Surah Ghafir Ayat 3 (40:3 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(40:3) the Forgiver of sins, the Accepter of repentance, the Stern in retribution, the Bountiful. There is no god but He. To Him are all destined to return.^[1]

1. This is the introduction to the discourse. By this the listener has been forewarned to the effect: What is being presented before you is not the word of an ordinary being but of that God Who has infinite power. After this, some of Allah’s attributes have been mentioned, one after the other, which bear a deep relevance to the following theme:

First, that He is All-Mighty, i.e. He is Dominant over everything. His every decree concerning anybody is always enforced; none can fight Him and win; none can escape His grasp. Therefore, a person who expects to be successful after turning away from His command and expects to frustrate His Message after having a dispute with Him is himself foolish. Such notions are only deceptions.

Second, that He is All-Knowing, i.e. He does not say anything on mere conjecture, but has the direct knowledge of everything. Therefore, whatever information He gives about the supernatural realities is true, and the one who does not accept it is following nothing but ignorance. Likewise, He knows in what lies the true success of man and what rules and laws and commands are necessary for his well being. His every teaching is based on wisdom and correct knowledge, which does not admit of any error. Therefore, if a person does not accept His guidance, he only wants to follow the path of his own ruin. Then, nothing from the acts and deeds of man can remain hidden from Him, so much so that He even knows the intentions of man, which are the real motives of his deeds. Therefore, man can never escape His punishment.

The third attribute is that He is Forgiver of sin and Acceptor of repentance. This attribute brings hope and causes inducement, which has been mentioned so that the people who have led lives of sin, should not despair but should reform themselves with the hope that if they refrained from their behavior even now, they could still be redeemed by Allah’s mercy. Here, one should understand well that forgiving of sins and accepting of repentance are not necessarily one and the same thing, but in most cases Allah forgives sins even without the repentance. For example, a person commits errors as well as does good and his good acts become the means of forgiveness for his mistakes, whether or not he had opportunity to show repentance for the errors, but might even have forgotten them. Likewise, all the troubles and hardships and diseases and calamities that afflict man and cause him grief in the world, serve as penance for his mistakes. That is why mention of forgiveness of sins has been made separately from the acceptance of repentance. But one should remember that the concession of forgiveness of errors without repentance only refers to those believers, who are free from defiance and who committed sins due to human weakness and not persistence in pride and sin.

The fourth attribute is that He is stern in punishment. By this the people have been warned that just as Allah is Merciful for those who adopt the way of His service, so He is stern for those who adopt an attitude of rebellion against Him. When a person (or persons) transgresses the limits where he can still deserve pardon and forgiveness from Allah, then he becomes worthy of His punishment, and His punishment is so dreadful that only a fool would persist in his wrongdoing.

The fifth attribute is that He is Bountiful, i.e. He is Generous and Beneficent. All creatures are being showered with His blessings and favors every moment, whatever the servants are getting, they are getting only through His bounty and beneficence.

After these five attributes, two realities have been stated expressly:

(1) That none but Allah is the Deity, no matter how many false gods the people might have set up.

(2) That to Him everyone must return. There is no other deity which can call the people to account and reward or punish them.

Therefore, if somebody makes someone else his deity, apart from Him, he will himself face the consequences of his folly.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Muminun verse 3 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muminun ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 3.