Praise be to Allah, the Sustainer of the world; 'Most Gracious, Most Merciful'.

The use of the two terms of 'gracious' and 'merciful' as attributes of Allah in the Quran means that Allah is kind and compassionate towards all the creatures in the world.

Allah says, "Your Lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) mercy." And His mercy is for everyone and everything, "My mercy extendeth to all things." His Prophet (saw) and His Book holy Quran are the sources of mercy too, "We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures."

The creation of Allah is based on compassion and even his punishments are because of his graciousness. He accepts the repentance of the sinners and He gives them the chance to make up for their mistakes.

This is a lesson for all the people to try to cultivate these divine virtues in themselves. Moreover, it proves that Allah’s relationship with people is not a master/slave relationship.

Masters were very cruel to their slaves and they would whip and severely punish them in case of mistakes, while Allah says in the Quran that He forgives the sinners if they repent: "Say: O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. For Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Therefore, the Almighty Allah is 'gracious and compassionate' towards people although He is 'the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds'.

That is how people should treat their subordinates too.

Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "Allah is a hundred times merciful. He has sent one part of these hundred to the earth and He has divided it among people, jinn, birds, animals, etc. All this compassion comes from that one share of His mercy. The other ninety nine parts are saved for the Doomsday, so that Allah would have mercy on us."