‘I
do not absolve myself of weakness, for the inner self
is surely prone to enjoin evil, except on whom my Lord has mercy. My
Lord is of course Protector (against sins), Ever Merciful’.---(Surah Yusuf, 12:54).
This sublime expression of humility in the declaration of Prophet Yusuf (as) points to a larger truth about moral failings in the human
condition: only Divine Grace can help us traverse the flood of base passions. As humans, each one of us has an innate proclivity or inborn
weakness to be swayed at times by the attractions and colours of this
world. Our bodily urges can and will, at times, eclipse our moral responsibility and injure our spiritual self. Satan can induce us to stumble in moments of frenzy and we might forget
or even willfully ignore that God watches over us in all that we do, openly and
secretly. Whether we remain within the laws of the permissible- respecting the boundaries of the Shari'ah- or commit transgressions and
become liable for sins; the reality is that God knows about it all.
Indeed the Lord of the Universe knows about the deep desires and
other inner passions that fuel all our actions- good and bad- and
especially, our many failings. The Qur’an emphatically declares:
“Were it not for God’s Grace upon you and His Mercy, not one
of you would ever be pure.” (Surah Al-Nur, 24: 22)
It
is interesting to note that even the great servants of the Lord- the
Prophets and Messengers and other recipients of revelations never
declared their sinlessness. On the contrary, both the Torah and the
Qur’an bear witness to the cries of Divine servants recounting their
errors and lapses in the solitude of their sublime invocations. When
someone addressed Jesus (as) as “Good Master!”, the latter
is reported to have replied: ‘Why do you call me good? There is no
one good, except the Lord’. Even the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa)
used to offer Istighfar more than anyone, and that too on a daily basis:
‘Turn
to Allah, ye people, and seek forgiveness of Him. For myself, I turn
to Allah a hundred times a day’ (Muslim).
According
to the Holy Qur’an, to proclaim and confess, ‘We wronged
ourselves’ is the way of the righteous. Consider the
following verses:
"Our
Lord, we believe, so forgive us our sins and protect us from
suffering in the Fire." (3: 17).
“Our
Lord! forgive us our sins and our excesses. Make our feet firm, give
us help against the disbelievers’. (3:148).
"Lord,
do not take us to task if we forget or
make mistakes. Lord, do not burden us
as You burdened those before us. Lord, do
not burden us with more than we have strength to bear.
Pardon us, forgive us, and have
mercy on us. You are our Protector, so
help us against the disbelievers." (2:287).
The
Divine Attributes of Forgiveness
Consider
also some of the Divine Names in the Qur’an: Al-Ghafur,
Al-Ghaffar, Ghaafir-udh-Dhanb, Al- ‘Afuww, At-Tawwaab, etc.
“The
Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance…” (40:3)
“Allah
is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (42:5)
“Is
He not indeed the Almighty, the Endlessly Forgiving?” (39:5)
“Allah
is Ever-Pardoning, Ever-Forgiving.” (4:43)
“Allah
is Ever-Returning, Most Merciful.” (49:12)
Each
of these Divine Names point to the different shades of Divine
Forgiveness. He is the One who forgives sins and accepts the
repentance of all those who turn to Him. He conceals the sins of His
servants, shows never-ending compassion to them and lavishes kindness
on them. The name ‘Al-Ghaffaar’ points to His
immense and constant forgiveness of sins. Likewise, Al- ‘Afuww
(The Ever-Pardoning Lord) can erase all sins committed by
His servants, especially if they do something that is bound to bring
about His forgiveness, such as sincerely declaring His Oneness,
seeking His forgiveness, turning to Him in repentance and doing
righteous deeds. At-Tawwab is the
One who helps His servants repent and submit completely to Him after
turning to Him, and then He accepts their repentance and pardons
their sins.
Qur’an
encourages believers to turn to God in repentance. The Holy Book
says: ‘Seek
forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him in repentance’. (11.4). 'Believers,
all of you, turn to Allah so that you may prosper'. (24.32). ‘O
ye who believe! turn to Allah in sincere repentance. Your
Lord may well
cancel
your bad deeds
for you and
admit you
into
Gardens graced with flowing
streams, on a
Day when Allah will not
disgrace
the Prophet or those who have believed with him. With
their lights
streaming ahead of them and
to
their right, they will say
‘Lord, perfect our lights for
us and forgive us: You have
power over everything’. (66:9)
On Repentance and seeking Forgiveness
On Repentance and seeking Forgiveness
The
Promised Messiah Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian has explained the
philosophy of repentance and the role of Istighfar in
succinct words, in a number of places in the corpus of his writings,
and I quote:
‘It
is obvious that man is very weak by nature and has been charged with
hundreds of Divine commandments. On account of his weakness, he falls
short in carrying out some Divine commandments and sometimes he is
overcome by the desires of the self that incite to evil. On account
of his weak nature, he deserves that at the time of any slipping, if
he should repent and seek forgiveness, God's mercy should save him
from being ruined.
It
is a certainty that if God had not been the Acceptor of repentance,
man would not have been charged with these hundreds of commandments.
This proves that God turns towards man with mercy and is Most
Forgiving. Repentance means that a person should discard a vice with
the resolve that thereafter, even if he is thrown into the fire, he
would not commit that vice. When man turns towards God Almighty with
sincerity and firm resolve, God, who is Benevolent and Merciful,
forgives him the particular sin. It is one of the high Divine
attributes that God accepts repentance and saves a sinner from ruin.
If man had not the hope of his repentance being accepted, he would
not be able to refrain from sinning....It is the Benevolence of God
that He accepts the repentance of some and bestows by His grace such
powers on others that they are safeguarded against sinning {Chashmai
Ma’arafat, Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 23. p. 181}.
Man’s
Remorse and the Mercy of God
‘In
Arabic idiom Taubah (repentance) means 'returning', and
that is why in the Holy Quran God's name is also Tawwab,
that is to say, He Who is Oft-Returning. This means that when a
person discarding sin turns to God with a sincere heart, God Almighty
turns even more to him. This is altogether in accord with the law of
nature. God Almighty has made in part of human nature that when a
person turns to another with a sincere heart, the latter's heart is
also softened for him. Then how can reason accept that when a servant
turns towards God Almighty with a true heart God should not turn to
him? Indeed God, Who is Benevolent and Merciful, turns even more
towards His servant. That is why in the Holy Quran, God's name, as we
have just mentioned, is also Tawwab,
meaning Oft-Returning’.
‘Man's
turning to God is through remorse and humility and meekness, and
God's turning to man is with mercy and forgiveness. If mercy were not
one of the attributes of God Almighty, no one would be delivered. It
is a pity that these people do not ponder over the attributes of God
Almighty and depend entirely upon their own actions. But can it be
the attitude of God, Who without any action proceeding from man, has
created thousands of bounties for him upon the earth that when weak
man being warned of his heedlessness should turn to Him, a turning
which is like death, and should put off his old garment and should be
consumed in the fire of His love, God should not turn to him with
mercy? Is this the law of nature?’ {Chashmai Maarifat,
Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984) vol. 23. pp. 125-126}.
Repentance:
Role of ‘Istighfar’
Istighfar
and repentance are two separate matters. From one point of view,
Istighfar has priority over repentance, inasmuch as
Istighfar is the help and strength which are obtained
from God and repentance means standing on one's own feet. It is the
way of God that when a person seeks help from Him, He bestows
strength and with that strength the supplicant stands on his own feet
and thus possesses the faculty to do good. This means turning to God
and this is the natural sequence of it. It is appointed for seekers
that they should seek help from God in every condition. Till a seeker
obtains strength from God, he can do nothing.
The
strength for repentance is acquired after Istighfar. If
there is no Istighfar, the faculty of repentance dies.
If you will thus follow up Istighfar with repentance,
the result will be as set out in the verse: ‘He will make for
you a goodly provision till an appointed term (11: 4). This
is the way of God, that those who follow up Istighfar
with repentance will achieve high grades. Every sense has a circle
within which it achieves its high grades. Not everyone can be a
Prophet or a Messenger or a Siddiq or a Martyr (Malfuzat, Vol.
II, pp. 68-69).
In short, the Islamic spiritual tradition recognizes the free-will and agency of the humans. Spiritual fulfillment is possible not just for the virtuous, but also for those who stumble into errors and sinning when they turn to God in repentance, seeking Divine forgiveness. Spiritual virtue lies not in the absence of wrongful desires, but in summoning our inner will to tide over the mundane temptations by seeking Divine forgiveness and turning in repentance. In a well-known saying of the Holy Prophet (sa), recorded by Bukhari and Muslim, we can read: "God, the Exalted be He, says: 'If a servant of Mine (merely) desires to do a good deed, i shall count this (desire) as a good deed; and if he does it, I shall count it ten fold. And if he desires to commit a bad deed, but does not commit it, I shall count this as a good deed, seeing that he refrained from it only for My sake..." Likewise, the Holy Prophet (sa) also points out: ‘Allah is more pleased with the repentance of a servant of His than would be one of you who were to lose his camel in a barren desert and then find it suddenly’. (Bukhari and Muslim).
May Allah (swt) have mercy on us and overlook our failings and shortcomings in the specific performance of Divine Commandments so that the enemies of the faith may never rejoice. May Allah (swt) protect us all from performing evil deeds, from the ill effects of the sins we commit and from the punishment attached to those sins, Insha-Allah, Aameen, Soumma Aameen Ya Ghafur-ur-Rahim.
In short, the Islamic spiritual tradition recognizes the free-will and agency of the humans. Spiritual fulfillment is possible not just for the virtuous, but also for those who stumble into errors and sinning when they turn to God in repentance, seeking Divine forgiveness. Spiritual virtue lies not in the absence of wrongful desires, but in summoning our inner will to tide over the mundane temptations by seeking Divine forgiveness and turning in repentance. In a well-known saying of the Holy Prophet (sa), recorded by Bukhari and Muslim, we can read: "God, the Exalted be He, says: 'If a servant of Mine (merely) desires to do a good deed, i shall count this (desire) as a good deed; and if he does it, I shall count it ten fold. And if he desires to commit a bad deed, but does not commit it, I shall count this as a good deed, seeing that he refrained from it only for My sake..." Likewise, the Holy Prophet (sa) also points out: ‘Allah is more pleased with the repentance of a servant of His than would be one of you who were to lose his camel in a barren desert and then find it suddenly’. (Bukhari and Muslim).
May Allah (swt) have mercy on us and overlook our failings and shortcomings in the specific performance of Divine Commandments so that the enemies of the faith may never rejoice. May Allah (swt) protect us all from performing evil deeds, from the ill effects of the sins we commit and from the punishment attached to those sins, Insha-Allah, Aameen, Soumma Aameen Ya Ghafur-ur-Rahim.