Be Merciful to Others And You Will Receive Mercy, Forgive Others And Allaah Will Forgive You!
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.
ارحموا ترحموا ، واغفروا يغفر الله لكم ، وويل لأقماع القول ، وويل للمصرين الذين يصرون على ما فعلوا وهم يعلمون
Abdullah Bin Amr Ibn Al-Aas [radiyallaahu-anhumaa] said: “The Prophet [sallal laahu alayhi wasallam] said, ‘Be merciful to others and you will receive mercy. Forgive others and Allah will forgive you. Woe to the vessels that catch speech [i.e. the ears]. Woe to those who persist – those who consciously persist upon what they commit [i.e. sin] whilst they know’”.
Reminder From The Above Hadeeth By Shaikh Zayd Bin Haadi [rahimahullaah]
“Be merciful to others and you will receive mercy”: Meaning be merciful to yourselves and to others. The one who is merciful to himself by performing acts of obedience to Allaah, abandon disobedience to Allaah and restrain himself from [the causes of] Allaah’s punishment, shows mercy to another person in that which contains one’s wellbeing, aids him and fulfil his needs, then indeed Allaah [The Blessed and Exalted] will show him mercy, because recompense is given in accordance with the good deed, and vice versa. That is because the understanding behind this statement, “Be merciful to others and you will receive mercy” comprises of an affair and its answer, which is that the one who does not show mercy to the people will not be shown mercy. In another hadeeth, [the Prophet said], “Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful [Allah]. Show mercy to those on earth and the One above the heavens will show you mercy”.
“Forgive others and Allah will forgive you”: The intent behind the word Maghfirah in this hadeeth [or context] is to overlook the mistake of the one who commits a mistake. Whoever wrongs you through speech or deed, and then approaches you with an apology and [desires to] free himself from it, then indeed pardon him and do not be harsh towards him, whilst you hope that – behind such pardon- Allaah will pardon you and forgive you your sin- because indeed you did good to one of His servants, pardon him, solve the problem and relinquished your rights, and Allaah is more worthy that you do that for His Sake, so that He pardons you, forgives you your sin, conceal your shortcomings and makes your affair easy.
“Woe to the vessels that catch speech [i.e. the ears]”. This contains a warning [about a person] who hears the truth but is heedless. It enters one of his ears and exits the other and he does not benefit from it.
“Woe to those who persist – those who consciously persist upon what they commit [i.e. sin] whilst they know”. They are those who persist upon a sin whilst knowing that it is a sin. Allaah rebuked them because they persist upon sin and they do not fear, unlike the [true] believers because Allaah described them saying:
وَٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُواْ فَـٰحِشَةً أَوۡ ظَلَمُوٓاْ أَنفُسَہُمۡ ذَكَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ فَٱسۡتَغۡفَرُواْ لِذُنُوبِهِمۡ وَمَن يَغۡفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ وَلَمۡ يُصِرُّواْ عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُواْ وَهُمۡ يَعۡلَمُونَ
And those who, when they have committed Fahishah (illegal sexual intercourse etc.) or wronged themselves with evil, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins; – and none can forgive sins but Allah – And do not persist in what (wrong) they have done, while they know. [Surah Aal Imraan. Aayah 135]
[An Excerpt from At-taleeqaat Al-Maleehah Alaa Silsilah Al-Ahaadeeth As-Saheehah. Vol 1 pages 63-64. Slightly paraphrased]