IN the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Repentance has very important advantages in the worldly life and in afterlife, which is mentioned in the verses of the Qur’an, especially the verses concerning repentance of sins, and the honorable traditions narrated from the Prophet SAW. Here we mention some of these advantages.
For those believers who have wronged themselves, the Qur’an asks them to return, seek Allah’s forgiveness, and make a sincere tawba. The Qur’an assures them that if they do this, and if their repentance was real and true, and arises out of the depths of the heart with all its conditions, certainly, the Clement and Merciful Allah will accept it and will forgive them, and exonerates them from their misdeeds. The most important result of repentance is Allah’s forgiveness. The Qur’an says: “Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and receives the charities, and that it is Allah who is the All-clement, the All-merciful”? (Qur’an- 9:104)
“Say [that Allah declares,] “O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah will forgive all sins. Indeed He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.’” (Qur’an- 39:53)
“…Those who repent after that and reform, then Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful.” (Qur’an- 24:5)
Most of the verses concerning repentance end with the two attributes “Merciful” and “Forgiver”. It means that Allah SWT grants a true repentant with His mercy and forgiveness.
According to the narration of the Qur’an and Hadith, Allah’s overarching mercy permits even the gravest sins to be pardoned by Him, provided the wrongdoer intend a sincere tawba,
“Indeed Allah does not forgive that any partner should be ascribed to Him, but He forgives anything besides that to whomever He wishes.” (Qur’an- 4:48)
“[Acceptance of] repentance by Allah is only for those who commit evil out of ignorance, then repent promptly. It is such whose repentance Allah will accept and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise. (Qur’an- 4:17)
As it has been stated in a hadith, Almighty Allah says, “O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me, and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.”
The other result of repentance is pouring the grace of Allah to the repentant. Imam Ali (RA) has said, “Repentance calls down mercy.” The Qur’an says: “And seek forgiveness from your Lord, then repent to Him; He will make you enjoy an enjoyment (and gives His grace to you).” (Qur’an- 11:3)
The third consequence is replacing misdeeds with good deeds. Almighty Allah SWT not just forgives the repentant but He compensates his losses and replaces the misdeeds with good deeds.
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“Those who repent, attain faith, and act righteously. For such, Allah will replace their misdeeds with good deeds, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.” (Qur’an- 25:70)
The other consequence of repentance is increasing in power, kids, and wealth (to provide blessings). The Qur’an says: “(Hud said,) “My people seek forgiveness from your Lord, and then repent to Him; He will send the rain to you abundantly, and He will increase might to your might. So do not turn away as criminals.’” (Qur’an- 11:52)
“(Noah said,) “Plead to your Lord for forgiveness. Indeed, He is all-forgiver. He will send for you abundant rains from the sky and aid you with wealth and kids, and provide you with gardens and provide you with streams.’” (Qur’an: 71: 10-12).
Another result of repentance is purification of the repentant and receiving the love of Almighty Allah.
“Indeed Allah loves the penitent and He loves those who keep clean.” (Qur’an- 2:222)
The Prophet (SAW) said, “Turn to Allah (and repent) and enter into His love because Allah loves those who turn much (to Him), and He loves those who purify themselves. The believers turn much to Allah.
The sixth outcome of repentance is to attain salvation. The Qur’an states,
“Rally to Allah in repentance, O faithful, so that you may be felicitous and attain salvation.” (Qur’an- 24:31)
“As for him who repents and develops faith and acts righteously, maybe he will be among the felicitous.” (Qur’an- 28:67)
The seventh result is entering paradise. The Qur’an says,
“O you who believe, you shall repent to Allah a firm repentance. Maybe your Lord will then remit your sins and admit you into gardens with flowing streams (into heaven).” (Qur’an- 66:8)
The Qur’an invites people to hasten towards repentance because no one knows the time of his death, and he may lose his opportunity to repent. As the Qur’an says, if a person were on the threshold of his purgatory and saw his death signs, and divine punishment, (in this situation) his repentance would not be accepted. The doors of repentance at this time are closed, because he in such situations repents compulsorily not voluntarily and it is not a sincere repentance. The Glorious Qur’an says: “But [acceptance of] repentance is not for those who go on committing misdeeds: when death approaches any of them, he says, “I repent now.” Nor is it for those who die while they are faithless. For such We have prepared a painful punishment.’” (Qur’an- 4:18)
Therefore, there is only one case, in which repentance is not acceptable and that is when it has been done under compulsion and force. The Prophet (SAW) has said, “Whoever repents a year before his death Allah accepts his repentance.” Then he said, “A year is too much. Whoever repents a month before his death Allah accepts his repentance.” Then he said, “A month is too much. Whoever repents a week before his death Allah accepts his repentance.” Then he said, “A week is too much. Whoever repents a day before his death Allah accepts his repentance.” Then he said, “A day is too much. Whoever repents before (the moment) he sees the angel of death Allah accepts his repentance.”
On the other hand, it should be noted that, every day passes, the harder it is to repent, and the sinner reaches a point that he never repents. The Qur’an says “Deaf, dumb, and blind, they will not come back.” (Qur’an- 2:18). It adds, “Certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and humans: they have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, they have ears with which they do not hear. They are like cattle; rather they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.” (Qur’an- 7:179)
Like the Qur’an, in Islamic traditions, the danger of delaying repentance and the importance of hastening towards repentance have been emphasised. The Prophet (SAW) said, “Do not commit sins and [if you commit a sin] do not delay its repentance; rather, you should repent beforehand and delay sins (and leave them). He also said, “Allah accepts the repentance of His servant even before he breathes his last. Turn to your Lord before you die and hasten to do good deeds before you become busy (with other things) and keep what is between you and your Lord by mentioning Him too much.”
and then