A servant sinned and said, O Allah, forgive me my sin. And Allah said, My servant has sinned and known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and calls to account for them, so I have forgiven My servant. Then he sinned again, and said it again, and Allah forgave him again. And a third time. Then Allah said: do as you wish, for I have forgiven you, as long as he keeps returning.
Where this hadith comes from
This is a hadith qudsi: the Prophet (peace be upon him) is not speaking in his own words but relating what his Lord said, so the speaker behind the account is Allah Himself. It is narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and recorded by Muslim (and also by al-Bukhari), and it is graded sahih, agreed upon by the two great collectors.
Its concern is purely a matter of the heart and one's picture of God (aqeedah and tazkiyah): how a servant who keeps falling should keep turning back, and what kind of Lord receives him. It is not a ruling about what is and is not a sin, but a window onto Allah's willingness to forgive the one who sincerely returns.
The key words
What it means, line by line
A servant sins, then says, O Allah, forgive me my sin. Allah does not first list the offence; He names what the servant came to know: that he has a Lord who forgives sins and calls him to account for them. That recognition, that he answers to a real Lord who both pardons and reckons, is exactly what is honoured, and Allah says, I have forgiven My servant.
Then it happens a second time, and a third: the same fall, the same return, the same forgiveness. At the end Allah says, do as you wish, for I have forgiven you. This is not permission to sin freely; spoken to a man who keeps sincerely repenting, it means that as long as he keeps returning, the door of forgiveness keeps opening. What saves him is not that the sin is small, but that he never stops coming back to the One he knows will receive him.
The Qur'an draws the same portrait of the God-fearing: when they slip, they do not brush it off or dig in, they remember Allah at once and seek His forgiveness, certain that none but He can forgive.
The door that does not close
The most striking thing here is the repetition. The servant falls, returns, falls again, returns again, and Allah forgives every time. This is not a license to sin carelessly; the man each time genuinely turns back, ashamed, naming his Lord as the One who forgives. What Allah honours is precisely that: that the servant knows he has a Lord who forgives, and so he never stops coming back. The door of return does not close on the one who keeps walking through it.
Knowing who your Lord is
Notice the phrase Allah repeats: he knew he has a Lord who forgives sins and calls to account. The servant's saving knowledge is his correct picture of Allah, neither presuming on mercy so as to not care, nor despairing of it so as to stop returning. He fears the reckoning enough to repent, and trusts the forgiveness enough to keep asking. Hold those two together, and the door stays open to you no matter how many times you have to walk back through it.
Carry this with you
Never let the number of your falls stop your returns.
The door does not close.
Fall, return, fall, return, Allah forgives the one who keeps sincerely coming back.
It is not a license to sin.
Each time, the servant genuinely turns back, ashamed. What is honoured is the return, not the fall.
Know who your Lord is.
He forgives sins and calls to account: fear the reckoning enough to repent, trust the mercy enough to keep asking.
Shame should not stop you.
Do not let embarrassment over a repeated sin end the cycle of return. Come back again.
A du'a to carry
رَبَّنَآ إِنَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
Rabbana innana amanna faghfir lana dhunubana wa qina 'adhab an-nar
Our Lord, indeed we have believed, so forgive us our sins and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. (Aal 'Imran 3:16)
A du'a of the returning servant
Three times the servant fell, and three times he came back, and his Lord met him every time. The lesson is not that sin is small, but that return is always possible, as long as you keep choosing it.
O Allah, You who forgive sins and call us gently to account, keep our hearts returning to You no matter how often we fall. We have believed; forgive us our sins, and protect us from the Fire. Ameen.
The hadith qudsi is from sunnah.com: the servant who sins and repents repeatedly and is forgiven, narrated by Abu Hurayrah (ra), recorded by Muslim (also al-Bukhari), graded sahih (agreed upon). The supporting Qur'an (3:16) is in Uthmani script verified via quran.ai (ar-uthmani-minimal) with the Saheeh International translation. Per the editorial policy this stays with the spiritual meaning (sincere, repeated repentance and Allah's forgiveness). FOR SCHOLAR REVIEW before publication.