How Forgiving is Allah Ta’aala Not!
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
A man spends a whole life-time in disobeying Him. Nevertheless, when he repents sincerely before his death, not only his sins are forgiven, but he receives much more when he is admitted into the circle of favoured servants of Allah Ta’ala and made an inheritor of Paradise.
In a hadith, the Holy Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم has been reported to have said: التَّایٔب حبیب اللہ والتایٔب منَ الذَنّبِ کمن لاذنبَ لَہ that is,
‘one who repents from sin is loved by Allah and one who has repented from sin is like one who had never committed a sin.’ (Ibn Majah)
According to some narrations, if a servant of Allah repents from a sin and his repentance finds acceptance with Him, he is not only absolved from having to account for it, but the very record in writing posted by the angels is erased out from his book of deeds so that he may not be disgraced either.
However, what is necessary is that the repentance is genuine and is offered in sincerity. This repentance stands on three pillars.
Firstly, one should regret over and feel ashamed about what he or she has done. According to hadith, اِنَّما التَّوبۃُ النِّدم that is, ‘Taubah is (another name of) remorse’.
Secondly, one should immediately leave off the sin he has committed and he should, for the future too, firmly resolve to stay away from it. Thirdly, one should think of making amends for what has gone by, that is, he should try to take measures to rectify what has happened in sin to the best of his ability. For example, if he has missed a prayer or a fast, he should make up for it by doing what is known as qada (compensatory worship).
If one does not remember the correct number of such missed prayers and fasts, he should think, calculate and come to an-estimated number and then go on to offer qada for these in all seriousness. If one finds it impossible to do so all at one time, he could offer, with each salah due at its time, one qada of each salah he missed throughout his life, which is commonly known as `umri gada.
In the same way, one should do his best to make up, as and when convenient, for obligatory fasts he missed by offering qada fasts.
May be one has not paid the obligatory zakah due on him; he should, then pay the zakah due on him for previous years as well, paying it all or paying it gradually.
Allah forbid, if one has usurped someone’s right, he should return it back to him and if he has hurt someone, he should seek his forgiveness. But, should it be that one does not regret what he has done, or, despite being regretful, he does not leave off that sin for future, then, this repentance is no repentance even though it may be said a thousand times, as so delightfully put in verse by a Persian poet:
توبہ بر لب سبحہ برکف دل پُر از ذوق گناہ
معصیت را خندہ می آید از استغفارِ ما
Repentance on the lips, tasbeeh in hand and a heart full of the taste of sin,
Sin laughs at my style of seeking forgiveness!
The point being made here is that man, once he repents as stated earlier, and despite having been in all sorts of sins, becomes a servant dear to Allah. And should it ever be that, out of human weakness, one does fall into sin yet another time, he should immediately renew his repentance in the fond hope that this time, like every other time, Allah Almighty shall, being Most-Forgiving, relent towards him.
Let me conclude with yet another Persian couplet which says:
ایں درگہ ما درگہِ نومیدی نیست
صد بار اگر توبۃ شکستی بازآ
This is the Court of My Presence, not the Court of Despair.
Even if you have broken (the promise in) your repentance a hundred times, come.
Maarif-ul-Quran
