Repentance could be defined as a feeling of being ashamed,
sorry and regretful for past sins. Oral admission of sins is not sufficient for
a pure and sincere repentance.
Following three ingredients are required for repentance:
- He must be disgusted by heart for his past sins and his “self” should have a feeling of shame, regret, and sorrow.
- He must make a firm decision not to indulge in sinning in future.
- If,
because of indulgence in to a particular sin, he has done something, which
could be compensated, then he must take a firm decision for its
compensation. For example: If he owes money to people, usurped property or
stolen money, he must return it to the owner at the first available
opportunity. In case he is not in a position to pay at present, he should
try to get the owner’s consent or satisfaction through what ever means
available at his disposal to pay in future.
If a Muslim commits sin, he
should not be disappointed from Allah’s Blessings because, the path of
spiritual migration, self refinement, and ascent towards Almighty Allah
(s.w.t.) remains for ever open and is never closed except where Allah expressly declines acceptance.
Qur’anic Verses:
- When
the faithful come to you, say to them, “Peace be upon you. Your Lord has
decreed for Himself to be All-Merciful. Any one of you who commits a sin
out of ignorance, then repents, reforms himself, will find that Allah is
All-Forgiving and All-Merciful. (
- Allah
will only accept the repentance of those who commit evil in ignorance, if
they repent immediately. Allah is All-Knowing and All-Wise. (
- To those who commit sins in their ignorance then repent and reform, your Lord is certainly All-Forgiving and All-Merciful. (16:119)
- It is He who accepts the repentance of His servants, forgives their evil deeds, and knows all about what you do. (42:25)
- ….Allah loves those who repent and those who purify themselves. (2:222)
Commander of the
Faithful, Imam Ali (a.s.): A person recited the sentence: “I seek God’s
forgiveness” in the presence of Imam Ali (a.s.). He said: “May your mother
lament for you, do you know what repentance is? The repentance can be defined
with the following six parameters:
- Feeling ashamed and regretful for the past sins.
- Taking
firm decision for avoidance of sins for ever.
- Paying
all the dues of the people so that when he meets All-Mighty Allah on the
Resurrection Day, he does not have any pending claims against him.
- All
the religious obligations (Wajibat) which have not been performed in the
past should be discharged as make up (Qadha) obligations.
- Should
feel so sad about his past sins that all the bodily flesh formed as a
result of eating forbidden (Haram) should be melted in a manner that skin
should touch the bare bones until the new flesh is reformed again.
- The inconvenience and hardship of worshiping should be imposed upon the body as a compensation for the pleasures it feasted because of past sins. Only after performing all the above, you may recite the sentence “I seek forgiveness from Allah.
Imam Muhammad
al-Baqir (a.s.) said: "After repenting, a person becomes like someone who has
never sinned, and the one who is continue sinning while reciting the phrase
of repentance on his tongue is like someone who ridicules himself.
The happiness of All-Mighty Allah from seeing a sinner
repenting is much more than the joy of a lone traveler who finds his missing
animal together with the provisions of journey in a dark night."
Imam Jaffer al-Sadiq
(a.s.) said: “Delaying repentance is a sort of arrogance and deceit;
continuation of delay results in confusion and astonishment; excuses in front
of Allmighty Allah (s.w.t.) is total destruction and persistence in sinning is
due to feeling secured against Divine punishment and except the people who are
losers no one else feels secure against it.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) used to offer repentance seventy
times a day, while he was infallible.
When a servant of Allah offers a pure and firm repentance,
All-Mighty Allah loves him and deletes all his past sins. The narrator asked:
‘O Son of Prophet! How are the sins deleted? He replied: " The two angels responsible for
writing his deeds forget about his sins, simultaneously, All-Mighty Allah
orders his bodily parts, limbs and different places on earth to cancel his
sins from their register of deeds. Thus, he meets All-Mighty Allah (s.w.t.) in
a manner whereby nobody and nothing is a witness to his sins.
Apart from classification of sins into Major or Greater Sins
and Minor Sins, the sins may be broadly divided it to two types; Moral Sins and
Practical Sins.
Moral Sins are: Hypocrisy,
wrath, arrogance, egotism, harshness, oppression, deceit and treachery,
back-biting, accusation, criticizing, fault-finding, slander, breach of
promise, lying, love of world, greed, stinginess, rejecting parents’ rights, cutting
family ties, ungratefulness, extravagance, jealousy, vilification, cursing, and
other obscene characteristics.
Practical Sins are:
adultery, stealing, homosexuality, giving and receiving interest, usurping of
public property, cheating, breach of trust, drinking alcoholic beverages,
eating pork and other forbidden meats, gambling, false testimony, accusing
innocent person of adultery, refraining from offering mandatory prayers and
fasting, refraining from Hajj pilgrimage, refraining from “Amre Bilmaruf and
Nahi Anil Munkar”
In response to Prophet Adam’s prayers for the humanity in
the face of long life of Shaitaan to distract people, Allah (s.w.t.) in His
Divine Mercy had promised following:
1. If
a man intends to commit sin, nothing will be recorded in his Deed Sheet. But if
he commits that sin then it will be recorded.
2. If
a man intends to do good deed, it will be recorded right away. If he performs
that good deed, it will be multiplied ten times.
3. If
a man sincerely repents for his sins before the time of death, Allah (s.w.t.)
will forgive him.
As no one knows when his death will arrive, hence it is
recommended by our Sacred Imams to repent as soon as possible.
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