Ethics

Son! If shaitan puts ‘waswasa’ in your heart and instigates you to oppose Allah, don’t forget to ask for Allah’s forgiveness. Immediately ask for Allah’s forgiveness.

Repentance destroys sins. (Usul-e-Kafi-2, p. 422)

Always ask for Allah’s forgiveness. God knows, when you may sin without being aware of it.

Son! Remember, ‘Tauba’ does not mean asking for Allah’s forgiveness and then continue sinning. This is not ‘Tauba’. It is like making fun of Allah. ‘Tauba consists of 6 things:

(1) To repent for previous sins.

(2) To make firm resolution that in future he will desist from committing such sins.

(3) To give people their rights, dues and if he has done ‘ghibat’ then to ask for forgiveness.

(4) If he has failed in performing his duties, then to do ‘qaza’.

(5) To reduce, by crying, the flesh which has developed in the body by ‘Haram’ money, so much so that only skeleton remains and then flesh develops anew.

(6) To bear as much hardship in the obedience of Allah as he had derived from committing a sin.

‘Tauba’ is complete after acting on these conditions. This is called ‘Tauba-e-Kamela’ (Nahjul Balagah, Wasaelush-Shia-2, p. 482)

Remember, it is Allah’s mercy on the ‘Ummat’ of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) that He has promised to forgive anyone who asks for His forgiveness. Otherwise, the laws of forgiveness were so harsh in olden days that man cannot imagine it.

Amirul-momeneen (a.s.) has said in the explanation of last ayat of Sur-e-Baqara that Allah has substantially reduced the burden of this ‘Ummat’. In the olden days, sins were written on the doors. For forgiveness, one had to shun the pleasures of life. However for this ‘Ummat’, eating-drinking is not forbidden. In previous ‘Ummat’ small ‘azaab’ was sent even after asking forgiveness for 50-80 or 100 years. Now, ‘azaab’ is removed for ever by asking forgiveness for some minutes even though man had committed sins for years.

(Tafseer-e-Safi, p. 76)

(In this tradition innumerable blessings have been mentioned. It will be very useful to read ‘Tafseer-e-Safi’ on this subject – Jawadi)

Allah has made forgiveness so easy that it is mentioned in the traditions : After killing 99 men, a man asked one pious man whether his repentance will be accepted. The pious man replied : “No”. So he killed him and went to an Alim’. The alim replied : “Allah is Arrahmanir Rahim, you can still ask for forgiveness provided you go to a particular place where there is a prophet of Allah and ask for forgiveness.” The man set out in search of the prophet. It so happened that he died on the way. Allah sent his two angels of ‘Rehmat’ and ‘Azaab’. One angel said that he is sinner.

Other said he was on his way to ask for forgiveness. Allah ordered that the distance from the ground of sin and the ground of forgiveness should be measured. The distance from the ground of forgiveness was some inches lesser. Allah ordered that the angel of ‘Rehmat’ should take him because he was nearer to ‘Tauba’. It is mentioned in some traditions that Allah reduced the distance because the thought of ‘Tauba’ is the greatest ‘Tauba’.

(It is worth remembering that this type of examples are only to make us understand. Otherwise, angels do not make any movement without Allah’s permission. – Jawadi)

Allah is very kind and merciful. He has kept open the gates of tauba. He befriends those who repent and ask for his forgiveness. (Wasaelus-Shia – 2, p. 472)

It is mentioned in some traditions that when a momeen seeks Allah’s forgiveness, Allah is more happy than a man who finds his lost animal because it is easier for a lost animal to return than for a man to ask for His forgiveness. (Usul-e-Kafi – 2, p. 340)

Son, ask for forgiveness. Always ask for forgiveness immediately after sinning. Repent, so that you do not miss the opportunity and before Allah’s wrath descends. Beware, don’t, be lazy in seeking His pardon. Delay may invite all sorts of troubles. May be ‘malekul maut’ may come and you may not get time to seek His pardon.

Sin is like a small plant. In the beginning you can pluck it out of the ground easily, other wise the roots will go deep into the solid and it will be difficult to pluck it out of the ground. It is the same with sin. If you repent and ask for forgiveness immediately, then it is good, otherwise sinning becomes a habit and it may be too late to ask for forgiveness.

It is stated in the traditions that, after sinning, Allah gives 7 hours, 9 hours or 1 day’s time before his sin is written down. (Wasael-us-shia - 2, p. 480)

If he does not ask for forgiveness during this period, then his sin is written down and ‘Tauba’ becomes difficult afterwards.

By seeking His pardon, life span and wealth increases, also overall condition improves. Beware, don’t be lazy in seeking His forgiveness, otherwise you may be deprived of all His blessings.

Adopted from the book : "Wasiyatnama; Last Will Testament" by : "Sheykh Abdullah Mamkani"