We are all sinful. We commit sins and don’t realise how we are suffering from their consequences. Our sins are not just between us and Allah. They impact our families, communities and the entire Ummah. Sins take us far away from Allah and incur His anger and punishment. They remove blessings, and weaken the heart and the body. Sins deprive us from doing good deeds, prevent our duʿās from being accepted, result in a horrible demise and lead to terrible suffering in the hereafter.
“Sins are like a chain around the neck of the sinner. One can only be released from it through istighfār (seeking forgiveness) and tawbah (repentance).” – Ibn al-Jawzī (raḥimahullāh)
Sins can seal the heart to the extent that one’s heart becomes numb and no longer accepts any reminder or form of good. This can lead to one becoming desensitised and not considering a sin as a sin. Sins are the biggest obstacles in our journey to Allah. Sins ruin and sicken the heart. Just like a sick person cannot enjoy food, the diseased heart cannot enjoy the sweetness of worship and īmān. The reason why our hearts may feel hollow, or our worship may feel ‘empty’ is due to our sins. Thus, istighfār (seeking forgiveness) has to be an essential part of our lives.
Just as we must make istighfār for our sins, we must also ask Allah to forgive the deficiencies in our worship and good deeds. We can never fulfil the rights of Allah and worship Him as He deserves to be worshipped.
A man should certainly have moments in which he is alone, remembering his sins and then seeking forgiveness for them. – Masrūq (raḥimahullāh)
The Prophet ﷺ Would Constantly Seek Forgiveness
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ — despite being the best of men and forgiven by Allah — would constantly seek Allah’s forgiveness throughout the day and night. Abū Hurayrah (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu) said, “I did not see anyone utter أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ وَأَتُوْبُ إِلَيْهِ more frequently than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ” (Ibn Ḥibbān).
He ﷺ would seek forgiveness before going to sleep. When he would awaken for the night prayer, he would seek forgiveness. He would then seek forgiveness in the night prayer itself, and would end the night with seeking forgiveness.
He ﷺ would seek forgiveness after relieving himself, and after performing wuḍū’. He would seek forgiveness within each ṣalāh, and after completing each ṣalāh. He would not let a morning go by without seeking Allah’s forgiveness a hundred times.
The Prophet ﷺ would seek forgiveness when he would enter the masjid. In one gathering alone, his Companions would count him uttering رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِيْ وَتُبْ عَلَيَّ ، إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيْمُ a hundred times. He would conclude his gatherings and his recitation of the Qur’ān with seeking forgiveness.
He ﷺ would visit the graveyard and seek forgiveness for himself and its inhabitants. Towards the end of his life and after the completion of his mission, he was instructed by Allah (subḥānahū wa taʿālā) to seek forgiveness:
فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ تَوَّاباً
“Then extol the perfection and praise of your Lord, and seek forgiveness from Him. Surely He is Ever Relenting” (110:3).
Mindful Istighfar
Seeking forgiveness is not merely about saying أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ with our tongues. Sometimes we may utter أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ with our tongues a hundred times in the morning, but the utterance is mindless and hollow. As long as we reach the 100 mark on the tasbīḥ counter, we feel satisfied that we have completed the task. However, we must be sincere and mindful when seeking forgiveness. Whilst uttering أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ, we should think about our sins, feel shame and remorse, and should sincerely apologise to Allah. We should also make a firm commitment to not repeat that sin.
What if I Sin Again?
Sometimes we may seek forgiveness, but then repeat that sin, then seek forgiveness again, then repeat the sin again. Shayṭān may then throw the thought in our minds, “What is the point of seeking forgiveness when you didn’t even live up to your previous promise of not sinning again?” This is, however, something which we should not give in to. Istighfār is something we must commit to every single day and night, until our last breath. The Prophet ﷺ told us that Allah does not stop forgiving until we stop seeking His forgiveness. He ﷺ said, “Shayṭān said, ‘By Your Glory my Lord! I will continue to mislead Your servants so long as their souls are in their bodies’. Allah replied, ‘By My Honour and Glory! I will continue to forgive them so long as they seek My forgiveness’” (Aḥmad).
Allah Loves to Forgive
There is no one who forgives like Allah. No matter what we may have done, Allah is waiting for us to turn to Him with sincerity and humility, and beg Him to forgive us. He is al-Ghafūr (The AllForgiving) and al-Ghaffār (The Most Forgiving). He (subḥānahū wa taʿālā) says, “Say, (O Prophet, that Allah says), O My servants who have transgressed against their souls! Do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy, for Allah certainly forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (39:53).
Allah (subḥānahū wa taʿālā) says in a ḥadīth qudsī, “Son of Ādam, as long as you call upon Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you despite what you do, and I do not care. Son of Ādam, even if your sins were to reach to the clouds of the sky, then you seek forgiveness from Me, I will forgive you. Son of Ādam, even if you were to come to Me with nearly an earth full of sins, and then you meet Me, not having associated anything with Me, then I will surely bring you as much as the earth in forgiveness” (Tirmidhī).
Ibn Rajab (raḥimahullāh) outlined three essential means of attaining forgiveness in the above hadīth:
Calling Allah with hope, knowing that only He forgives.
Asking Him for forgiveness, despite the magnitude of one’s sins.
Tawhīd; this is the greatest means of forgiveness. If even a speck of tawhīd was placed on a mountain of sins, it would turn them into good deeds.
Allah (ʿazza wa jall) is Free of all need, and yet we find His messengers telling those who reject Allah: “Can there be any doubt about Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth?! He is inviting you in order to forgive you your sins…” (14:10).
Not only does Allah forgive, but he loves those who constantly repent and seek His forgiveness. From His immense kindness, He instructs His angels – including the Bearers of the Throne – to supplicate for our forgiveness! The Prophet ﷺ explained that Allah’s delight at His servant’s repentance is greater than the delight of a person who was travelling in a desert, lost all his belongings, and then unexpectedly found them.
As humans, we struggle to forgive each other, let alone reciprocate evil with good. Allah, on the other hand, does not only conceal and forgive, but He also “changes their evil deeds into good ones” (25:70). Moreover, He showers us with worldly blessings as a result of us seeking forgiveness, including wealth, children and strength (see 71:12 and 11:52). Allāhu Akbar!
A Sincere Tawbah
Tawbah (repentance) is the hallmark of the believer: truly turning with one’s heart to Allah, and humbly apologising to Him.
Allah (ʿazza wa jall) says, “O believers! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance, so your Lord may erase your sins and admit you into Gardens, under which rivers flow…” (66:8).
For tawbah to be sincere, we have to:
- stop committing the sin;
- feel a deep sense of regret and remorse over the sin;
- firmly resolve to never return to that sin;
- make amends if we have wronged another person (e.g. ask their forgiveness or supplicate for them).
We should reflect on all the sins we have committed throughout our lives. We should feel very bad at having sinned, and we should reflect on our negligence in worshipping Allah. We should think over how Kind and Generous Allah is to us, and how we use these very same blessings to disobey Him. We should think about how Allah al-Sittīr (The Concealer of sins) does not expose us despite the multitude of our sins. This should fill our hearts with a deep sense of shame and remorse.
The scholars have mentioned that a sincere tawbah can make a sin the means for a person to enter Paradise. A person may commit a sin, but subsequently makes tawbah. His tawbah is so sincere that he constantly thinks about the sin. This causes him to fear it, regret it, weep over it and feel ashamed in front of his Lord due to it. He stands before Allah, broken-hearted with his head lowered in humility. He constantly begs and cries to Him in duʿā, and he tries to atone for the sin by doing other good deeds — to the extent that Shayṭān says, “I wish I had not made him fall into that sin”. Thus, this one sin becomes the cause for him entering Paradise.
Tawbah is a gift from Allah. We can only make tawbah if Allah allows us to do so (tawfīq). Allah turns towards us first, after which we turn to Him in repentance; and then He accepts our repentance. Allah says,
ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوْبُوٓا إِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيْمُ
“…Then He turned towards them, so that they may repent. Surely, Allah is the Acceptor of repentance, the Very Merciful” (9:118).
Sometimes Shayṭān may delude us into thinking that we still have time, and that we will make tawbah in the latter part of our lives. However, there is no guarantee for life. We should make tawbah today, so that we do not regret it when it is too late. It has been said that if the deceased in the grave were able to communicate with us, they would tell us that their greatest desire would be to be able to return to the world, even for a fraction of a moment, and make sincere tawbah to Allah (ʿazza wa jall).
“The best day in a servant’s life is undoubtedly the day in which he turns to Allah in repentance, and Allah accepts His repentance” – Ibn al-Qayyim (raḥimahullāh)
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A believer will be brought close to his Lord on the Day of Judgement and He will place him within His Veil. Then, He will make him confess his sins by saying: ‘Do you recognise this?’ He will reply: ‘My Lord, I do.’ Then He will say: ‘Indeed I concealed them for you in the world, and I am indeed forgiving you for them today.’ Then the record of his good deeds will be given to him.” (Bukhārī)
Purify Yourself
Ibn al-Qayyim (raḥimahullāh) wrote:
‘In this world, the sinner can be purified in one of three rivers:
A river of sincere repentance;
A river of good deeds that drowns the sins;
A river of calamities that wipe away his sins.
If these do not suffice in purifying him, then he will be purified in the river of Hell-fire in the hereafter. Therefore, when Allah intends good for His slave, He enters him into one of these three rivers, so he comes purified and cleansed on the Day of Judgement, not requiring the fourth purification.
So swim in the river of repentance and doing good deeds, and have patience in the river of calamities. And do not neglect these before a day comes when you will be drowned in the river of Hell-fire, whose fuel is men and stones.’
Tawbah & Inabah
Tawbah is an essential ingredient in every stage of a servant’s journey to his Lord, and it is something we must renew all the time. It is inevitable that we are going to sin; but each time we sin, we should rush to make tawbah, so that the sins do not corrode our hearts. Ibn al-Qayyim (raḥimahullāh) writes, “The state of tawbah is at the beginning, the middle and the end of the servant’s journey to his Creator. The servant who seeks the pleasure of Allah never abandons tawbah. He remains in the state of tawbah until his death”.
One of our key life goals and duʿā’ should be to reach the level of inābah. Inābah is the stage after tawbah and it consists of repeatedly turning to Allah with love and humility; and to turn away from other than Him. Ibrāhīm (ʿalayhis-salām) was described as ‘munīb’ (11:75), a person of inābah. Allah says,
“But Paradise will be brought close to the righteous and will no longer be distant. ‘This is what you were promised — for everyone who turned often to Allah in sincere repentance and preserved (His commands); who were in awe of the All-Merciful without seeing Him; and have come with a heart which is munīb (turned in devotion to Him)” (50:31-35).
May Allah al-Tawwāb (The Acceptor of repentance) always turn to us so that we turn to Him. May He always accept our tawbah and grant us the gift of inābah.
