Saturday, August 30, 2014

Chapter on Repentance


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA00hVh3jOeYoWqlWbaCVzm428Jta9Pw3TwsgVanLOxQkWFeJ10vPLro1epRglziqUncUApMeaUKwtqINgziahwrQDP31Zaef6oZRSEqUBVLkGEkOakxUVQrOjFIHreapsiSpv8gLWRg/s1600/IMG_0228.JPG
From Imam Nawawi’s Gardens of the Righteous 

Scholars say that it is s a duty to repent of every wrong action. If it is disobedience which occurs between a person and Allah and does not involve the right of another human being, repentance has three preconditions:
The first is that one divest himself of disobedience.
The second is that he regret doing it.
The third is that he resolve not to ever return to it.
If one of the three is lacking, then his repentance is not sound.

If it involves to another human being, repentance has four preconditions: these three and that he discharges his duty to the other person. If it is money or the like, he pays it to him. If it is a hadd-punishment because of slander and the like it, he give shim power over him or seeks his pardon. If it is slander, he undoes it, He must repent of all wrong actions. If he repents of some of them, the people of truth say that his repentance of them is sound, but he still has the rest. There is much evidence in the Book, the Sunna and the consensus of the Community about the obligation to repent.

Allah Almighty says, “Turn towards Allah, O believers, every one of you, so that perhaps you will have success,” (24:31) and the Almighty says, “Ask your Lord for forgiveness and then turn in repentance to Him,” (11:3) and the Almighty says, “O you who believe! Turn in sincere repentance to Allah.” (66:8)

- Abu Hurayra said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘By Allah, I ask Allah’s forgiveness and turn towards Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.”

- Al-Agharr ibn Yasar al-Muzani said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “O people! Turn in repentance towards Allah and ask His forgiveness. I turn towards Him a hundred times a day.” [Muslim]
 
- Abu Hamza Anas ibn Malik al-Ansari, the servant of the Messenger of Allah reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah is happier about the repentance of one His slaves than one of you would be about finding your camel which had strayed away from you in the middle of the desert.” [Agreed upon]
In the variant of Muslim, “Allah has greater joy at the repentance of one His slaves when he turns towards Him than one of you would have over his mount, which, having escaped from him with his food and drink in the middle of the desert so that he has despaired of finding it and gone to a tree to lie down in its shade, suddenly appears standing by him while he is in that state, so that he takes its reins and then says out of the intensity of his joy, ‘O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Lord!’ getting confused because of his intense joy.’”
 
- From Abu Musa ‘Abdullah ibn Qays al-Ash’ari is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah Almighty will stretch out His hand during the night, turning towards the one who did wrong during the day, and stretch out His hand during the day, turning towards the one who did wrong during the night, until the day the sun rises from the place it set.” [Muslim]

- Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah will turn towards anyone who turns in repentance before the time that the sun rises from the place it set.” [Muslim]
 
- Abu ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah the Mighty and Majestic accepts the repentance of His servant as long as long as his death-rattle has not begun.” [At-Tirmidhi]

- Zirr ibn Hubays said, “I went to Safwan ibn ‘Assal to ask him about wiping over leather socks. He said, ‘What has brought you, O Zirr?’ I said, ‘The search for knowledge.’ He said, ‘The angels lower their wings to anyone who seeks knowledge, out of pleasure at what he is seeking.’ I said, ‘I am troubled about wiping over leather socks after defecation and urination. You were one of the Companions of the Prophet, so I have come to ask you whether you heard him mention anything regarding that.’ He said, ‘Yes. He used to command us when we were travelling ­ or journeying ­ not to remove our leather socks for three days and nights except in the case of janaba. We were not to remove them on account of defecation, urination or sleep.’ I said, ‘Did you hear him mention anything about love?’ He said, ‘Yes. Once we were with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on a journey and, while we were in his presence, a bedouin with a loud voice called out to him, “O Muhammad!” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, answered him in a similarly loud voice, “Go ahead!” I said to him, “Bother you! Lower your voice! You are in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and this is forbidden!” He retorted, “By Allah, I will not lower it!” The bedouin said, “Can a man love a people when he has not yet joined them?” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “A man will be with the one he loves on the Day of Rising.”‘ Safwan continued to relate to us until he mentioned a door in the West the span of whose breadth is ­ or whose breadth it would take a rider ­ forty or seventy years.’”
Sufyan, one its transmitters, said, “It is in the direction of Syria. Allah Almighty, on the day He created the heavens and the earth, created it to be open for repentance and it will not be locked until the sun rises from there.” [at-Tirmidhi & others]

- Abu Sa’id ibn Sa’d ibn Malik ibn Sinan al-Khudri reported that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Among those before you there was a man who killed ninety-nine people. He asked who was the most knowledgeable man in the world and was directed to a monk. He went to him and said that he had killed ninety-nine people and was repentance possible for him? The monk said, ‘No,’ so he killed him and made it a hundred. Then he again asked who was the most knowledgeable man on earth and was directed to a man of knowledge. He said that he had killed a hundred people, so was repentance possible for him? The man said, ‘Yes, who can come between you and repentance? Go to such-and-such a land, where there are some people worshipping Allah Almighty. Worship Allah with them and do not return to your own country. It is an evil place.’ So he went and then, when he was half way there, he died. The angels of mercy and angels of punishment started to argue about him. The angels of mercy said, ‘He came in repentance, turning with his heart to Allah Almighty.’ The angels of punishment said, ‘He has not done a single good action.’ An angel came in a human form and they appointed him arbitrator between them. He said, ‘Measure the distance between the two countries and whichever one he is nearer to, that is the one he belongs to.’ They measured and found he was nearer to the land to which he was going, so the angels of mercy took him.” [Agreed upon] 
In the variant in the Sahih, “He was a hand-span nearer to the virtuous land, so he was put among their people.” In the variant in the Sahih, “Allah revealed to this country to distance itself and that one to come nearer. He said, ‘Measure the distance between them,’ and they found that he was nearer to the good one by a hand-span and he forgave him.” In one variant, “He was nearer it by a short neck.”

- Abu Nujayd ‘Imran ibn al-Husayn al-Khuza’i reported that a woman from Juhayna came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who was pregnant as a result of fornication. She said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have broken a hadd, so carry out the punishment on me. The Prophet of Allah summoned her guardian and said, “Treat her well. When she gives birth, bring her back to me.” He did that and the Prophet of Allah commanded that her garment be tied tightly about her and then he commanded that she be stoned. Then he prayed over her. ‘Umar said to him, “Do you pray over her, Messenger of Allah, when she committed fornication? He said, “She repented with such a repentance that if it were to be divided out among seventy of the people of Madina, it would be enough for all of them. Can you think of anything better than her offering herself to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic?” [Muslim]

- Ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “If the son of Adam possessed a valley full of gold he would want to have two valleys, yet his mouth will only be filled by earth. Allah turns towards those who turn in repentance.” [Agreed upon]
 
- Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah, glory be to Him, laughs about two men, one of whom kills the other and yet both of them enter the Garden. One fights in the way of Allah and is killed. Then Allah turns towards the killer, who then becomes Muslim himself and is martyred.” [Agreed upon]

No comments:

Post a Comment