“Truly, Allah loves those who turn Him in repentance and loves those who purify themselves. ” (Surah Al Baqrah: 222)
‘Repentance’ (Tawbah),a major theme of Quran mentioned more than seventy times. While a complete Surah(9) is associated with its name.
- In literal Meaning:-
A Qur’anic term which means
a ‘retreat’ or ‘return’.
Repentance is of immense importance. It’s good for a believing, humble servant of Allah (SWT)’s to seek Allah (SWT)’s pardon everyday of his /her life .There are conditions to be met for repentance to be accepted by Allah (SWT):
▪ Knowing the sin is really sin.
▪ Feeling guilty for committing the sin.
▪ Strongly determined not to committing it again.
▪ Having firm believe in Allah ( SWT)’s mercy.
If they are missing then ones repentance is not sincere. We should be ready to obey before punishment comes to us and we won’t be helped. There is a need of having a strong believe in Allah’s name Al-Ghafur (The Forgiver of Sins) which means the forgiver of sin and accepter of repentance.
Someone has said that Tawbah (repentance) is not when you cry. Tawbah is when you change. By that want to clear a difference between the repentance and sorry. Repentance is far much better than sorry. Sorry: having regret something or accept your fault. Repentance: feeling guilty with intention not to do it again. Sorry is just to satisfy yourself. We have to adopt repentance to transform our lives into better ones. Is it not better for us to turn to Allah before turn to dust? As Qur’an says:
“And all of you beg Allah to forgive you, O believers, that you may be successful.”(24:31)
As we are live, it’s an opportunity for us to turn back from the wrong path and return to the righteous path. All of us try to save ourselves from death, which is impossible. Because ; “Every soul shall taste the death. “( Qur’anic words). But we don’t try to save ourselves from hell which is possible, if we are willing (by repentance). Repentance is a lit path in a darkest closed way. The peace of heart is hidden in repentance because it purify’s you internally and eternally.
The Prophet( P.B.U.H) clarified this when he narrated in Hadith Qudsi, “Allah the exalted said: ‘O son of Adam, if you call upon me and place your hope in me, I will forgive you without any reservation. O son of Adam if you have sins piling up to the clouds and then ask for my forgiveness, I will forgive you without any reservation. O son of Adam , if you come to me with enough sins to fill the earth and you meet me without associating a partner with me , I will come to you with enough forgiveness to fill the earth.’ (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, 3540).”
For the one who believes firmly in the mercy of Allah (SWT)’s , the repentance doors of the Most compassionate are always open. There are also rewards for them. Allah (SWT) says: “O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance. Perhaps your lord will remove you your misdeeds and admit you into gardens beneath which river flows…”( Quran, 66: 8).
We should have to make a balance between the fear and hope. We entirely need to stop wrong doings which are polytheism, hypocrisy as well as sins like to ignore religious obligations ( prayer, charity) , disobedience of parents and also for the sins like backbiting, conspiracy and wasting time in useless activities. Even the Prophets and Messengers who are the most pious would sincerely repent to Allah (SWT) whenever they made a mistake.
Prophet Adam (A.S) and his Wife accepted their mistake , made Tawbah and sought for Allah Almighty’s forgiveness. Same as Prophet Musa (A.S) said: ” My lord , indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me.” Abu Hurairah ( May Allah be pleased with him) reported: ” I heard the Messenger of Allah ( P.B.U.H) saying: ‘ By Allah, I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him more than seventy times a day.’[Al- Bukhari].”
What about us when this was the practice Allah’s Messengers? Our deeds are full of sins. We definitely need to ask forgiveness for our sins, avoid them and return to the Most Merciful Allah(SWT). May Allah return us to him in a beautiful way. Ameen Sum Ameen Ya Rab-bul-Alemeen.
جزاک اللہ خیرا
Written by: Momna Muzaffar Butt