Overview  (Verses 135 -136)

Man: Saint or Sinner
 
Those who, when they commit a gross indecency or wrong themselves, remember God and pray for the forgiveness of their sins — for who but God can forgive sins? — and do not knowingly persist in doing the wrong they may have done. These shall have the reward of forgiveness by their Lord, and gardens underneath which rivers flow, where they shall abide. Excellent is the reward for those who labour [well]. (Verses 135-136)
 
Another quality of the God-fearing is highlighted here. They are those who seek forgiveness whenever they slip into sin and make sure of not knowingly disobeying God’s orders. How compassionate this religion is. Before He calls on people to be compassionate to one another, God, limitless is He in His glory, shows them one aspect of His own compassion of which they themselves are the recipients, so that they may learn.
 
In Islamic terminology, the God-fearing are among the elite of believers. God’s compassion and mercy, however, include among them those who remember God after committing a gross indecency or who wrong themselves and pray to Him for forgiveness of their sins. The term “gross indecency” includes the most ghastly of all sins. This religion of ours, however, is so tolerant that it neither considers those who sink to its depth as outcasts, nor deprives them of God’s mercy. They are not even given the bottom rank among the believers. Rather, they are elevated to the rank of the elite, the God-fearing, on one condition only. That condition is that they should remember God and pray to Him to forgive their sins, that they should not persist with their wrongdoing, knowing that it is sinful, and that they should not unashamedly boast about the sins they have committed. In other words, they should remain within the framework of servitude to God and ultimate submission to Him. By doing so, they remain entitled to His forgiveness, mercy and bounty.
 
Islam recognises man’s weakness. Man may always succumb to his physical desires which may bring him down to the depths of gross indecency. His lust, ambitions or temptations may cause him to lose-- control and drive him to disobedience of God. Recognising this weakness in man, Islam does not adopt harsh punishments, rejecting a sinner altogether and depriving him of God’s mercy when he wrongs himself by committing a gross indecency. In the Islamic view there is something important to add to his credit which is the fact that the light of faith has not been put out altogether in his soul. His heart is not totally hardened, his relationship with God is still alive and he knows that he is merely a servant who slips and makes mistakes, and that he has a Lord who forgives. This weak, sinful creature, then, remains essentially good. He clings to his bond with God and lie does not sever it. He may, then, slip as many times as his weakness imposes on him. Eventually, he will get there, as long as he holds to his bond with God and keeps the light of faith within him. He must always remember God, pray to Him for forgiveness and acknowledge his submission to Him and refrain from boasting about his sins.
 
Never does Islam slam the door in the face of a weak sinner leaving him lost in the wilderness. Never does it let him feel permanently rejected, afraid to turn back. On the contrary, it holds for him the prospect of forgiveness. It shows him the way and holds his trembling hand, steadying him and giving him the light he needs to return to his secure refuge. It only requires one thing of him, namely, that his heart and soul are not so hardened so as to make him forget God. As long as he remembers God and keeps alive in his conscience the voice of guidance and maintains in his heart the yearning for God’s grace, then light will shine again in his soul and the seed of faith will burst forth with a new plant.
 
When your misbehaving son who has run away knows that nothing awaits him at home except flogging, he will never return. But if he knows that there is also a tender hand which will pat his shoulder when he apologises for his misdeeds and which excuses him when he asks for pardon, he will certainly come back.
 
Islam knows that side by side with man’s weaknesses and carnal desires there exist strength and sublime aspirations. For this reason, Islam is sympathetic to man in his moment of weakness, places him back on his way to a higher horizon, as long as he remembers God and does not knowingly persist with his wrongdoing. The Prophet says: “He who prays for forgiveness does not persist with his sin, even if he commits it 70 times a day.” (Related by Abū Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhī.) In doing so, Islam does not advocate complacency, nor does it praise the one who frequently slips or who describes sinful actions as beautiful, as those who call themselves “realists” do. It simply overlooks such errors in order to awaken both hope and a sense of shame within man. Forgiveness by God, the only One to forgive sins, does not lead to complacency; it fills the sinner with shame. Only those who persist and pay no heed remain outcasts. Thus, Islam combines its call to man to aspire to a higher horizon with its mercy and compassion, knowing man’s weakness and capability. It ensures that the door of hope is always open in front of man as it motivates him to exert his utmost in his aspiration towards the sublime.
 
What is the reward of those God-fearing people? “These shall have the reward of forgiveness by their Lord, and gardens underneath which rivers flow, where they shall abide. Excellent is the reward for those who labour [well].” (Verse 136)
 
When people pray for forgiveness of their sins, and spend their money in times of prosperity and hardship, and when they control their anger and forgive others, they do not take a negative attitude. Indeed, they are good workers.
 
“Excellent is the reward for those who labour well.” That reward is forgiveness and Paradise. The work of those people has two aspects: an internal one in their own souls and an external one in practical life. Both are fruitful.
 
All these characteristics of the God-fearing are relevant to the battle which the sūrah discusses. In the same way as the Islamic financial system based on cooperation has its effects on the life of the Muslim community and its bearing on the military battle, so these personal and communal qualities have their bearing on that to which we referred earlier. When individuals triumph over their love of money, their anger and their sin and return to God in repentance praying for His forgiveness and pleasure they only do what is necessary to triumph over their enemies on the battlefield. Their enemies only have that status because they represent niggardliness, caprice, sin and boastfulness. They do not submit themselves or their desires or their lifestyle to God and the Divine Law. It is because of this that enmity rises, battles flare up and strenuous efforts, i.e. jihād, are made. There is no other reason for a Muslim to stand in opposition to anyone or to fight him. He only fights for God’s sake.
 
The link is, then, very close between these directives and the commentary on the military battle as well as certain aspects of that battle, such as the disobedience of some Muslims of an express order given by the Prophet, and which stemmed from their keenness to share in the spoils of war. Other pertinent elements include the blind attempt at self-assertion which led to the desertion by `Abdullāh ibn Ubayy and others. Similarly the weakness of some made them forget that they must leave matters to God.