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Documents of the Right Word

A collection of small books written by Sunni scholars for answering Shi'a claims.

A collection of small books written by Sunni scholars for answering Shi'a claims.

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Allâhu ta’âlâ loves those who make tawba. He forgives <strong>the</strong>m. If<br />

<strong>the</strong> sinner (who has made tawba) sins again, his tawba will not be<br />

cancelled. However, he will have to make tawba again. If a person<br />

remembers a sin with pleasure although he has made tawba for<br />

that sin, he will have to renew his tawba. It is farz to pay back <strong>the</strong><br />

debts and dues one owes to o<strong>the</strong>r people, to apologize to people<br />

one has backbitten, if any, and to perform all sorts <strong>of</strong> prayers one<br />

has omitted in <strong>the</strong>ir prescribed times, if any. These things,<br />

however, are not <strong>the</strong> tawba itself, but <strong>the</strong> conditions for tawba.<br />

Returning one pound to its owner is better than performing<br />

supererogatory worships for a thousand years or making<br />

supererogatory hajj seventy times. It is not right not to make tawba<br />

for <strong>the</strong> fear that one’s tawba will be cancelled if one sins again. It<br />

is ignorance. It is a delusion instilled by <strong>the</strong> devil. It is farz to make<br />

tawba after each sin. When <strong>the</strong> tawba is delayed for one hour, <strong>the</strong><br />

sin is doubled. This comes to mean that <strong>the</strong> sins <strong>of</strong> those people<br />

who postpone <strong>the</strong> performance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prayers <strong>of</strong> namâz <strong>the</strong>y have<br />

omitted become doubled as each spare time as long as to permit<br />

<strong>the</strong> performance <strong>of</strong> namaz is spent.<br />

Tawba is not made only by saying that one has made tawba (or<br />

that one is sorry about one’s sin). Acceptability <strong>of</strong> tawba is<br />

dependent on fulfilment <strong>of</strong> three conditions:<br />

1- The sinner has to cease from <strong>the</strong> sin concerned.<br />

2- Fearing Allâhu ta’âlâ, <strong>the</strong> sinner must feel shame and<br />

repentance for having sinned.<br />

3- The sinner must make a heartful promise not to commit<br />

again <strong>the</strong> sin concerned. Allâhu ta’âlâ promises that He shall<br />

accept <strong>the</strong> tawba made properly and observing its conditions.<br />

Habits can change. One should do one’s best to develop good<br />

habits.<br />

Whe<strong>the</strong>r a person will migrate to <strong>the</strong> Hereafter as a Believer is<br />

a matter which will be certain at his last breath (<strong>the</strong> time <strong>of</strong> death).<br />

If a person who has lived as a disbeliever for sixty years becomes a<br />

Muslim only a short time before his death, he will rise as a Believer<br />

in <strong>the</strong> Hereafter. With <strong>the</strong> exception <strong>of</strong> Prophets ‘alaihim-ussalawâtu<br />

wa-t-teslîmât’ and a number <strong>of</strong> certain people who have<br />

been blessed with <strong>the</strong> promise (<strong>of</strong> Allâhu ta’âlâ) that <strong>the</strong>y will<br />

definitely go to Paradise, no one can be said to be ‘due for<br />

Paradise’. For it cannot be known beforehand how a person will be<br />

at his last breath.<br />

If a Believer who has migrated to <strong>the</strong> Hereafter has left in <strong>the</strong><br />

– 318 –

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