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Newsletter for December 2012
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Article 7
Repentance(Tawbah)
O you who believe! Turn (in repentance) to Allah with sincere
repentance; Perhaps your Lord will remove your evil from you…
(Holy Qur'an, 66: 8)
The Prophet of Allah (s) said: There are four signs of one who
is repentant:
1) He is sincere to God in his actions
2) He shuns falsehood
3) He is firmly attached to truth and
4) He is eager to do good. [Al-Harani, Tuhaf al-`Uqool, p. 20]
Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a) said: “When a servant turns to God with
sincere repentance (tawbatun nasuh), God loves him and covers
him (i.e. his sins) in the world and the Hereafter.” I said,
“And how does He cover him?” The Imam (a) replied, “He makes the
two angels (assigned to write his deeds) forget that which they
have written of his sins. Then He inspires his limbs (saying),
‘Conceal his sins,’ and He inspires places of the earth
(saying), ‘Conceal the sins that he used to commit over you.’
Then he meets God in such a manner that there is nothing to bear
witness against him regarding any sin.”[Al‑Kulayni, al‑Kafi,kitab
al‑'iman wa al‑kufr, bab al‑Tawbah, hadith #1]
The reality of Tawbah
Tawbah means return to the soul's initial spirituality after the
light of its human nature (fitrah) and its spirit has been
covered by the darkness of sins and disobedience. The human soul
in its initial state has neither any spiritual virtues nor any
vices. It is capable of reaching any station, but in its
original state it is pure, sinless and has an intrinsic
luminosity.
The perpetration of sins causes obscurity within the heart, and
the light of intrinsic nature is extinguished and converted
into darkness. However, before total darkness envelops the
heart, if a person awakens from the slumber of negligence and
makes repentance, the soul gradually returns from the darkness
to the light of its original nature and essential spirituality.
This is mentioned in the famous hadith from Imam Baqir (a):“One
who repents from sin is like the one who has not sinned..” [Al‑Kulayni,
al‑Kafi, kitab al‑'iman wa al‑kufr, bab al‑Tawbah, hadith #10]
The essentials and conditions required for Tawbah
Tawbah isnot accepted from one who merely declares, “I repent.”
There are a number of conditions that must be fulfilled before
the acceptance of Tawbah. These are mentioned below in the
following hadith:
It is narrated that someone said: Astaghfirullah (I seek God's
forgiveness) before Imam ‘Ali (a). He said to him. "May your
mother mourn for you! Do you know what istighfar is? Verily
istighfar is a degree of the 'illiyyun (people of high station)
and it is a word that means six things. First is remorse over
the past. Second, the resolution not to return to it ever.
Third, to return to creatures their (formerly usurped) rights so
that you meet God Almighty in a state of purity in which no one
has any claim against you. Fourth,that you fulfil every duty
that you neglected in order to satisfy your obligation in
respect to it. Fifth,that you attend to the flesh of your body
that has grown on unlawful nourishment so that it melts away as
a result of grief and mourning and your skin adheres to your
bones, after which new flesh grows in its place. Sixth,that you
make your body taste the pain of obedience in the same way as it
earlier tasted the pleasure of sins.When you have done these
things then say Astaghfirullah! [Nahj al‑Balagha, saying # 417]
This noble tradition mentions two prerequisites for Tawbah
(remorse and resolution), two important conditions for its
acceptance (returning the rights of creatures and of the
Creator), and finally two points for the perfection of
repentance.
Tawbatun nasuh (sincere repentance)
According to great researcher al‑Shaykh al‑Bahai (qs), there are
several meanings of tawbatun nasuh. A few of them are mentioned
below:
Tawbah that 'advises' the people, i.e. it invites them to
simulate him (the repenter) on account of the good effect
produced in the repenter, or Tawbah that ‘counsels' the repenter
to root out sins and never return to them again.
Tawbah that is done purely for God's sake, similar to the pure
honey that is free from wax, and thus called `asalun nasuh.
Sincerity requires that the remorse should be on account of the
ugliness of sins and the displeasure of God, and not from fear
of the hellfire.
The word nasuh is also related to nasabah which means tailoring,
because Tawbah sewstogether the body of faith which is torn by
sin, and because it joins the penitent person to God's awliya'
(friends) and His lovers in the same way that separate pieces of
cloth are joined together by tailoring.
Yet another interpretation says that nasuh is an attribute of
the penitent and tawbatun nasuh is a Tawbah whose performer
admonishes himself to take part in a perfect repentance until
the effects of sins are totally purged from the heart. This task
is only attained by causing the soul to taste regret and grief
and by clearing its darkness caused by past sins with the light
of virtuous actions.
The sooner, the better…
Successful Tawbah is a difficult task. Indulging in sins,
especially major and mortal ones, cause a person to become
totally forgetful of Tawbah. If the tree of sins growing in the
orchard of the human heart reaches maturity and its roots become
strong, the results are calamitous, causing a person to turn
completely away from repentance.
Even when the thought of Tawbah occasionally comes to his mind,
he postpones it from one day to another, and from one month to
the next, telling himself, "I will make sound repentance at the
end of my life and in old age." This is wishful thinking. Such a
person cannot perform Tawbah after the roots of sinfulness have
grown deep into his personality. The best time for Tawbah is
youth when sins are fewer, the inner darkness of the heart is
incomplete and all the conditions of Tawbah are easier to fulfil.
This God‑given opportunity should be availed at all costs and
one shouldn’t pay heed to satanic whisperings to postpone Tawbah.
And therefore, one should do Tawbah as soon as possible after a
sin is committed. An intelligent person who realizes this fact,
abstains from sins, and undoes wrong committed in the past.
His penitent heart filled with remorse, develops a firm
determination to quit sinful life. God helps him and if his
Tawbah is sincere, he becomes the beloved of God as mentioned in
the holy verse: “Verily God loves the repentant” (2: 222)
Imam ‘Ali (a) said: “If you want to win His blessings in the
next world, today is the day of preparation while tomorrow is
the day of reward. The place to proceed to is Paradise while the
place of doom is Hell. Is there no one among you to repent for
his deeds before his death, compensate for wrongs he has done,
and do good before the calamity of retribution descends upon
him?” [Nahj al-Balagha, sermon #33]
A call to awaken the heart for Tawbah
O man! How sinful and foolish you are not to know the worth of
the bounties of your Provider. After having spent years in
disobedience and after prolonged disloyalty to such a merciful
Lord, Who has provided all the means of your comfort and ease ‑
without there being, na`udhu bi Allah, any imaginable benefit to
Him ‑ having violated His sanctities and taken shamelessness
and recalcitrance to their extreme, now that you are remorseful,
penitent and repentant, God Almighty has taken you as His loved
one. What an abundance of mercy and plenitude of bounty! O God!
We are incapable of thanking You for Your bounties. Our tongues
are unable to praise and extol You. All that we can do is to bow
our heads in shame and ask Your pardon for our shamelessness. We
don’t deserve Your mercy. Indeed, Your mercy is more abundant
and Your bounties are more inclusive than can be described.
A wise man should endeavour to intensify the form of contrition
and grief in the heart so that God willing, it sets aflame the
fire of remorse. That is, through meditation about the terrible
consequences of sin, remorse becomes stronger in his heart,
thereby voluntarily kindling the holy fire, the fire about which
Qur'an says: The fire of God kindled (roaring) over the hearts,
a vault upon them, in outstretched columns (104:6-8).
In his heart, burning the fire of remorse will incinerate all
his sins and burn away all its rust and corrosion. He should
know that were he not to kindle himself this fire in this world
and were he not to open upon himself the door of this hell, he
would inevitably pass from this world into the next world to
face the terribly cauterizing fire prepared for him there.
Thereupon the doors of Hell shall be opened and the doors of
Paradise closed to him. A wise person thus realises the grave
consequences of his sins.
O God! Give us a chest lit with the fire of remorse. Set our
hearts aflame with the worldly fire and set it afire by throwing
into it the sparks of remorse. Remove the rust of our hearts and
take us from this world in a state of freedom from the
consequences of sins. Surely You are the Lord of bounties.
[Adopted from Al-Khomeini, Forty Hadith, chapter 17, ‘Tawbah’]
Conclusion
Imam Zain al-Abidin (a) said: “My God ! You are He who has
opened a door to Your pardon and named it 'repentance' for You
said, ‘Repent to God with unswerving (sincere) repentance’ (66:
8). What is the excuse for him who remains heedless of entering
the door after its opening?” [al-Sahifa al-Kamilah, The
Whispered Prayer of the Repenters]
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