Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan showcases in the lecture on how we should never lose hope in Allah in spite of innumerable shortcomings and misdeeds that we might have committed in this lifetime.
Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful” (Qur’an 39:53).
In the above Ayah, Allah SWT is addressing two different audiences. The first one addressed is the individual who is trying to preach Allah’s message. First and foremost, Allah SWT is talking to Prophet Muhammed ﷺ. The second one addressed in the verse is someone who has sinned so much that he has no hope of turning back to Allah SWT, and he has so much remorse and feelings of guilt that he thinks he has reached a point where there’s no way of receiving forgiveness. This sinner is being addressed through the agency of the Prophet or the da’iyah who recites and/or explains this verse to him and conveys the message of the boundless forgiveness and mercy of Allah SWT.
Whatever sins have been committed, Allah tells us that there is still hope of returning back to Allah SWT. But Shaitan plays his dirty tricks and coaxes us into believing that we are so deeply drowning in sin that we shouldn’t hope for Allah’s forgiveness. Shaitan capitalizes on one sin of ours and tries to trick us into doing more wrong things, thus taking us further away from Allah.
Can a man’s evil deeds compare with the power of Allah’s mercy?
We should learn how to supplicate Allah SWT and ask for forgiveness, believing with a full heart that Allah not only hears us, He sees us and knows full well what resides in our hearts. Despite having wronged ourselves by sinning, Allah still considers us as His slaves who are worthy of being forgiven if we make Tawbah (repentance) sincerely. He is extremely Forgiving (Al-Ghafoor) and always Merciful (Al-Raheem).
As a corollary, it is important that we guard ourselves against sin and wrongdoing by submitting to His will. When we do commit a sin, we must turn to Him in repentance and ask for forgiveness, never losing hope of His mercy. Then we will avoid being among those human beings who refuse to submit and never repent; deserving punishment, they are disgraced and dishonored on the Day of Reckoning.