What is the difference between forgiveness and pardon?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, Allah does not say, "I have pardoned him." Rather, pardon is what we are commanded to do. As for Allah, I do not recall at the moment that Allah says, "He pardoned him," but rather He says, "He forgave him," and does not say, "He pardoned him." When pardon and forgiveness are combined regarding a created being, forgiveness is defined as not holding the sin against the person, while pardon is defined as turning away from him entirely, as if he had not sinned, and it serves to complete the forgiveness.
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : No, if we look at its original meaning, forgiveness is not holding the sin against the person. It is not necessary that Allah the Exalted— I do not know, it is possible that forgiveness in the case of Allah encompasses both matters, meaning that Allah passes over it finally and does not make there any internal matters regarding this forgiveness. So, it is possible to say that forgiveness in the case of Allah includes pardon.
The Shaykh : No, Allah does not say, "I have pardoned him." Rather, pardon is what we are commanded to do. As for Allah, I do not recall at the moment that Allah says, "He pardoned him," but rather He says, "He forgave him," and does not say, "He pardoned him." When pardon and forgiveness are combined regarding a created being, forgiveness is defined as not holding the sin against the person, while pardon is defined as turning away from him entirely, as if he had not sinned, and it serves to complete the forgiveness.
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : No, if we look at its original meaning, forgiveness is not holding the sin against the person. It is not necessary that Allah the Exalted— I do not know, it is possible that forgiveness in the case of Allah encompasses both matters, meaning that Allah passes over it finally and does not make there any internal matters regarding this forgiveness. So, it is possible to say that forgiveness in the case of Allah includes pardon.