وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسْتَغْفَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا
Wa maa arsalnaa mir Rasoolin illaa liyutaa'a bi iznil laah; wa law annahum 'iz zalamooo anfusahum jaaa'ooka fastaghfarul laaha wastaghfara lahumur Rasoolu la wajadul laaha Tawwaabar Raheemaa
And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allah. And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, [O Muhammad], and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful.
Themes in this ayah
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4:64Ayah 1176
22 ayahs in An-Nisaa are strongly about mercy and forgiveness. This is one of them.
Tafsir
Scholars largely agree on this ayah
We never sent any Messenger but that he should be obeyed in what he commands and judges by the leave by the command of God and not that he should be disobeyed or opposed. If when they had wronged themselves by seeking the judgement of the false idol they had come to you repentant and asked forgiveness from God and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them there is a shift from the second to the third person in this address in deference to his the Prophet’s s status; they would have found God Relenting to them Merciful to them.
Related Hadiths
"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was supplicating against four people, so Allah, Blessed and Most High, revealed: Not for you is the decision; whether He turns in mercy towards them or punishes them; verily they are the wrongdoers (3:128). So Allah guided them to Islam."
May Allah grant pardon to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that he bestowed (these camels) upon the people of Quraish, and he ignored us, whereas our swords are still dripping blood. Anas b. Malik said: Their statement was conveyed to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he sent (someone) to the Ansar and gathered them under a tent of leather. When they had assembled, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to them and said: What is this news that has reached me from you? The wise people of the Ansar said: Messenger of Allah, so far as the sagacious amongst us are concerned they have said nothing, but we have amongst us persons of immature age; they said: May Allah grant pardon to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that he gave to the Quraish and ignored us (despite the fact) that our swords are besmeared with their blood. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I give (at times material gifts) to persons who were quite recently in the state of unbelief, so that I may incline them to truth Don't you feel delighted that people should go with riches, and you should go back to your places with the Messenger of Allah? By Allah, that with which you would return is better than that with which they would return. They said: Yes, Messenger of Allah, we are pleased. The Prophet said too: You would find marked preference (in conferring of the material gifts) in future, so you should show patience till you meet Allah and His Messenger and I would he at the Haud Kauthar. They said: We would show patience.
The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was commanded to hold to forgiveness from the conduct of the people.
"We sought permission from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for writing but he did not permit us."
Allah ordered His Prophet
to forgive the people their misbehavior (towards him).
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