Al-Afuw

Afuw (Arabic: العفو) is one of the Names of Allah. It is part of the 99 Names of God, by which Muslims regard God and which are traditionally maintained as described in the Qur'ān, and Sunnah, amongst other places.

Linguistic translation of Afuw

Afuw is said to come from the root 'a-f-a which has the following classical Arabic connotations: to pass over, forgo, absolve; to obliterate all traces, efface, remove; to kill-off, allow to die; to turn away from punishing, not see, annul; or to make unapparent, imperceptible. Afuw is the one who possesses great ‘afw.

Deeper explanation

Traditionally, it is translated as "Forgiver" and "Pardoner". However, according to the book "Al-Maqsad Al-Asna fi Sharah Asma' Allahu al-Husna" (aka The best means in explaining Allah's Beautiful Names), Imam Al Ghazali defines this Attribute as "The One Who Erases Sin". To have a better understanding how Al-Afuw differs from other Attributes such as Al-Ghaffar and Al-Ghaffur, the following is an excerpt from the translation of Imam Al Ghazali's work by Robert Charles Stade: