The Most Excellent Manner Of Seeking Forgiviness

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Bismillaah!

The Most Excellent Manner Of Seeking Forgiviness!!
A Lecture delivered by
Shaikh Abdur-Razzaaq ibn Abdul-Muhsin al-Abbaad​

All praise is due to Allaah. We praise Him, we seek His aid, we ask for His forgiveness and we repent to Him. We seek Allaah's refuge from the evils of ourselves and the evil consequences of our actions. Whomsoever Allaah guides, then none can misguide him and whomsoever Allaah misguides, then none can guide him. I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, Alone, having no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His Slave and His Messenger. May Allaah extol and send blessings of peace upon him, upon his true followers and upon all of his Companions.

To proceed:

My noble brothers, this lecture, upon the topic of seeking al-Istigfaar - asking for forgiveness for ones sins - deals with one of the most important topics to which the Muslim should give attention in his life and for which he should have the utmost concern. Included in it is the explanation of a tremendous way of seeking forgiveness, from amongst the various forms of seeking forgiveness that occur in the sunnah of the Prophet !. We ask Allaah that it should be beneficial to us and a blessing for us.

There are many texts to be found in the Book of Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, and in the sunnah of His Messenger ! that encourage one to seek forgiveness: texts commanding it, showing its excellence, showing the excellence of its people and of those who are constant in it. In fact, there are so many of these texts that it would be very difficult to enumerate them. From them is the saying of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High:

“Say, ‘O My servants who have transgressed greatly against themselves through sins! Do not despair of the Mercy of Allaah. Indeed Allaah forgives all sins to those who repent. Indeed He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful." Soorah az-Zumar (39):54

Some of the Salaf have said that this aayah from the Book of Allaah, is the one that gives the most hope to the one who seeks forgiveness. Moreover, Allaah, the Most High, in encouragement of seeking forgiveness, and in making clear its excellence and its fruits both in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, refer to what Nooh " said:
“He says: “I said to them, ‘Ask forgiveness from your Lord, indeed He is Oft-Forgiving. He will send rain to you in abundance and He will give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on you gardens and rivers.”
Soorah Nooh (71):10-12

This tremendous aayah promises numerous benefits and offers important lessons for those who seek forgiveness and for those who constantly ask forgiveness for their sins. It is related that a man came to al-Hasan al-Basree, the noble Taabi'ee, and complained to him of poverty. So he said to him, ‘Ask forgiveness of Allaah.'

Another man came to him complaining that he did not have any children. So he said to him, ‘Ask forgiveness of Allaah.' A third man came to him complaining of the barrenness of his garden. So he said
to him, ‘Ask forgiveness of Allaah.' He then recited to them the saying of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High:
“I said to them, ‘Ask forgiveness from your Lord, indeed He is Oft-Forgiving. He will send rain to you in abundance and He will give you increase in wealth and children and bestow on you gardens and rivers."
Soorah Nooh (71):10-12

These then are some of the fruits of seeking forgiveness and some of its benefits in the worldly life. As for the Hereafter, then the benefits of seeking forgiveness are very great and tremendous.

With regard to the Sunnah, there are many texts from the Prophet encouraging the seeking of forgiveness and making clear its excellence. From them is the hadeeth of Anas ibn Maalik # that is reported by, amongst others, at-Tirmidhee in his Sunan. He said, "Allaah's Messenger ! said:

‘Allaah, the Most High, said, ‘O son of Aadam! As long as you supplicate to Me, and hope in Me, I will forgive you what you have done and I do not care. O son of Aadam! If your sins were to reach the lofty regions of the sky, then you asked Me for forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of Aadam! If you were to come to Me with enough sins to fill the earth, but you met Me not associating anything with Me - I would bring you the like of it of fogiveness."

So the proof in this hadeeth qudsee for the excellence of seeking forgiveness is in the second sentence. That is the saying of Allaah, the Most High, ‘O son of Aadam! If your sins were to reach the lofty regions ('anaan) of the sky ...' as for the "anaan' of the sky, then it is said, ‘It means the clouds ...,' it is also said, ‘It is the extent of the sky that is reached by ones eyesight.' So, even if the sins were so many, so various and so monstrous, Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, would forgive the servant if he
asked Him for forgiveness.

Also from the ahaadeeth reported on the subject of seeking forgiveness is that of Aboo Hurairah, reported by al-Bukhaaree' that the Prophet ! said, "By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I certainly ask forgiveness of Allaah and repent to him more than seventy times each day."
1 The Prophet ! was such that Allaah had forgiven his earlier and later sins, yet he still used to ask Allaah's forgiveness more than a hundred times each day. Indeed, as Ibn 'Umar said, "We used to count that in a single gathering he would say, ‘I ask Allaah's forgiveness and I repent to Him,more than seventy times." Thus he ! would continuously ask for forgiveness and give it great importance.

1 Eng. Transl. Vol. 8, no. 319. The wording of al-Bukhaaree is, "... more than seventy times." And the wording of a narration of at-Tirmidhee is, "I seek the forgiveness of Allaah a hundred times in the day." Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmidhee, no. 2597.
2 See As-Saheehah, no. 556.

Also from the ahaadeeth showing the excellence and great importance of seeking forgiveness is that reported by Muslim in his Saheeh from Aboo Hurairah # from the Prophet ! that he said, "By Allaah! If you did not commit sins, Allaah would have taken you away and brought a people who seek Allaah's forgiveness, and He would forgive them." 3 He would have taken you away and He would have brought a people who seek Allaah's forgiveness, and He would forgive them - this shows the extent to which Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, loves the seeking of forgiveness and that He loves those who ask for His forgiveness.

Amongst the perfect Names of Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, is Al-'Afuww - ‘He who pardons,' and Al-Ghafoor - ‘He who forgives,' and Al-Ghaffaar - ‘The Oft-Forgiving.' Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, loves that we call upon Him by His names and that we worship Him by that which His names demand. As He Himself said:

“And Allaah has the most excellent and perfect names, so worship and invoke Him by them” Soorah al-A'raaf (7):180.

Also, the Prophet ! said in a hadeeth reported in the two Saheehs' from Aboo Hurairah #, "Allaah has ninety-nine names, a hundred except one. Whoever memorises and is mindful of them (ahsaahaa) will enter Paradise." 4 However, ‘... memorizing and being mindful of them ...' (ihsaa), is not merely to take these names upon a piece of paper and to recite them - as some people do. In fact, the scholars have explained that ihsaa of the names comprises three levels. The first of these is to memorise the names.
The second is to understand their meanings. And the third is to call upon Allaah by these names and to act as they demand.

3 Eng. Transl. vol. 4, no. 6522.
4 Al-Bukhaaree, Eng. Transl. vo1. 8, no. 419 and Muslim, no.6476

Source.

 

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Bismillaah!

The Most Excellent Manner Of Seeking Forgiviness!!​

As an example of this, we may take from the names of Allaah that of (say), At-Tawwaab. We then understand that its meaning, ‘He who guides His servants to repent and accepts their repentance,' is telling
us that Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, accepts His servant's repentance, guides them to repent and grants that to them. We also understand that He, the Most High, is the only One to grant forgiveness.

Having understood all this, we act as the name demands by repenting to Allaah from all our sins.
This is the manner in which we must memorise and understand all the perfect names of Allaah. However, it is important that our understanding of them should be correct and far removed from such corrupt methodologies as ta'weel, which attempts to explain away the meanings of Allaah's attributes by deviated and twisted understandings, or ta'teel, which denies both the attributes and that which they indicate - that which Allaah and His Messnger ! intended. No, our understanding is based upon the methodology of
the Salaf of the Ummah.

Allaah is Al-Ghafoor - ‘The One who forgives,' and He is Al- Ghaffaar - ‘The Oft-Forgiving,' and He is Al-'Afuww - ‘The One who pardons.' These, from the perfect names of Allaah, demand that we constantly seek forgiveness, that we frequently repent and that we turn in repentance to Allaah, the Most High. Yes, Allaah is indeed the Cane who forgives. As He, the Most High, said in the Noble Qur'aan:

“Allaah does not forgive that anything is associated in worship with Him, but He forgives whatever is lesser than shirk towhomever He pleases.” 5

However, in addition to deserving and seeking forgiveness, there are other conditions that must be fulfilled by the one who seeks it. From those sayings of Allaah the Most High, that most comprehensively lay down the conditions for attaining forgiveness of sins, is this aayah from Soorah Taa Haa:

“Indeed I am forgiving to the one who repents, truly believes, does righteous and correct deeds, and then remains constant upon right guidance”6

5 Soorah an-Nisaa (4): 48
6 Soorah Taa Haa (20):82.

So, "Indeed I am forgiving ..." and who is he who receives forgiveness from Allaah, the Majestic and Most High? It is the one who fulfills Allaah's conditions.

1. Firstly, it is he who repents. Repentance - at-Tawbah - is the only action that will cause all sins to be forgiven. It is reported, "Repentance erases what came before it." It wipes away the previous sins. Allaah forgives the sins of the repentant even if they are as many as the foam of the ocean. As Allaah has said:

“Say, ‘O My servants who have transgressed greatly against themselves through sins! Do not despair of the Mercy of Allaah. Indeed Allaah forgives all sins to those who repent. Indeed He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful." 7

"Do not despair ..." means here, ‘Repent to Allaah,' because He is, indeed, the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

• Secondly, the one who fulfils Allaah's conditions for repentance is he who, "... truly believes ...," he truly believes in Allaah, His Angels, His Books and His Messengers. He believes in the fundamentals of Eemaan.
• The third condition for the one who is seeking Allaah's forgiveness is that he, "... does righteous and correct deeds ...," he does these after repenting. Devoting himself to worship, to Prayer, to remembrance of Allaah, to fearing Him and to being mindful of Him. By devoting himself to these deeds of the heart and limbs, he turns to Allaah.

• Fourthly, "... he remains constant upon right guidance ..." He remains upright upon that, he does not break it nor turn back from it. He remains upon it until he dies. Whoever is like that, Allaah forgives his sins and conceals his faults. He is one of those who attain the forgiveness of Allaah, the Majestic and Most High.

7 Soorah az-Zutnar (39)54

O my brothers, I mentioned at the beginning of this lecture that it included the explanation of a tremendous way of seeking forgiveness. It is a form of seeking forgiveness that the scholars have mentioned as being the most excellent and most complete Therefore, we should give great importance to memorising the
wording, to understanding it correctly and to acting upon it.

So from Shaddaad ibn Aws # from the Prophet ! that he said,

"The noblest and most excellent manner of seeking forgiveness is that the servant says:

‘O Allaah, You are my Lord. None has the right to be wrshipped except You. You created me, and I am Your slave/worshipper. And I am faithful to my covenant and my promise as far as I am able. I seek Your refuge from the evil of what I have done. 8 I acknowledge before You all the favours that You have bestowed upon me. And I confess all my sins to You. So forgive me, since none can forgive sins except You.'

thank you.kayal