Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem,

Bismillah ir rahman ir rahim,

excerpts from: Nida al Mu'minin fi'i Quran al Mubin The Call to the Believers in the Clear Quran, by Shaikh Ahmad Fathu'llah Jami

O you who truly believe,

Turn to Allah in repentance-

In sincere repentance! (tawbatan  nasuha)

It may be that your Lord will acquit you

Of your evil deeds,

And will admit you into Gardens

Underneath which rivers flow,

On the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet

And those who believe with him.

Their light will run before them

And on their right hands.

They will say: �Our Lord,

Perfect our light for us, and forgive us!

You are surely capable of all things�.  (66:8)

According to Umar ibn al-khattab, Ubayy ibn ka�b and Mu�adh (May allah be pleased with them): � When repentance is nasuh, it means that one repents and does not return to the sin, just as milk does not return to the udder�

According to al-Kalbi: � It means that the penitent seeks forgiveness with his tongue, feels remorse in his heart, and keeps his physical body under control.�

According to Muhammad ibn-al Qurtubi: �Sincere repentance [tawba nasuh] consists of four ingredients:

1. seeking forgiveness with the tongue,
2. physical abstinence,
3. inner commitment to refraining from repletion and
4. avoiding the misconduct of one�s bretheren.�

According to religious scholars. It is not permissible to delay repentance, whether the offence is minor or major. If the offence in matter between the servant and Allah, and does not involve any human right, three conditions must be fulfilled by the penitent:

1. he must refrain from the sinful act of disobedience
2. he must feel remorse for what he has committed
3. he must e determined never to repeat it.

If all these conditions are fulfilled, his repentance is sincere [nasuh], but if any one if them is omitted, his repentance is invalid. If the offence involves a human right, the condition of repentance are four in number, these same three plus a fourth:

4. he must acquit himself of what he owes to the victim. If the offence involves money and the like he must return it to the owner. If it incurs a legal penalty, fir qadhf [false accusation of sexual misconduct] or the like, he must submit himself to retribution by the victim, or else seek his pardon. If it is a case of backbiting he must ask him to overlook it.

It is necessary for the servant to repent all the sins he has committer. If he repents one of them , his repentance of that particular sin is valid, and he remains responsible for those he has not repented. This is the doctrine of the people of the sunnah.

The necessity of repentance is demonstrated by evidence from the Book, the sunnah and the consensus of Community.

As reported by Muslim, on the authority of al-Agharr ibn Yasar al-Mazani, Allah�s messenger (SAW) once said

O people, repent to Allah, for I repent a hundred times each day.

As reported by al-Bukhari, it was Abu Huraira (RA)who said: �once I heard Allah�s messenger (SAW) say:

By Allah, I seek Allah�s forgiveness and I repent to Him more than seventy times each day.�

According to a generally accepted report from Anas ibn Malik (RA) Allah�s messenger also said:

For Allah, delight in the repentance of His servant is greater than the joy experience by one of you, when he comes across his camel after losing it in a desert land.

As reported by Abu Musa al- Ashari the prophet (SAW) once said:

Allah extends His hand by night, to invite the evildoer of the day to repent, and He extends His Hand by day. To invite the evildoer of the night to repent, until the sun rises from its setting.

(That is to say: He extends His power and His mercy because he totally exempt from physical limbs and organs.)

As reported by Abdullah ibn Umar (RA), the prophet (SAW) once said:

Allah accepts the servant�s repentance, provided he is not gargling his last breath.

There are several degrees of repentance, and one of the best accounts of them occurs in the report from Ali (RA), who heard an arab nomad say: �O Allah I beg your forgiveness and I repent to you.�  Ali said: �O you there slickness of the tongue in repentance is the repentance of the liars!� The arab nomad then asked: �And what is repentance?� Ali replied: �it includes six things: 

1. remorse for sins committed in the past.
2. renewed performance of obligatory religious duties [faraid].
3. providing compensation for acts of criminal injustice.
4. seeking pardon from adversaries.
5. resolving never to repeat the offence.
6. dissolving your lower self in worshipful obedience to Allah, just as you caused it to grow in sinful disobedience, and making it taste the bitterness of obedience, just as you let it taste the sweetness of sinful acts of disobedience, until it comes to enjoy the sweetness and flavors of worshipful obedience.�

Allah has explained the value of repentance, in saying:

It may be that your Lord will acquit you

Of your evil deeds,

And will admit you into Gardens

Underneath which rivers flow, (66:8)

This means it has been said that Allah will indeed do that, but the promise is expressed in the form of encouraging expectation, in the style of the kings, for they used to say when they intended to do something: �Perhaps we shall do such and such�. The implication is that it is a glorious favor from Him, that repentance is not necessarily accepted by Him, and that the servant must be poised between fear and hope, even if he goes to extreme lengths in performing the obligations of worshipful service. The Quranic verse indicates that acceptance of repentance cannot be taken for granted, because expiation comes after acceptance.

Imam Nawawi said: �According to the people of the Sunna, Allah is not obliged to accept repentance, even if its preconditions are met, but He does accept it as a mark of Noble generosity from Him, and as a gracious favor. Our knowledge of its acceptance is based on the sacred Law and the consensus, is it is not in doubt, as it is clearly stated in the Book, in His saying:

And He it is who accepts repentance from His servants,

And pardons evil deeds,

And He knows what you are doing (42:25)

Bismillah,

Thanks for this post, Nausheen.  I did a search recently and couldn't find such thorough information.

Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem,

Bismillah ir rahman ir rahim,

You are most welcome. Alhamdulillah you find what you were looking for.

This post was actually long due, ever since Knowledge01 had asked something on the subject, I had promised to post this. - was puting it away as I was way to busy. This is not a cut and paste, so am afraid if you want a ref, u will need to check the hard copy, perhaps thru a library. The translation of the book is available with al-baz publicatins.

There is more in this chapter, which I will post soon insha allah.

Maa salaama,

Nausheen

Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem,

Bismillah ir rahman ir rahim,

excerpts from: Nida al Mu'minin fi'i Quran al Mubin The Call to the Believers in the Clear Quran, by Shaikh Ahmad Fathu'llah Jami

It may be, O believers, that your Lord will erase your bad deeds that you have previously committed, and that He will admit you to orchards, where rivers flow beneath their trees.

On the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet

And those who believe with him. (66:8)

That is to say: �He will not abase him by rejecting his intercession.� Abasement means humiliation. In other words: �He will not humiliate them in the presence of the unbelievers, though it is permissible for Himto torment them in a manner that is not perceptible to the unbelievers.� His saying:

Will not abase

- is an allusion to those whom Allah has abased, such as the people guilty on unbelief and immorality. It is also intended to elicit praise from the believers, because He has preserved them from a similar condition.

And those who believe with him.

In other words: �those who have accompanied him in the sphere of belief.�

Their light will run before them

And on their right hands. (66:8)

It will run before them on the bridge over Hell. What is meant by �their right hands� is every direction they take.  According to al-Khatib: �the specific reference to before and right hands does not preclude their having a light on their left hands. They do have such a light, but they pay no attention to it, because they are either among the front runners, in which case they are moving towards that which lies before them, or among the people of the right hand, in which case they are moving towards that which is on their right.

Their light will run before them

-Ibn Masud said: �In accordance with the scope of their deeds, they will cross the bridge over Hell. Some among them will have a light like a mountain, and some will have a light like a palm tree. The least of them will have his light in his big toe ..

As we are informed by Ibn al Mubarak, on the authority of Abu Dharrand Abu�d Darda, Allah�s messenger once said:

I shall be the first of those  summoned to make prostration on the day of Resurrection, and the first of those summoned to raise his head. I shall then look in front of me, and I shall recognize my community among the communities. I shall look to my right, and I shall recognize my community among the communities. I shall look to my left, and I shall recognize my community among the communities.

A man asked, �O messenger of Allah, and how will you recognize your community among the communities?� to this he replied:

They will be distinguished by a whiteness on the forehead and on the writsts and ankles, from the effects of ritual purification, and none of the other communities wull be like them in that respect. I shall recognize them by the fact that they are receiving their records with their right hands. I shall recognize them by the mark on their faces, from the effect of prostration, and I shall recognize them by their light, which will be running before them.

They will say: �Our Lord,

Perfect our light for us, and forgive us!

You are surely capable of all things�.

According to Ibn Abbas(RA): �They  will say that when the light of the hypocrites is extinguished, out of pity.� According to al-Hasan: �Allah will be perfecting their light for them, but they will appeal for closeness to the presence of Allah.� Someone said: �The lowest of them in rank will be he whose light is just sufficient for him to see where his feet are treading. The light is in keeping with the scope of their deeds, so they will be asking for its perfection.� Someone said: �The front-runners into the Garden of Paradise will pass like lightening across the Bridge over Hell. Some of them will move like the wind, and some of them at a slow and creeping pace, the later being those who will say:

Our Lord, Perfect our light for us

It has also been said to mean: �They will plead with constant entreaty and humble supplication.�

Author�s Observations:

If the servant never lapsed into error, he would become deluded ito thinking himself perfect. The natural constitution of the servant [of the Lord] includes shortcoming, shamefulness and inadequacy.

If Allah did not afflict us with contradictions, who would prevent us from deluding ourselves? By His Grace and Noble Generosity, He has granted us scope [for personal choice], because the servant must repent, for repentance is Allah�s custom [sunna] in relation to His creatures, and so is seeking forgiveness. He has opened this window of opportunity for us till the end if our lives (so long as we are not gargling our last breath), so we must not fail to take advantage of it and we must make a firm commitment to genuine repentance.

As we can see for ourselves, when we experience a worldly need, we twist and turn from one person to another, so that the doorway of assistance may be opened for us, yet our Lord has already opened it for us. We must not overlook this doorway, for we need our Lord at all times, to block the contradictions, the slips and the mistakes that issue from us. We must not bolt this doorway against us, because the doorway of Allah�s mercy for His servants is open at every moment, including the here and now, so long as the servant does not shut it against himself, by failing to repent and apologise to Him.

As Salamu Alaikum

Masha Allah very informative post.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Salams