Quranic Quote of the Week #10: Lord of Mercy

“If any one does evil or wrongs his own soul but afterwards seeks Allah’s forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Quran, 4:110)

“In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.” (nearly every sura)

One of the best messages any volume of scripture can offer is a message of redemption. For this reason, we often gravitate toward scriptures that emphasize God’s mercy in the face of our imperfections. However, it’s easy to stick to the obvious New Testament and (in the case of Latter-day Saints) Book of Mormon examples because they may sound more personal and less abstract.

But boy, are we missing out if we ignore the gems found in ancient works like the Old Testament and the Quran! Though these books suffer from the stereotype of showing only a harsh “God of justice,” the exact opposite is true: God’s love and mercifulness permeate the stories of Israelites and Ishmaelites who long ago got to know God’s true character for themselves.

Almost every sura in the Quran begins with the phrase “In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.” Mercy and forgiveness are mentioned over 2,500 times. Surely God’s message that He has repeated over, and over, and over again—that we can rise above our sins and mistakes—ought to take precedence over cryptic Bible anecdotes about murderous she-bears and castigated ark-steadiers. Stories of God’s apparent ruthlessness are being taken out of historical context on a daily basis and most certainly merit reading through the lens of what we already know about God’s character: that He loves us, that He is on our side, that He doesn’t give up on us even when we give up on ourselves, and that His ultimate goal is to grant us “life eternal” (John 17:3)—“immortality and eternal life” (Moses 1:39).

I have experienced God’s mercy in my life many times. Seeking forgiveness from Him brings me inner peace and strength I could not have found otherwise. I’m grateful to have the witnesses of all kinds of holy writs—Christian or not—to remind me that there is a God of infinite chances.