A Christian Asking About Repentance

7/29/2019 A Christian Asking About Repentance

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- K nowle dg e & Propagation Inviting others to Is lam Calling non-Muslims to Islam .- Etiquette, Morals and Heart-Softeners The Heart Softeners Repentance .

A Chris t ian As king Abo ut Repentance

ar es fr zh

If a man decides aft er a life of sinfulness to come to God and promise torefo rm his lif e, I understand that Islam says that h e will be forgiven andtheref ore in herit the promises etc.My question t hough is what has happened to t he weight o f this man'ssin, as in sinning he has of fended God and t herefore t his sin has t o beato ned for; who is going to ato ne for his sin, if God is just go ing toforgive him on t he promise of his being good and faithful? Surely as wesaw with Adam there has to be a consequence for sin...

Praise be t o Allaah.

Praise be to Allaah Who has guided us to Islam, for we would not have

been guided had He not guided us.

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First of all, we thank you for your question, and we ask Allaah to bless

you with guidance.

Allaah has created us f or a great purpose, which is to worship Him Alone

with no partner or associate. Allaah says (interpretat ion of the meaning):

And I (Allaah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should

worship Me (Alone)

[al-Dhaariyaat 51:56]

This is the purpose of life: to worship Allaah alone.

So Allaah has not created us to eat and drink o r to relax and play or

to strive and work hard rather He has created us to worship Him and

not to be ungrateful to Him; to remember him and not fo rget Him.

This is the purpose of life, and what a beautiful purpose it is. When man

lives to worship his Lord and Master, to serve His religion and establish

His command, with his body on earth and his heart with Allaah and the

Here af t er, then he understands the reality o f this life and how

insignificant this world is, and that what is left of this life should not be

wast ed in passing pleasures and temporary desires. O Allaah, bless us

with Your guidance.

Because worship requires explanation and guidance, Allaah sent His

Messengers:

Messengers as bearers of good news as well as of warning in order

that mankind should have no plea against Allaah after the (coming of)

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[al-Nisa 4:165]

Whoever submits is guided, and whoever turns away is doomed and

lost.

Allaah says (interpretat ion of the meaning):

Verily, proofs have come to you from your Lord, so whosoever sees, will

do so for (the good of) his ownself, and whosoever blinds himself, will do

so to his own harm, and I (Muhammad) am not a watcher over you

[al-Anaam 6:104]

If a person submits (becomes Muslim), he has chosen happiness for

himself:

And whosoever has embraced Islam (i.e. has become a Muslim by

submitting to Allaah), then such have sought the Right Path

[al-Jinn 72:14 interpretation of the meaning]

Because man is vulnerable to making mistakes and forgetting, and to

falling into sin, Allaah has prescribed repentance for His slaves and has

opened t he doo r of repentance unt il the Hour begins, and He invites Hisslaves to repent sincerely. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

O you who believe! Turn to Allaah with sincere repentance! It may be

that your Lord will expiate from you your sins, and admit you into

Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise)

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[al-Tahreem 66:8]

And all of you beg Allaah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be

successful

[al-Noor 24:31]

See also quest ion no. 14289 .

It should be noted that sins are of two types:

1 Transgressions against the rights of Allaah.

2 Transgressions against the rights o f created beings.

With regard to the first type:

Transgressions against the rights of Allaah such as adultery, drinkingalcohol, neglecting obligatory duties such as prayer, zakaah, etc. These

sins are punishable according t o shareeah, such as adultery and drinking,

for which the hadd punishment is to be carried out on t he one who does

them, and that is an expiation and a purification for him. If the hadd

punishment is not carried out on him, but he repents to Allaah, then

Allaah will accept his repent ance and turn his bad deeds (sayiaat) into

good deeds (hasanaat).

Whoever meets Allaah with these sins, without having repented or had

the hadd punishment carried out on him, is subject to t he will of Allaah on

the Day of Resurrect ion: if He wills He will punish him and if He wills He will

forgive him.

Al-Bukhaari (18) and Muslim (1709) narrated f rom Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit

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(may Allaah be pleased with him) who was present at the Battle of

Badr and was one of the prominent figures on the night of al-Aqabah

that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon

him) said, when there was a group of his companions around him: Give

me your o ath of allegiance (bayah), pledging that you will not associate

anything with Allaah, you will not steal, you will not commit adultery, you

will not kill your children, you will not fabricate lies and you will notdisobey with regard to anything that is right and proper. If you fulfil that,

your reward will be with Allaah, but whoever commits any of these

actions, his punishment will be in this world and it will be an expiation for

him. Whoever does any of these things then Allaah conceals him, it will

be up t o Allaah: if He wills He will fo rgive him and if He wills He will punish

him. So t hey gave their oath of allegiance to him on that basis.

According t o a report narrat ed by al-Bukhaari (6416): Whoever does anyof these things will be punished in this world and that will be an expiation

for him and a purification.

Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath (1/68): It is understood from this hadeeth that

carrying out the hadd punishment is an expiation for sin, even if the

person who is punished does not repent. This is the view of the majority

of scholars

Ahmad (1365) narrated that Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:

T he Messenger o f Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upo n him)

said: Whoever commits a sin in this world and is punished for it, Allaah is

too just to punish His slave a second time. Whoever commits a sin in this

world then Allaah conceals that and forgives him, Allaah is too generous

to go back to something that He has fo rgiven.

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This hadeeth was classed as hasan by al-Arnaaoot in Tahqeeq al-

Musnad , and al-Haafiz classed a similar report f rom al-Tabaraani as

hasan.


And those who invoke not any ot her ilaah (god) along with Allaah, nor kill such person as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor

commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the

punishment.

The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he

will abide therein in disgrace;

Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do

righteous deeds; for those, Allaah will change their sins into good deeds,

and Allaah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful

[al-Furqaan 25:68-70]

Verily, Allaah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with

Him, but He forgives whom He wills, sins other than that, and whoever

sets up partners in worship wi th Allaah, has indeed strayed far away.

[al-Nisa 4:116]

This verse has to do with the one who does not repent. He is subject to

the will of Allaah, unless he commits shirk (the sin of associating other

with Allaah), because shirk cannot be forgiven.

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Transgressions against the rights of people, such as transgressing

against their wealth by stealing it o r seizing it by f orce, etc., or

transgressing against their honour by means of gossip and slander, or

harming them physically by striking them, etc. Repentance from this type

of sin is subject to the condition that the rights be restored to the

people, or they agree to forgive the of fender.

Whoever does not do that will remain subject to the effects of his sin

until the Day of Resurrection, when an amount commensurate with his

offence will be taken from his good deeds (hasanaat), as the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever has wro nged

anyone with regard to his honour or anything else, let him settle the

matter today before there is no dinar and no dirham, and if he has any

righteous deeds, an amount commensurate with his wrongdoing will betaken from him, and if he has no good deeds (to his credit) some of the

bad deeds of his companion will be taken and added to his burden.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2317.

From t his we know t hat t he view that t he sinner must be punished in this

world is a view for which there is no evidence, but if a person is punished

(in this world) that will be an expiation for him, and if he is not punished

then he repents from his sin, Allaah will accept his repentance.

Even more false than this is the view of those who say that the

punishment for sin may be borne by someone other than the sinner, as

some ignorant people say concerning Adam (peace be upon him),

claiming that his progeny including t he Prophets bore t he burden of

his sin until God sent down His only son t o be crucif ied and slain t o f ree

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the world of sin! This is a lie and a fabrication against Allaah and against

His Prophets, and is a kind of injustice of which the divinely-revealed laws

are free, because Allaah does not punish anyone fo r the sins of anot her.


And no bearer of burdens shall bear anothers burden

[Faatir 35:18]

Allaah is too merciful and to o just t o punish the o ff spring for t he sins of

their fat her, especially since he repented and Allaah accepted his

repentance.


Then the Shaytaan (Satan) made them slip therefrom (the Paradise), and

got them out from that in which they were. We said: Get you down, all,

with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be a dwelling place for you

and an enjoyment for a time.

Then Adam received from his Lord Words. And his Lord pardoned him

(accepted his repentance). Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts

repentance), the Most Merciful

[al-Baqarah 2:36-37]

Then they both ate of the tree, and so their private parts became

manifest to them, and they began to cover themselves with the leaves of

the Paradise for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he

went astray.

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Then his Lord chose him, and turned to him with forgiveness, and gave

him guidance

[Ta-Ha 20:121-122]

So two things apply in the case of Adam: he was punished for his sin, and

he repented from it and Allaah accepted his repentance, and He chose

him and honoured him.

The point is that whoever lives a life filled with disobedience and sin only

has to turn t o his Lord, the most Merciful and Most Generous, and seek

His forgiveness and repent, in order for Allaah to accept his repentance,

as Allaah has promised (interpretation of the meaning):

Say: O Ibaadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves

(by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah,verily, Allaah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful

[al-Zumar 39:53]

This is part of the kindness that Allaah has made in this to lerant

shareeah. It was decreed for the Children of Israel that the innocent

among them kill the wrongdoers so t hat their repentance would be

accepted [cf. al-Baqarah 2:54], then Allaah lifted this heavy burden from

this nation on whom He has had mercy.

Finally we ask Allaah to bless the quest ioner and guide him and open his

heart t o Islam, so t hat he may become a member of the Muslim ummah

(nation) which accepts Allaah as it s Lord, Islam as its religion and

Muhammad as its Prophet.

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And Allaah knows best .

Islam Q&A

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A Christian Asking About Repentance

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