The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 121
PT. 4 ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN CH. 3 وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوْا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا And those who, when. 136 they commit a foul deed or for their sins and b who can أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا wrong themselves, remember لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا Allah and implore forgiveness الله وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلُوا forgive sins except Allah? and وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ do not persist knowingly in what they have done. 419 a7:202. 14:11; 39:54; 61:13. grants forgiveness and free pardon to the offender. In the third stage, he not only grants the offender complete pardon, but also does a suitable act of kindness to him and bestows some favour upon him. These three stages are well illustrated by an incident in the life of Hasan, son of ‘Ali and grandson of the Holy Prophet. A slave of his once committed an offence, and Hasan became very angry and decided to punish him. Thereupon, the slave recited the first part of the verse, i. e. those who suppress anger. Hearing these words, Hasan withheld his hand and stood still where he was. Then the slave recited the second part, i. e. and pardon men. Hearing this, Hasan promptly complied with the divine behest by saying, "Go, I pardon thee". Then the slave recited the last part of the verse, i. e. and Allah loves those who do good. In obedience to this command of God, Hasan at once set the slave free, saying, "You are a freeman and may go where you like" (Bayān, i. 366). 419. Commentary: This verse embodies a refutation of the Christian doctrine of Atonement. 561 The words remember Allah, mean that righteous persons are at once reminded of Allah whenever they happen to commit a sin. As a matter of fact though even good men may occasionally fall into sin, their hearts are not dead and they are always ready to repent. So if they happen to commit a sin, it is due only to a temporary lapse, and not because they love to indulge in sin. Thus so long as a man "remembers God" immediately after he commits a sin and feels sincere remorse and compunction at his evil deed, there is always time for his repentance to be accepted. But when he goes of sinning until he loses all sense of sin and ceases to feel compunction and remorse at his evil deeds, he loses the power to repent and is doomed, unless God should work some special change in him. The words, and who can forgive sins introduced as a parenthetical clause to except Allah? have been exhort sinners to repent. They are not made to repent through fear, but by being reminded of Divine forgiveness. When God is Gracious