Ramadan Quran Reflection Day #1: (42:25)
Who is God? What are His main characteristics pertaining to His servants? When we know who He is, we are comforted to begin this journey of Ramadan vulnerably and wholeheartedly trusting that He will accept us for who we are. God describes Himself in this short verse in Chapter Al-Shura:
وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ
“And He is the One who accepts repentance from His servants, and forgives sins, and knows what you do.”
This is who God is. He is the One who will take you in after you have slipped, who will accept you with your flaws, and will not judge you because of your past. Unlike most relationships of our time, our relationship with God is very unconditional. In this verse, as He attributes us to Him saying we are His servants, He then affirms that He will accept our repentance. What does that allude to? That we WILL sin. We WILL make mistakes. But the key is that He will still love us and accept us regardless.
Imagine yourself running in a race but then find yourself veering off the path, then suddenly someone takes the torch from you and tells you “I got it from here.” That is God in our life. All we have to do is seek Him, connect with Him, beg Him, and run to Him in repentance.
Next, Allah says He will completely erase our sins as if they never existed; a spiritual cleansing. A scholar was once asked what particular sins were included in this verse, and as the questioner kept listing sin after sin, the scholar kept repeating this part of the verse, “And He forgives all sins.” When we come to Him with sincerity, God meets us with unmatched acceptance.
The final words in this verse are what strike me the most. Allah is saying “And He knows what you do.” Wow. Allah knows how messed up we are and He is STILL wanting to forgive us. He knows every single time we’ve slipped up and is still time after time, meeting us with the same care and mercy. His knowledge of our actions isn’t changing His immense characteristic of love and forgiveness for us. It is always unequivocally there.
Who is God? What are His main characteristics pertaining to His servants? When we know who He is, we are comforted to begin this journey of Ramadan vulnerably and wholeheartedly trusting that He will accept us for who we are. God describes Himself in this short verse in Chapter Al-Shura:
وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ
“And He is the One who accepts repentance from His servants, and forgives sins, and knows what you do.”
This is who God is. He is the One who will take you in after you have slipped, who will accept you with your flaws, and will not judge you because of your past. Unlike most relationships of our time, our relationship with God is very unconditional. In this verse, as He attributes us to Him saying we are His servants, He then affirms that He will accept our repentance. What does that allude to? That we WILL sin. We WILL make mistakes. But the key is that He will still love us and accept us regardless.
Imagine yourself running in a race but then find yourself veering off the path, then suddenly someone takes the torch from you and tells you “I got it from here.” That is God in our life. All we have to do is seek Him, connect with Him, beg Him, and run to Him in repentance.
Next, Allah says He will completely erase our sins as if they never existed; a spiritual cleansing. A scholar was once asked what particular sins were included in this verse, and as the questioner kept listing sin after sin, the scholar kept repeating this part of the verse, “And He forgives all sins.” When we come to Him with sincerity, God meets us with unmatched acceptance.
The final words in this verse are what strike me the most. Allah is saying “And He knows what you do.” Wow. Allah knows how messed up we are and He is STILL wanting to forgive us. He knows every single time we’ve slipped up and is still time after time, meeting us with the same care and mercy. His knowledge of our actions isn’t changing His immense characteristic of love and forgiveness for us. It is always unequivocally there.
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