al-'Afûw

The One who blots out and leaves no trace of any sin or fault.

The One who passes over and absolves any fault.

The One who can remove and obliterate all traces of wrong actions.

The One who can make any sin, error or fault disappear.

From the root 'a-f-a which has the following classical Arabic connotations:

to forgive, pardon
to pass over, forgo, absolve
to obliterate all traces, efface, remove
to kill-off, allow to die
to turn away from punishing, not see, annul
to make unapparent, imperceptible
to give spontaneously, to give without constraint
to give more than what is due

This name is used in the Qur'ân. For example, see 4:99

The words Ghafûr and Ghaffâr denote simply forgiving or protecting, while 'Afûw indicates complete removal or obliteration of the condition.

The classical Arabic dictionary Taj al-Arûs offers a beautiful metaphor wherein 'afûw is said to be like the desert wind completely obliterating footprints in the sand.

Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî wrote:

Man's share in this name should be clear: he should be one who excuses everyone who harms him, doing good for him instead, just the same as he sees God most high doing good in this world to the disobedient as well as the disbeliever, rather than bring them swiftly to punishment.

'Afûw and Muntaqim are complementary attributes. 'Afûw is the forgiver, while Muntaqim is the avenger.