“Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;”
“Most Gracious, Most Merciful”
The use of the two terms of “gracious” and “merciful” as attributes of God in the Qur’an means that God is kind and compassionate towards all the creatures in the world.
God says, “Your Lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) mercy.” And His mercy is for everyone and everything, “but My mercy extendeth to all things.” His Prophet and His Book are the source of mercy too, “We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.”
The creation of God is based on compassion and even his punishments are because of his graciousness. He accepts the repentance of the sinners and He gives them the chance to make up for their mistakes.
This is a lesson for all the people to try to cultivate these divine virtues in themselves. Moreover, it proves that God’s relationship with people is not a master/slave relationship.
Masters were very cruel to their slaves and they would whip and severely punish them in case of mistakes, while God says in the Qur’an that He forgives the sinners if they repent: “Say: O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. For Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Therefore, the Almighty God is “gracious and compassionate” towards people although He is “the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds”.
That is how people should treat their subordinates too.
Prophet Muhammad says, “God is a hundred times merciful. He has sent one part of these hundred to the earth and He has divided it among people, jinn, birds, animals, and reptiles. All this compassion comes from that one share of His mercy. The other ninety nine parts are saved for the Doomsday, so that God would have mercy on us.”
source : tebyan
