I looked at every verse in the Quran that talks about forgiveness — here’s what I found
I came across a post online asking whether or not the Quran teaches forgiveness. Interested in an answer to this question myself, I loaded up this handy Quran search tool and set out to find every place in the Quran where forgiveness is mentioned. Here’s what I found.
There are three words used in the Quran to denote forgiveness.
ghafara: (غفر). “To cover [someone's sins].” Used by the Quran exclusively to denote the forgiveness of God for human beings.
‘afawa: (عفو). “To pardon lovingly” Used to denote forgiveness in the general sense, occasionally by God, but mostly among human beings. This word root has the implication not only of forgiveness, but of the complete erasure of wrong.
safaha: (صفح). “To overlook;” literally “to turn the page [of a book].”
Three types of forgiveness
Forgiveness is an astonishingly abundant concept in the Quran. The first kind of forgiveness alone, ghafara, is mentioned 234 times in the book. God’s capacity and willingness to forgive human beings is such an established concept in the Quran that it is difficult to choose the verses to cite on the subject. However, one quintessential verse is found in the fourth chapter.
“And whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself but then seeks forgiveness of Allah will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful.”
It should be noted that only two verses contain mentions of ghafara in the negative, and both relating to the worship of other Gods. The two verses are in the same chapter and almost identical.
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.” Quran 4:48
“Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray.” Quran 4:116
To “forgive and overlook”
The second and third word roots, ‘afawa and safaha, are often mentioned together—34 and seven times, respectively. Readers of the Quran are repeatedly told to “forgive and overlook.”
“And We have not created the heavens and earth and that between them except in truth. And indeed, the Hour is coming; so forgive with gracious forgiveness.” Quran 15:85
“And you will still observe deceit among them, except a few of them. But pardon them and overlook [their misdeeds]. Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good.” Quran 5:13
“Many of the People of the Scripture wish they could turn you back to disbelief after you have believed, out of envy from themselves [even] after the truth has become clear to them. So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.” Quran 2:109
“And let not those of virtue among you and wealth swear not to give [aid] to their relatives and the needy and the emigrants for the cause of Allah , and let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” Quran 24:22
“And [Allah acknowledges] his saying, "O my Lord, indeed these are a people who do not believe." So turn aside from them and say, "Peace." But they are going to know.” Quran 43:88–89
“O you who have believed, indeed, among your wives and your children are enemies to you, so beware of them. But if you pardon and overlook and forgive - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” Quran 64:14
Verses that talk about forgiveness in the Quran amount to an impressive 4.4% of the entire text, not even counting those that touch related concepts like “mercy”, “benevolence”, or “generosity”. Mercy, for example, is mentioned 339 times in the Quran.
Three of God’s defining attributes in Islam—what Muslims call the 99 good names of God; a compilation of the attributes used in the Quran in reference to God which more or less define the character of God in Muslim consciousness—denote forgiveness. They come from the roots ghafara and ‘afawa, and so God has three names that are variations of “the Forgiver”, or “the Pardoner”.
