Allah (swt) calls His servants to have the initiative to do good deeds in order to attain Allah’s satisfaction. Indeed, seeking forgiveness is a proof of good deeds since no matter how the Muslim is pious and obedient to Allah (swt), he cannot be fully grateful for a single blessing that Allah (swt) has bestowed upon him, and he needs to seek forgiveness; for he may do things that he thinks are simple but to Allah (swt) they are great, as the Prophet Mohammed (saws) said:

“Slave (of Allah) may utter a word (carelessly) which displeases Allah without thinking of its gravity and because of that he will be thrown into the Hell-Fire”.[1]

وَسَارِعُواْ إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ {Hurry towards forgiveness from your Lord}: To hurry means to shorten the time. However, there is a difference between (hurry) and (haste), haste is blameworthy and patience is praiseworthy, but slowness is blameworthy and hurry is praiseworthy used for good things, and the opposite of speed is slowing, which is blameworthy.

The results of this forgiveness are gardens as wide as the heavens and the earth. Someone might say: Why did Allah (swt) not mention what its length is? We say to him: Do you think that the kingdom of Allah (swt) is only the heavens and the earth so you ask about the length? Allah (swt) mentions this as an example that the width of gardens is like the width of the heavens and the earth, and it is to bring people’s minds closer to denote the huge size of heaven, so it is better to ask: Who are these who were promised these gardens? Some people may think that religion is only to do a lot of rituals, this is a good thing, but religion is to apply the purposes of the Shariah, so that he said after that:

[1] Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book of: To make the Heart Tender, Chapter of: To control the Tongue, Hadith No. 6113.