Forgive the saint

Sura 4:17-18

17. As far as Allah is concerned, repentance is only (accepted) from those who do harm in ignorance en repent shortly thereafter; then Allah will repent also, and Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.

This verse is about men who do something wrong without meaning to, and immediately realize their mistake. People who do nothing worse then this are of a rare kind, commonly known as saints. Though it is nice to know that Allah will forgive such fine examples of the human race, it doesn't help the rest of us. Compare this to a verse from the Bible, Mark 2:17:

And when Jesus heard that, he said to them: "Healthy people don't need a doctor, only sick people do. I didn't come to call saints to repentance, but sinners."

Whereas Allah's only interest is in saints, Jesus cares for the rest.

Now we will progress to verse 18, where the writer underlines the point he made in verse 17.

18. Repentance is not (accepted) from those who go on committing crimes until death appears and one of them say: "Now i regret!" Neither is it (accepted) from people who die in denial. For them we have prepared a painful punishment.

Admittedly, repenting on one's death bed is rather late, but the Koran slams the door in the face. In the same verse, non-muslims - people who deny the message of the islam - are directed to hell, as if the writer wanted to make sure readers wouldn't think he included these infidels in verse 17.

The Koran's teaching on forgiveness is short in length and falls short on consoling the ordinary non-saint muslim.