***Will Allaah forgive me?*** You might say: “I want to repent, but my sins are many indeed. There is no kind of immoral act, no kind of sin, imaginable or otherwise, that I have not committed. It is so bad that I do not know if Allaah can forgive me for the things that I have done over the years.” In response, I would tell you that this is not a unique problem; it is one that is shared by many of those who wish to repent. Let me give you the example of a young man who asked this question once. He began his career of sin at a very early age, and by the time he was only seventeen, he already had a long record of committing every kind of immoral act, major and minor, with all kinds of people, old and young alike. He had even abused a little girl. Added to this was a long list of thefts. Then he said: “I have repented to Allaah. I now pray tahajjud some nights, and I fast every Monday and Thursday, and I read Qur’aan after Fajr prayers. Will my repentance be of any avail?” The guiding principle for us Muslims is to refer to the Qur’aan and Sunnah when we look for rulings, solutions and remedies. When we refer this matter to the Qur’aan, we find that Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Say: ‘O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily Allaah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And turn in repentance and in obedience with true faith to your Lord and submit to Him…” [al-Zumar 39:53-54]. This is the answer to this particular problem. The matter is quite clear and needs no further explanation. The feeling that one’s sins are too great to be forgiven by Allaah stems from a number of factors: The absence of certain faith on the part of the slave in the vastness of Allaah’s mercy A lack of faith in the ability of Allaah to forgive all sins Weakness in one aspect of the heart’s action, namely hopee Failure to understand the effect of repentance in wiping out sins We will answer all these points here: “… and My Mercy embraces all things…” [al-A’raaf 7:156] It is sufficient to quote the saheeh hadeeth qudsi: “Allaah says: “Whoever knows that I am able to forgive all sins, I shall forgive him, and I shall not mind, so long as he does not associate anything with Me.’” (Reported by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer , and by al-Haakim; Saheeh al-Jaami’ , 4330).. This refers to when the slave meets his Lord in the Hereafter. (Reported by al-Tirmidhi; Saheeh al-Jaami’ , 4338).. (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “The one who repents from his sin is like the one who did not sin in the first place.” (Reported by Ibn Maajah; Saheeh al-Jaami’ , 3008).
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:41:50 +0000
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