The Reality of Repentance

The Reality of Repentance – Ustadh Wasim Kempson

I missed the beginning of the talk by a few minutes but I managed to catch the main chunk of the talk so the notes will reflect that.

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." (Zumar: 53)

This is a command from Allah, especially towards those who sin and think life is over for them and they aren’t worthy of forgiveness. Why is this a command from Allah? Allah forgives all sins because He is Most Forgiving and Most Merciful. Everyone should contemplate on this.

The reality of repentance is that time when you as a servant recognise that you are in need of Allah and that with your body, soul and existence that you will turn back to Allah.  Unlike any act of worship, you need to know the reality of that worship. For example, salah, you pray it in a particular manner.

You look to the book of Allah, how Allah has commanded you to repent to him and turn to him and how the Prophet, salllalahu alayhi wa sallam has taught us how to repent.

The Shari’ah, you’ll find outlines what you should be doing and what you should stay away from - the commands and prohibition. These are things, if you don’t do, you will be taken to account, or something that is prohibited and you commit that act, likewise, this is a sin. It is important for you to recognise what sins are in the first place. Maybe you’re living your life and you don’t know these are sins and that you are displeasing Allah. You must know the hudood of Allah, the boundaries. They are placed there to protect you.

‘Whoever goes beyond the boundaries of Allah has done nothing but oppress their own selves’

When Allah created Adam, alayhis salaam and Hawaa he placed them in Al Jannah. Is it the Paradise that we will go to? Or is it another Jannah?

Nonetheless, Adam, alayhi salaam was in a Jannah and Allah prohibited him from a particular tree and its fruits but shaytaan came and deceived and swore by Allah and lied to Allah.

Ibn al Qayyim said: Adam, alayhi salaam was given so many blessings in this Jannah but told to stay away from one thing but this s the nature of mankind. When something is made not allowed for you, it becomes something you go towards it. Allah taught Adam a recognition of what he had done and how to turn back.

In Surah al A’raf Allah says,

They said, "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers." (A’raf:23)

These are the words that Adam, alayhi salaam was taught by Allah. If a person does not repent to Allah, he will be amongst the losers in both worlds

Ibn Taymiyyah, on the topic of at tawbah, broadens the scope of repentance because many of us restrict it for the sins we have committed.

He said it’s of two types

      Obligatory – for those commands that you have not carried out or for those prohibitions that you have gone into. It is a must for you to ask Allah to forgive you

      Recommended – for those acts that were recommended that you didn’t do. This is a higher level of repentance. This is repentance for those acts that you will not be held accountable for!!! You will return to him for your shortcomings. SubhanAllah, look at this!

The person who does first type is from the pious. Who also does second are from special type of people are those closer to Allah.

The Reality of Repentance

The scholars have mentioned a number of pillars concerning repentance. Most scholars mention 3 main conditions. This will be discussed a little later on.

What does Allah tell us about the issue of repentance?

There are many verses where Allah commands us to turn to him. How do we do it properly?

Who spend [in the cause of Allah ] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good; And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah ? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know. Those - their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise], wherein they will abide eternally; and excellent is the reward of the [righteous] workers. (Al Imran: 134-136)

In these ayat, Allah speaks about those who do ‘Fahisha’ (open ill behaviour) and wrongdoing and then he speaks about the reward for those people. The beginning of verse, talks about the sin, after the sin has been committed upon the individual it is the dhikr of Allah. This remembrance is the regret. If they don’t remember Allah after that action, they have no regret. Tawbah begins with true regret and they seek forgiveness from Allah. Why? Other than Allah, who is gonna forgive you of your sins? Then they do not continue with what they did. If they had true regret, it’ll bring about something within them. That action will not happen again.

Some of the scholars mentioned that there were some reasons of revelation. The Quran was revealed concerning certain situations that occurred.  Qurtubi mentions a number of reasons why this verse was revealed. During the time of the Prophet, sallalahu alayhi wa sallam there were two people from two different tribes. And he made these two people like brothers. He, sallalahu alayhi wa sallam went out and went with the man from Thaqif and man from Ansar remained in Madinah. On one unforeseen occasion, the Ansari was exposed to wife of man from Thaqif and made a move on her. The woman reminded him that he broke a trust and disobeyed his Lord and didn’t even reach his need. The man left with regret. The Prophet, sallalahu alayhi wa sallam came back and this man was looking for him to explain it and the verses had already been revealed.

What is regret?

      1. Regret (An nadm). Regret is out of your fear or shame in front of Allah. This is what brings about your regret. True regret will bring about an immediate stop to what you are doing and it will also bring about a promise within yourself to not do it again.

A number of the ulama have spoke about the issue of nadm Some of them have been mentioned:

Imam al Ghazali:  It is the agony and the pain of the heart when it feels about the passing away of that what is beloved to him. What is this passing away? It is the pleasure of Allah that will enter you into Jannah and save you from the hellfire. That which has passed you because you have done something that nullifies that. The sign in your heart is despair and sadness.

The pain of regret is the best thing you can have for the expiation for that action that you have just committed. The sign of true repentance is the softness of the heart and shedding of tears

Ibn Taymiyyah said:

1 - Belief of the evil of what you have done.

2 - Hatred for act you’ve committed

3 - Pain in your heart.

Hadith: A believer, when he sees his sin, he sees himself standing in front of a mountain. (Bukhari) Do not look at the smallness of what you have done rather look at the one who you have disobeyed. There are major sins and minor sins but not to belittle the fact that you have disobeyed Allah.

How can I bring about true regret?

1.       Is to make ta’dheem, glorify the status of the commands of Allah and the prohibitions of Allah. When you see the commands and prohibition, you see them as great things! Allah says, 

That [is so]. And whoever honors the symbols of Allah - indeed, it is from the piety of hearts. (Hajj:32)

2.       To glorify and magnify Allah. That you know him by his Name and Attributes. You are not ignorant to the one who you are worshipping. The more you know about him, the most sincere you are and likely you are to return to Him. That He is Al Ghafoor and Ar Raheem and Shadeed ul Iqaab. (severe in punishment)

3.       That thing you have done, you don’t make it small. If it is a sin, they see it as a mountain. He fears that it will fall upon him. The Prophet, salllalahu alayhi wa sallam didn’t mention if the sin was major or minor.

4.       To know your enemy – Ash shaytan. He will try to beautify the haram and trick you into committing the haram and make out that it isn’t big! If you don’t have regret for small sins, how will you have it for major sins?

5.       Have awareness and a firm belief about the punishment or reward of the actions you are doing with the presence of your heart.

      2. To stop doing that sin. You stop in one of two ways: Either you do something that is unplanned and happen to fall by the wayside and suddenly you realise what you’ve done - This true regret will make you stop. All of the scholars are of the opinion for your repentance to be correct that you stopping that sin must be immediate! The other scenario is that they are in that sin continuously and then a time comes that they have regret and they don’t wanna do it anymore and they truly wanna repent, they must stop immediately

      3. True resolve – a firmness that you are not going to return to that. We have spoken about regret the most because this is where it all begins. If you don’t have correct regret then what comes after will not be complete. This third pillar is that you make a promise to yourself that you will not return to this. It may be in a day’s time that you do because of a weakness, does it nullify it? Does it mean it wasn’t a true repentance? No it doesn’t, a person may do a sin a number of times for example the hadith of the man who killed 99 people. Allah may forgive that person, if He wills. Allah loves those who frequently return to him. Allah loves those who purify themselves physically and spiritually. Part of At Tawbah is to purify yourself.

These are the three main pillars and some scholars have mentioned a further two more. May Allah make us of those who truly repent to Him.