Arabic -اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنِّي

Transliteration – Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul ‘afwa fa‘fu ‘anni.

Meaning – O Allah, You are Most Forgiving and You love to forgive, so forgive me.

Arabic Root:
From the root ayn-fa-waw (ع ف و), which has the following classical Arabic connotations: to forgive, pardon, to pass over, forgo, absolve, to obliterate all traces, efface, remove, to kill-off, allow to die, to turn away from punishing, not see, annul, to make unapparent, imperceptible, to give spontaneously, to give without constraint, to give more than what is due.

This name compared to other names of forgiveness:
Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ loves to forgive His servants. We can see from the previous attributes that much has been said about His forgiveness. He is At-Tawwab (The Ever-Relenting), Ar-Rahman (The Beneficent), Ar-Raheem (The Merciful), Al-Ghaffar (The Forgiver), and Al-Gafoor (The Great Forgiver). Now, we expand to this list by adding another name, Al-Afuw, The Effacer of Sins. He is the one who erases all traces of sin. Forgiveness implies concealment, but the mark of sin still exists on the servant’s record. Al-Afuww suggests much more than just forgiving but eliminating it entirely. The view of scholars is the prior names are names of maghfirah (seeking forgiveness) which is different from seeking afw. For example, maghfirah is like forgiving but not forgetting. ‘afw is purification, being reborn, and having a clean slate.

As a name of Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ, Al-Afuw is mentioned for a total of five times in the Qur’an.

إِن تُبۡدُواْ خَيۡرًا أَوۡ تُخۡفُوهُ أَوۡ تَعۡفُواْ عَن سُوٓءٖ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَفُوّٗا قَدِيرًا

in tubdoo khairann aw tukhfoohu aw ta’foo ‘an sooo’in fa innal laaha kaana ‘afuwwan Qadeeraa

ABUL ALA MAUDUDI TRANSLATION:
“(Even though you have the right to speak evil if you are wronged), if you keep doing good -whether openly or secretly -or at least pardon the evil (then that is the attribute of Allah). Allah is All-Pardoning and He has all the power to chastise.”— (Qur’an 4:149)

۞ذَٰلِكَۖ وَمَنۡ عَاقَبَ بِمِثۡلِ مَا عُوقِبَ بِهِۦ ثُمَّ بُغِيَ عَلَيۡهِ لَيَنصُرَنَّهُ ٱللَّهُۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٞ

Zaalika wa man ‘aaqaba bimisli maa ‘ooqiba bihee summa bughiya ‘alaihi la yansurannahul laah; innal laaha la ‘Afuwwun Ghafoor

English Translation:
“That [is so]. And whoever responds [to injustice] with the equivalent of that with which he was harmed and then is tyrannized – Allah will surely aid him. Indeed, Allah is Pardoning and Forgiving.”— (Qur’an 22:60)

#Duah, #prayer, Last 10 Nights of #Ramadan; AL Afuw – the Effacer of Sins (erases all traces of sin); #Forgiveness; #Repentance;