LET US SEEK REPENTANCE IN THIS HOLY MONTH

Human beings naturally posses the qualities of angel,  and devil too. Man by nature weak and forgetfulness often makes mistakes, does wrong things deviates from the right path. Almighty the most merciful & forgiving likes His people to seek pardon from him and those who are repenting consciously towards Allah would be forgiven and this is called Tauba. Tauba means repentance for a sin by making promise not to do the same evil again and to return the correct path as instructed by Almighty and his holy Prophet(pbuh).

The first man Adam himself deviated the instruction of almighty, committed wrong in the heaven and there after repented much and much to seek forgiveness from Almighty and thus introduced the rule of repentance for the sin what he done in the past. Repentance is the beginning in the life of a person who intends to walk in the path of right.

Istifar is the arab word to seek forgiveness to God for commission and omission whether specific or general, Repentance(Taubah) which signifies the turning back sorrowful from a sin which has just been committed of and has chance of being made in future.As Man is not free from sin,Repentance is of utmost importance in the formation of a religious life. It has got three elements; namely, to have knowledge that the act done is wrong, to be sincerely repentant for its commission and to be careful in future not to commit it again. Therefore Repentance takes its birth from the light of knowledge and faith and a man of wisdom and faith can have the benefit to Repentance. An angel needs no Repentance because it knows no sin. The devil has got no need of Repentance because sins and virtues are all equal to it. As man has got both angelic and devilish tendencies, he has got greater necessity of Repentance in order to cleansing off the impurities that gather on soul from time to time. By the tears of repentance, the soul must be washed, and it is therefore a remedy for taking away misguided soul..

In case of sincere Repentance, the following results are obtained:
Mind forgets the recurrence of sins.
Mind becomes careful of committing future sins.
Such a man examines the previous omissions of compulsory duties from the dawn of intellect up to the day of repentance and tries to fulfil them.

Great scholar Imam Gazzali says there are four important principles in seeking repentance.
The first principle is form of repentance, its limit and its knowledge. It is the bounden duty of a man to make repentance after sin. If it is sincere, it is accepted.
The second principle is to turn away from sins, to know the major and minor sins, to know the duties towards God and to men, to know means of progress and retrogression for virtues and vices and to know the causes of minor sins turning into major sins.
The third principle is to know the condition of Tauba, search into past sins, expiation of sins and the classes of those who repent.
The forth principle is to know the causes of making Tauba and the medicines of persons addicted to vices

Almighty Allah in Holy Qur'an says: "…..be repentant to almighty all together that you may get salvation." [24:31]

Further Almighty says : "O ye believe! Turn unto Allah in sincere repentance!

He who returns from sin is like one who has got no sin. Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says that "Think that a man went to a vast field with a camel loaded with food and fuel. He slept thereafter leaning his head. When he awoke, he did not find his camel there. Then he began to search for it running to and from and said after getting tired of hunger and sun: I will go to my former place to sleep, such a sleep that it may cause my death. Then he placed his head upon his heads and slept there to meet with death. When he awoke, he found his camel standing before him with food and water. His joy then knew no bounds.Smilarly God becomes more pleased with the repentance of a believer than his joy."

Imam Hasan Basri while narrating on repentance said "When Almighty accepted the penitence of Adam, the angles blessed him and Gebriel and Michael came to him and said :O Adam, God accepted your repentance and cooled your eyes. Adam said : O Gebriel, what will be my rank if after acceptance of this repentance some questions are asked? God then revealed to him: O Adam there will come sorrows and difficulties over your followers and repentance will be open to them. Whoever among them will repent, I will accept his repentance as I have accepted yours. Whoever seeks my forgiveness, I will not be miser in accepting his forgiveness as I am near and accept invocations. O Adam, when I shall resurrect the repentant men, they will smile and enjoy and their repentance will be accepted."

Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) whose all sins are forgiven by Allah and free from evil completely used to seek repentance to Almighty every day 100 times (and in some saying it is mentioned more than 70 times a day).

"Oh people, turn to Allah in repentance and seek his forgiveness, for surely I make repentance one hundred times daily" Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) told his companions.

One of the companions of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said "Prophet (PBUH) said : If anyone continually asks pardon, Allah will appoint for him a way out of every distress and a relief from every anxiety and will provide for him from where he did not reckon"

One of the companions of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Anas ibn Maalik said : "Prophet (PBUH) said: All of Adam's descendants constantly err, but the best of those who constantly making error are those who constantly repent."

 in the light of Holy Quran and Prophet's (PBUH) teachings he will definitely attain salvation. Ramadhan ,the month of forgiveness gives opportunity for believers to think of their wrong side, ills, and repent, weep by heart and make their souls enlightened with truth and purified towards salvation and peace.

Courtesy: Gulf Today