WHY are you repenting?

Sometimes the human being regrets a sin that he or she has perpetrated, not because of sincere shyness and regret in front of the divine gaze, but more so because of what people would say if they found out. In other words, this person repents to Allah out of the fear of others, not out of a fear and concern for one’s own relationship with Allah Himself. It is as if he or she is afraid that if they don’t repent, Allah may expose their faults to others, either in this life, or in the next (which would be far worse, of course). Nonetheless, their fear is limited to their own selfish concerns for “looking good”, not primarily as an act of contrition and reconciliation in a sincere attempt to make themselves better people, people more pleasing to Allah, but rather, as a way of protecting and preserving their image and the perception that people have for them.

My point is this: make your repentance to Allah and your turning back to Him sincerely and solely for His sake alone, not for any other motive, ulterior or otherwise. Realize that what you have done is not pleasing to Allah and that it is unbecoming of a believer—and especially one following the path of tasawwuf (Islamic Spirituality)—to fall into repeated mistakes in front of the gaze of the Divine. Ask Him to forgive you for what has transpired, simply because you have genuinely recognized your fault. Say you’re sorry, and mean it.

A question may arise, what kind of sins are we talking about here? Ohhh, the types, shades, and colors of sin are many, many, and then many!!! May God protect us...

For example, one day I was at the post office in the UAE (where I was living at the time). There was a local woman (i.e., a UAE national) working at the customs inspection desk. I had a package from the U.S. that had lots of Islamic DVDs and books, so of course they had to check it out to make sure there wasn’t any type of “questionable propaganda” stuff in there. Anyhow, I don’t remember exactly how it came up but she said to me, “Oh, right, what do we do here in this small town in the UAE? I don’t have any sins...” (obviously this event did not occur in Dubai, but rather in a smaller, more rural town).

Yes, believe it or not, that is exactly what she said! I laughed and said, “Ohhh, really!?!?” [Please note that her hijab was practically falling off her head, she was fully decked-out in make-up, and was reading one of those tasteless fashion magazines with a bunch of disgruntled Arab women showing off their stuff, thereby expressing their *freedom*...]

The conversation continued, and I asked her bluntly, “Have you ever felt envy towards someone? Perhaps a friend that got a better job than you, or another who had better opportunities in life?  Haven’t you ever been angry and yelled at someone without right, or without maintaining your decorum, as a Muslim should do?” Of course she replied that she had indeed done some of those things at different points in her life. “So, these are not sins?” I asked her bluntly. She hesitantly replied that she guessed that they were after all.

You see, most of the time we don’t even realize that we are falling into sin because of our ignorance of the sacred norms set by our beautiful way of life and due to our ignorance concerning the illustrious way of our blessed Prophet, peace and blessings be upon, and those noble and righteous men and women that followed lovingly in his glorious footsteps. I am the first to admit to this ignorance, concerning my own self!  [By the way, my comment about the woman above was merely for illustrative purposes, not to mock or demean her (you don’t even know who she is anyways!)]

Al-hamdu lillah... May Allah give us a real and true tawbah (repentance), and may He forgive us for all of our mistakes, mishaps, sins, and errors, whether in character, speech, judgment, or action... Amiiiin... !!!

Comments

[Omar Nafees]

Depressed, I once approached a close friend in dismay and said

"Why do we sin?"

He said, "Because we forget. Cheer up... at least you know you do".

[Aisha]

Ameen to the dua

It is really hard to be sin-free. We are imperfect creatures and we do tend to make mistakes everyday. And the sad thing is we don’t realize it (like the example you gave above) this minor sins we do everyday are the ones which adds up…subhanAllah

May Allah guide and protect us and keep us to His deen..Ameen

Jazaakallah

[halimatun saadiah]

bismillah, amin to the doa

human are more concern to meet the human's standard rather than Allah's standard. people are too concern with what other people's say rather than what Allah say. no matter how hard we try, we can never please people. so please Allah not people. amin