Tawbah part 1

The word Tawbah litterally means ’to return’. For us muslims it means to leave that what Allaah, subhanu wa ta’ala, has forbidden and to return to Him and to what He has commanded. To return to Allaah, to make tawbah, is a very important part of our islam, our submission to Allaah. In soorah al-Baqarah it says:

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّٲبِينَ
“Truly, Allâh loves those who turn unto Him in repentance” (2:222)

and this tawbah, is so important, because our destination in the hereafter is dependant on it, just as Allaah says in soorah An-Noor:

وَتُوبُوٓاْ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ
“And all of you beg Allâh to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” (24:31)

Which of course means being successful in the next life. To return back to Allaah in repentance, tawbah, is one of the greatest acts of ibadah, worship. This also shows how pleased Allaah is with our repentance. To explain this, the Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said in a hadeeth,
"Allaah is more delighted with the repentance of His servant than one of you would be, who suddenly finds his camel laden with supplies after losing it in a barren land" (Narrated by Anas and collected in the hadeeth collection of al-Bukhaaree (eng. trans. vol.8 p.214 no.321) & Muslim (eng. trans. vol.4 p.1434 no.6611))
Wouldn’t we be very happy, like extremely happy, if we lost everything we had and then “miraculously” got it all back? That joy and happiness is NOTHING, nothing, compared to how pleased Allaah subhano wata’ala is with our repentance. And does He gain anything from that? No, astaghfirullaah, Allah doesn’t need anything from us. But we need everything from Him.

Allaah loves that we make tawbah to him that if we didn’t he would replace us with another people that did. The Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said: "If you did not commit sins, Allaah would sweep you out of existence and replace you by another people who would commit sins, ask for Allaah's forgiveness and He would forgive them." (Narrated by Aboo Ayyoob & Aboo Hurayrah & collected by Muslim (eng. trans. vol.4 pp.1436-7 nos.6620-2).)

“All of bani Adem, constantly commits errors, and the best of those who constantly errs are those who constantly comes back to Allaah in repentance.”

So to repent, to turn back to Allaah, to make tawbah, is truly one of the greatest acts of ibadah, worship, so great that it can erase all our sins. The Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said: “One who repent from sin is like one without sin.” (6. HASAN - Reported by Abu 'Ubaidah ibn 'Abdullaah & collected by Ibn Majah Authenticated by al-Albaanee) And this is proven in many ayat. For example in soorah Az-Zumar:

قُلۡ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسۡرَفُواْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ لَا تَقۡنَطُواْ مِن رَّحۡمَةِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغۡفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًاۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ هُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

“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 Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (39:53)

The Prophet, aleyhi salaato wasalaam, gives us the best example in how to repent to Allaah. He says in a hadeeth, “O people! Turn to Allaah in repentance and seek His forgiveness, for surely I make repentance a hundred times every day." (Reported by al-Aghaar ibn Yasaar & collected in Saheeh Muslim (eng. trans. vol.4 p.1418 no.6523).)

As we can understand from what I’ve mentioned so far, tawbah is something we should do constantly in order to return to Allaah, to purify ourselves, so that we can come back to Allaah subhano wata’ala. It doesn’t matter what we have done in the past. What is important is NOW. What has happened, has happened. We can’t change it but we can learn from it. And of course we can and must repent sincerely and return back to the straight path. So we have to focus on now, what we can do from now on.