Quran

Adam’s Repentance

Forgiveness · Guilt and Repentance · Mercy

Al-A‘raf 7:23

رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ

Transliteration

Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa il-lam taghfir lana wa tarhamna lanakunanna minal-khasirin

Translation

Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers.

Meaning and benefit

Reciting it helps cultivate humility, admission of fault, and hope in Allah’s mercy after sin, following the model of our first parents.

Background

This dua is the confession of Adam and Hawwa after they ate from the tree and were made to leave Paradise; they admitted their wrong and begged for forgiveness and mercy. +2 The verse shows the very first human example of tawbah: owning one’s mistake, feeling genuine regret, and knowing that loss comes only from being deprived of Allah’s forgiveness and mercy.

When to recite

After sin

Source note

Classification: Quranic

Qur’anic supplication from al-Aʿrāf (7:23). It is a model of sincere repentance: admitting one’s wrong, asking for forgiveness, and hoping in Allah’s mercy without attaching unreported worldly promises to the wording.

Quran references

Al-A'raf 7:23

Sources

Quran source — Al-A‘raf 7:23