Virtues of Taubah-part 2

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah,
the Most Gracious,the Most Merciful.

The First Condition Among The Rights of Allah is :

اَن يَّقلَعَ عَنِ المَعصِيَةِ

To discard sin from its roots and to remain distant therefrom.

It should not be that one is in the process of committing sin and

is uttering words of repentance at the same time as is the case

today. People are in the habit of saying,

لَا حَولَ وَ لَا قُوَّةَ

There is no power and might except from Allah,

The Most High, The Great. 

what an age of shamelessness has come upon us! What nudity
surrounds us, while their eyes are firmly fixed on that which they
condemn. They recite, ( لَا حَولَ وَ لَا قُوَّةَ ) and at the same time
continue staring with lust at women. Such seeking of refuge itself
seeks refuge from our nafs (soul). Thus the first contidion is to
give up sin.

The Second condition is : 

اَنْ يَّنْدَمَ عَلَيهَا

To Experience regret and remorse thereupon.

The definition of regret is that one feels pain and grief when committing 

sin within the heart. '' oh! Why did I ever allow myself to commit this sin?

Why did I not fulfill the right of such a Kind and Benevolent Master?'' 

Hazrat Hakeem-ul-Ummat Thanwi ( رحمة الله عليه ) explains, ''Even in

the absence of hell, even if hell were not created, it is contrary to decency 

of servitude to disobey such a Kind and Benevolent Master. Allah Ta'ala's

favours and bounties so excessively encompass us due to which it is the 

demand of decency, not to disobey and displease Him.'' SubhaanAllah! 

This is a matter of the heart, a matter of love. 

Take the case of a father who is kind and gracious, benevolent and endowing

and does not beat his children upon whom are innumerable favours are given

by their father, for upon us are his innumerable bounties and favours.''

The Third Tenet of Taubah is :  

اَن يَّعُزِمَ عَزْمًا جَازِمًا اَن لَّا يَعُودَ اِلَيهَا اَبَداً

That one make a firm and immutable resolution not to return thereto. 

Firmly resolve within one's heart that even at the cost of life, this sin will 
not be returned to, will not even be approched in the least again. At the
time of repentance there has to be a firm intention not to return to that
sin. If thereafter this intention happens to break and the sin is committed
then realise that the breaking of the intention is not contrary to the intention. 

The fact that the intention has broken is no proof that the intention was not
made at all. Acting contrary to one's intention does not mean that intention 
was not made.

At the time of Taubah the intention should be present. If at a later date it 

breaks, it will not negate the intention made. Based on the sincere intention 

not to return to sin, it will be forgiven, in spite of the fact that it breaks a 

million times over. 

The intention made today to abstain from sin, ''I will never return to sin
again,'' does not have within it the intention to break that intention. This

much is sufficient for the acceptance of Taubah in spite of the fact that

shaytaan whispers into one's heart, ''You are that individual who keeps

on breaking his Taubah.'' There is no harm in this whispering pertaining

to the breaking of taubah even though based on one's human weakness

and one's repeated experience one is also convinced of one's not being

able to remain steadfast on one's resolve of Taubah.

At the time of Taubah, do not have the intention to break one's Taubah 

 and it will then be a realisation of one's weakness and not the breaking of 

one's intention. A servant realises his weakness that, ''A million times already,

due to my unworthiness, have I already broken my resolve.'' At this juncture

appeal to Allah Ta'ala with these words, ''O Allah! In making this intention

to abstain from sin, this resolve to Taubah I have undertaken is not on the

basis of my trust upon myself but is rather while trusting upon You that I

resolve to abstain therefrom.'' 

 

Virtues of Taubah
Moulana Shah Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar Saheb
(Daamat Barakaatuhum)