“That God May Forgive You What Is Past of Your Sin”

Qur'an 48:2 · Al-Fatḥ

لِّيَغْفِرَ لَكَ ٱللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنۢبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُۥ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَٰطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا

(48:2) that Allah may forgive you what is past of your sin and what is to come, and that He may perfect His blessing upon you and guide you on a straight path,

The question

Does 48:2 speak of sins committed by the Prophet — and if not, what is the “sin” (dhanb) that God forgives him because of the clear victory?

Views answered: actual sins before and after prophethood, a promise to forgive his future sins, the sins of Adam and Eve and of his community, “if you had any sins”, a gracious form of address, not doing what is most appropriate (tark al-awlā), the sins of his community, forgiven by his intercession, al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā: the sin committed against him

Al-Mizan's argument

Al-Mizan takes the “clear victory” to be the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, not the conquest of Mecca or Khaybar, and asks the question the other readings leave unanswered: why should a victory be the reason for forgiving sins? The answer is that “dhanb” here is not disobedience to God and “maghfirah” is not pardon for it. By calling the idolaters away from their gods and fighting them, the Prophet had, in their eyes, committed a grave offence; the “sin” is that grievance and its evil consequences for him, and the victory removed them. He then sets out seven other readings — actual sins before and after prophethood, a promise to forgive future sins, the sins of Adam and Eve, “if you had any sins”, a gracious form of address, tark al-awlā, and the sins of his community — and shows that the first two contradict his infallibility and would lift his moral duties, and that none explains the link between the victory and the forgiveness. Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā's reading comes closest. The narrations follow: Imam al-Ṣādiq, and Imam al-Riḍā's answer to al-Maʾmūn that no one was more at fault in the eyes of the Meccan idolaters than the Prophet.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

1. The victory is the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah
2. Not the conquest of Mecca or of Khaybar
3. What has forgiveness to do with victory?
4. Ways of avoiding the problem
5. “Dhanb” here is not disobedience
6. The Prophet's mission and the idolaters' grievance
7. The author's reading: the evil consequence they held against him
8. View 1: actual sins, before and after prophethood
9. Contrary to the Prophet's infallibility
10. View 2: a promise to forgive his future sins
11. That would lift every moral duty from him
12. View 3: the sins of Adam and Eve and of his community
13. View 4: “if you had any sins”
14. View 5: a gracious form of address
15. View 6: not doing what is most appropriate (tark al-awlā)
16. View 7: the sins of his community, through his intercession
17. Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā: the sin committed against him
18. Imam al-Ṣādiq on the verse
19. Imam al-Riḍā before al-Maʾmūn
20. The author on Imam al-Riḍā's answer

Read the whole commentary on 48:2 →