Repentance

Extract From A Popular Lecture
by: Moulana Qari Muhammad Tayyib Qasimi  Late Rector Daml-Uloom Deoband

Never Abandon the Way of Repentance

No human being is free from sins, except the Prophets, may peace be upon them. Therefore, everything depends on the grace of Allah. Forgiveness will come only when He turns to us in mercy. What is needed is that one should have a strong and clear intention and place his trust in Allah. When you make a mistake, repent. When you sin, lose no time, repent. Keep the account clear all the time. Thus, the real thing is the niyyah, the intention. It keeps man oriented in the right direction. Says a Qudsi Hadith: O my servant, if you were to come to me with a stack of sins which hide the heavens and the earth behind them, I shall meet you with forgiveness that extends way beyond your sins, on condition that your heart pulsates with My greatness. So, Divine greatness is what man has to uphold. It is the touchstone of fidelity. For the faithful one - even if he makes a mistake - the Lord says that He can be forgiven. So, the moment a sin gets to be committed, waste no time, repent, do your taubah which is genuine, sincere, and is strengthened by a resolve not to do it again, because a sin might stick on the heart and might lead him into more and more sins, then, what happens is serious. The very taufiq (the ability given by Allah) of Taubah or repentance is taken away. But, by seeking forgiveness after a sin, the heart does not get rusted - the sin is washed off.
The Hadith says that a man who commits a major sin, repents and says: 'O my Lord... without even uttering a word, 'forgive me', Allah Almighty instantly forgives him for he at least knows his Lord. If he does that again, Allah does what He did, once again The Holy Prophet  says: 'O my people, you will tire sinning, but Allah will not tire forgiving' So, repent in sin and stay clear. And never change course, keep to the straight path with all its ups and downs, never tiring, never deviating -the destination will be all yours.

The Power of Repentance

The Hadith account of hostility between Adam (Alaihis -Salaam) and the Satan, a wily enemy to him. Adam (Alaihis -Salaam) was made vice-regent and was promised Paradise. The Satan was concerned. He said: "O Allah, now Adam (Alaihis -Salaam) is my enemy, and I am his. He has reason and revelation both He is going to shut me off. Grant me some power so that I can also overpower him". Allah Almighty said: "We give you the. power of majority If Adam (Alaihis Salam) has one son, you will have ten; if he has hundred, you will have one thousand. You will always be in the majority. When he is 10 million, you will be 10 billion" But, Satan is smart, he realised that minority sometimes overrpowers a majority. So, he said: "O Allah, no doubt, I am in the majority, but a powerful minority may overwhelm a majority. Therefore, give me more power". It was said: "We give you the power to infuse into the body of Adam (Aiaihis-Salaam) like blood running through veins". The Satan said: "Now I can floor him down". He was thinking of how he could inject doubts into his heart, now he would monitor and control his brain, and once inside there, he would be free to do what he liked. So, with power in hand,he was satisfied.
Now Adam (Alaihis-salaam) was worried - this devil has the power to be all over inside me but I do not have power to find entry inside his body which means that he will always be the winner dragging everybody into the Hell with him. So, he implored that he too should be given some power (to counter him). Allah Almighty said: "To Adam (Alaihis-Salaam) we give a unique power, a power which will wipe out centuries after centuries of Satan's labours in an instant". That power is Taubah, repentance. Take a disbeliever who gets repentance. His disbelief will evaporate in a second. The Satan trained to disbelieve for a hundred years, he came up with one genuine repentance- and zoom, the handiwork of Satan is all finished. Repentance is so powerful a weapon that it beats the Satan flat out. Therefore, let man never skip repentance. Repent immediately after whatever bad happens. In fact, one should recite Istighfar (the prayer for Allah's forgiveness) regularly making it at least hundred times everyday. Recite:  hundred times. One will not be committing a hundred sins. But he would have sought forgiveness a hundred times. His sins will go on receding into nothingness. This is not such a big job. It will hardly take ten minutes. If one were to recite Istighfar a hundred times after Fajr Salah, that is no burden. Surely, one does not commit one hundred sins in a single day, but the score of repentance does reach the figure of hundred - Insha'Allah all sins will thus be effaced.

The point I have made is that one should keep the orientation of his heart correct, maintain moderation, repent when afflicted with sin - he will reach his destination.

In the end, let us all pray that Allah Almighty keeps our feet firm on the path of His pleasure, blesses us with the best of morals and manners, and bestows on us the best of parting from this mortal world. Ameen.

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