Ibn Bazz: How should we repent from evil deeds?

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How should we repent from evil deeds? 

From `Abdul `Aziz Bin `Abdullah Ibn Baz to the honorable (...). May Allah protect you from the Satanic temptations and guide you to what sets your religion and life right! 

May peace and Allah's Mercy and Blessings be upon you! 

I have received your letter concerning some things that you committed but you are unaware of their ruling and fear their consequences. It is worth mentioning that we asked you previously on 12/7/1390 A.H. to come but this was not possible. However, we are going to answer the questions mentioned in your letter, if Allah wills. 

Q: You asked that you may abandon Salah at times and that you many times resolved to repent to Allah from this but you went back on your decision. You said that this leniency caused you to abandon other Pillars of Islam. Then, you stated that you have made up your mind to truthfully return to Allah in repentance and to give up all evil deeds. You also ask whether you will be among those whom Allah accepts their repentance or those whom Allah says about them, Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allâh will not forgive them You also put forth the question that whether it is a condition of repentance to say the two declaration of faith aloud in front of a scholar, perform Ghusl (ritual bath), offer two Raka`ahs (units of Salah), and so on? 

A: Allah (Glorified be He) says in His Glorious Book that He accepts the penitence of His Slaves regardless of the wrongdoings they committed. He (Exalted be He) says, Say: "O ‘Ibâdî (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allâh: verily, Allâh forgives all sins. Truly He is Oft­Forgiving, Most Merciful. Scholars agreed that this Ayah (Qur'anic Verse) was revealed concerning penitent people. It means that Allah (Exalted be He) may forgive all the sins, if the person is truthful in his repentance which is fulfilled by regretting the sins he committed, abstaining from committing bad deeds, and being determined not to re­commit them. If someone observes these things, they are truthful in their repentance. 

Moreover, the Ayah forbids evildoers to despair of Allah's Mercy no matter how grave and multiple their sins might be, as Allah's Mercy is wider and His Forgiveness is greater. Allah (Exalted be He) says, 

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And He it is Who accepts repentance from His slaves, and forgives sins, and He knows what you do. And He (glory be to Him) says concerning Christians, Will they not turn with repentance to Allâh and ask His Forgiveness? For Allâh is Oft­ Forgiving, Most Merciful. Also, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, Islam wipes out all that has gone before it and penitence, also, wipes out all that has been done before it (of misdeeds). There are many sayings of Allah (Exalted be He) and His Messenger (peace be upon him) in this regard. 

You should abandon all sins, resolve not to repeat them again, and regret the sins you committed in the past. You should do so with a sincere intention to Allah, glorification of Him, caution from His punishment and thinking well of Him (Glorified be He). It is authentically reported that Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, Allah (may He be Glorified and Exalted) says, "I am as My Slave would think of Me and I am in favor of Him whenever he supplicates Me." The Prophet (may Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him) also says in another report: Let none of you die without thinking well of Allah. In the light of this, you should fear Allah (Exalted be He), be pleased with your Lord and repent to Him in order to please Him and humiliate Satan. I would like to say to you that Allah will accept your repentance and forgive your past misdeeds, if you are sincere, for He (glory be to Him) is the All­Merciful and His Promise never fails. 

Saying the declaration of faith in front of a scholar is not among the conditions of repentance. Rather, repentance is fulfilled through admitting the wrongdoings and abandoning all evil deeds. To explain, if the problem is abandoning Salah (prayer), penitence is done through returning to Salah, regretting the past negligence and intending never to do so again and you are not asked to make up for the Salahs you did not perform according to the principle that repentance wipes out what was done before it. Similarly, if you did not say the two declarations of faith or doubted whether you have said them or not, repentance from this is carried out through saying them even if you are alone. So you say, "I testify that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger," with sincerity in firm belief that the only Lord is Allah (Exalted be He), Who has no partner, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allah's Slave and Messenger to the Jinn and mankind; whoever of them obeys him will enter Paradise and who disobeys will enter Hell.

Taking a bath is lawful and some scholars regarded it as obligatory on the person who embraces Islam for the first time or for the one who was an apostate. When performing Ghusl, the new Muslim or the returned Muslim pours water on the entire body with the intention of adopting Islam and repenting from the previous disbelief. 

It is not necessary to offer two Rak`ahs after Ghusl, however, it is religiously recommended for any Muslim to offer two Rak`ahs after observing a ritual purification according to Hadiths of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on the issue and they are called Sunnat­ul­Wudu' (the act of Sunnah of Wudu'). 

As for the Ayah you mentioned in which Allah (Exalted be He) says, Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief it does not 

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mean that whoever has increased in disbelief or repeated his disbelief, Allah (Exalted be He) does not accept His repentance, but it means, according to scholars, the persistence in disbelief until death as indicated in another Ayah from Surah­Al­Baqarah in which Allah (glory be to Him) says, Verily, those who disbelieve, and die while they are disbelievers, it is they on whom is the Curse of Allâh and of the angels and of mankind, combined. They will abide therein (under the curse in Hell), their punishment will neither be lightened, nor will they be reprieved. And He says in Surah­Al­`Imran, Verily, those who disbelieved, and died while they were disbelievers, the (whole) earth full of gold will not be accepted from anyone of them even if they offered it as a ransom. For them is a painful torment and they will have no helpers. He (Exalted be He) also says in Surah­Al­Baqarah, And they will never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your religion (Islâmic Monotheism) if they can. And whosoever of you turns back from his religion and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the Hereafter, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will abide therein forever." Allah (Glorified be He) elaborates in these three Ayahs that the matter of torment, curse, the nonacceptance of good deeds and nullifying rewards only occur in the case of dying while adopting disbelief. Therefore, scholars agreed that a disbeliever, whatever kinds of disbelief he has or how often he repeated apostasy, is accepted if he sincerely repents to Allah (Exalted be He) by giving up disbelief, resolving not to return to it again and regretting the past disbelief and wrongdoings. However, they disagreed with regard to the ruling on the person who apostasizes more than once in his life; will he be accepted and saved from killing or not? They do not disagree about the acceptance of sincere repentance as illustrated previously. 

I hope that what I mentioned is sufficient in the issue. Anyhow, you should hasten to observe sincere repentance, show submission to Allah (Exalted be He) and supplicate to Him to accept from you and help you adhere to the truth and protect you from the insinuations and whispers of Satan, who is indeed the bitter enemy that aims at destroying you and other people. Allah (Glorified be He) says, Surely, Shaitân (Satan) is an enemy to you, so take (treat) him as an enemy. He only invites his Hizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire. The thing that helps in humiliating Satan is to observe sincere repentance; so hasten in doing so and have glad tidings with good consequence and salvation from Hell and the acceptance of your penitence if you are truthful. 

I exhort you to say Dhikr (remembrance of Allah by saying, "Subhan Allah, [Glorified be Allah], A l­Hmad Li Allah [i.e. Praise be to Allah]) and asking Allah to forgive you and supplicate to Him to confer peace and 

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mercy on His Messenger (peace be upon him). Among the best supplications of Dhikr is the 'word of Tawhid', namely La Ilaha Illa Allah Wahdahu La­Sharika Lah Lahu Al­Mulk Wa Lahu A l­Hamd Wa­huwa `Ala Kull Shaie'n Qadir (i.e. no one is worthy of worship except Allah, He has no partner, to Him belongs dominion, and to Him belongs [all] praise, and He is over all things competent) as well as other supplications such as Subhan Allah, Al­Hamdu Li­Allah, La Ilah Illah Allah (no one is worthy of worship except Allah), Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), La Hawla Wala Quwata Illa Billah (there is no might nor strength save in Allah) and Subhana Allahi Wa Bihamdih Subhana Allahi Al­`Azim (Glory is to Allah and praise is due to Him, the Ever­Greatest). You should ask your Lord to forgive your evil deeds saying, "I ask Allah and no one deserves to be worshiped but Him, the Living and Self­Substantiating to forgive me and accept my repentance. (O Allah) there is no god but You. Glory is to You. Verily I was one of the transgressors. O Allah! I have done great injustice to myself and none but You forgives sins, so forgive me, and confer Mercy upon me as You are the Oft­Forgiving, the Merciful." 

I recommend you to recite the Glorious Qur'an a lot and to ponder on its Ayahs, for it contains all goodness and warns against every evil. Also, I advise you to read as much as you can from famous books of Hadith, such as Riyadh Al­Salihin and Bulugh Al­Maram, which contain great benefits for you and help you do good deeds, if Allah wills. Observing supererogatory Sawm (fasting) during Mondays and Thursdays and three days of every month is an act of worship and obedience to Allah (Exalted be He) and it entails a great reward and is a way to attain forgiveness of sins. However, if your mother does not agree to this, you should not displease her, for the mother has a great right and being dutiful to her is among the most important duties. She is doing so because she fears that you may become lazy out of Sawm so that you may be unable to seek your provision and your household duties. You know that seeking 

lawful livelihood of the family is one of the best acts that draw one close to Allah (Exalted be He) and is better than devoting oneself to supererogatory Sawm and Salah. Anyway, I advise you to listen to her and observe her request concerning this. In the future, if you find an opportunity to fast you can ask her permission and observe fasting if it does not disable you or weaken you so that you cannot fulfill the duties you are charged with as already referred to. 

I ask Allah to give you a good understanding of religion; guide you to the straight path; grant us and you sincere repentance and protect all of us from the whispers of Satan, the evil of the self and the bad deeds, for He is the Most Generous. 

May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon His Slave and Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, his household and Companions! 

Deputy of the President of the Islamic University in Al­Madinah Al­Munawwarah .