Ten Steps to Allah. Step 9: Repentance
As we get closer to Ramadan, focusing on what we are seeking through our devotions is ever more crucial. The ultimate aim of any Muslim is to gain the closeness of Allah Most High. Shaykh Faraz Rabbani gives us clear guidelines with 10 key steps on the path to Allah Most High elucidating for us how to get closer to Allah.
A key step on the path to Allah is repentance. Often, we don’t understand what it means or imagine it to be something negative. Shaykh Faraz explains what repentance really means—turning back to Allah.
Step 9: Repentance
Repentance is a key step on the path to Allah. Many say that repentance is the first step. However, we often have a very negative attitude towards repentance. Some people think that repentance means to accept that you’re a loser or that you never forget your sin. But repentance means to resolve to return to Allah. That is why faith is an act of repentance because you leave disbelief and you return to belief. Our acts of obedience are a type of repentance because we leave disobedience and we commit to obeying Allah. Likewise, our virtuous deeds are a type of repentance because we leave blameworthy things and disliked matters and we commit to doing what is better. Every station of the journey to Allah has the meaning of repentance in it. To leave distance and return to Allah.
Practically how do we operationalize repentance in our lives? Firstly, we commit to seeking Allah and desire to be ever-returning to Allah. So first we work at correcting our faith: learning sound beliefs and striving to live those in our lives. Leave your fear of other than Allah, leave your hope from other than Allah, leave your seeking for other than Allah. You leave lesser expressions of faith for pure Divine oneness which is you believe in the One, seek the One, you rely upon the One, you hope in the One, you love the One.
There’s also repentance related to our actions which is that you leave sin, commit to leave sin, to leave the disliked, to leave things that are not of benefit to you in life, to leave things displeasing to Allah, and to return to Allah in obedience, return to Allah in what is recommended. The journey continues in degrees of repentance. This quality of repentance, to always return to Allah, make it a habit. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told us that he seeks Allah’s forgiveness and repents 70 times a day.
You may have bad habits that you have acquired that are sinful, sinful speech such as backbiting, talebearing, gossip. You may have bad habits related to some desires of yours. Bad habits related to the kind of entertainment that you listen to or watch. These are the days of your life. Resolve to leave your bad habits. Have remorse for turning away from Allah disobeying Allah. Resolve to leave it and not to return to it for the sake of Allah Most High. and then any time you err, renew your repentance.
After every prayer, pause and genuinely repent as part of the supplication. Don’t just repent with the tongue, because repentance is not an action of the tongue. We say Astighfirullah: I seek Allah’s forgiveness. That’s like saying I am sorry but repentance is the act of actually leaving the thing that you’re saying you’re sorry for. Without repentance, seeking forgiveness is just words without reality. Repentance and seeking forgiveness together are light upon light.
This repentance is the key. Allah Most High says in the Qur’an, “Indeed Allah loves the oft-repentant.” [Qur’an 2:222] Repentance is a magnificent gift from Allah. What do we need to do to return to Allah? Nothing! You may have a lifetime of turning away from Allah but you repent and Allah is waiting to accept your repentance. The door is open. The treasuries are full. All you have to do is knock on Allah’s door with repentance and you will find that the door was never closed even if you messed up.
Allah Most High tells us, “O my servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed it is Allah alone who forgives all sins. Indeed it is He who is the all-forgiving and most merciful.” [Qur’an 39:53]
It does not matter how many times you have failed to break that habit of sin, how many times you followed the same desire, the same wrong, the same bad habit, turn to Allah with repentance.
The key to repentance is what Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be pleased with him) said, “True repentance is to leave the sin in such a way that you never return to it.”
The episode can be found on this link Ramadan 2020 Reminders | Episode 28: Ten Steps to Allah – 09 – Repentance | Shaykh Faraz Rabbani – YouTube
About the Author
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age.
He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.
