Bad Blood: The Road to Mending Relationships

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was on the pulpit and he said: اْر َحُمواتُْر َحُمواَواْغِفُروايَْغِفْراللَُّهلَُكْم Be merciful to others and you will receive mercy. Forgive others and Allah will forgive you. َولَْيْعُفواَولَْيْصَفُحواأََلاتُِحُّبوَنأَنيَْغِفَراللَُّهلَُكْمَواللَُّهَغُفوٌرَّرِحيٌم Let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love for Allah to forgive you? Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (24:22) Our most beloved are usually the ones we tend to hurt the most. Ironically, they are also the hardest people to forgive or be forgiven by. Naturally, negative feelings grow more and more the longer we go without forgiving others. How can we work toward mending these relationships? More importantly, why should we forgive people that have hurt us in the first place?