Al salamu allukumDoes god forgive sinners even during/after punishing them?me and a friend of mine who are met in university have fallen in love and we promised to get married and we told our parents and they asked us to wait for after graduating. But we have sinned and weren’t patient and now his parents are not accepting me because of my family’s poor background and low level socially. Is this a punishment from god? I repented and asked god to forgive me, will he forgive me and make him my husband enshallah? We have kissed and hugged and almost did zina but we never did this(no sexual intercorse). Can God forgive us ? Is this a type of punishment to ask us to repent and go back to god? Please help me since I am in desperate need of help. I'm asking god for forgiveness and that i have learnt my lesson and I want him to be my husbandjazakom allah khayran

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The so-called love between non-Mahram men and women is one of the dangerous traps of Satan and a cause of evil and corruption. This is a means through which the devil drags the person to the point of committing grave major sins. Allah Says (what means): {O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Satan - indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing. And if not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing..} [Quran 24:21]

What happened between you and that young man indicates the seriousness of the matter. Nonetheless, you did well by repenting to Allah. You should be keen on protecting yourself in the future and you should be careful not to slip again. You should wear your Hijaab and not expose your adornment, and you should avoid forbidden mixing and so forth. Whoever repents to Allah, Allah accepts his repentance even if he/she had committed grave major sins.

Hence, you should think good of Allah and He is to the Slave as the latter expects Him to be for him.

You should be careful not to despair of the Mercy of Allah. Allah Says (what means): {And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?} [Quran 15:56]

The Islamic criteria in choosing a spouse are religion and good moral conduct, and a girl should not be rejected just because of material or social differences.

His parents refusing to marry you off to him does not necessary mean that they did so because of a sin. Rather, it may be just a test. Therefore, you should repel this tribulation by supplication. You should supplicate Allah to accept his repentance, and facilitate your marriage to him. Then, if marriage is facilitated between you and him, then praise be to Allah. Otherwise, there are many men out there. It could be that it is not good for you to marry him and Allah may predestine for you someone who is better than him. Allah Says (what means): {Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.} [Quran 2:216]

Allah knows best.