Repentence 1
Translated by Dr. Faheem Bukhatwa
In the name of Allah
most Gracious most Merciful.
Thanks be to Allah. Peace and
prayers be upon the most honored of all messengers.
You, Servants of Allah, know
that Allah made it an obligation for his believing servants to repent. He says
in sura Annoor: “All of you believers do repent to Allah for you may do well”.
He also says: “You believers repent to Allah a well informed (correct)
repentance. Your God may clear out your sins, allow you to enter into gardens
with rivers flowing beneath them”.
Prophet Mohammed peace be
upon him was reported saying: “People, do repent to Allah, for I repent to him
a hundred times a day”. So, if this was the prophet who was assured by Allah
that all his earlier and later sins were forgiven still repents a hundred
times a day… What do you think we need to do??
The Quran, the Sunnah and the
entire Muslim nation are in an agreement that repentance is a must. Dear
brothers, repentance is an obligation on all Muslims, male and female for all
types of sins and forbidden acts (major and minor) inclusive.
Repentance is giving up the
sin (of either doing a forbidden act or not doing a compulsory act).
Repentance is returning from disobeying Allah to obeying him.
There are two situation of
Repentance based on the acts to repent from. The first situation is sinful act
involves the person and Allah and does not involve another human being.
In this situation repentance
has three conditions in order to be successful in receiving Allah’s
acceptance. The three conditions are:
1) To stop doing the
sinful act
2) Feeling remorse,
regret, sorrow and sorry for the committed sin and wishing and wanting not to
do it again.
3) Making a strong true
intention not to return to the sinful act again.
Those are the conditions if
the sinful act was of the first situation which is the act was between the
person and Allah
The second situation is when
the sinful act involves or was between one human being and another. In this
situation the conditions will include a fourth extra condition on top of the
previous three conditions mentioned earlier. The fourth condition is: is for
the repentant to clear out the rights of the other human being who was
transgressed against. For example returning money taken wrongly, correcting a
wrong doing.
If any of the conditions is
not met then the repentance will not be right.
Scholars have added one more
condition normally taken for granted and that is: The repentance should be
truly be intended for Allah and nothing else. Expecting and wanting his
forgiveness, rewards, fearing his punishment. Repentance is not accepted if
done out of fear of a ruler or with the aim of making financial or other
earthly gains.
Some Muslims have so many
sins and commit so many unlawful acts that they start believing that their
sins are too much to be forgiven. They get into a state of desperation and
lose all hope in Allah’s mercy. So they never repent.
Listen to this Godly call
from the merciful himself, he says in his Quran: “Say all yea my servants,
those who have done far too much wrong doings to themselves, Do not despair of
the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins, He is the forgiving, the
merciful”
“Do not despair of Allah’s
kindness , it is only the unbelievers who despair of Allah kindness”
The doors of repentance to
Allah are always open. The prophet said: “Allah opens out his hand at night
for those who sinned during the day can repent, and opens out his hand during
the day for those who sinned at night can repent until the time the sun shall
rise from where it normally sets down”
Listen to this Aya from Surat
Furqan “Those who with Allah do not call another god, and do not kill a soul
which Allah has forbid except rightly, and do not commit adultery and those
who do that will in the day of judgment find sins, and punishment will be in
folds and for ever suffer in shame, Except those who repent and do a good act,
For those Allah will change their sins into good acts, And Allah was forgiving
and mercifull”
Some Muslims intentionally
commit wrongful acts with the intention to repent afterwards. But, Repentance
needs a help from Allah and who knows one may not be successful in getting to
the path of repentance. Or who knows one may die before one repent or even
during committing the unlawful act.
One other point to be taken
into consideration is announcing and not hiding the sinful acts.
Some people forget that Allah
is so forgiving, But on the other extreme, others do continually and
intentionally commit wrongful acts and say so confidently “Allah is forgiving”
It is true Allah is forgiving but also Allah has the most painful punishment.
Forgiving to those who
confess their bad doings and repent and indulge into good acts. Allah is tough
in punishment to those who do not listen to Allah, insist on their sins and do
not repent. A Muslim lives a life between fear and hope.
We said the doors to repent
are always open. But let us remember that there are times that the those doors
are closed:
1) The time of death
when the spirit is about to be taken (many Ayas in the Quran and many Hadeeth
confirms this)
2) When the sun rises
from the west. Doors to Repentance is closed for all people then.
Notes:
-
Aya (or Ayah): is a verse
of the Koran.
Arafa (or Arafa or Arafat): is a
mountain
that represents the climax of the Hajj worship. All doing Hajj must stay at
this location on the same day.
Duaa: a prayer
in the form of
talking to Allah; praising him and asking him for help.
Hadeeth:
is something
reported
that the messenger said. It includes all the speeches and ceremonies he
gave. It is usually narrated or told by
one
of
his companions. There is a list of hadeeths approximately 14000 that are
reported and checked to be genuine.
No more hadeeths are acceptably added to
this list.
Hijra:
the event of the immigration of the messenger from Mekkah to Madina. This
event marks the start of the Islamic calendar. the Islamic calendar has 12
months based on the lunar cycle. Hijra is also used as a name for the
Islamic dating system.
Iman:
belief
Jihad:
is striving in the
line
of Allah in many forms. Includes a very wide scope varying from improving
oneself to fighting a defensive war in protection
of Allah's word.
Madinah: A city in the Arabian
peninsula
(known now as Saudi Arabia). A city where the messenger had to immigrate to.
Nafilah:
a voluntary prayer
other than the five obligatory prayers; performed by a believer.
Ommah:
is the Arabic word for a
nation. It usually refers to the
Islamic nation unless otherwise specified.
PPBU:
Peace and Prayers Be Upon him.
Sunna: is the way the Messenger PPBU lived, did or said. It includes the way
he dressed, ate, drank, prayed, interacted with other people and fought.
Basically, sunnah is the life style of the messenger PPBU. It is considered
the second source of legislation in Islamic laws and it is considered an
important reference to be used for concluding arguments and disputes
.
