the forgotten sins ?

[marwen]

:sl:

What about the sins that we don't remember any more ? for example if I want to repent from all the sins I did, and I made tawba from 50 sins that I can remember I did. But what if there are also some 20 other sins that I forgot about, what will happen to these forgotten sins ?

- will they be erased automatically because we forgot about them ?

- Or do we need to make tawba from them to make them erased, even if we don't remember them (but we're sure we did some sins)? If we ask Allah to efface all the sins that we did but we can't remember, will that work?

- How to make tawba from a sin that you don't know ? you know that one condition of a correct tawba is to regret your sin, so how can we regret a sin that we don't remember, and therefore make a correct tawba from it ?

- Or should we make a lot of hassanat (good deeds) with intention to efface the sins ?
(the Prophet mentioned in a Hadeeth that good deeds efface bad deeds )

I'm sorry to ask these odd questions, but the forgotten sin may represent a danger, but we're not aware of it. These sins may cast us away from Allah, or make our dua unacceptable.

can someone help about this ?

[Neelofar]

Salaamz, you've raised a really goo0od question, unfortunately even i don't know the answer to these :( but inshallah someone will answer your well thought out questions! sorry i wasn't much help!

[Dagless]

If you ask for all sins to be forgiven then would this not also include forgotten sins? If you wanted to you could add another line to ask forgiveness for forgotten sins or ones you did not know were sins.

edit: I remember seeing a thread like this before.

[marwen]

If you ask for all sins to be forgiven then would this not also include forgotten sins?

Yes that's exactly the point I was asking about bro. I mean, will it work if I repent from a sin without mentioning/remembering that sin ?
Yes we can ask Allah to forgive all our sins, but how to be sure they are erased. I mean if you remember that sin and do a sincere tawbah (remember the sin + stop doing the sin + regret it) then you can be sure it's gone inshaAllah; but if you don't/can't do tawbah, how to be sure it's forgiven ?
(I think there is a slight difference between asking for forgiveness and a complete tawbah :-\)

I don't know if I'm making sense ..

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[أحمد]

:sl:

Sins aren't forgiven based on levels of forgetfulness. Its possible to commit a sin which affects others, and then forget that such a sin has been committed.

That's just one example of many possibilities. Leaving aside the topic of Huqooqul-'Ibad, Allah forgives any or all sins, except Shirk.

See: 4:48, 4:93, 5:32-34, 25:68-71, 39:53.

Until Yawmul-Qiyamah we don't know which of our sins are or aren't forgiven, nor we need to know before then. We are all guaranteed to witness that day, its only a matter of a short wait.

:wa:

[ghost]

go to hajj, problem solved

[marwen]

Sins aren't forgiven based on levels of forgetfulness

But shouldn't we repent from every sin we commit ? If we consider the importance of tawbah, then forgetfulness could make a difference (forgotten sins will not benefit from tawbah)

and jazaka Allahu Khayran for the verses references.

[Dagless]

Yes that's exactly the point I was asking about bro. I mean, will it work if I repent from a sin without mentioning/remembering that sin ?
Yes we can ask Allah to forgive all our sins, but how to be sure they are erased. I mean if you remember that sin and do a sincere tawbah (remember the sin + stop doing the sin + regret it) then you can be sure it's gone inshaAllah; but if you don't/can't do tawbah, how to be sure it's forgiven ?
(I think there is a slight difference between asking for forgiveness and a complete tawbah :-\)

I don't know if I'm making sense ..

Yes it makes sense ;) Are you sure that we need to remember in order to repent? We are only human and probably sin many times every day. I am sure most normal people cannot recall, or be aware of, every single incident of sin. In my opinion this would be a normal thing (ie. not to recall all sins). Sorry, I know this doesn't really answer the question :p

go to hajj, problem solved

Lol, an expensive and time consuming solution ;)

[marwen]

go to hajj, problem solved

Jazaka Allahu Khayran brother. Yes, I think Hajj is the best solution for that problem.

But I'm not sure I won't die before making hajj imsad:hmm:, and what about people who can't do hajj?

[أحمد]

:sl:

But shouldn't we repent from every sin we commit ? If we consider the importance of tawbah, then forgetfulness could make a difference (forgotten sins will not benefit from tawbah)

and jazaka Allahu Khayran for the verses references.

We should repent, but not on a limited numeric scale. No matter how much a person repents; the sins committed are not the whole story. Even a "perfect human being" needs Allah's mercy to enter paradise, as all the good deeds can never be enough to measure up to the blessings of Allah. This is why we cannot limit repentance to a number of sins we may have counted.

:wa:

[ghost]

Jazaka Allahu Khayran brother. Yes, I think Hajj is the best solution for that problem.

But I'm not sure I won't die before making hajj imsad:hmm:, and what about people who can't do hajj?

make intention to go to hajj. then when you die you'd have died with the intention. and if you can't make it to hajj then make intention to go to hajj anyway and if you find a way then go, if not, make intention for next year.

if you sinned and forgot about it, then ask for forgiveness for the sins you forgot about. and then if you remember (say in 93 years time) then ask for forgiveness then.

islam isn't a hard religion, Allah said that he has made it easy for us. don't let these little things consume you - notice i didn't say don't worry about these little things, i'm saying don't let them consume you.

there are much bigger things to worry about.

[marwen]

Are you sure that we need to remember in order to repent?

Yes I guess :-\. You know, to repent from a sin, it means to promise (Allah) to never do that sin again, and regret it. I don't how we can do that without being conscious about what the sin is.

I am sure most normal people cannot recall, or be aware of, every single incident of sin. In my opinion this would be a normal thing (ie. not to recall all sins).

ermm.. I guess you're right here.
Yes, I think if the repentance from every single sin is impossible, may be we should use other means, like doing more hasanat, and always saying "istighfar".

We should repent, but not on a limited numeric scale. No matter how much a person repents; the sins committed are not the whole story. Even a "perfect human being" needs Allah's mercy to enter paradise, as all the good deeds can never be enough to measure up to the blessings of Allah. This is why we cannot limit repentance to a number of sins we may have counted.

Thanks bro. That clarifies things for me.

make intention to go to hajj. then when you die you'd have died with the intention. and if you can't make it to hajj then make intention to go to hajj anyway and if you find a way then go, if not, make intention for next year. if you sinned and forgot about it, then ask for forgiveness for the sins you forgot about. and then if you remember (say in 93 years time) then ask for forgiveness then. islam isn't a hard religion, Allah said that he has made it easy for us. don't let these little things consume you - notice i didn't say don't worry about these little things, i'm saying don't let them consume you.

Baraka Allahu fik brother, that's a very helpful advice too.


I have a litle off-topic question here : if you have a reward of one hajj without doing it (only because of your intention), will that clear all your sins like a real hajj ?
There is other acts that can give you the reward of one hajj (for example, by reading zikr/quran after salat-ul Fajr untill the sun rises), I know this won't relieve you from doing the real hajj, because it's a fardh, But will that be also exactly like doing a hajj : will it clear all your sins ?