Golden, Yet Concise 8

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most 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.

We begin by first asking Allah, SWA, to Forgive us our sins and the sins of the entire Muslim Ummah and also the sins of those who preceded us in the journey to the hereafter. 

Moving straight to our discussion for this session we shall pose the question which is also the topic of our discussion: Is Istighfaar (seeking forgiveness) beneficial without Tawbah (repentance)?

Some of the scholars have the view that Istighfaar is the path towards Tawbah and that it is not beneficial to the one who is persistent upon the sin and, thus, it is not beneficial except with Tawbah because if the means does not reach the goal then that means is not beneficial. As a result, some of the People of Knowledge say, “Istighfaar is the path towards Tawbah and it must be done with Tawbah for it to become beneficial.”

Also, another group of scholars maintain the view that Istighfaar is beneficial even without Tawbah backing their view with evidences extracted from the texts (Quran and Sunnah) that have made usage of Istighfaar in its singularity without being accompanied by Tawbah. 

We are going to gain the benefit and also understanding of this matter by looking at the situation of a person who is persistent upon a sin and the he seeks the forgiveness of Allah. As an illustration let us take a look at the person who smokes, and smoking is a sin, and after smoking he says, “O Allah forgive me,” but he is very sure and has the intention of returning to the sin after sometime. Such a person is a persistent sinner. Here we find an example Istighfaar without Tawbah.

Now, if we say that Istighfaar is not beneficial without Tawbah then the Istighfaar this smoker made is not beneficial to him. But if we say that Istighfaar is beneficial without Tawbah then his Istighfaar will be beneficial to him.

From the sayings of the Scholars we come to realize that Istighfaar occurs in two ways:

The first is the Istighfaar done by a person for another person. For example, the Istighfaar of a child for his/her parents. This Istighfaar is beneficial without Tawbah. The dead cannot repent. From another angle, Istighfaar is sought from us in the Sharee’ah as Allah has commanded us in numerous places. And whatever is sought for or required in the Sharee’ah is beneficial.

The second way is the Istighfaar done by the sinner for himself. And the correct view is that this Istighfaar is beneficial to the sinner with the condition that it is done as a result of the fear of Allah. In this scenario the servant finds himself in two situations: a situation of fear of Allah and a situation of weakness towards his desires. Whenever he remembers Allah, he becomes afraid and seeks forgiveness and when he is overcome by his desires, he sins.

The Istighfaar done with just the tongue without the fear of Allah is the Istighfaar of Liars. This is a person who says with his tongue, I seek Allah’s Forgiveness, whereas in his heart he has not remorse for the sin and does not fear the consequences of the sin. This Istighfaar has no benefit.

So in conclusion, Istighfaar is beneficial if it is accompanied with the fear of Allah, the Exalted One. Whereas Istighfaar with just the tongue is of no benefit to its companion.

May Allah forgives us and accept our good deeds. Let us remember our brother Muhammad Amin who has been of great help in our work.

As-Salaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatu-Llah

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