <i>Adab</i>, 57.

‘A’isha said that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to say, “O God, put me among those who, when they do good are glad, and when they do evil ask pardon.” Ibn Majah and Baihaqi, in [<i>Kitab</i>] <i>ad-Da'awat al-kabir</i>, transmitted it.

Al-Harith b. Suwaid said that ‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud told him two traditions, one of them from God’s messenger and the other from him­ self. He said, “The believer sees in his sins as though he were sitting under a mountain which he fears may fall on him, but the profligate sees his sins like a fly which has passed over his nose and which he has brushed away with his hand.” Then he said that he heard God’s mes­ senger say, “God rejoices more over the repentance of a believer than a man who goes down to a desert and dangerous district with his riding- beast which carries his food and drink, who lays down his head and sleeps for a time, then awakening and finding that his riding-beast has gone, looks for it, and when distressed by heat and thirst or what God wills, says he will return to the place where he was and sleep till he dies, lays his head on his arm to die, then awakens and sees his riding-beast beside him with his food and drink on it. God rejoices more intensely over the repentance of a believing servant than this man does over his riding-beast and his provisions.” Muslim transmitted only the tradition which is traced back to God’s messenger from him, but Bukhari transmitted also the one which goes no farther back than Ibn Mas'ud.

‘Ali reported God’s messenger as saying, “God loves the believing servant who is severely tried and is penitent.”

Thauban said that he heard God’s messenger say, "I would not give this verse for the whole world, 'My servants who have transgressed against their souls, do not despair . . .’ ”1 A man asked whether that included those who had associated partners with God, and after remaining silent for a time the Prophet (ﷺ) said three times, “Yes, it includes even those who have associated partners with God.” 1 . Qur'an, xxxix, 53

Abu Dharr reported God’s messenger as saying, “God most high forgives His servant as long as the veil has not fallen.” He was asked what the veil meant and replied, “That a soul should die while associating partners with God.” Ahmad transmitted the three traditions and Baihaqi transmitted the last in <i>Kitab al-ba'th wan-nushur</i>.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone meets God, not having treated anything as equal to Him in the world, and has committed sins equal in quantity to the mountains, God will forgive him.” Baihaqi transmitted it in <i>Kitab al-ba'th wan-nushur</i>.

‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud reported God’s messenger as saying, “He who repents of a sin is like him who has committed no sin.” In Majah and Baihaqi, in <i>Shu'ab al-iman</i>, transmitted it, the latter saying its only transmitter was an-Nahrani who is unknown. In <i>Sharh as-sunna</i> a tradition traced no farther back than him is transmitted in which he said, “<i>Nadam</i> is repentance, and he who repents is like him who has committed no sin.”

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “When God completed the creation He wrote the following which is with Him above His Throne, ‘My mercy has taken precedence over my anger’.” A version says, “Has prevailed over my anger.” (Bukhari and Muslim).

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “God has a hundred, mercies of which He has sent down one among jinn and men, animals and creeping things. By it they are kind to one another, by it they show mercy to one another, and by it the wild beast is kind to its young. But God has kept back ninety-nine mercies by which He will show mercy to His servants on the day of resurrection.” (Bukhari and Muslim). A version by Muslim from Salman has something similar, at the end of which he said, “When the day of resurrection comes He will complete them with this one.”

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “If the believer knew the punishment God has prepared, no one would hope for His paradise; and if the infidel knew the extent of His mercy, no one would despair of attaining His paradise.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn Mas'ud reported God’s messenger as saying, “Paradise is nearer to each of you than the thong of his sandal, and the same applies to hell.” Bukhari transmitted it.