The Signs of an accepted Tawbah (repentance) 27th night of Ramadan. Notes from the discourse on the 27th night of Ramadan. "THE SIGNS OF AN ACCEPTED TAWBAH (REPENTANCE)" Allah (swt) mentions in the Quran the solution to our mistakes (sins). Firstly we learn from the blessed words Allah the almighty, that he has primarily created 3 types of creations who have a certain duty. Secondly, there are the less important creations like the animals. First type are: the jinns. - From whom the cursed devil emanates from. Who incited the father of mankind. Now the Quran clearly, clears syydi Adam (as) of any wrong doing and instead as a result increased the station of the blessed prophet Adam (as) . Within this there are two types of devils of whom the second type is far dangerous than the first. Who are they? They are the devils from the human kind. - we get this from sura an nas. Where Allah the almighty mentions the devils from the human kind first, before bringing in the second type of devils. - who are from the jinn kind. As the human devils come in the form of father, brother, friend and say "do this and that... Don't worry about the consequence as all I want is the best for you". This analogy, is what the the devil from the jinn kind (iblis) used to mis represent and delude Adam (as). He told him to eat from the forbidden tree. - the men of wisdom say, Adam (as) ate from the tree thinking that they would get more closer to Allah by eating it. Not for once did the thought of sin enter the mind of the great prophet! - The mashaykh say not even the thought of sin entered the mind of Adam (as). This is the first type of creation - the jinn from whom the the cursed devil is. He adopted the route of disobedience of Allah and did not attempt to seek forgiveness from Allah. 2) Second type of creation are the sons and daughters of Adam (as). He tought us how if we make a mistake we should immediately turn to Allah the almighty. (repent) - Difference between tawbah and islah. - For example when a bulb goes in your house you simply replace the bulb. Is this like tawbah. Islah is where you try and find out the problem which caused the bulb to extinguish. - Then the problem will be solved for good. Tawah is simply replacing the faulty bulb with a new one - placing a new bulb in your life which is of guidance and radiance. - Islah is when you find out the fault from the fuse box and fix it direct at the source. This is like finding out your weakness and working on it to improve your state and preventing it from happening again. With tawbah there is a chance you will fall back into your precious sin. Whereas with islah it is less likely. you need both. With tawbah you create the thirst of forgiveness in you, and with islah you put into practice what you seek. - forgiveness from Allah. We learn that the prophet (saw) said those who do a real hijrah are those who leave the sins and travel to the pleasure of Allah. To attain forgiveness from Allah it is not simply saying o Allah forgive me. You will have to take steps in which you prove to Allah you will change or want to change. - you will have to put in some sacrifice aswell. Only then Allah will give you forgiveness. 3) the third are the angels who do not disobey Alllah (swt) at anytime. --------------------------- Abdullah Ibn Masud (ra) narrates: That we were sitting in the blessed masjid. Around the beloved messenger (saw). When he (saw) said: do you know what a true repentance is? - tawbahtun nasuha The companions replied only Allah and his messenger (saw) know. We do not know ya Rasulullah (saw). He (saw) replied: when anyone repents: (conditions) 1) If all the rights of people he has violated are not happy with him. His repentance will not be accepted! - this is in relation to the rights of people. Where and when there is rights of people involved they have to be made happy and they have forgive you before your forgiveness will be accepted in the court of Allah. If the person you have violated his rights does not forgive you then BEG him/her. If he/she has died then seek forgiveness from his family - if you have taken any money then return it etc. 2) If a person has done repentance but has not changed his clothes his repentance will not be accepted. What is meant by clothes here? It means the earnings by which a person is attaining his clothes - (haram earning). If this is the case one must change it. secondly, those who are against the sunnah clothes they must seek forgiveness and change their clothes to the sunnah. - until a person has not changed his fashion to the sunnah fashion of dressing he/she will not be forgiven. We see that those who wear the clothes of a army officer will want to fight, a person who wears the clothes of a dancing person will want to dance. Likewise those who wear the clothes of a pious person it will have a effect on him of acting piously and help him in many situations from doing sins. 3) The third condition is those who have not changed their eating habits their repentance will not be accepted. One should not eat for the sake of pleasure. But for Allah. -We should not think about food all the time, - we should not eat to full stomach. - We MUST eat according to the sunnah. Read bismillah etc. If you eat halal you will do halal things. If you eat haram thing you will do haram things - there is a strong link to food to our actions. 4) When anyone who has asked for forgiveness does not make efforts to change his/her gatherings, social gatherings, etc, will not attain forgiveness. - I.e we need to change our environment if we really want forgiveness. From the gatherings of the devils we have to go to the gatherings of the pious. 5) When any person has sought forgiveness and has not changed his spending habits, he will not attain forgiveness from Allah. - stop spending uselessly and return the debts of people you owe. As they are in need for their money. Return their money to them rather than spending lavishly! Not spending lavishly means not to spend any money when their is no need to spend. (control your spendings, do not spend for your desires when there is not need to spend lavishly!) - all these steps are doing the islah of the person aswell as helping one to attain forgiveness. **To attain real forgiveness we must leave our selves from empty wishes. Attain the real wish which involves sacrifices. A person who wants to become rich will not simply do so by thinking, but will have to do something about it.** 6) A person who has not changed his outlook on life will not attain forgiveness. This means one who has been slacking on his/her obligations of islam should stand strong and carry out these important and crucial obligations! Otherwise he/she will not attain forgiveness from Allah no matter what he says or does. You must stand at night when all others are fast asleep. The signs of those who seek forgiveness are: during the day they are busy with their work and during the night they stand and prostrate in front of Allah! 7) those who have not changed his/her character will not attain forgiveness. This means if there is no change in his character he will not attain what he is looking for. If he was harsh to people before, he must become humble and gentle to the people. There must be compassion of creation in the person. 8) the eight condition is he must have a big heart. Forgiving towards people and sweet. Accepting the mistakes of people (on personal rights, for example) When all these conditions are fulfilled then a person really attains forgiveness from Allah. - the repentance of those who are close to Allah (tawbahtun nasuha). When we have this sort of forgiveness then it will last and not be like the tawbah we do now. - very weak, flimsy, and fragile..