The Possibility of Forgiveness for Polytheists

Following his previous words, Jesus (a.s.) says to God that if You punish them, they are Your creatures (ʿibād), and if You forgive them, You are the All-mighty, the All-wise. Jesus in this statement is in the position of divine grace; not in the position of complaint or intercession on the Day of Judgment, each of which has its own particular account: The expression “If You punish them, they are indeed Your creatures” (in tuʿadhdhibhum fa-innahum ʿibāduka) is not a complaint, because he did not say “O God, punish them,” but rather his expression is compassionate, and regarding forgiveness too he did not bring an expression that would indicate intercession, but rather said that if You forgive the evildoers, there is no objection to You: “but if You forgive them, You are indeed the All-mighty, the All-wise” (wa-in taghfir lahum fa-innaka anta l-ʿazīz al-ḥakīm).

The forgiveness in Jesus’s words: “but if You forgive them…” (wa-in taghfir lahum…) refers to the greatest sin, namely polytheism (shirk), because those who took Jesus and his mother as gods: “Will you take me and my mother as gods besides Allah?” (354) did not commit ordinary sins like lying, backbiting, theft, and murder, but rather they fell into doctrinal sin and polytheism (shirk). Therefore, these individuals also hope for pardon and forgiveness on that day, even though the divine threat regarding polytheists (mushrikīn) is non-forgiveness: “Indeed Allah does not forgive that any partner should be ascribed to Him” (inna llāha lā yaghfiru an yushraka bihi).(355)

It should be said that although the divine threat (waʿīd) regarding polytheists (mushrikān) without repentance is non-forgiveness, yet assuming the revelation of this ruling in the distant past, just as the expression of Jesus (a.s.): “Indeed whoever ascribes partners to Allah, Allah shall forbid him [entry into] Paradise, and his refuge shall be the Fire, and the wrongdoers will not have any helpers” (man yushrik bi-llāhi fa-qad ḥarrama llāhu ʿalayhi l-jannata wa-maʾwāhu l-nāru wa-mā li-l-ẓālimīna min anṣār) (356) supports it, such a ruling never has dominance over God the All-mighty and All-wise; that is, God can also forgive the polytheist (mushrik). Of course, if the mentioned matter - namely the non-forgiveness of the polytheist (mushrik) - is in the form of information (akhbār), it will certainly be acted upon accordingly; but if it is performative (inshāʾ) - just as threats (waʿīd) like promises (waʿd) are performative - deviation from it does not harm anything.

Note: Some hold that the greater the sin, the more excellent forgiveness of it would be.(357)

Reminder: Fakhr al-Rāzī, based on his Ashʿarī thinking, has said that it is permissible for God to admit unbelievers into Paradise and to consign ascetics (zāhidān) and worshippers (ʿābidān) to the Fire, because the dominion is His dominion.(358) This statement of Fakhr al-Rāzī, like other aspects he has mentioned in the exegesis of this verse, is very improper.