Thursday, December 07, 2006

Concept of Forgiveness


I ask for no forgiveness father, for I have not sinned. I only did what I had to do to survive. A small boy asked me once if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now, I would tell him that when I was his age, I killed a man to save my brother. I am not sorry for this... I am proud of this. I was not asked for the life that I was given, but it was given none-the-less... and with it, I did my best


I am thinking of this remark made by a character in the show Lost. Eko, who is the character, caused his brother's (priest) death due to his greed and has being followed by his demons since. The scene in which he makes this remark, he is been told by the ghost of his brother to confess and ask for forgiveness and the above is his reply.


Sometimes I question the obvious but when Eko said what he said it triggered something in me. There are moments in my life, and I am not ashamed to admit it, where I ask the same thing. People accept many things in life and one of which is the religious doctrine we are handed. Sins and the concept of sins has always alluded me. I could be just thick in the brain but from the creation of Adam and Eve, humans have being slated to sin. Our life revolves around either dodging sins or getting caught up in it. The DOs and the DON'Ts. See, I don't think its blasphemous to ask or maybe its due to the nature of my upbringing (my dad always told me to question everything someone handed to me including religion). So, here are a set of questions.



  1. Why is our life revolved around sins?

  2. If our time on earth is a test, and many of us failing this test, what is the point?

  3. Forgiveness is granted to the sincere and remorse, but if they stumble again they are eligible for forgiveness. How does that work out with an end goal?

  4. "I am human, I stumble and fall." I do my best but what if my best is never going to be good enough?

2 comments:

NATIVE said...

SD…questioning things is not blasphemous. Infact Islam urges us to question…….through questions is how we understand.

Now I am not a student of knowledge and I wouldn’t attempt to answer all your questions lest I say the wrong thing.

2nd question about our life here being a test and many of us failing. I think you have to look at what you see as failing. Is it not achieving what you are meant to achieve only? The way I see it……our struggle onto the right path will be taken into consideration come the last day…..maybe you didn’t achieve what you set out to achieve but at the end f the day it’s the intention that counts. There is this hadith about the man who killed a hundred people……I am afraid of misquoting it so will go read it again first before putting it here.

3rd Q…..this is geared at our nature. We have not been created to be perfect…..if we only had one chance of forgiveness we will all be in doom and gloom….hell we wouldn’t even be here….since the second sin was committed while Adam was still alive…….. The cycle of forgiveness is an example of Allah’s mercy. He knows you will stray and He is prepared to forgive as long as you are sincere and have the intention of not repeating the mistake again……..

4th Q……your best is only what is expected of you…hence being judged individually. As I said above…your struggle to do what is right is taken into consideration….sometimes as much as doing the right thing….you shouldn’t worry about your best never being good enough. Instead you should worry if you are doing your best…….ask for the forgiveness and mercy of Allah and the rest will be kheyr inshaAllah.

I hope I have cleared up a few thing SD….

If I have said anything wrong…forgive me please……I am mere mortal and susceptible to mistakes after all....

Aya said...

SD, some thoughtful perceptions you have here. A week doesn't pass me without thinking about the uselessness of it all. Just what is the point of tragedies repeated?

# 1. Why is our life revolved around sins?

I think much of sinning means a transgression against the other. Perhaps the godly plan for peace and prosperity cannot be (and usually is not) realized with so much transgression.

#2. If our time on earth is a test, and many of us failing this test, what is the point?

It is an ever present worry but I gather we are not failing all the tests. There is a great deal of good, humility, kindness, and courage in the world. I was in traffic (again) last night and a church van was giving out blankets and food to the homeless on an unusually cold night for a southern city. There is some godliness in most of us.