The State of Repentance Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah

[k.ibrahim]

Bismillah Ir-Rahman, Ir-Raheem. I begin with ALLAH's auspiciousness,whose Name is the Best among all the names. All Revences, All Sanctities and All Worships are due to ALLAH alone. Ashahadu An Laa illaaha illal llahu
Wa Ash Hadu Anna Muhammadan Abdu Hu Wa Rasooluhu
''I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah
who is without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) is the Rasool.''
"O Allah, Shower Your Peace come upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have brought peace to Ibrahim and his family.
Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious. O Allah, Shower your blessing upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have blessed Ibrahim and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious". I am Satisfied with ALLAH as My Rabb and Cherisher, I am Satisfied With Islam as My Din (religion) and I am satisfied with Muhammad as a Rasulallah (Messenger)sallallahu alaihi was salam.(Amin)

------------------------The State of Repentance
Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah
The state of repentance, tawbah, is at the beginning, the middle and the end of all states
of submission to the will of Allah. The servant who seeks the pleasure of Allah never
abandons tawbah. He remains in the state of tawbah until his death. Whatever his state
of belief, the servant makes tawbah his constant companion. Thus, tawbah is at the
beginning and at the end of his servitude to his Creator. His need for tawbah at the end,
just as at the beginning, overrides, and supersedes all other needs. Allah says: "And
turn to Allah altogether (make tawbah), O you who believe so that you may succeed,"
(24:31)
The verse above is contained within a Madinan Surah (revealed after the migration to
Madinah), in which Allah addresses the people of emaan, who are the best of His
creation. He calls upon them to make tawbah "turn in repentance" to Him after they had
already believed, gone through hardships, trials of faith, executed patience, migrated
and performed jihad. Allah then made success conditional on perfecting such tawbah, as
the effect is often conditional on the cause. No one can hope for success, except: those
who make tawbah. Allah says: "And those who do not make tawbah are indeed the
dhaalimoon (wrongdoers)." (49:11)
Allah divides His servants into two categories only: the repentant and the wrongdoers.
There is no third category. Allah calls those who do not make tawbah, "dhaalimoon"
(wrongdoers and transgressors) and no one is more of a wrongdoer and a transgressor
than a person who does not repent for his evil actions. This state is a result of a person's
ignorance of his Lord and the rights due to Him, as well as, his own defects and the evil
of his deeds. The Prophet, sallallahu alayeh wa sallam, is reported to have said: "O
people, make tawbah to Allah. By Allah, I make tawbah to Him more than seventy times
each day." (Bukhari)
His companions used to count for him in each congregation his saying one hundred
times: "My Rabb, forgive me and accept my repentance, for You are At-Tawwab (the One
who accept repentance), Al-Ghafoor (The Oft Forgiving)." The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe
wa sallam, is also reported to have said: "No one will be rescued (on the Day of
Judgment) by his deeds. They (his companions) asked even you Messenger of Allah? He
said, even me, unless Allah would grant me His mercy and Grace."
May Allah's blessings and peace be upon His Messenger, the most knowledgeable among
His creation of Him, His Rights, His Greatness and what servitude He deserves. He is the
most knowledgeable of servitude and its requirements and the most committed in
servitude to Allah.
The Starter (Fatihah) of Tawbah
Tawbah is the return of the servant to Allah. It is also his turning away from the path of
those with whom Allah is angry and those who are astray. This returning cannot be done

except by Allah's guidance to the Straight Path. The servant will not attain guidance


except through Allah's help and the servant's submithrough tawheed. Suratul-Fatihah

explains this concept in the most complete and eloquent manner.
Whoever appreciates Surat-ul-Fatihah and gives it is right estimate, through knowledge,
contemplation upon its facts and by living its directives, will realise that one cannot
recite it, with the true recitation of a servant, unless one makes sincere tawbah. The
perfect guidance to the Straight Path cannot be attained with the indifference to sins or
the persistence on sins. Indifference to sins negates the knowledge of guidance.
Persistent sinning negates the intention and the will of the servant. Thus, tawbah will not
be valid except after one recognises the sins, admits to them and seeks to rid oneself of
their evil consequences.
Seeking Refuge from Sin
The first aspect of tawbah, then, is to see how one was taken away from seeking the
pleasure of Allah, by committing sins. Next, one has to recognize that Allah didn't
safeguard him from sin. One should also ponder how happy one was while sinning and
being persistent on the sin, while knowing with surety that Allah ever watches over
whatever is done in the heavens or on the earth. If the servant had sought refuge in
Allah, he would not have gone away from the guidance of obedience, "And whoever
holds firmly to Allah, then he is indeed guided to a Right Path." (3:101)
If one's holding onto Allah is firm, one would never be forsaken by Allah, "And hold
firmly to Allah, He is your Mawlaa (Protector) and what an excellent Mawlaa and what an
excellent Naseer (Helper)." (22:78)
In other words, whenever we hold firm to Him, He will become our Protector and He will
support us against our nafs (inclinations) and the Shaytan. These two enemies, the nafs
and Satan, are the ones that do not leave the servant for even a moment. Their enmity
is more harmful to the servant than the enemies from without. Attaining victory over
such enemies is more difficult, and the servant's need for such a victory is far more
important. The degree of help rendered to defeat these enemies is dependent upon the
degree of our dependence and holding onto Allah. If we do not hold firmly to Allah, we
will go away from Allah's protection. This is indeed the true loss. Allah could have aided
us in staying away from sins, however, because we deserted Him, we were allowed to
listen to any obey our nafs. If He wished to protect us, the sin would not have found a
way to get to us.
When the servant becomes heedless of the consequences of sin, he finds pleasure when
he satisfies unlawful desires. This pleasure in disobedience is evidence of his ignorance
of the Greatness of the One of disobeys, and his ignorance of the evil consequences of
sins and evil actions. His pleasure with sin has concealed all of this from his sight. In
fact, his pleasure with sin is more harmful to him than perpetrating the sin itself. The
believer can never have any pleasure from sin. He cannot have complete satisfaction
with it. On the contrary, he would not even pursue it, except with grief in his heart. But
the intoxication of the desires obscures one from feeling this remorse. When the heart
becomes empty from such grief and one is happy with sin, then one should question his
faith and weep for the death of his heart. If one were alive, he would be sad for the
perpetration of any sin, big or small. The evil effects of sin, more times than not, go
unnoticed in us and in our brothers and sisters in Islam. Diligences in constant self-

evaluation is necessary in leading us away from sin and its destructive ends. One can do
this by focusing on the following.

1. The fear of dying before making tawbah.
2. Remorse about the good that was missed because of the disobedience of Allah.
3. Working seriously on regaining what has been missed.
If one becomes completely heedless then one becomes persistent, which means constant
disobedience with the intention to perform the sin again and again. This by itself is
another sin that could be far greater than the first. Part of the punishment for sin is that
it leads to a greater sin, then another, and so on until it completely and certainly
destroys the person if he does not repent.
Persistence on sin is another sin. Not attempting to rectify the sin means persistence on
it and satisfaction with it. This is the sign of ruin. Worse than all of that, is the
commission of sin in public when we are sure that Allah watches and sees everything
from above His Throne. If we believe that Allah watches us, yet we proceed to commit
sins publicly, this is a great contradiction. But if we don't believe that He watches us,
then we are completely out of the realm of Islam.
There are two considerations for a sinner: lack of embarrassment from Allah knowing
that Allah's sight watches over all, and lack of fear to go out of the deen. Therefore, one
of the conditions of the acceptance of tawbah is that a person should firmly believe that
Allah was watching and that He will always watch over him. He sees everything during
the perpetration of sins.
The reality of tawbah is to return to Allah is not sound or complete without the
knowledge of the Lord's names and attributes and their manifestations within Himself
and in the world. The repenting servant should know that he was running away from his
Lord, captured in the grip of his enemy. He didn't fall into the claws of his enemy except
as a result of his ignorance of his Lord and his daring to go against Him. He should know
how and when he became ignorant, and how and when he was captured. He should
believe that tawbah requires great determination and complete awareness to rescue
himself from the enemy and be able to return and run back, to his Lord Ar-Rahman Ar-
Rahim. He should realise that returning to his Lord is actually turning away from the
road of destruction, where his enemy had taken him. He should know the number of
steps taken away from his Lord and the efforts and obstacles that he must strongly work
on to get back to the Straight Path.

[HisServant]

JazaakAllahu khair, excellent reminder.

"tawbah is at the beginning and at the end of his servitude to his Creator. His need for tawbah at the end,
just as at the beginning, overrides, and supersedes all other needs...."