We often hear that Allah is the Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate and that His mercy encompasses all things and there is no mercy greater that the Mercy of Allah.

So, then who is the beneficiary, Who gets the mercy of Allah? The answer is given by Allah himself, All of creation, all humans, believers, and non-believers all get the Compassion of Allah. This is something that Allah mentions at the very beginning of the Quran when you open it. The very first thing that we read is ‘In the name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. The scholars of Quran have explained that Compassion of Allah encompasses all of creation. However Allah has a special Mercy for his servants. 

So, I was wondering does the mercy of Allah encompass me, a sinner, someone that falls short? Is the mercy of Allah so vast that it encompasses all of humanity? The answer remains yes, as Allah says:

“My Mercy encompasses all things”

Surah Al-A’raf [7:156]

Allah the Most Merciful begins his final revelation by mentioning two of His most important names, The Most Merciful and The Most Compassionate. It’s important to recognise that Allah has many names, and it’s common knowledge that He has 99 names and more. However, Allah begins the revelation with His name the Most Merciful, which signifies the importance of mercy as He (swt) Himself is directing our attention to it before talking about punishment, or anything else.

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There is no doubt that your God is the Most Merciful. Whether a person believes in God or not, Allah extends His Mercy to them. And that’s true mercy. Let’s think about this for a second, because if you and I were to reject our King or our Queen and vehemently oppose them, defame them, insult them publicly and even take their rights (e.g. Tax’s), then you can pretty much be assured that they would not extend their mercy towards you, you’d be seen as a traitor or a defector, someone who is not worthy of the benefits of being a subject or a citizen.

However, Allah the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth extends his mercy to all creatures big and small and even those who vehemently oppose Him and even deny his existence. However, if you are a believer in the Most Merciful, then you are more likely to receive more Mercy than the one who doesn’t believe in Allah and rejects Allah.

Who will get Allah’s mercy

One of the things that point towards the Mercy of the creator is the fact that He the most Merciful, says in the Quran:

“And I have not sent you, except as a mercy to mankind”.

Surah Al-Anbya,107

This is a statement where Allah is informing the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that he has been sent to humanity and the jinn as a mercy from his Lord. He was sent to spread the Mercy of guidance and show humanity in his living  example of the Mercy of Allah.

Allah swt sent the Quran to guide humanity to that which is good and beneficial for us, not to rule over us like dictators and oppressors, only trying to exploit us. Allah the Most Merciful sent the Quran as a glad tiding, as a Warner, warning us away from the things that harm us now and in the long term.

We can see that in the Prophet of Allah has filled the earth with that mercy, the mercy of guidance. Who likes to feel lost in the world? Who likes to take a journey to any place, not knowing where they’re going? Their eyes closed, not seeing what is right before, not being aware of what harms are ahead of them? I don’t want to be in a situation where I feel lost, constantly wandering around trying to find my way.

No human wants to feel that way. And the proof of that we find in the fact that humans are always looking to discover their purpose, why they are here and where they are headed. We can’t seem to live without a purpose because that purpose is like a destination we’re headed towards, and we want to feel as though we have meaning in life.

We don’t want to feel as though we were created for nothing. The purpose of life is like an innate question that we’ve got buried deep inside us that always wakes us up to the reality of our existence, and that in itself is a mercy from the creator because Allah has embedded this purpose seeking system within us, in order to guide us to the thing that will benefit us in life and death. Allah wants for all people a good end.

Your parents are the greatest sign of Allah’s Mercy

The Mercy of Allah is evident the minute you’re born because we’re unable to walk or talk or dress or even feed ourselves. We are 100% dependent on others for our very existence. Without the Mercy of the Creator at this stage, you would not be reading this right now. You would not be able to have survived up until now. The Mercy that Allah instills into the hearts of the parents is so powerful that they patiently nurture us, feed us, remain awake for hours on end giving up their sleep to tend to us as babies.

That is the mercy that Allah has instilled in the creation, just so that you and I survived those early years when we could do nothing for ourselves. That is the Mercy of the Most Merciful God.

Mercy of Allah for the Parents       

Allah has made Birrul walidain (being dutiful to the parents), the 2nd most important thing after worshipping Him swt. Allah says in the Quran:

“Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination.”

Surat Luqman 14.

This is because when we become old, once again we can become dependent on others like we were when we were children. We are in need of intense mercy, love, and compassion again. A compassionate grown-up child that will now sacrifice some of their days or nights to look after the parents who once looked after them.

It is through the Mercy of Allah that we are looked after when we are unable to look after ourselves.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent as a mercy to guide you through life and back to Allah. Your parents raised you with mercy, even if you did not see eye to eye with them. The fact is, you were still looked after, fed, clothed and the level of mercy that they gave you allowed you to survive into adulthood because without it we would not be here.

Your sustenance, Food, Drink, and Shelter a Mercy

What about all of the Food & Drink that you have every day of your life?  Sure, you earn it, You work hard for it. But what about your work? Why did you get the job instead of the other person who applied for it?

Have you ever asked yourself why you are blessed with the food and clothes that you own? Or your Home and all other things that you possess? Someone else out there doesn’t have what you have. Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

We are in constant supply of all the things that we need in our lives and the Supplier of all of those things is Allah. Most of the time we tend to forget that. However, if Allah was to withhold it, you wouldn’t have these things.

The truth is that hard work isn’t enough. Your effort is essential, but once you have taken action to attain the things you want, it is entirely up to Allah if you receive it or not.

I’m sure you’ve been in a situation when you’ve done what needs to be done, and you still didn’t get what you wanted. And someone else who did less than you got what you wanted. We’ve all been in that situation, and it’s the mercy of Allah that He blesses us with what we need, when we need it.

If you look around the Earth the mercy of Allah is evident in everything, the trees that provide the oxygen, the plants, the food, the animals, without which you would have no food or clothing. We are in a constant need for gratitude. This is one of the fundamentals of life and one of the fundamentals of belief.

If you start to count the blessings in your life as we are taught to in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then we would be counting endlessly because the blessings we have are endless.

Last Question: How do we know that Allah blesses the non-believers with his Mercy? Because Allah has extended them life to enjoy this world and its blessings just like the believers are able. Allah has not withheld his resources from a person just because they deny the existance of Allah. That’s the extent of his mercy and compassion.

The scholars of the Quran explain that the mercy of Allah will extend to the believers beyond this life into the akhira. Allah will be a judge of anyone who is ungrateful on the Day of Resurrection when we will all answer for how we lived in this worldly life.

It is very important that we are grateful for the blessings we have and that we recognise the Mercy of Allah in our lives, and to do this all you have to do start thinking about it, and you will see that the Mercy is in your life every day.