REPENTANCE (TAWBAH) AND THE REALITY OF TAWBAH

O you who believe! Turn (in repentance) to Allah with sincere 

repentance; Perhaps your Lord will remove 

your evil from you…

(Qur'an, 66: 8)

The Prophet of Allah (s) said: There are four signs of one who is

repentant: 

1) He is sincere to God in his actions 

2) He shuns falsehood 

3) He is firmly attached to truth and 4) He is eager to do good.

[Al-Harani, Tuhaf al-`Uqool, p. 20]

Repentance (tawbah)

 Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a) said: “When a servant turns to God

with sincere repentance (tawbatun nasuh), God loves him and

covers him (i.e. his sins) in the world and the Hereafter.” 

I said, “And how does He cover him?” The Imam (a) replied,

“He makes the two angels (assigned to write his deeds) forget that which they have written of his sins. Then He inspires his limbs (saying), ‘Conceal his sins,’ and He inspires places of the earth (saying), ‘Conceal the sins that he used to commit over you.’ Then he meets God in such a manner that there is nothing to bear witness against him regarding any sin.”

[Al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, kitab al-'iman wa al-kufr, bab al-tawbah, hadith #1]

The Reality of Tawbah

 Tawbah means return to the soul's initial spirituality after the light of its human nature (fitrah) and its spirit has been covered by the darkness of sins and disobedience. The human soul in its initial state has neither any spiritual virtue  nor any vices. It is capable of reaching any station, but in its original state it is pure, sinless and has an intrinsic luminosity. The perpetration of sins causes obscurity within the heart, and the light of intrinsic nature is extinguished and converted into darkness. However, before total darkness envelops the heart, if a person awakens from the slumber of negligence and makes repentance, the soul gradually returns from the dark ness to the light of its original nature and essential spirituality. This is mentioned in the famous hadith from Imam Baqir

(a):“One who repents from sin is like the one who has not sinned.”

[Al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, kitab al-'iman wa al-kufr, bab al-tawbah, hadith #10]

The Essentials and Conditions required for Tawbah

Tawbah is not accepted from one who merely declares, “I repent.” There are a number of conditions which must be fulfilled before the acceptance of tawbah.

These are mentioned below in the following hadith:

It is narrated that someone said: Astaghfirullah (I seek God's forgiveness) before Imam ‘Ali (a). He said to him. "May your mother mourn for you! Do you know what istighfar is? Verily istighfar is a degree of the 'illiyyun (people of high station) and it is a word that means six things. First is remorse over the past. Second, the resolution not to return to it ever. Third, to return to creatures their (formerly usurped) rights so that you meet God

Almighty in a state of purity in which no one has any claim against you.

Fourth, that you fulfil every duty that you neglected in order to satisfy your obligation in respect to it. Fifth, which you attend to the flesh of your body Mthat has grown on unlawful nourishment so that it melts away as a result of grief and mourning and your skin adheres to your bones, after which new flesh grows in its place. Sixth, that you make your body taste the pain of obedience in the same way as it earlier tasted the pleasure of sins. When you  have done these things then say Astaghfirullah! [Nahj al-Balagha, saying # 417]

This noble tradition mentions two prerequisites for tawbah (remorse and resolution), two important conditions for its acceptance (returning the rights of creatures and of the Creator), and finally two points for the perfection of repentance.