Importance of Astaghfaar/repentance, seeking forgiveness from Allah The Most Merciful.

RAHMAN AND GHAFFAR

Allah the Almighty is the most beneficent and the most merciful has two names Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim which has similar meanings. These two names are derived from the word Ar- Rahmah (the mercy), but Rahman has more meanings that pertain to mercy than Ar-Rahim.
This is to say that He is Ar-Rahman with all creation and Ar-Rahim only with the believers.

How many times have we read His name Ar-Rahman,Ar-Rahim and Ghaffur in the Quran and called out to Allah who is all knowing and all hearing with these names. But, have we fully understood how Merciful & benevolent Allah (swt) really is!?

To explain the same let me start with a hadith Qudise.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When Allah decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: My mercy prevails over my wrath. (Bukhari and  Muslim)

They are many verses in Qur'an where Allah The All-Mighty repeatedly says that He is Ghaffurur and Raheem
Allah says in Qur'an When those who believe in Our Ayat come to you, say: "your Lord has written mercy for Himself, so that, if any of you does evil in ignorance, and thereafter repents and does righteous good deeds, then surely, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.(6:54)

"Say: "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the mercy of Allah, verily, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.'' (39:53)
This Ayah is a call to all sinners, be they disbelievers or others, to repent and turn to Allah. This Ayah tells us that Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, will forgive all the sins of those who repent to Him and turn back to Him, no matter what or how many his sins are.

Allah says in hadith Qudise.
On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah the Almighty said: 'O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.'" (Tirmidhi)

The above hadith clearly states that our sins should not hinder us from seeking forgiveness. Allah the most merciful is asking us to seek forgiveness introspective of how big or great the sins are. Allah loves to forgive and who can forgive you besides Allah. 

"And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah ? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know. (Quran 3:135)

 We are humans and we are bound to err however, Allah keeps reminding us in the Qur'an to repent and seek forgiveness from Him and He is eagerly waiting to forgive us, He just wants us to seek forgiveness from him. 

Imam Ahmad recorded that Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said,

"I heard the Messenger of Allah, say: By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, if you were to commit sin until your sins filled the space between heaven and earth, then you were to ask Allah for forgiveness, He would forgive you.

Now you know that Allah azwajal will forgive you no matter how big the sin is but do you know that if, we humans didn't err or seek forgivenes (which is next to impossible for us because of the presence of sin, within our souls) ALLAH THE MOST HIGH would create a nation who would commit sins but, seek forgiveness of Allah and Allah would forgive him.

“Verily, Satan flows through the human being like the flowing of blood.” (Muslim)

Human is to err and it's due to the will of Allah and not any mistake in His creation. If Allah wanted to create sinless people, He could have done so. However Allah already has created such beings i.e angles. Rather, it is His will to resurrect us for judgment in the Hereafter based upon our deeds. Allah intends for us to use our free will to choose righteousness, not simply to be forced into it

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "By Him in whose hand is my soul, if you did not sin, Allah would replace you with people who would sin and they would seek forgiveness from Allah and He would forgive them. (Muslim)

Allah encourages His servants to hasten to repent. He is more delighted with the repentance of His slave than a person who lost his camel in a desert and then finds it. 

Confusing?? Let me elaborate it. 

A man was in a desert alone, with no provisions, or people, and he lost his camel. He searched, but in vain. So he went to sleep awaiting death! He lost hope in finding his camel and lost hope in life, for his food and drink were on the lost camel.
Then suddenly, in this state of hopelessness, he found his camel right in front of him.
What is comparable to such happiness? No one can truly relate to such joy except one who was in the same situation. Indeed, it is great joy; joy of life after death. For this reason he took hold of its reins and cried, “'O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Rabb!'” He wanted to praise Allah saying: 'O Allah, You are my Lord and I am Your Slave', but due to his extreme joy he erroneously, said it the other way.(Muslim)

It is evident from above hadith that Allah's happiness is with the repentance of His slave, and that He  The Lord All-Mighty loves this deed greatly. But this is not due to His need for our deeds and repentance, for Allah is Free of needs from us, rather this is due to Allah's love for Generosity, for He (SWT), loves to Pardon and Forgive. This is more beloved to Him than taking retribution and imposing punishment. The Lord All-Mighty is also willing to forgive even the most despicable people on Earth, provided that they turn back to Allah (SWT) with forgiveness Allah says in Qur'an
" Verily, those who put into trial the believing men and believing women, and then do not turn in repentance, then they will have the torment of Hell, and they will have the punishment of the burning Fire.
(85:10)
Al-Hasan Al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said, regarding the above verse
"Look at this generosity and kindness! Of Allah. They killed His close friends (believers) but He still called them to repentance and forgiveness.'' 
Truly the Mercy of Allah knows no bounds.

The Two books Bukhari and Muslim record the Hadith of Abu Sa`id, may Allah be pleased with him, from Messenger of Allah about the man who killed ninety-nine people. Later on, he regretted it and asked a worshiper among the Children of Israel whether he could repent. He told him no, so he killed him, thus completing one hundred.
Then he asked one of their scholars whether he could repent. He said, "What is stopping you from repenting?'' Then he told him to go to a town where Allah was worshiped.
He set out for that town, but death came to him while he was on the road. The angels of mercy and the angels of punishment disputed over him, so Allah commanded them to measure the distance between the two towns; whichever he was closer to was the one to which he belonged. They found that he was closer to the town he was heading for, so the angels of mercy took him. (Bukhari)

The Lord All-Mighty is just looking for a reason to send his believers to paradise. For instance in the above hadith, the man was sent to paradise because he set out to seek knowledge and turned to his Lord in repentance.