Golden, Yet Concise 6

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful and the Especially Merciful

Praise be to Allah, as much as He Pleases and as befits His Majesty. We testify that none deserves to be worshipped except Allah and that Muhammad SAW is His servant and Messenger. We ask Allah to bestow His Salutations and Peace upon His Messenger SAW, his household, companions and the entire Ummah as long as winds come before rains and thunder comes after lightening.

Alhamdu-liLlah we have been given another opportunity to sojourn the path to knowledge. A path which the Prophet SAW is reported to have that whoever traverses it, Allah will make easy him the path to Paradise. May Allah make among the inhabitants of Paradise and make the path to it an easy one. Aameen.

Alhamdu-liLlah for being able to come this far in our series of post. I know in my heart that whoever has taken them seriously and paid attention to them will have tasted the benefits they come with by now. Whoever has not experienced that is advised to reread from the first post up to this one. May Allah guide us and enlighten us. This post shall be a new beginning in a way because we are done with one aspect of our discussions which enabled submerge ourselves into the realm of repentance and its conditions. In our early posts we were informed about the hadith of the Prophet SAW to Muadh bin Jabal RA. After telling him to fear Allah wherever he was, he again advised him to follow his sins with good deeds so that they wipe off. Maa Shaa Allah, we have taken one of the ten ways which the sins of the servant can be wiped off and that was Tawbah (Repentance). In this post, in shaa Allah, we shall begin with the second means of getting expiations for our sins, which is Istighfaar (seeking forgiveness from Allah) without Tawbah.

Servants of Allah, Istighfaar means seeking the Forgiveness of Allah. And the Forgiveness of Allah simply means that Allah SWA should veil or hide the sin of the servant and also remove the effects of aftermath of that sin like its punishment. So, whenever a servant says, “Astaghfiru-Llah” (O Allah I seek Your Forgiveness), what it means is, “I ask You O my Lord to shield/veil my sin and remove from me its effects.”

Istighfaar has been recorded from various texts of the Sharee’ah. It has been reported that the Prophet SAW said, “Verily I seek Allah’s Forgiveness seventy times in a day.” Narrated by Imam Muslim. And in another hadith that the Prophet SAW narrated from his Lord SWA in which Allah said, “O My servants, indeed you err(sin) during the night and also during the day and I Forgive all sins, therefore seek My Forgiveness and I will Forgive you.” These among many other texts are evidence that Istighfaar has been reported alone without being attached to Tawbah and that Istighfaar can be done without Tawbah.

Alhamdu-liLlah we shall bring our discussion to an end here. In our next post we shall find out whether there is a difference between Istighfaar (seeking Allah’s Forgiveness) and Tawbah (repenting or turning back to Allah). May Allah forgive us our sins. May He accept our acts of worship as solely for His sake. May He turn all our difficulties to ease and may He grant us Jannah in which we shall dwell with the Prophet, the companions, the righteous servants and our families.

Whoever has a question, suggestion, misunderstanding or any problem concerning these posts can address them to me via WhatsApp: +233209237434

These explanations are taken from the explanation of the “Concise Admonition” of Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, by the Revered Scholar and Teacher Duktuur Sulayman ar-Ruhayliyy may Allah safeguard him for the Ummah.

May the Salutations and Peace of Allah be upon His Noble Prophet SAW.

As-salamu alaykum wa Rahmatu-Llah wa Barakatuhu