Allah has created the human beings and He loves them. This is one of His greatest attributes. His love is manifold greater than the mother’s love for her child. Naturally we must love Him for the gift of life, its sustenance, His love and benevolence, and that is the greatest virtue of a man. Allah ordains;

  “So remember me and I will remember you, and give a thanks to me and be not ungrateful”.

 “He who will bring a good deed before Allah, will receive a tenfold reward for it, and he   whowill bring an evil deed, shall receive only that much punishment which he   deserves,  and no  one will be treated unjustly”.

The human beings can attain real virtue, not by the mere outward observance of some rituals, but by loving Allah and by keeping His will above every worldly thing. The door of virtue is shut against any one who loves any wordly thing above Allah, and the one who is not ready to sacrifice the beloved thing for the sake of Allah’s love cannot attain real virtue. The observance of rituals without this spirit of love is like the paint on worm-eaten wood. It is possible that outward paint could deceive people, but it is impossible to deceive Allah by such devices. So to earn Allah’s love one has to follow the path of righteousness laid down in the Holy Qur’an, and as practised by the Holy Prophet (SUNNAH).

It is a very redeeming feature of the Islamic Faith that all sins committed inadvertently or knowingly by a Muslim are pardoned by the grace of Allah, if the sinner repents earnestly and seeks Allah’s indulgence and forgiveness. Allah’s greatest attributes are that He is merciful, benevolent and forgiving to human beings, who are by nature weak and prone to commit mistakes and sins. However, Allah considers Shirk (making others His partners) as unpardonable. It may be reminded here that if a Muslim commits Shirk he no longer remains within realm of the Faith of Islam.

It may be pertinent to note that the attributes of Allah being merciful and benevolent and forgiving are repeated in the Qur’an many times, which gives great hope to a sinner who repents and seeks God’s forgiveness and indulgence. In fact losing hope in Allah’s promise of forgiveness to the repentant shall be Shirk (blasphemy).

Following are some verses from the Quran regarding the benevolence and forgiveness of Allah to erring human beings

‘…He is very Relenting and very Merciful’ (2 - 37).

‘I, however, will forgive those of them who repent of it, mend their ways…….
For I am very generous, in accepting repentance and showing mercy, (2 –160).

‘However those who repent after this and mend their ways will be redeemed; Allah is forgiving and Compassionate’ (3-89)

‘…for Allah is generous in accepting repentance, and merciful in forgiving sins’ ( 4-16).

‘Allah is Forgiving and Compassionate’.  (5-39).

‘Your Lord has prescribed for Himself Mercy and Compassion’ (6-54).

‘Surely, He is Forgiving and Compassionate’ ( 9-118).

‘Listen! Ask forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him in penitence. Indeed my Lord is Merciful and Loves His Creation’. (11-90).
           
‘Except the one who may have repented (after those sins) and have believed and done righteous works for then Allah will change his evil deeds into good deeds and He is very Forgiving and Merciful.’ (25-70).

The first figure within the bracket denotes the ‘Surah’ number and the second one the ‘Aya’ (verse) as per the script of the Holy Book.