When Allah has characterized Himself with mercy in over 500 verses, described Himself with five different proper nouns denoting mercy, and proclaimed Himself as the Rahman, Ar-Rahim, Arhamu Arrahimeen (the most merciful of all those who have mercy), the khayru Rahimeen (the best of those who have mercy), and Dhu Rahmah (who is always merciful), how can we possibly give up hope in Allah’s mercy?
In fact, to give up hope of Allah’s mercy is an insult to Allah of the highest magnitude. And this is not me speaking, this is the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):
“The major of all major sins is shirk and to give up hope in Allah’s mercy”
Why is this insulting? Suppose somebody is very generous and somebody is very giving and you ask from him a pitiful amount, you come to him and you are in need and you say to him: “Can you give me a quarter?” “Can you give me a dime?” and you assume: “Oh! He’s not going to give me a dime”
Isn’t this insulting to the generous king? Isn’t it insulting to the rich person who’s known for his generosity that he’s going to refuse a dime? You shouldn’t think like this.
To Allah belongs the perfect example. Any person who assumes that he single handedly is too sinful for Allah to forgive, what an insult it is! Who are you? And what are all of your sins compared to the mercy of Allah? Have you limited the mercy of Allah such that you believe you alone, in one lifetime can commit so many sins that Allah can not forgive? This is the highest of insult and that’s why it is a type of disbelief to assume that Allah can not forgive me.
That’s why the Prophet (peace be upon him) said right after shirk, to give up hope in Allah’s mercy. And the Quran says:
{who gives up hope of Allah’s mercy other than of those who are completely astray}
Allah mentions in the Quran:
{O my servants who have wronged themselves over and over again, never give up hope of Allah’s mercy, Allah forgives all sins.}
Allah can have more mercy than all of the creation combined and it will not diminish his mercy if He shows the entire creations; it is eternal mercy, it never finishes.
So what can I do and what can you do that can extinguish that mercy of Allah? This is the hope of Allah.
So let us renew our intention that we will gain Allah’s mercy. Let us have that optimism because that optimism is part of Iman.
Let us believe in Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. Let us believe that the Rahman (the merciful) will show us Rahmah (mercy), that the Rahim will envelop us in that mercy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCxYDOhTi7k