A Philosophical Exploration of the Mercy of God
Most people believe that mercy is a good thing. We want justice but not without mercy, from God and from other humans. Muslims and Christians agree that the Creator (whether God or Allah) is merciful; it is replete in our holy books. Therefore, it's important for us to discuss the mercy of God because this is one of His primary attributes. But when we say God is “merciful” exactly what do we mean? As a thought experiment I tried to list all the possible versions of mercy I could think of and sent them to a Muslim friend named Mohanid asking which one most closely matched his concept of mercy. The following are the results of my thought experiment.