A small phrase in the Quran that is so beautiful and so commonly overlooked:
No doubt, Allah loves those who repent over and over and over again. (Quran 2:222)
Just a little bit of perspective: Somebody could have done me really bad, they’ve said things that really hurt my feelings. And I can’t get it out of my head; every time I see that, I’m reminded of the thing that they said. And it’s going to take a while before that scar is healed.
Maybe once it gets healed, it’s possible for me to befriend this person again, or at least be civil with this person again; maybe it’s really hard for me to even sit in the same room with that person… But now I got myself to be able to do that, I can actually communicate with this person or be in their presence again.
But to ask me to love them? It’s really hard.
Maybe in some crazy case, I can get myself to forget everything and find love for them again, is it going to be the same love that I used to have before?
Probably not. But maybe it’s some kind of love. I’ll imagine that this person hurts me again and then hurts me again and again… It’s not even possible for me to continuously forgive this person.
One scar hasn’t even healed, the next one is opened up, and the next one’s open up… I can’t keep doing this; it’s impossible for me.
The Absolute Love of Allah
And now put this in perspective: We do wrong by Allah. He asks us to do something, that’s actually in our own favor, we neglect Him, we disobey Him, we disregard Him. And we don’t do it once, we do it over and over and over again. And yet Allah is so massive in His love, and so incredibly infinite in His mercy.
Why do you repent over and over again? Because you mess up over and over again.
Allah doesn’t say He accepts the repentance even though they keep coming back over and over again; He says:
He loves those who repent over and over again.
Subhanallah! No one else is capable of that. That’s only Allah.
May Allah make us of those whom He loves. And may Allah make us of people who genuinely make tawbah (repentance) to Him over and over and over again.
(From Discovering Islam archives)