Question
Sir,
I have a question for which I have not been able to find an answer. It is a very common Muslim belief (maybe only in Pakistan) that if you wrong someone, then you have to ask that person for forgiveness and that Allāh will not forgive you until that person does. Based on my reading of the Holy Qur’ān and other Islamic sources (very limited research), I get the impression that Allāh forgives all sins and that we should ask for forgiveness only from Allāh. Till now many people have disagreed with me but no one has been able to quote a source proving that Allāh will not forgive you until the person does.
On the matter of asking forgiveness only of Allāh, I found a ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī, chapter on Oppression, that stated that if you have committed injustice on someone, then beg their forgiveness before the day of Judgement. Can you please clarify these two issues for me, quoting sources from the Qur’ān/Ḥadīth?
Thanking you for all your help.
Mustafa Adil
Answer
assalām-o-alaykum!
You are very right that based on the Qur’ān, we cannot say that God forgives us only if people forgive us. You are very right that according to verses like 4:48 the promise of God’s forgiveness is a general one that can include any one that He wants.
On the other hand, the general belief that if we wrong someone we need to seek his forgiveness is not a totally incorrect belief and is not necessarily in conflict with the above principle.
When one commits a sin, one needs to repent to the God whole truly whole heartedly. When one is in the state of true repentance, he is so sorry about his sin and is so disgusted about his behaviour that he will do anything in his hand to change what he has done. It is in line with this attitude that it does make lots of sense that when we wrong some one we ask for his forgiveness.
In some cases, asking forgiveness from someone may include returning their rights to them. In such cases it (returning the right) will be an obligation (for instance when one oppressively takes away the belongings of others).
Similarly, we cannot say that for every sin that involves bothering others, asking forgiveness is an obligation. Every case is different and the best person who can judge whether asking forgiveness is appropriate or not is the person who is truly repenting.
Also, as I said in the beginning, we cannot say that God forgives us only if people who we have annoyed have forgiven us in this world.
Regards,
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2015-03-31
