Tawba (repentance)

In Ka'b's account at Ibn Ishaq, "God's repentance" upon the three is declared after the boycott; Ka'b counts as part of his repentance matters touching his wealth and the truthfulness of his speech. ¹

The Prophet declared God's repentance upon them after the dawn prayer, and the people congratulated him on it: "Rejoice in God's repentance upon you" (the event). ²

Ka'b said part of his repentance was to strip off his wealth as alms — the Prophet ﷺ ordered him to keep some of it — and part of it was to speak only truth as long as he lived (the event). ²

• This page describes the concept only as it appears in Ka'b's account; the general legal definition of repentance and its rulings need the fiqh and creed sources (needs_source).

Sha'rawi holds that Abraham and Isma'il asked repentance for their descendants because they knew those who came after would sin, and that the law of repentance protects the whole society: if a single sin left the sinner in the Fire forever with no repentance, sinners would grow bolder and people would despair of their salvation. He cites the hadith that every child of Adam errs and the best of those who err are those who repent. ³

He explains the narration that God extends His hand by night to forgive the one who sinned by day, and by day to forgive the one who sinned by night. ⁴ He says paradise is surrounded by hardships and the Fire by desires. ⁵ He distinguishes the repentant who stays steady and is excused for minor lapses from the one who repents with his body but not his heart and returns to sin. ^{6 7} He describes a third kind who avoids being reminded of God and flees correction about his sin (needs_source: the wording of this passage is not clear in the automatic transcript). ⁸ He warns against delaying repentance: death does not wait, and no one can bring it forward or push it back by a moment. ^{9 10} Only good deeds benefit a person in the grave. ¹¹ He says that if a servant sins and regrets it, even for the blink of an eye, the sin falls away. ¹² He says that the first duty of repentance is to return rights to their owners, and that returning to the truth is better than persisting in falsehood. ^{13 14}

The Sheikh says that if the servant sins, then regrets and asks forgiveness, God forgives him, and that God forgives His servant each time he repents again (needs_source). ^{15 16} He says true repentance begins in the heart and the tongue together, and that the one who repents and then returns gains nothing from the word of repentance alone (his view). ¹⁷ He gives the image of an exam at the mosque door: steadfastness in repentance takes time, and God accepts the penitent after the test (his view). ¹⁸

The Sheikh says God did not burden us with what minds cannot bear, and relates that a man among the Companions came to the Prophet and told him he had done something that belongs to the doors of error (needs_source) ¹⁹. He says the Prophet did not go into details or motives, but asked whether he had prayed the dawn prayer with them just now, and when he said yes told him that good deeds wipe out bad deeds, closing to him the door of mazes and self-reproach (needs_source) ²⁰.

The Sheikh relays from some great scholars that whoever knows God sees him while he sins and then seeks forgiveness is forgiven; he holds this knowledge to be a sign of brokenness and understanding in the servant, and says nobody is ignorant of the sin itself, and he distinguishes between one who sins and one who sins and feels real regret (the wording is incomplete in the text) ²¹. He says that whoever commits a sin and regrets it, even for a moment, has the sin fall away faster than the blink of an eye, and that some scholars say regret is repentance ²².

He holds that God does not reproach His servant on the Day of Judgement for the sins between them, but conceals them, and he contrasts the servant's good deeds, which he puts between himself and people, with the millions of sins between him and his Lord ²³. He relates that a man, as he was dying, asked his sons where he was going; he was told to God, and he said: to the Generous? The Sheikh then explains the meaning of pardon (afw) (needs_source) ²⁴. He says pardon comes from the wind that blots out a trace by covering the earth with dust, so God wipes out the sin so that it does not show, and he compares it with human pardon, where memory may remain, so that pardon is like a thin layer of dust that any occasion blows away ²⁵. The Sheikh says jokingly that when God pardons, the recording angels forget, as if the angels suffered a kind of memory loss, whereas humans bring up the same problem again after years (his view) ²⁶. He adds that God also makes the human witnesses forget, the brothers and relatives who saw you in the sin or to whom you told it, by occupying them with their own sins, so that nobody tracks your slip (his view) ²⁷. He says that on the Day of Judgement people are occupied with themselves, and so the recording angels forget; this is divine pardon, while human pardon is temporary (his view) ²⁸.

The Sheikh imagines that God opened a person's inner sight to read the record of the evil deeds of those around him kept by the angel in charge of them, and holds that they would have fled from him, since each of us is known by hidden faults (his view) ²⁹. He invites listeners to try measuring blood pressure before and after reading Surat Yusuf with only ablution, suggests that one of the doctor sons do it, and says the result will surprise the one who tries it (a claim that needs a source) (needs_source) ³⁰.

The Sheikh explains the word ma'ab as returning, and says that whenever a person strays he returns, and whenever he errs he returns, hoping that death will come to him in the moment of repentance ³¹. He relates the sense of a hadith: the servant sins once, twice and three times and then returns, and each time he admits that he has a Lord who forgives sins, so God calls His angels to witness that He has forgiven him; the Sheikh says God never closes the door of forgiveness in our faces (needs_source) ³².

The Sheikh says the way out of a crisis, whether personal or general, is nearer to believers in two states: the state of a lasting affliction and the state of committing a sin, and he expects his listeners to be surprised (his view) ³³. He relays that great scholars said they feel closer to God in sin followed by repentance than in obedience, because in obedience Satan makes a person imagine he is like Abu Bakr or Uthman (his view) ³⁴. He adds that in obedience a person relies on his deed, which is known for its flaw, whereas in sin he relies on God's mercy (his view) ³⁵. He says that a deed needs sincerity and conformity to the Sunna, that a person cannot be sure of either, since obedience may contain a shortfall or fault, and that therefore one should seek forgiveness (his view) ³⁶.

The Sheikh advises that a person should not be a hundred per cent sure that he has been forgiven, and that seeking forgiveness came in Islam after every act of worship, and he mentions a hadith about Arafat ³⁷. He relays a saying that whoever thinks he stood at Arafat and God did not forgive him has fabricated a lie against God, yet pilgrims are told to seek forgiveness after leaving, and likewise forgiveness is sought after the salam of the prayer (needs_source) ³⁸. He compares this with a guest who has visited a host and says as he leaves: cover what you saw, because the host has seen his shortcomings ³⁹. He says this is the speech of great people, and that the worshipper is likewise with God: when the prayer ends he seeks God's forgiveness ⁴⁰. He mentions that zakat al-fitr comes at the end of Ramadan as a purification, that zakat purifies wealth at the year's end, and that seeking forgiveness follows Hajj and prayer, so that the believer is in God's company ⁴¹.

In a question-and-answer, the Sheikh recounts that he asked about the reality of repentance and was told that it is to forget one's sin (needs_source: the wording of the question and the identity of the speaker of the answer are unclear in the transcript) ⁴². In the same exchange he explains repentance as a move from a state of dryness, meaning estrangement and hardness of heart, to a state of fidelity to God (his view) (needs_source: some words of the transcript are garbled) ^{43 44}.

The Sheikh says that every undertaking needs repentance, and that the basis of repentance is returning rights to their owners, so that justice and mercy spread among people ⁴⁵. He explains repentance as a return to God, and says that God loves those who repent often ⁴⁶. He says that God replaces the sins of the repentant with good deeds ⁴⁷.

He says that God forgives sins but does not forgive associating partners with Him, and forgives what lies below that as He wills ^{48 49}.

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy distinguishes repentance (tawba) from return (awba). He defines repentance as giving up a sin out of fear of punishment, and return as coming back to God out of hope of reward. ⁵⁰ He says that giving up a sin comes from fear and turning back from it from hope, and that one who often repents sighs often over his sins. ⁵¹ In another lesson he defines repentance, return and turning (inaba), and says that fear of punishment marks the penitent. ^{52 53} He holds that restraint from sin out of fear of God and hope in His reward is the sign of one who has turned back. ⁵³

The Sheikh cites a hadith that makes regret a repentance, and says that a sin is removed as soon as one regrets it. ⁵⁴ He lists the stages of repentance: giving up the sin, regretting it, resolving not to return, and restoring the rights of others. ⁵⁵ A sign that repentance is accepted, he says, is that a sin that was sweet becomes bitter and that obedience that was heavy becomes light. ⁵⁶ He describes the penitent as one who grieves when a chance to sin is lost, and who delights in worship. ⁵⁷ He says repentance should be renewed every night, as the believer sleeps entrusting his soul to his Lord and asking forgiveness for what has passed. ⁵⁸ He defines repentance as resolving not to return, regretting, and starting afresh; if the self overcomes one again, one returns to forgiveness. He says that Satan whispers that repentance is useless. ⁵⁹ He says that whoever regrets his sin in his heart, even for a moment, is forgiven at once. ⁶⁰

The Sheikh says that true repentance requires returning rights to their owners, that the rights of people come first, and that the strong must return what they took. ⁶¹ He says that a community in which rights are lost has no blessing, and that it needs people who restore rights. ⁶² He calls backbiting cowardice, and says it is undone by asking the pardon of the person wronged or, if that is not possible, by speaking well of him in the places where one spoke ill. ⁶³ He holds that the absence of blessing from wealth comes from earnings mixed with the forbidden, and that such wealth is cleansed by returning it or giving it away. ⁶⁴

He states a saying that there is no small sin with persistence and no great sin with seeking forgiveness (needs_source: the saying is not sourced in the recording). ⁶⁵ He cites a hadith on the door of repentance, which stays open at all times, and says that God declares His acceptance of those who repent. ⁶⁶ He refers to what the Qur'an says, that good deeds take the place of sins for the penitent (the verse is not named in the notes). ⁶⁷ He cites a hadith qudsi that whoever comes to God penitent is welcomed from afar, and whoever has strayed is called from near. ⁶⁸ He likens forgiveness to a debt: a creditor may still hold a reproach after the debt is repaid, but God does not reproach the one He has forgiven. ⁶⁹ He cites a hadith qudsi that a person who meets God with sins as wide as the earth, without associating anything with Him, is met with forgiveness of equal measure. ⁷⁰ He tells of a man who obeyed for twenty years and then sinned for twenty, and of what was said to him through Moses (needs_source: the story is not sourced in the recording). ⁷¹ He cites a saying in which God speaks of His mercy toward creatures and His love for those who repent. ⁷² He says that all people sin, and that the one who repents is better than the one who sins without regret. ⁷³

He says that sin harms its doer and others, and that scholars held that whoever reproaches another's sin may be tested with the same. ⁷⁴ He gives the example of a neighbour who misses the dawn prayer, and says sins should not be mocked, because sin harms everyone who witnesses it. ⁷⁵ He says that the penitent is not refused, and that people regarding the sinner as lost is the real disaster. ⁷⁶ He says that a person who sins and repents is better than one who stands in prayer admiring his deeds, and cites a saying common among scholars (needs_source: the saying is not sourced in the recording). ⁷⁷ He cites a saying of the righteous that it is better to sleep sinning and repentant than to pray through the night in self-admiration (needs_source: the saying is not sourced in the recording). ⁷⁸ He gives the example of a man who drinks wine and is counselled to repent, and says that mercy toward a sinner is practical: advising him, praying for his guidance and keeping the relationship. ⁷⁹ He criticises those who try to deceive God by calling sins by other names and by putting things in the wrong place. ⁸⁰