عَنْ أَنَسٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ ، قَالَ : سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ ، يَقُولُ :
قَالَ اللهُ تَعَالَى : يَا ابْنَ ادَمَ ، إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتََنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي ، غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ مِنْكَ وَلَا أُبالِي . يا ابْنَ ادَمَ :لَوْ بَلَغَتْ ذُنُوبُكَ عَنانَ السَّماءِ ثُم َّ اسْتَغْفَرْتَني ، غَفَرْتُ لَكَ . يَا ابْنَ ادَمَ : إِنَّكَ لَوْ أَتَيْتَنِي بِقُرَابِ الأَرْضِ خَطَايا ثُمَّ لَقِيتَني لَا تُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْأً ، لَأَتيْتُكَ بِقُرَابِها مَغْفِرَةً
On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said : I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “Allah the Almighty said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.”
Jaami’ At-Tirmidhee 3540. Declared Saheeh by Shaykh Al-Albanee.
Lessons Drawn from the Hadeeth :
– The merits of monotheism and the great reward it entails.
– The hadeeth proves that Allah’s forgiveness is infinite.
– The hadeeth proves that speech is one of Allah’s Attributes, and His Speech befits His Majesty
– The hadeeth is a counter argument against the Khawarij and their claim that once a Muslim commits any major sin, he becomes a disbeliever.
[Abridged and paraphrased from Concise Commentary On The Book Of Tawheed by Shaykh Saleh Al-Fawzaan حفظه الله, Chapter 1]