Class 9
One of the ways we are taught to prepare for Ramadan is to fast in Shabaan, to recite Quran in Shabaan and also to Repent from our sins so that we enter Ramadan in the best of Imaan and make the best possible use of the blessed month.
In the last ten nights of Ramadan we are taught in the Sunnah to make this Dua “Allahummainnaka ‘afuwwun, tuhibbul-‘afwa, fa’fu ‘anni” (O Allah, You are Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness; so forgive me).
We studied in the previous classes, the virtues of fasting in Shawaal & to be consistent with voluntary fasts throughout the year; and how the People who are consistent with reciting, understanding, implementing the Quran are the people of Allah. Similarly, we should make Astaghfar a part of our daily lives, more so when Ramadan has passed, our guard is down and we are more vulnerable to sinning.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “By Allah, I seek forgiveness from Allah and I repent to him more than seventy times in a day.” (Sahih Bukhari)
When the Prophet ﷺ who Allah has promised forgiveness for any of his past and future sins asks for forgiveness 70 times a day, every day what are people like us with all the fitnah around us, so prone to sinning do. So we should make Astaghfaar a part of our daily Adhkaar.
“And O believers, all of you, repent to Allah in order that you may be successful.” [Al-Qur’an 24:31]
“Verily, Allah loves those who repent and those who purify themselves.” [Al-Qur’an 2:222]
“O you who believe! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance!” [Al-Qur’an 66:8]
After the spiritual highs of Ramadan a Muslim’s faith tend to become weak and he may be overwhelmed by his desires. The Shaytaan may make sin attractive to him, so he wrongs himself (commits sin) and falls into that which Allaah has forbidden. But Allaah is Kind to His slaves, and His mercy encompasses all things. Whoever repents after doing wrong, Allaah will accept his repentance, for Allaah is Forgiving and Merciful.
The gate of repentance is open to His slaves, until the sun rises from the west. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allaah spreads out His Hand at night to accept the repentance of those who did wrong during the day, and He spreads out His Hand during the day to accept the repentance of those who did wrong during the night. (This will continue) until the sun rises from the west.” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 2759)
O my brother who has fallen into sins, do not despair from the mercy of your Lord, for indeed the door to repentance is open until the sun rises from the west. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Verily, Allah extends His hand out at night in order to accept the repentance of the sinner by day. And He extends His hand out during the day in order to accept the repentance of the sinner by night, until (the day) when the Sun will rise from its West.” [Reported by Muslim]
And how many people have repented to Allah from numerous and enormous sins and Allah has accepted their repentance? Allah says:
“And those who do not supplicate to another god along with Allah, nor do they kill a person that Allah has made forbidden (to kill) except with just cause, nor do they commit fornication. And whoever does this shall receive the punishment. The torment will be doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection and he will abide therein in disgrace. Except those who repent and believe and do righteous deeds, for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds. And Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Al-Qur’an 25:68-70]
Allah commands us to repent so that He might forgive us. But the devils among mankind and the jinn want to turn people away from the truth and make them incline towards falsehood, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Allaah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away (from the Right Path)” [al-Nisaa’4:27]
Allah Loves those who repent
Allaah is Kind to His slaves and loves those who repent. He accepts their repentance, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
Allaah is Forgiving and Merciful, and He loves the repentance of His slaves. Man is weak. If a person sins then he has to repent and seek forgiveness every time. Allaah is Forgiving and Merciful, and He is the One Who says (interpretation of the meaning): “And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allaah’s forgiveness, he will find Allaah Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Nisaa’ 4:110]
The Muslim is vulnerable to making mistakes and sins. So he has to repent and seek forgiveness repeatedly. The Prophet ﷺ said: “By Allaah, I seek the forgiveness of Allaah and I turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times each day.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 6307)
Allaah loves the repentance of His slaves, and accept it. Indeed, He rejoices over it, as the Prophet ﷺ said: “When a person repents, Allaah rejoices more than one of you who found his camel after he lost it in the desert.” (Agreed upon. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 6309)
SINCERE REPENTANCE & ITS CONDITIONS
Sincere repentance is not merely the matter of words spoken on the tongue. Rather, the acceptance of repentance is subject to the condition that the person gives up the sin straight away, that he regrets what has happened in the past, that he resolves not to go back to the thing he has repented from, that he restores people’s rights or property if his sin involved wrongdoing towards others, and that he repents before the agony of death is upon him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
Allaah accepts repentance and is Merciful. He calls sinners to repent, so that He might forgive them:
“…your Lord has written (prescribed) Mercy for Himself, so that if any of you does evil in ignorance, and thereafter repents and does righteous good deeds (by obeying Allaah), then surely, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-An’aam 6:54 – interpretation of the meaning]
Sincere repentance must meet five conditions (in order to be accepted), which are:
O Allah, grant us the sincere repentance and accept it from us, verily You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
“Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgives us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous.” Surah Ale Imran, verse 193
BELIEVERS REPENT UNLIKE IBLEES
“Every son of Adam is a sinner, the best is those who repent” (Authentic Hadeeth in Ibn Majah) So every one of sins but the true believers are those who repent. Iblees on the other hand, did not confess his sin; he insisted on it, protested and argued with Allah trying to justify his sinful act. This is the crux of the matter that when one transgresses a limit set by Allah, he should admit it to be a sin and wrongdoing on his part, and not try to justify his fault like for example those who deal in Riba. They use arguments like the world has changed, everybody deals with interest nowadays or fixed interest is a universal scheme these days and as such there is nothing wrong in dealing with Riba.
We say to them, “Do not be arrogant and try to justify your wrongdoing. Do not say Riba is not haraam (forbidden), but humble yourself to Allah and seek forgiveness for your sin and confess your weakness and negligence in complying with His Commands – For, this will keep you within the boundaries of Eeman but if you reject the Command of Allah and argue that Riba is not a crime…you may exit the pale of Islam and commit Kufr (disbelief). We seek Allah’s Protection from this.
FROM THE QUR’AN
1. Dua of Adam A.S.
رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ اَنْفُسَنَا وَإِنْ لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُوْنَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِيَ
Rabbanathalamnaaanfusanawa-in lam taghfirlanawatarhamnaalanakoonanna mina alkhasireen
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. [Surat Al-A’raf: 23]
2.
Rabbanagh-fir lee waliwaalidayyawalilmu’mineenaYawmayaqoomul-hisaab
“Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and (all) the believers on the Day when the reckoning will be established” (Surah Ibraheem 14:41)
3.
Rabbi ighfir lee waliwalidayyawalimandakhalabaytiyamuminanwalilmumineenawaalmuminaat
“My Lord! Forgive me, and my parents, and him who enters my home as a believer, and all the believing men and women. (Surah Nooh 71:28)
4.
RabbanaaInnanaa ‘AamannaFaghfirLanaaZunoobanaaWaQinaa ‘AzaabanNaar
“Our Lord! We have indeed believed, so forgive us our sins and save us from the punishment of the Fire.” (al Imran 3:16)
1.
Astaghfirullahwaatubuilaih”.
“I seek forgiveness to Allah and repent towards Him.” (100 times)
2.
Subhan Allah wabihamdihi
Allaah is free from imperfection and all praise is due to Him
Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “Whoever says,(the above),’ one hundred times a day, will be forgiven all his sins even if they were as much as the foam of the sea.
3.
Rab-bigh-firleewatubbalayyaInnaka anta at-Tawaabuar-Raheem.
‘O my Lord forgive me and accept my repentance indeed You are the One who forgives and most merciful.’
From Ibn Umar -RadhiAllaahuanhumma- who said: ‘We would count that the Messenger of Allaahﷺ would say in one sitting one hundred times (the above Dua).” [Abu Dawood &Tirmidhi; authenticated by Albaani]
4. Syed-ul- Istighfar(The best/most Superior way of asking for Forgiveness from Allah)
Allaahumma anta rabbee, la ilahailla anta, Khalaqtanee,wa ana abduka, wa ana ala ahdikawawadikamastatatu, aouthubika min sharri ma sanatu, abooulakabinimatikaalayya, waabooubitahmbee, faghfirleefainnahu la yaghfiruath-thunoobailla anta
O Allaah You are my Lord, there is none worthy of worship in truth except You, You created me and I am Your slave and I am abiding to Your covenant and promise as best as I can, I seek refuge in You from the evil that I have committed, I profess to you my sins and I acknowledge Your favour upon me, so forgive me verily no one forgives sins except you.
The Messenger of Allaah ﷺsaid :The best supplication for seeking forgiveness is to say (the above Dua) So if the worshipper says this when the morning arrives, truly believing in it and he dies enters Paradise, and if he says this when the evening arrives truly believing in it enters Paradise” (Sahih Bukhari)
5. Dua to Recite on LaylatulQadr
Allahummainnaka ‘afuwwun, tuhibbul-‘afwa, fa’fu ‘anni
(O Allah, You are Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness; so forgive me)
‘Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported:I asked: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ ! If I realize Lailat-ul-Qadr (Night of Decree), what should I supplicate in it?” He ﷺ replied, “You should supplicate: (the above Dua).”
Note: There are many more authentic Duas for Repentance, You can find more on the website… https://authentic-dua.com/category/dua-dhikr/istighfar-tawbah/.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters! Have you repented from your sins today?
Repent before it is too late. Repent before death comes.
Lets cleanse ourselves with Tauba!
May Allah make us of the most fearful of Him (through out the year) and may He bring us closer to Him and guide us to the straight path. May He bless us all with the Hidayah of Tauba and accept it from us!