Beginning with Mercy

الرَّحْمَـٰنُ

Ar-Rahmān — The Most Merciful

وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ ۚ

And ordain for us in this world that which is good, and in the Hereafter (that which is good), Lo! We have turned unto Thee. He said: I smite with My punishment whom I will, and My mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain it for those who ward off (evil) and pay the poor-due, and those who believe Our revelations

Surah Al-A‘rāf (7:156)

Intention

Today, I will begin with mercy — one act of gentleness toward someone, including myself.

Reflection

Ar-Rahmān is the mercy that precedes everything — the mercy written into the fabric of creation itself. Before you took your first breath, before you knew His name, His mercy was already holding you. As this new year opens, begin where He began: with mercy toward yourself, toward others, toward the unknown ahead.

On this verse

This is not a conditional mercy. It is not earned or rationed. It encompasses — the Arabic word wasi‘at carries the sense of vast, spacious, limitless. Everything you carry into this new year is already held within it.

Du'a

The prayer of the Companions of the Cave when they sought refuge. A du‘a for anyone stepping into the unknown.

Hadith

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Allah divided mercy into one hundred parts. He kept ninety-nine parts with Himself and sent down one part to the earth. From that one part comes all the compassion that creation shows to one another.”

— Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6000