Is It Shirk to Think Us Humans Also Share the Attribute of Forgiving?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
In one of the answers, you said it is a shirk if someone thinks that a human also has God’s characteristics.
Since then, I’ve thought that I also believe that humans are advised to forgive. A human doesn’t forgive if someone cheats on them in love, and I have often read this statement: “it’s so bad to cheat on someone. Even God doesn’t forgive shirk”. Allah has given a man very few of these characteristics, like forgiving others, etc. Is it a shirk to think this? I had this confusion before even asking the question because I heard other people say that forgiving is the characteristic of Allah. Am I a kafir for thinking this?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
You are not a disbeliever (kafir) into thinking this way. Allah Most High forgives and will forgive according to His infinite capacity, and he has three unique attributes to this; Great Forgiver (Al-Ghaffar), All-Forgiving (Al-Ghafhur), and Supreme Pardoner (Al-‘Afu). And we can forgive according to Allah’s given capacity to us.
Say, O Prophet, that Allah says, “O My servants who have exceeded the limits against their souls! Do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy, for Allah certainly forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. [Quran, 39:53]
Try to read through the Reader and links provided, especially the Understanding the 99 Names of Allah. Hopefully, they will be a means of a deeper understanding of Allah’s Attributes.
Check these links:
A Reader on Understanding the Attributes of Allah – SeekersGuidance
(1) 02 – The Name of Allah – Divine Beauty: Understanding the 99 Names of Allah – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani – YouTube
(1) The Application of Islamic Psychotherapy for the Treatment of OCD~Dr. Hooman Keshavarzi – YouTube
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on
Understanding the Most Beautiful Names (seekers.flywheelstaging.com)
I pray this helps with your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.
He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His personal interest is the love of books and gardening.
