The 365 · Verses · Day 335 · Mercy
Wa yatūbu Allāhu ʿalā man yashāʾ. He turns to whom He wills. The Will is His; the believer's job is to make himself eligible.
Qur'an Qur'ān 9:15 (al-Tawbah)
وَيُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَيَتُوبُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
“And He will remove the fury of their hearts. And Allah turns in forgiveness to whom He wills; and Allah is Knowing and Wise.”
Svenska: Och Han skall avlägsna deras hjärtans vrede. Och Gud vänder Sig till vem Han vill med förlåtelse; och Gud är Vetande och Vis.
The story
Sūrat al-Tawbah opens with the warning to the polytheists and the believers' response in the campaigns. Verse 15 lands as a divine assurance: even amid all the conflict, Allah is the One who removes the heart's anger and accepts tawbah of those He wills. The verse positions divine choice as the operating principle of mercy.
In the language
Yatūbu Allāhu ʿalā: He turns to. The verb is reciprocal in the tawbah context: the believer turns; Allah turns back. The Arabic preposition ʿalā (over) preserves the image of mercy descending upon the servant. Man yashāʾ: whom He wills. The will is His sovereign choice; the believer's surrender to this is part of īmān. ʿAlīmun ḥakīm: Knowing and Wise. He knows who deserves and chooses wisely.
Why this verse
Day two of the cluster. The verse names a precise mercy: removing the fury (ghayẓ) of believers' hearts. After conflict, after wronging, after grief, the heart carries fury. Allah's mercy is to REMOVE that fury. The tawbah-acceptance is paired with the heart-healing.
Bring it into today
Today: if you have unresolved fury (against someone who wronged you, against an injustice you cannot fix, against your own failures), make tawbah AND ask Allah to remove the ghayẓ. The verse promises both.
A reflection to carry
Many believers feel their hearts are not soft enough; the ghayẓ against past wrongers persists despite tawbah. The verse 9:15 names the cure: ask Allah to REMOVE the ghayẓ. Allah's removal is more thorough than the believer's effort. The salaf would pair every grievance-related tawbah with the duʿāʾ: Allāhumma adhhib ghayẓa qalbī. The two together heal what self-effort cannot fully heal.
Read the longer reflection
There is a deep teaching in the verse's pairing. Allah does not just FORGIVE; He HEALS. The forgiveness is the legal act; the healing is the emotional act. The believer's heart that has been wounded by sin, injustice, or trauma needs both: legal forgiveness AND emotional restoration. The verse promises both: yatūbu Allāhu (He turns to) AND yudhhib ghayẓ qulūbihim (He removes the fury of their hearts). Tonight, if you have unresolved fury, do the practice: 1) Make tawbah for whatever you contributed to the situation. 2) Forgive those you can. 3) Ask Allah specifically to remove the fury. The three-part practice activates the verse. Yā ʿAlīm Yā Ḥakīm, You who know our hearts and choose wisely, remove our anger. Heal what tawbah alone does not heal. Make us of those whose hearts You softened by Your will. Āmīn.
Sources: Ibn Kathir, Tabari, Saadi. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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