Afw
AFW
Pardoning — the release of the right to retaliate, chosen freely out of strength.
Afw is pardon — the voluntary release of one's right to hold someone accountable for a wrong. It is more than tolerance, more than moving on, more than forgetting: afw is an active choice to surrender a claim. The Quran pairs it consistently with 'afw as a Divine Name (Al-'Afuw — the Pardoner) and commands it from believers toward each other. When Allah pardons, He does not merely withhold punishment; He erases the record. When a believer practices afw, they do something that mirrors that divine action.
The distinction the scholars make is important: 'afw (pardon) is different from maghfirah (forgiveness) in that 'afw specifically means releasing the right to retaliate. You can forgive internally while still holding someone accountable externally; 'afw means releasing even that right. This is why the Quran consistently asks: would you not love for Allah to forgive you? Then forgive — not as a strategy but as a spiritual posture.
The Prophet ﷺ's life was the greatest exhibition of 'afw. At the conquest of Makkah, when the people who had persecuted, killed, and exiled the Muslims were in his hands, he asked them: "What do you think I will do with you?" And he said: "Go — you are free." This is afw at its most total. And the Quran promises: "Whoever pardons and makes reconciliation — his reward is with Allah" (42:40).
Root occurrence breakdown
The root ʿ-f-w appears approximately 35 times in the Quran in various forms: as a divine Name (Al-'Afuw), as a command to believers (wa-l-ya'fu — 'let them pardon'), in descriptions of reciprocal forgiveness, and in the context of Allah's pardoning of believers who err.
Key ayahs
وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا ۗ أَلَا تُحِبُّونَ أَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ
“And let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you?”
This verse was revealed about Abu Bakr's decision to cut off support for Mistah after he participated in the slander of Aisha. Allah's question is rhetorical: the desire to receive divine pardon is the motive for human pardon. The logic of 'afw runs through the divine-human relationship.
وَجَزَاءُ سَيِّئَةٍ سَيِّئَةٌ مِّثْلُهَا ۖ فَمَنْ عَفَا وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ
“The recompense of an evil act is one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation — his reward is with Allah.”
The verse grants the right to retaliate equivalently — then raises the alternative: 'afw plus islah (reconciliation). The reward for this is described as 'with Allah' — the highest Quranic way of saying: it cannot be measured in worldly terms.
وَإِن تَعْفُوا وَتَصْفَحُوا وَتَغْفِرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“And if you pardon and overlook and forgive — indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
Three layered actions — 'afw (pardon), safh (overlook), ghafara (forgive) — followed by two divine attributes. The pattern teaches: human pardoning invokes divine forgiveness. These are not separate; they are related as action and response.
Go deeper — surah pages