Allah the Exalted has said, relating the words of the righteous servant:
رياض الصالحينAbū Zakariyyā Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī٥٢ - باب فضل الرجاء
٥٢ - باب فضل الرجاء
And you will remember what I [now] say to you, and I entrust my affair to Allāh. Indeed, Allāh is Seeing of [His] servants."
- ﵁ - - ﷺ - - ﷿:
On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: "Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—has said: I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him wherever he remembers Me. By Allah, Allah is more delighted at the repentance of His servant than one of you who finds his lost mount in the wilderness. Whoever draws near to Me by a hand-span, I draw near to him by a cubit; and whoever draws near to Me by a cubit, I draw near to him by an arm's length; and when he comes to Me walking, I come to him at a hurried pace." Agreed upon, and this is the wording of one of Muslim's narrations. Its explanation has already preceded in the chapter before it. It is narrated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: "and I am with him when (ḥīna) he remembers Me" with the letter nūn, while in this narration it is "wherever" (ḥaythu) with the letter thāʾ, and both are sound.
وعن جابر بن عبد الله ﵄: أنه سمع رسول الله - ﷺ - قبلَ مَوْتِه بثَلاثَةِ أَيّام، يقولُ: «لاَ يَمُوتَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ إِلاَّ وَهُوَ يُحْسِنُ الظَّنَّ بالله - ﷿». رواه مسلم.
On the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah (may Allah be pleased with them both): that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, three days before his death, saying: "Let none of you die except while holding a good opinion of Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He." Narrated by Muslim.
وعن أنس - ﵁ - قَالَ: سمعت رسول الله - ﷺ - يقول: «قَالَ الله تَعَالَى: يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، إنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتَنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ مِنْكَ وَلاَ أُبَالِي. يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، لَوْ بَلَغَت ذُنُوبُك عَنَانَ السَّماءِ، ثُمَّ اسْتَغْفَرْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ وَلاَ أُبَالِي. يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، إِنَّكَ لَوْ أَتَيْتَنِي بِقُرَابِ الأَرْضِ خَطَايَا، ثُمَّ لَقَيْتَنِي لاَ تُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْئًا، لأَتَيْتُكَ بقُرَابِها مَغْفِرَةً». رواه الترمذي، وقال: «حديث حسن». «عَنَانُ السَّماءِ» بفتح العين، قيل: هو مَا عَنَّ لَكَ مِنْهَا، أيْ: ظَهَرَ إِذَا رَفَعْتَ رَأَسَكَ، وقيل: هو السَّحَابُ. وَ«قُرابُ الأَرض» بضم القاف، وقيل: بكسرها، والضم أصح وأشهر، وَهُوَ: مَا يقارب مِلأَهَا، والله أعلم.
On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Allah the Exalted has said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I shall forgive you for whatever you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky, then you sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly filling the earth, then meet Me without associating anything with Me, I would surely come to you with forgiveness nearly its like." Narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who said: "A good (ḥasan) hadith." "ʿAnān al-samāʾ" (the clouds of the sky) is with a fatḥah on the ʿayn; it is said it means whatever appears to you of the sky—that is, what becomes visible when you raise your head—and it is said it means the clouds. And "qurāb al-arḍ" is with a ḍammah on the qāf, and it is said with a kasrah, but the ḍammah is more correct and better known, and it means what nearly fills it. And Allah knows best.