The collection ends where the believer most needs to land: in the ocean of Allah's mercy. In this final sacred hadith, Allah says: O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I will forgive you whatever you have done, and I will not mind.
Then He stretches the promise wider, and wider again, until no sin a human could imagine is left outside it. After forty hadith of striving, the Prophet ﷺ leaves us resting in this: however far you have fallen, His forgiveness reaches further.
Where this hadith comes from
This is a hadith qudsi, a saying the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reports from his Lord, narrated by Anas ibn Malik (ra), the Prophet's longtime servant. It was collected by at-Tirmidhi (no. 3540), who graded it hasan (sound enough to act upon).
Imam an-Nawawi placed it last in his Forty, and the choice is deliberate. After thirty-nine hadith calling the believer to faith, character, and worship, the collection closes not on a warning but on the widest promise of mercy in the whole tradition, the note he wanted the reader to rest on.
The key words
What it means, line by line
The promise climbs in three steps. First, as long as you keep calling on Allah and hoping in Him, He forgives whatever you have done and does not mind. Then, were your sins to pile up to the clouds of the sky, His forgiveness still reaches them once you seek it. Finally, were you to come with sins nearly filling the earth, yet meet Him upon tawhid, He meets you with forgiveness nearly as vast.
Two conditions thread through all three: keep turning back to Him in hope, and hold to worshipping Him alone. The Qur'an states the same promise plainly, forbidding the despair that would keep a person from the open door.
Three times He widens the door
Watch how the promise grows. First: O son of Adam, as long as you call on Me and hope in Me, I forgive you whatever you have done, and I do not mind. Then: O son of Adam, if your sins reached the clouds of the sky and then you sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you. Then the climax: O son of Adam, if you came to Me with sins nearly filling the earth, and then met Me without associating anything with Me, I would come to you with forgiveness nearly as great.
Each line answers a deeper fear. The first reassures the ordinary sinner; the second, the one whose sins feel sky-high; the third, the one who is sure he is beyond saving. To every one of them the answer is the same: come back, hope, hold to tawhid, and the forgiveness will be there, vaster than the wrong.
The conditions are gentle
Notice how little Allah asks in return. Not perfection, not a spotless past, but two things any heart can offer: that you call upon Him and hope in Him, and that you meet Him upon tawhid, worshipping Him alone. Hope and sincerity. These are the keys, and they fit every lock.
This is why despair is so dangerous in Islam: it is the one thing that keeps a person from the door, not because the door is shut, but because they refuse to walk through it. The Qur'an forbids it outright, do not despair of the mercy of Allah, because to despair is to believe your sin is bigger than His mercy, and nothing is bigger than His mercy.
The forty end in mercy
Think about where Imam an-Nawawi chose to end. After hadith on sincerity, prayer, character, steadfastness, and the shortness of life, after forty calls to rise and strive, the last word is not a warning but an embrace. As if to say: you will fall along this road, you will fail, and when you do, here is where to run.
So carry the whole collection forward in the spirit of its ending. Strive with everything in hadith 1 through 41, and when you slip, do not let shame turn into despair. Turn back, hope, hold to 'there is no god but Allah,' and meet a Lord whose forgiveness is always larger than your sin. That is the gift the forty leave in your hands.
Carry this with you
Strive your whole life, and when you fall, run here.
His mercy outsizes any sin.
Sins to the clouds, sins nearly filling the earth, His forgiveness reaches further than all of it.
The conditions are gentle.
Call upon Him, hope in Him, and meet Him upon tawhid. Hope and sincerity are keys that fit every lock.
Despair is the real danger.
The door is open; despair is refusing to walk through it. To despair is to think your sin bigger than His mercy.
The forty end in an embrace.
After every call to strive, the last word is mercy. Strive hard, and when you slip, run back to Him.
A du'a to carry
رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ
Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa in lam taghfir lana wa tarhamna lanakunanna mina-l-khasirin
Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers. (Al-A'raf 7:23)
A du'a to end the forty
Forty hadith have asked much of us: sincerity, steadfastness, character, mercy, a life held lightly and aimed at Allah. And now, at the very end, Allah Himself leans close and removes the last fear: however you have failed, come back, hope, and I will forgive.
So take the whole collection in this spirit. Strive as if everything depends on your effort, and when you stumble, turn back as one who knows that His mercy is larger than any sin. The road of the forty ends not at a wall, but at an open, endless door.
O Allah, we have wronged ourselves, and Your forgiveness is greater than all our wrong. Accept our striving, pardon our failing, and let us meet You calling upon You, hoping in You, and worshipping You alone. Forgive us, have mercy on us, and do not let us be among the losers. Ameen.
The hadith is from sunnah.com: the hadith qudsi 'O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you...' narrated by Anas ibn Malik (ra), at-Tirmidhi 3540, graded hasan. Qur'an citations (39:53 and 7:23) are in Uthmani script verified via quran.ai (ar-uthmani-minimal) with the Saheeh International translation. Per the editorial policy this stays with the creed and spirit (the vastness of Allah's mercy, hope, tawhid). FOR SCHOLAR REVIEW before publication.