Istighfar and Tawbah

Transcript of the Khatira delivered by Dr Munawar Haque on Oct 14, 2017

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين

Brothers and sisters! We often hear the terms istighfar and tawbah. What do they mean? Do they mean the same thing or there is a distinction between them? Are they exclusive rituals of Ramadan and Hajj or something that we should be doing throughout our lives? Are they meant only for sinners, and those who have been misguided or they hold good for everyone? These are some questions that I would like to address in today’s khatira. We know that as humans, we are bound to make mistakes and commit sins. This is confirmed by the Hadith which says: “Every son of Adam commits sin, and the best of those who commit sin are those who repent.” 

Istighfar means seeking Allah’s forgiveness. It’s the process of admitting our sin and being painfully sorry for it. We should have some moments of privacy with Allah, and beg Him to purify us by forgiving our misdeeds. We seek His forgiveness, knowing that He alone has knowledge about all our deeds and thoughts and He alone can forgive us and save us from the consequences of our actions. Istighfar, thus, is a most intimate conversation with Allah. And during that conversation we are at our humblest. We need istighfar to constantly purify and cleanse our heart. We are not born in sin, but we are born in weakness. We are prone to fall prey to the many temptations that are part of our test in this life.

Tawbah means repentance. The literal meaning of tawbah is “to return.” As a term in the Shariah, it means to turn or to retreat from past sinful and evil activities, and to firmly resolve abstaining from them in future. Tawbah signifies sincere and faithful repentance, free from deception and hypocrisy. Both the Qur’an and the Hadith incorporate the word tawbah to refer to the act of leaving what Allah has prohibited and returning to what He has commanded. In the Islamic tradition, the word tawbah denotes the act of being repentant for one's misdeeds, atoning for those misdeeds, and having a strong determination to abandon those misdeeds. The first sign of tawbah is to regret and to determine not to repeat those acts again.

At times, we sincerely repent from an action, only to find ourselves slipping back into it. In this situation, it is not that we made tawbah with the intention of continuing the sin; rather, it is because our faith is weak and we are fallible, and that made us commit the sin again. Committing the sin does not necessarily mean that the previous tawbah was insincere, but it means that we need to do tawbah again and that we need to make a stronger resolve to stay away from the sin that is troubling us, and that we want to stay away from.

Reduced blessings, loss of peace, depression, anxiety, worries, and a feeling of emptiness are some of the numerous side effects of sins. A soul cannot be healthy with all the scars of sins. The only treatment for souls with traces of sins is istighfar and tawbah.

If a person commits a sin or does something wrong, then he is violating Allah’s Law, and abusing his own dignity and existence. But if he is sincere and wishes to repent, regrets his wrong deeds and wants to turn to Allah, faithfully seeks pardon from Allah and honestly approaches Him, then Allah will certainly accept him and forgive him. Even those who reject Allah or His Oneness are assured of forgiveness, should they realize their erroneous attitude and resolve to come back to Allah.

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

“Say O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah will forgive all sins. Indeed He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful” (al-Zumar, 39:53).

Allah's mercy permits even the gravest sins to be pardoned by Him, provided the wrongdoer intends a sincere tawbah. 

Istighfar and tawbah are among the most meritorious acts of virtue for the believers. They are performed not necessarily for having committed sins or acts of disobedience to Allah, but also include our shortcomings. As we realize Allah's immense favors upon us, all our thankfulness and devotion clearly appear to be inadequate. As we realize the grandeur and majesty of Allah (SWT), our acts of worship and obedience are clearly seen to be insufficient. The higher a person is on the scale of taqwa, piety and God consciousness, the greater is this sense of inadequacy. Consequently the greater is his or her practice of istighfar and tawbah.

Istighfar and tawbah are not something strange, new or specific for any particular person. Rather, all the prophets and messengers of Allah, had employed them in their lives, and all righteous and pious persons will continue to do so till the end of times. This makes it clear that istighfar and tawbah are mandatory, not optional. Turning away from repentance distances Allah's mercy and blessing from the life of a person. Allah says,

وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“And ask Allah for His forgiveness. Truly, Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful” (al Baqarah, 2:199)

The sincere repentance of Adam and Hawwa (Alaihimussalam) opened the doors for Allah’s forgiveness to reach them. What did they both say?

رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنْفُسَنَا وَإِنْ لَمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ

“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if you do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers” (al-A’raf, 7:23).

Our beloved Prophet (SAW), despite being sinless used to make istighfar every single day, and used to say, “O people seek repentance from Allah. Verily I seek repentance from Him a hundred times a day.” 

One of the most beautiful things about repentance is that Allah not only wipes the sins off, but also replaces them with good deeds!

مَنْ تَابَ وَآَمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا

“Those who repent, believe, and do good deeds, Allah will change the evil deeds of such people into good ones. He is most forgiving, most merciful.” (al-Furqan, 25:70)

Therefore, never turn your back on repentance which is the purifier of the soul and a means to earn Allah’s pleasure. According to a Hadith, “Verily, Allah is more delighted with the repentance of His slave than a person who lost his camel in a desert land and then finds it.” The Prophet (SAW) also said, “Allah accepts a slave’s repentance as long as the latter is not on his death bed (that is, before the soul of the dying person reaches the throat).” The opportunity to make tawbah is a mercy for us as Muslims. Because if we did not have a way to repent for our sins and have it accepted, we may have a lot more to answer for on the Day of Judgment. A beautiful short Prophetic dua for istighfar and tawbah is:

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَىُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ

“I ask forgiveness of Allah the Almighty, besides Whom there is no god, the Ever-Living, the Eternal, and I repent to Him.” 

The Prophet (SAW) said, “The best dua for seeking forgiveness (Syed-ul-Istighfar) is to say:

اَللّٰهُمَّ اَنْتَ رَبِّيْ ، لَا اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اَنْتَ خَلَقْتَنِيْ وَاَنَا عَبْدُكَ ، وَاَنَا عَلَی عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ اَعُوْذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ ، اَبُوْءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ ، وَ اَبُوْءُ بِذَنْبِي ، فَاغْفِرْ لِيْ ، فَاِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوْبَ اِلَّا اَنْتَ

“O Allah! You are my Rabb. There is no true God except You. You have created me, and I am Your slave, and I hold to Your Covenant as far as I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge the favors that You have bestowed upon me, and I confess my sins. Pardon me, for none but You has the power to pardon.”

“Whoever makes this dua during the day with firm belief in it and dies on the same day before the evening he will be one of the dwellers of Paradise; and whoever makes this dua during the night with firm belief in it and dies before the morning, he will be one of the dwellers of Paradise.”

May Allah (SWT) accept the istighfar and tawbah of each one of us.

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