The Quran

۞ قُل يا عِبادِيَ الَّذينَ أَسرَفوا عَلىٰ أَنفُسِهِم لا تَقنَطوا مِن رَحمَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغفِرُ الذُّنوبَ جَميعًا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفورُ الرَّحيمُ

Ali Unal

Say: “(God gives you hope): ‘O My servants who have been wasteful (of their God-given opportunities and faculties) against (the good of) their own souls! Do not despair of God’s Mercy. Surely God forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate.’ “¹

This verse, first of all, contains great good tidings, in that it declares that there is no unforgivable sin. That is, even if one disbelieves in God or associates partners with Him, or whether one is an atheist or materialist, God forgives him or her provided one repents and comes to belief. Second, God forgives any sinful one He wills, unless one disbelieves in Him (or in any other pillar of faith), or associates partners with Him (4: 48). However, although He can forgive whom He wills, He has made His forgiving dependent on repentance and the mending of one’s ways, as will be pointed out in succeeding verses. So this verse, which contains the greatest promise in the Qur’ān, is followed by successive warnings. This is one of the most meaningful examples of the Qur’ānic method of warning and encouraging, and it admonishes people against abandoning themselves to evil ways while instilling confidence in them about God’s infinite Compassion.