Reading the Quran - SubhanAllah, it hit me

Salam. I want to be clear before I begin: this isn’t tafsir and I’m no scholar. I’m just a regular person who finally paused and felt something real after years of reading the Quran. All my life I moved through these words. As a child, as an adult, over and over. I read them fast. Casual. Confident I already knew. I never stopped. I never sat with them. I didn’t let them speak to me. I’d rush to the next verse, the next surah, thinking knowledge is finishing pages. Today I stopped for the first time, and something inside me opened. Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim. Do we truly understand what that means? Think about who Allah is. Really think. How exalted He is. How complete His power. How vast His dominion. How unimaginable His Throne. This is the Lord of everything, the Owner of each breath. And yet the way He greets us first is mercy. We speak a lot about the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, but I hadn’t paused to consider how Allah Himself addresses us. It took me years of reading the Quran before this simple, deep thing settled in my heart: the very first words Allah uses toward us are not threats or reminders of punishment. They are mercy. That hit me unexpectedly. He is far above me. He can end my life at any moment. He owes me nothing. And still He chooses this tone. I am weak, forgetful, made from dust and water. I sin openly and secretly. I turn away and return when I need. He is All‑Knowing, All‑Powerful, perfect and free of need. Yet He speaks gently. Imagine someone who saved your life and whom you can never repay - you keep failing them, disappointing them - and their first address to you is mercy. No anger, no shaming, no reminding you of every debt. Just mercy. What kind of character comes from? Think of worldly rulers, tyrants, leaders. How do they speak to those beneath them? Loudly, with dominance, reminding others of weakness. Allah does none of that. He’s so powerful He doesn’t need to crush us. He doesn’t seek pleasure in punishment. He doesn’t have to prove Himself. True power is not loudness or fear. True power is restraint. True power is being able to destroy and choosing mercy instead. No matter how high you rise in this world, watch how Allah speaks. We say we follow the Prophet ﷺ, but do we let Allah’s way teach our character? We will never reach His level, yet who speaks more beautifully than Him? He teaches that the higher you are, the softer your speech should be. The more knowledge you have, the more mercy you must show. The closer you claim to be to Allah, the safer people should feel around you. Strength is not aggression. Strength is merciful with control. Each time you say Bismillah ir‑Rahman ir‑Rahim, it’s like Allah greeting you. As if He says, I know your sins, your failures, what you hide in the dark - and this is still who I am. That realization made me check myself. Why do I raise my voice at my parents? Why am I harsh with my spouse or family? Why do I curse strangers or joke about someone’s honor? What excuse do I have when my Lord addresses me like this? You will never match Allah’s status, yet none speak with more mercy than Him. I kept saying those words today and felt a weight settle in my chest. I always knew Allah is Merciful - today I felt it. Who speaks like that except the true King? The King who was never born and will never die, whose Throne is beyond imagining, who owns the East and the West, who always knows what’s best. Your Creator. Allah. The One you may have forgotten, and the One who made you pause long enough to read this. JazākAllāhu khayran for reading.