Can forgiveness extend even to the seemingly irredeemable? Ibn ‘Arabī contemplated the story of Pharaoh’s drowning in the Red Sea, he arrived at a conclusion that stunned his contemporaries and continues to challenge religious orthodoxy today. Where conventional interpreters saw divine punishment and eternal damnation, Ibn ‘Arabī perceived something far more radical: unconditional mercy extended even to history’s most notorious tyrant.
Ibn ‘Arabī claimed divine inspiration for his interpretation. He stated that the Prophet(sa) gave him the Fusūs in a vision, and therefore its contents represented revealed truth rather than mere human speculation. This claim positioned his work not as heterodox innovation but as authentic spiritual insight into The Holy Quran’s deeper meanings.
The narrative is preserved in the Holy Qur’ān. Moses(as) and the Israelites flee Egypt, pursued by Pharaoh and his armies. At the Red Sea, the waters part to allow the Israelites safe passage. As the waves close in around him, Pharaoh cries out:
“I believe that there is no God but the God in whom the people of Israel believe. I am one of those who submit”.” (āmantu annahu lā ilāha illā alladhī āmanat bihi banū Isrā’īl wa anā min al-muslimīn)
The divine response comes:
“Now? When before you rebelled and spread corruption? Today we shall save your body, (bi-badanika), so that you may be a sign to those who come after you” (10:91-93).
Most understood this preserved corpse as a warning, evidence of what happens to those who defy the divine order. Pharaoh’s last-minute confession, they argued, came too late to matter. His pretensions to divinity made any genuine submission impossible. His incomplete faith, acknowledging divine unity without affirming Moses’ prophetic mission, rendered the whole exercise invalid.
Ibn ‘Arabī, writing his masterwork Fusūs al-Hikam saw the matter entirely differently. To him, Pharaoh’s confession represented a legally valid, sincere act, assent in the heart coupled with verbal profession, made without coercion. This authentic submission, Ibn ‘Arabī maintained, immediately erased all previous transgressions. The preserved body became not a warning but a sign of divine forgiveness, proof that mercy extends even to the seemingly unredeemable.
What distinguished Ibn ‘Arabī’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s motivation. The tyrant’s submission arose not from fear or a desperate attempt to escape consequences, but from genuine love and desire for the divine. As Ibn ‘Arabī wrote, Pharaoh “gave preponderance to the eternal aspect, declaring his faith so that he might meet God”. The divine response “Now? When before you rebelled?” (10:92), represented not rejection but a courteous reproof to someone who was no longer rebellious but rather a sincere convert.
Ibn ‘Arabī systematically responded to theological objections to his interpretation. When the Holy Quran states that professions of faith made during punishment are useless,
“But their profession of faith when they actually see our punishment will not be any use to them” (40:86),
he clarified this refers only to worldly consequences. It says nothing about eternal salvation. The exception is found in the people of Jonah:
“When they believed, we removed from them the penalty of ignominy in the present life and permitted them to enjoy their life for a while” (10:99).
Furthermore, when the Qur’ān states,
“He shall go before his people on the Day of Judgement and shall lead them into fire” (11:99),
Ibn ‘Arabī noted there is no text which says that Pharaoh enters with them. Rather, God says:
“Cast the people of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment” (40:47)
He did not say “Cast Pharaoh and his people”. It conspicuously omits Pharaoh’s own name. When God “seized him for the punishment of the Hereafter and the present world” (79:26), Ibn ‘Arabī maintained, “He seized him in the very best state”, the state of faith and submission.
Ibn ‘Arabī’s spiritual insight into Pharaoh’s fate carries this logic to its ultimate conclusion. He explained that when Pharaoh’s righteous wife Asiya first saw the infant Moses(as) and said he would be “consolation to me and to you” (28:10), she spoke prophetically. Moses(as) became Pharaoh’s consolation, despite being the instrument of his worldly downfall, because of the faith which God bestowed upon him at the time when he drowned. The divine seized him “in a state of spiritual cleanliness and purity, ” making him “a sign of loving care for whomever He wishes, so that no one may ever despair of mercy”.
The Holy Quran declares with unmistakable clarity:
“Say, ‘O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls! Despair not of the mercy of Allah, surely Allah forgives all sins. Verily He is Most Forgiving, Merciful'” (39:54).
Ibn ‘Arabī invoked this verse to emphasize that no one, absolutely no one, should ever despair of divine mercy.
For Ibn ‘Arabī’, divine love represents not merely an attribute among others, but the very meaning and motivation of existence itself. As he wrote in the Fusūs: “Movement is always out of love, even though the observer is veiled by other causes”. The emergence of the cosmos from non-existence into being constitutes a movement of love. Every action, every transformation in the universe, flows from this fundamental dynamic.
The story of Moses(as) and Pharaoh shows opposing forces that ultimately reveal divine mercy. As a ruler, Pharaoh questioned Moses’(as) authority, yet inwardly his soul recognized the truth of Moses’(as) message. When Pharaoh finally submitted in his final moments, the conflict between oppressor and liberator dissolved, showing that God’s mercy goes beyond human judgments of right and wrong.
Allāhu a’lam “Allah knows best”
The Prophet(sa) illustrated this principle through a powerful incident involving the companion Usama ibn Zaid. During a military expedition to Huraqat, Usama and his companions defeated a hostile tribe. When they captured one man, he cried out: “There is no god but Allah”. An Ansari companion immediately spared him, but Usama, doubting the man’s sincerity, killed him with his spear.
When the Prophet(sa) learned of this, he confronted Usama: “Did you kill him after he had made the profession that there is no god but Allah?” Usama defended himself: “Messenger of Allah, he did it only as a shelter”. But the Prophet repeated his question again and again until Usama later said he wished he had not embraced Islam before that day, so deeply did he regret his action. This teaching reveals that we have no authority to judge the hearts of others or reject their profession of faith. God accepts sincere submission at any moment.
For someone overwhelmed by sin, the Prophet (sa) taught a supplication: “O Allah! Your forgiveness is vaster than my sins, and I am more hopeful of Your mercy than my good deeds”.(Allāhumma maghfiratuka awsa’u min dhunūbī wa rahmatuka arjā ‘indī min ‘amalī). This prayer encapsulates a profound truth: divine mercy infinitely surpasses all human transgression.
The Promised Messiah(as) articulated this truth with remarkable clarity: “Stumbling and sinning are the characteristics of defective souls, which are manifested by them, [but] there are corresponding to them the eternal attributes of God which are mercy and forgiveness and He is inherently Forgiving and Merciful. His forgiveness is not casual but is His eternal attribute”. He further taught: “Through the one moment of the repentance that melts the heart, He can forgive the sins spread over seventy years. Do not say that repentance is not accepted. Remember that you cannot be saved by your deeds. It is grace that saves and not deeds”.
This message is well conveyed by a story the Sufis tell about an 11th century mystic whose prayers had once been interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Oh Abu Al-Hasan”
God said.
“Do you want me to tell people what I know about your sins, so that they may put you to death?”
“Oh Lord” – he whispered back.
“Do you want me to tell people what I know about Your mercy, so none will ever feel obliged to bow down to you again?”
“Keep your secret “said God . “And I will keep mine”
God’s infinite mercy and love would eventually bring all souls back to Him. Even salvation of Satan. Divine forgiveness extends without limit to those who genuinely submit and repent.
God’s compassion extends so completely that nothing lies beyond forgiveness for those who genuinely seek it. No one truly lies beyond redemption. If divine compassion extends to the worst among us, then perhaps our own capacity for forgiveness should similarly expand.
So what is eternal and what is temporary? The Boundless Mercy of Divine Love is eternal. The Holy Quran proclaims:
“And there will remain only the Person of thy Lord, Master of Glory and Honour” (wa yabqā wajhu rabbika dhū al-jalāli wa al-ikrām) (55:27-28).
Everything in the material universe, heavenly bodies, all created things, will eventually cease to exist. Yet reason demands that some Being must exist Who never dies, Who remains, subject to neither change nor decay.
Another verse reinforces this truth:
“Everything will perish except His Face” (Kullu shay’in hālikun illā wajhahu) (28:89).
The message is simple: while everything decays and dies, life persists when we surrender to The Divine.
The enduring message:
no matter how deep the darkness, mercy remains stronger; no matter how severe the transgression, genuine transformation remains possible; and the gates of grace never close to those who turn to Allah with sincere hearts. Divine love’s boundless mercy calls us to repay with gratitude by reflecting His image.