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 [39:53]
This is one of my favorite Quranic verses. It gives me a perception that no matter what sins we have and regardless of their quantity or frequency, Allah will always forgive us if we ask for his forgiveness. That just shows His aforementioned characteristics of being The Forgiving and The Merciful. And we, His mere creations, have the opportunity to ask for forgiveness, so long as we do not lose our hope on His mercy. That's wonderful.
However, being a human, I think such an offer would be quite paralyzing. In economy, there is a condition called 'moral hazard'. When people are given something, they behave differently than our expectation. For example, in United States, we can choose to buy an insurance for our phone. This would protect us from any additional cost when we lose or broke our phone. What would usually happened is that people become careless. At the back of their mind is the thought that if anything happened to their phone, they will get a new one without having to pay a single cent. Therefore, people who have insurance for their phones tend to lose them more often than those who don't. Another classic example is that the rate of accidents involving airbag-equipped cars is higher than non airbag-equipped cars. People just drive recklessly when they feel safe. While, in some cases, airbags do save people from getting severe injuries, they also increase the number of accidents on the road. Irony.
Having said that, I think it is quite easy to say, at least from economic perspective,with such a guarantee given by Allah, people will sin as much as they want and then ask for His forgiveness later. I mean, if anyone does commit sins with this thought at the back of his or her mind, he or she must have a high confidence that Allah will forgive him or her. That is, he or she does not lose any hope on His mercy. I know that people don't say this explicitly but sometimes, when we commit sins and we are aware of it, there is always a thought that we can always repent later. It is not that we are taking advantage of the promise given by Allah. We know that a sin is a sin but we are just tempted. Then, we try to ease our mind by saying, "I can repent later." It is not said out loud but it is there.
Allah, the exalted, however knows us better. As the Creator of human being, He knows that human has the tendency to misbehave. Therefore he give us a warning against this kind of thought. Not in one verse but four.
And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped [39:54]
And follow the best of what was revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment come upon you suddenly while you do not perceive [39:55]
Lest a soul should say, "Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in regard to Allah and that I was among the mockers." [39:56]
Or [lest] it say when it sees punishment, "If only I had another turn so I could be among the doers of good" [39:57]
And follow the best of what was revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment come upon you suddenly while you do not perceive [39:55]
Lest a soul should say, "Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in regard to Allah and that I was among the mockers." [39:56]
Or [lest] it say when it sees punishment, "If only I had another turn so I could be among the doers of good" [39:57]
Enough said.
Well, I actually want to say more. Lol.
Don't ever lose hope in His mercy. It is limitless. But there is always a due time for any good thing on this earth. It wont stay long. Death is one of the thing that rip us from it. So, take heed, people. We all know that feeling. How we wish we don't say that word or we don't act that way. There are always questions of what-ifs and should-haves in our minds. However, there is only one 'if' that both you and I don't want to say.
"If only I had another turn so I could be among the doers of good."
