You say to My servants who have trespassed against their souls: You shouldn’t despair in the Mercy of Allah, indeed Allah forgives all offenses, indeed He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Through this verse, the Messenger and believers are commanded to tell those who lived by forgetting the Lord, transgressed the limits set for creatures, and were involved in sins and offenses, that they should not despair of the Mercy of Allah, for He forgives all sins and offenses together.
The Lord of the universe taught through His Messenger that in a previous community, a man who had committed ninety-nine murders approached an ‘Aabid’—one who was worshipping Allah on the edge—and asked him, “Will I get repentance?” The ‘Aabid’ replied, “No, as told in verse 5: 32, if one kills another person, it is as if he has killed all of mankind.” The man then killed the ‘Aabid’ as well, completing one hundred murders. He then approached an ‘Aalim’—a scholar who knows Adhikr—and explained everything. The ‘Aalim’ replied, “Based on this verse, you need not despair regarding the Mercy of Allah. Go to Bayt al-Muqaddas (Jerusalem); you may find repentance there.” The man immediately set off for Jerusalem. On the way, his death came, and there arose a dispute between the Angels of Mercy and the Angels of punishment for taking his Rooh. Allah commanded them to measure the distance to his starting point and his destination. It was found that he had passed one foot closer to the destination. Thus, the Angels of Mercy took his Rooh. This event teaches that the Lord considers every deed as good or evil by looking at the state of the heart. The lesson is that whoever errs due to ignorance, the Impartial and Merciful Lord will forgive them. The conditions for forgiveness are explained in the following verses. See explanation 4: 17-18, 100; 25: 68-70; 35: 28-29.