In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful
Allah's 99 Names: Al-Ghafur
He is the most forgiving one. An aspect of forgiveness is to hide our faults and treat them as if they had never existed. There are three meanings to the forgiveness of Allah, three separate divine attributes-al-Ghafffar, al-Ghafir, and al-Ghafur. Al-Ghafir is His quality of hiding His servants' shameful acts in order that they be able to live with each other, have faith in each other, and be able to depend on, love and respect each other. Otherwise, if Allah al-Ghafir in His mercy did not hide our faults, our adverse opinions, ugly thoughts, and hateful feelings, everyone would run away from everyone else. There could be neither a society nor a single family. Next Allah al-Ghafur hides our faults in the realms of the spirit and of angels just as He does in this world. The angels see things we cannot see in this world. Allah hides our faults from them so that we will not be ashamed in the Hereafter.
Through this name we may find the same respect and closeness from the spirits and the angels-from whom our sins are hidden by Allah al-Ghafur-that His forgiveness permitted us among humans. Allah's name al-Ghaffar is the most encompassing in forgiveness. A person whose faults are hidden from others is saved from being ashamed in front of them, but he may still be ashamed of himself within himself. Everyone has a degree of conscience which suffers from his actions. Allah al-Ghaffar in His mercy hides human's faults from him/herself and makes him/her forget in order to alleviate his suffering. Remember al-Ghafir, the veiler of our faults from the eyes of other men; al-Ghafur, who keeps the knowledge of our faults even from the angles; and al-Ghaffar, who relieves us from the suffering of continual remembrance of our faults. To such a compassionate one should we not be thankful? Should we not confess our sins, repenting with tears in our eyes, asking His forgiveness?
Abd al-Ghafur is slave of the forgiver of wrongs and the hider of faults.
Excerpt from From Asma-ul Husna. Contributed by Sister Mahwash Hirmendi, mhirmend@opal.tufts.edu