Dear LB,
Please can you help give some insight on what Islam says about forgiving people/actions/wrong.

The impression I have (please correct me) is that 'an eye for an eye' is the rule rather than the excepton.

Enlightenment please .

Thank you as always.

For starters:

Islam has allowed punishing bad deeds, but it is preferred that one forgives and it has big rewards.
“The reward of the evil is the evil thereof, but whosoever forgives and makes amends, his reward is upon Allah.” (Quran, al-Shura 42: 40)

In the Qur’an Allah has described the Believers as
“those who avoid major sins and acts of indecencies and when they are angry they forgive.”
(ash-Shura 42: 37)
You should notice that its not just forgiving, but rather forgiving while one is angry. To forgive when one is calm is easy, but Allah says to forgive while one is angry. So you you can imagine the amount of patience and restrain that is expected from us.

From Hadith:
Jarir reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,
"Allah will not show mercy to a person who does not show mercy to other people."


InshAllah Lagosboy will be able to give a more descriptive reply.

sorry, i will just make a brief contribution

Surah 5:45 And We prescribed for them(Israelites) therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation. But whoso forgives (in the way of charity), it is an act of atonement for him. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are wrong doers.

Surah 2:199.
Keep to forgiveness, and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant.

Surah 15:85 We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save with truth, and lo! the Hour is surely
coming. So forgive, O Muhammad, with a gracious forgiveness

Surah24:22. And let not those who possess dignity and ease among you swear not to give to the near of kin and to the needy,
and to fugitives for the cause of Allah. Let them forgive and show indulgence. Yearn ye not that Allah may forgive you?
Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Surah42:43. And verily whoso is patient and forgiveth, lo! that, verily, is (of) the steadfast heart of things

and so on,

As seen above, forgiveness is encouraged

Personal view,as much as It is possible . . . FORGIVE.

ifyalways:

Personal view,as much as It is possible . . . FORGIVE.

That is the view of Islam too

May Allah include all of us in the category of true believers who forgive even when angry.
Ameen.



A very very good Lecture about Justice vs Forgiveness in English. Highly recommended.


[flash=500,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhcgJx3sMU8?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash]

Even if you dnt forgive is not a sin,EYE for an EYE IS OK too

:d

azharuddin:

That is the view of Islam too

May Allah include all of us in the category of true believers who forgive even when angry.
Ameen.



A very very good Lecture about Justice vs Forgiveness in English. Highly recommended.


[flash=500,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhcgJx3sMU8?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash]

@azharuddin ,tbaba1234 & ify - Thank you very much very enlightening.

you may ponder on this verse Q3VS 133-136

uplawal:

Even if you dnt forgive is not a sin,EYE for an EYE IS OK too

despite aII the verses quoted above! DeaIin with your person must be some task!

_{[sub]expectin some serious Iashin 4rm U}[/sub]

In the quran Allah says in the Prophet we see a best example. did he (pbuh) used to do EYE for an EYE to peopIe then, even enemies?

uplawal:

Even if you dnt forgive is not a sin,EYE for an EYE IS OK too

zayhal:

despite aII the verses quoted above! DeaIin with your person must be some task!

_{[sub]expectin some serious Iashin 4rm U}[/sub]

zayhal:

In the quran Allah says in the Prophet we see a best example. did he (pbuh) used to do EYE for an EYE to peopIe then, even enemies?

I think we must all learn to ignore such divisive people ,who have nothing to offer but insults & incoherent gabbage. Typical G-I-G-O for you.

hymen:

Dear LB,
Please can you help give some insight on what Islam says about forgiving people/actions/wrong.

The impression I have (please correct me) is that 'an eye for an eye' is the rule rather than the excepton.

Enlightenment please .

Thank you as always.

Apologies for the late reply , I have been busy supporting the BB2011 campaign on the various forums.

However, i see my able bros and sisters have all answered the question with all the verses of the quran related. I have not watched the video but i trust it would have been educative.

In islam the norm is to forgive the faults of others as everyone seeks forgiveness from the lord of the worlds. Talking of eye for eye, largely deals with issue of deliberate crime like you relative was murdered and you seek justice. The case goes to trial and judge has the authority to prescribe capital punishment for the convicted murderer except the realtives of the victims choose to forgive and accept blood money.

Another example is someone rapes your sister and the case goes to court, clearly an eye for eye cannot apply here as you will be commiting another crime by raping the culprits sister.

The issue of eye for eye large appears in issue of crimes and persecution like wars and  sorts. When it comes to daily dealings between humans and someone offends you , Allah reccommends you forgive the sins and one of the qualities of a believer is to overlook the faults of others.

In summary the rule in islam is to forgive those who wrong you, however if it is a crime then the case should go to the judge if you have to claim something that rightly belongs to you or your right has been trampled upon. The justice of Allah tells us that on the day of Judgement everyone who has taken someone elses right would have it paid back to the person by way of his good deeds or bad deeds. We should deal with ourselves with the fear of God at all times.

Apologies for my hasty reply and i hope you got the jist of it. Feel free to inquire further if you want further information.

And God knows best

uplawal:

Even if you dnt forgive is not a sin,EYE for an EYE IS OK too

If u settle for this then u commit more sin becos Allah(SWT) says in the holy Quran that if u wish to revenge then u must do it in exert measure but its better to forgive cos u can never get the right measure for the retaliation

And Allah knows best.

who told you i cant get the right measure when revenging?

uplawal:

who told you i cant get the right measure when revenging?

My sister,
You need to carefully goggle thru the Quran, read the book frm paali to paali, you will see it there.


Practical example,

supposing someone clapped you and u wanna pay  back, will you use the same force that was used on you for that person? ,

Its either your force is heavier than the 1st one or vice verse, dats why Allah says u shld leave revenge for him alone.

Olohun ni kan loba deede.
And Allah knows best

Lagosboy:

Apologies for the late reply , I have been busy supporting the BB2011 campaign on the various forums.

However, i see my able bros and sisters have all answered the question with all the verses of the quran related. I have not watched the video but i trust it would have been educative.

In islam the norm is to forgive the faults of others as everyone seeks forgiveness from the lord of the worlds. Talking of eye for eye, largely deals with issue of deliberate crime like you relative was murdered and you seek justice. The case goes to trial and judge has the authority to prescribe capital punishment for the convicted murderer except the realtives of the victims choose to forgive and accept blood money.

Another example is someone despoils your sister and the case goes to court, clearly an eye for eye cannot apply here as you will be commiting another crime by despoiling the culprits sister.

The issue of eye for eye large appears in issue of crimes and persecution like wars and  sorts. When it comes to daily dealings between humans and someone offends you , Allah reccommends you forgive the sins and one of the qualities of a believer is to overlook the faults of others.

In summary the rule in islam is to forgive those who wrong you, however if it is a crime then the case should go to the judge if you have to claim something that rightly belongs to you or your right has been trampled upon. The justice of Allah tells us that on the day of Judgement everyone who has taken someone elses right would have it paid back to the person by way of his good deeds or bad deeds. We should deal with ourselves with the fear of God at all times.

Apologies for my hasty reply and i hope you got the jist of it. Feel free to inquire further if you want further information.

And God knows best

On point, as usuaI. May Allah increase your knowIede and wisdom.

hymen:

I think we must all learn to ignore such divisive people ,who have nothing to offer but insults & incoherent gabbage. Typical[b] G-I-G-O[/b] for you.

pIs what does the boIded mean

@Alimat,in as much as we can agree and we can also dis agree on many issue regards to Islam,i mean what you view as forgiveness on my own might not be,and retailation or instilling the appropriate legal punishment may be the right measure i would take and handle things,as far as am concern,if i wish to forgive the offender thats fine and if i dnt forgive it also not a sin on my own part,as Allah dnt say if i retailate i will end up sinning,its the choice Allah has given us as human being,because He knows us better,as a matter of fact,not killing a despoiler that violated your daughter and an armedrobber that broke into your home and also threatened to kill you or killed you or one of your household is not the best thing,its shows you are among those breeding more despoiler and armedrobbers,just like Lagosboy has just showed us how he planned breeding rapists that violated her sister,i mean,apart from eye for an eye,these evil people are those causing corruption on earth and one of the punishment prescribed by Allah for them is death,so why pitying them?only an evil people would advocate and start preaching outside the fold of  Islam,all in the name of making Islam look seeminly appealing to non- muslims.

on d issue of palestine whereby israel are killing are brothers,should wil fold are hands&says we ve 4gives these pple.

Check your Quran well for answers and dnt let some people here use sentiment to give you answer.

ok thank, i know just want to ask.

zayhal:

pIs what does the boIded mean

It means [b]G[/b]arbage [b]I[/b]n [b]G[/b]arbage [b]O[/b]ut.

miftaudeen:

on d issue of palestine whereby israel are killing are brothers,should wil fold are hands&says we ve 4gives these pple.

Very good question. This was one of the reasons I brought this up,plase read the story of the palestinian doctor :Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish whose 3 daughters were killed by the Israelis.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3657455,00.html

While I appreciate the palestinian situation I think muslims need to be careful not to make it a religious cause. Its a complex ethno-political conundrum.

Imagine if all the Church of England decided not to forgive all muslims because of 7-7 london bombings especially Nigerian muslims trying to gain residency/citizenship at the moment?

miftaudeen:

on d issue of palestine whereby israel are killing are brothers,should wil fold are hands&says we ve 4gives these pple.

We as in, Muslim community Or as a Palestinian 
IMO,We have lil' or no say in this issue;can't cry more than the bereaved.The best any peace-loving Muslim especially one that is neither a Palestinian citizen nor a resident should do is to be steadfast in supplications for peace to reign there.
If they decide to forgive in future and move on,fine . . .If they don't, good for them.
Are we standing to give account before Allah(swt) as a nation or brotherhood or is it going to be each man on his own 

hymen:



Very good question. This was one of the reasons I brought this up,plase read the story of the palestinian doctor :Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish  whose 3 daughters were killed by the Israelis.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3657455,00.html

While I appreciate the palestinian situation I think muslims need to be careful not to make it a religious cause. Its a complex ethno-political conundrum.

Imagine if all the Church of England decided not to forgive all muslims because of 7-7 london bombings especially Nigerian muslims trying to gain residency/citizenship at the moment?

Saw the blog and indeed its very unfortunate and sad.
The Doc is a brave man and wud surely his due reward.
Nothing happens without Gods knowledge and surely Allah(swt) knows the best.

ifyalways:

We as in, Muslim community Or as a Palestinian
[b]IMO,We have lil' or no say in this issue;can't cry more than the bereaved.[/b]The best any peace-loving Muslim especially one that is neither a Palestinian citizen nor a resident should do is to be steadfast in supplications for peace to reign there.
If they decide to forgive in future and move on,fine . . .If they don't, good for them.
Are we standing to give account before Allah(swt) as a nation or brotherhood or is it going to be each man on his own Saw the blog and indeed its very unfortunate and sad.
The Doc is a brave man and wud surely his due reward.
Nothing happens without Gods knowledge and surely Allah(swt) knows the best.

I think your point(in bold) is very important. Many muslims erroneously take the palestinian issue as a 'muslim issue'.

Its clearly not. Its the same way christians have been deceived into believing the Israeli concerns are automatically 'christian concerns'. Or like my brother used to say ,anything the republican party in the US supports is a 'christian position'.

The palestinian issue is an 'arab problem' and there are atheists,muslims,christians,druze and bahai palestinians. quite right majority are muslims,but if all muslims were to take every muslim problem personal,then they would have to be concerned with all conflicts and injustice in in the world,since there are muslims all over the world.

The palestinians & israelis have been able to use their intractable disagreemnets to polarise the world.

The palestinain doctor forgave the israelis : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-and-marc-kielburger/palestinian-doctor-choose_b_549919.html

uplawal:

@Alimat,in as much as we can agree and we can also dis agree on many issue regards to Islam,i mean what you view as forgiveness on my own might not be,and retailation or instilling the appropriate legal punishment may be the right measure i would take and handle things,as far as am concern,if i wish to forgive the offender thats fine and if i dnt forgive it also not a sin on my own part,as Allah dnt say if i retailate i will end up sinning,its the choice Allah has given us as human being,because He knows us better,as a matter of fact,not killing a despoiler that violated your daughter and an armedrobber that broke into your home and also threatened to kill you or killed you or one of your household is not the best thing,its shows you are among those breeding more despoiler and armedrobbers,just like Lagosboy has just showed us how he planned breeding rapists that violated her sister,i mean,apart from eye for an eye,these evil people are those causing corruption on earth and one of the punishment prescribed by Allah for them is death,so why pitying them?only an evil people would advocate and start preaching outside the fold of Islam,all in the name of making Islam look seeminly appealing to non- muslims.

I try not to be angry at all time but sister you are getting on my nerves honestly, if english reading comprehension is a problem for you go take extra lessons in it.

Your brother rapes a woman, is the solution of eye for an eye applicable when the victims brother rapes you too. If you can answer that question then it will be wonderful.

Did you not see where i said criminals will have to face a judge where appropirate punishment would be metted out for crimes.

Please leave me out of your posts please!!!

d issue of palestine is our concern just cos of: d holy mosque,our brothers etc as we muslim are one. u know nothing.

Well if anyone of your brother/sister is in a foreign country and he/she  is under attack will you say 'its none of my business, its happening in a foreign country'. ?

All Muslims are brothers and sisters. We belong to Islam first, only then to our nations.

It is reported that, the Prophet (S.A.W) said:
"The Muslims in their mutual love, kindness and compassion, are like the human body when one of its parts is in agony the entire body feels the pain both in sleeplessness and fever."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

P.s. If everyone can condemn 9/11 publicly. Then the massacre and oppression happening in Palestine can be condemned too, actually the causalities are more in Palestine. Both are inhumane acts. I ll say no more.

@Lagosboy

@Lagosboy

Epele sir,i dnt mean to make you angry,Astagarullah.

But what Allah says concerning that verse is physical  Literal eye and not an allegory,e.g,theres no crime in revenging if a person pour acid on your face,blinding one of your eyes,thats what the verse says.As for the rapist of my sister which i dnt pray for because my sisters are CHRISTIAN VIRGINS for that matter,i will take revenge on the rapist by my conscience by making him face the suitable penalty, death to be precise according to Surah Maida 33,then,i can be fully happy.

miftaudeen:

d issue of palestine is our concern just cos of: d holy mosque,our brothers etc as we muslim are one. u know nothing.  

Did I say Its not our concern or was that your initial question?

miftaudeen:

on d issue of palestine whereby israel are killing are brothers,should wil fold are hands&says we ve 4gives these pple.

You suddenly jump from forgiveness to concern  

azharuddin:

Well if anyone of your brother/sister is in a foreign country and he/she  is under attack will you say 'its none of my business, its happening in a foreign country'. ?

All Muslims are brothers and sisters. We belong to Islam first, only then to our nations.

It is reported that, the Prophet (S.A.W) said:
"The Muslims in their mutual love, kindness and compassion, are like the human body when one of its parts is in agony the entire body feels the pain both in sleeplessness and fever."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

P.s. If everyone can condemn 9/11 publicly. Then the massacre and oppression happening in Palestine can be condemned too, actually the causalities are more in Palestine. Both are inhumane acts. I ll say no more.

Which Post so far suggested that?
The question and thread was abt forgiveness I don't understand this sudden diversion  

So how do u show concern for brothers in war or crisis?Supplications for a lasting solution,encourage them to fight back,supporting them in WHATEVER decision or way they deem fit to handle the crisis ?

Getting back to this thread and topic which is abt forgiveness,my opinion is  that IF after all said and done,the Palestinians decide to forgive Isreal(vice versa) and move on,its good with me,If they yet decide to go for an eye for an eye,Fine still.
I might not join them(asuming I have the means) If they decide to go the retaliation way neither wud I judge or object to their action/decision.

miftaudeen asked If we should forgive the Palestinians and I just pointed out to him that as he is neither a Palestinian nor resident there,that question or decision is[b] NOT[/b] his or ours to make . . .If the Palestinians decide to forgive,who are we to suggest otherwise?
This shld be another topic on its own sef  

Inshallah when i find sometime we would try to clear the air inshallah on some of this issues as we seem to be mixing things up here.

Forgiveness for day to day issue is different from reclaiming your right back. It is also different from acts of war, it is also different in terms of opression. Perhaps we could open another thread to explain things.

Lagosboy:

Forgiveness for day to day issue is[b] different from reclaiming your right back[/b]. It is also different from[b] acts of war[/b], it is also different in terms of opression. Perhaps we could open another thread to explain things.

Well said.