Surah Az-Zumar (39) — Ayah 53

53. 1. In this verse, the vastness of Allah’s forgiveness is described. The meaning of اسراف is the abundance of sins and excess in them. The meaning of "do not despair of Allah’s mercy" is that, no matter how many sins a person has committed before accepting faith or before feeling the urge to repent and seek forgiveness, he should not think, "I am too great a sinner, how will Allah forgive me?" Rather, if he sincerely accepts faith or repents, Allah will forgive all his sins. The narration regarding the reason for revelation also proves this meaning: there were some disbelievers and polytheists who had committed many murders and acts of adultery; they came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Your ﷺ invitation is true, but we are very sinful people. If we accept faith, will all that be forgiven?" Upon this, this verse was revealed. Sahih Bukhari, Tafsir Surah Zumar. This does not mean that, relying on Allah’s mercy and forgiveness, one should continue to commit sins freely, pay no attention to His commands and obligations at all, and trample His limits and rules mercilessly. To hope for His mercy and forgiveness while inviting His wrath and vengeance in this way is extreme foolishness and delusion. It is like sowing colocynth and hoping for fruits and sweet produce. Such people should remember that, while He is indeed Most Forgiving, Most Merciful to His servants, He is also Mighty and Possessor of Retribution for the disobedient. Thus, in the Noble Quran, both these aspects are mentioned together in several places, for example: نَبِّئْ عِبَادِي أَنِّي أَنَا الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ وَأَنَّ عَذَابِي هُوَ الْعَذَابُ الْأَلِيمُ (الحجر). Indeed, if one repents and truly becomes His servant, even if his sins are as much as the foam of the sea, He will forgive them. He is certainly Most Forgiving, Most Merciful to His servants, as in the hadith about the man who killed one hundred people and whose repentance was accepted.