As for Jesus’ words — peace be upon him — “If You punish them, they are Your servants; but if You forgive them, surely You alone are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise” (al-Māʾidah 5:118), he did not say, “You are the All-Forgiving, the Ever-Merciful,” because the situation is not one of pleading and imploring mercy; rather, it is a moment of anger and retribution against those who made him and his mother two deities besides Allah. For that context, evoking might and wisdom was more appropriate than mentioning mercy and forgiveness.

One of the subtlest ways the Qur’an inspires hope is to list the causes that merit mercy alongside the causes that merit punishment, then conclude with a phrase that points to mercy. Consider His words: “He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills, and Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful” (Āl ʿImrān 3:129); or His words: “So that Allah may punish the hypocrite men and women and the polytheist men and women, and relent toward the believing men and women; Allah has always been All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful” (al-Aḥzāb 33:73). Such endings show that His mercy precedes and outweighs His wrath, gaining the upper hand in the end, and that everyone who possesses even the slightest reason to receive mercy will ultimately attain it. Thus, anyone whose heart contains as little as a mustard seed of faith will be brought out of the Fire.

These examples are sufficient, for they illustrate the manner of reasoning from such verse endings.