فَقُلتُ استَغفِروا رَبَّكُم إِنَّهُ كانَ غَفّارًا

Telling [them]: “Plead to your Lord for forgiveness. Indeed He is all-forgiver.

EXEGESIS

Istaghfirū (plead for forgiveness) and ghaffār (all-forgiver) are both from ghafara, whose meaning has been explained earlier under verse 4. Ghaffār is a superlative to ghāfir (one who forgives). And whereas God as al-ghaffār only occurs in four other verses (20:82, 38:66, 39:5, and 40:42), and is usually preceded with al-ʿazīz (all-mighty), the divine name al-ghafūr (also a superlative) occurs too copiously in the Quran to list all references and it is usually followed by al-raḥīm (all-merciful) – as ghafūr al-raḥīm.

There is also a third permutation for this divine name – al-ghāfir (the forgiver) – which occurs only once in the Quran: Forgiver (ghāfir) of sins and Acceptor of repentance (40:3), and because of which that surah (40) is named Sūrat al-Ghāfir.

Kāna ghaffāra is not to denote past tense (since kāna is literally ‘he was’) but it is to show perpetuity (al-dawām), meaning He always was, and Indeed He is all-forgiver, and He continues, perpetually, to be so (see the Exegesis for 3:110 for more detail).

EXPOSITION

Here on, Prophet Noah (a) relates the details of what he preached to his people. Getting his people to repent from polytheism was Prophet Noah’s (a) primary goal. Previously, he told them if they turn to God in worship, their Lord would forgive them their sins (verse 4). He also lamented to God, I have summoned them so that You might forgive them (verse 7). And now he is seen asking them directly to plead for forgiveness, suggesting it is no different than his earlier call, worship Allah and be wary of Him, and obey me (verse 3).

Pleading God’s forgiveness was, naturally, not the mere utterance of words but would require a true change of one’s ways, which is why they were not willing to accept his call (see the last tradition under Insights from Hadith).

Prophet Noah (a) asks his people to plead forgiveness from their rabb and not their Creator, or Benefactor, or the Forgiver, and so on, because of the significance of rabb, as explained earlier under verse 5.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From the Holy Prophet: ‘Plead forgiveness [from Allah] frequently, for Allah taught you the pleading for forgiveness only because He wishes to forgive you.’^{‎[1]Suyuti, 6/268.}
2. From the Holy Prophet: ‘One who is given the opportunity to plead forgiveness will not be denied forgiveness (maghfirah) because Allah says: plead to your Lord for forgiveness. Indeed He is all-forgiver.’^{‎[2]Maybudi, 10/238; Ghurar, h. 3830, from Imam Ali (a). Also in Tirmidhī’s, Nawādir al-Uṣūl.}
3. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Allah does not inspire a person to plead forgiveness if He intends to punish him.’^{‎[3]Hairi, 11/255.}
4. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Plead forgiveness copiously. You will attract sustenance.’^{‎[4]Nur, 5/424.}
5. In a ḥadīth al-qudsī,^{‎[5]Ḥadīth al-qudsī is a hadith in which God is quoted directly, as speaking in the first person, but His words are not a part of the Quran. They form part of the hadith corpus.} Allah says: ‘My servant! If you come to Me with sins [as much as] the dust of the earth, I will forgive them as long as you do not associate with Me.’^{‎[6]Ahmad, h. 20804.}
6. Imam Ali (a) heard a man saying: ‘Astaghfiru allāh! (I seek Allah’s forgiveness).’ So he said to him: ‘May your mother weep for you! Do you know what it means to plead forgiveness? Pleading Allah’s forgiveness (istighfār) is the rank of the elite. It is a word [but] rests on six meanings. The first is regret over the past [sins]; the second is resolution to never revert to it ever again; the third is to return to people their rights so that you meet Allah purified with nothing to account for; the fourth is to fulfil every obligation that you ignored [in the past] so that you now fulfil it; the fifth is to aim at the flesh grown as a result of [enjoying yourself from] unlawful earning so that you melt it with grief [in repentance] until the skin touches the bone and a new flesh grows between them; and the sixth is to make the body taste the pain of obedience as you [previously] made it taste the sweetness of disobedience. Only then should you say astaghfiru allāh.’^{‎[7]Nahj, saying 417.}

Note: These words of Imam Ali (a) were meant to enlighten the individual who trivialised the beseeching of God’s forgiveness. Otherwise, they do not negate the importance and recommendation of frequent istighfār found copiously in other traditions. Rather, they ask of those who already practice this to bring more awareness and realisation to their istighfār before God.

[1] Suyuti, 6/268.
[2] Maybudi, 10/238; Ghurar, h. 3830, from Imam Ali (a). Also in Tirmidhī’s, Nawādir al-Uṣūl.
[3] Hairi, 11/255.
[4] Nur, 5/424.
[5] Ḥadīth al-qudsī is a hadith in which God is quoted directly, as speaking in the first person, but His words are not a part of the Quran. They form part of the hadith corpus.
[6] Ahmad, h. 20804.
[7] Nahj, saying 417.