Tawbah part 3

We have now been going through two of the benefits of repentance. It wipes away our sins and it admits us to Paradise. The third benefit is that it renews our faith, our iman. You know, the Prophet, aleyhi salaato wasalaam, he said that our iman wears out just like clothes wears out, so we should renew our iman. And if we are sincere about our tawbah we will see and feel how our hearts will start to thaw, to become soft again. Our hearts will be alive again. When we reflect to ourselves about what we did, or didn’t do, we will begin to feel the wounds from that disobedience. It can be minor sins, or major sins, or a small sin that we are constantly doing. The sins we do are in level with our iman. If our iman is low, we don’t care much about what we do, we might even like the sins we do and don’t refrain or regret doing them. Or we do them openly. Our iman and our sins are in a direct relationship. Every time we commit a sin, our iman diminishes, it gets lower. When we leave the sins, leave the things that displeases Allaah subhano wata’ala, our iman will rise. There are many ayat, verses in the Koran about this and also ahadeeth. For example the Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said, "The one who commits illegal sexual intercourse is not a believer at the time of committing illegal sexual intercourse, and a thief is not a believer at the time of committing theft, and a drinker of alcoholic drink is not a believer at the time of drinking. Yet, (the gate of) repentance is open thereafter" (Al-Bukhari 8, 801). At the time we are doing these actions, our iman isn’t completely cancelled, but it in such a low level that we are able to commit these wrong actions, these sins. When our iman is high, we do not commit these mistakes or these sins. In an another hadeeth, the Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, says: “When an adulturer commits adultery, the iman leaves him.”



Anyway, when we try to get closer to Allaah, to return to him, and purify our souls by making tawbah, the idea is to make our hearts alive. And when our hearts becomes alive (again) our iman starts increasing. Allaah mentions the relation between tawbah and iman in soorah al-Furqaan amongst other ayat:

وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَدۡعُونَ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا ءَاخَرَ وَلَا
يَقۡتُلُونَ ٱلنَّفۡسَ ٱلَّتِى حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَّا بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَلَا يَزۡنُونَۚ وَمَن يَفۡعَلۡ ذَٲلِكَ يَلۡقَ أَثَامً۬ا
يُضَـٰعَفۡ لَهُ ٱلۡعَذَابُ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَـٰمَةِ وَيَخۡلُدۡ فِيهِۦ مُهَانًا
إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلاً۬ صَـٰلِحً۬ا فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ يُبَدِّلُ ٱللَّهُ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمۡ حَسَنَـٰتٍ۬ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورً۬ا رَّحِيمً۬ا

And those who invoke not any other ilâh (god) along with Allâh, nor kill such person as Allâh has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse - and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace; Except those who repent and believe (in Islâmic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds, for those, Allâh will change their sins into good deeds, and Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (25:68-70)

The relationship between tawbah and iman, how tawbah increases your iman. Allaah points out that when you do tawbah, your iman will increase IF your tawbah is sincere (nasooha). This is a part of a series of verses that talks about the servants of the Most Merciful, meaning the believers. So again, who are the believers? One of their characteristics is what is mentioned in these ayat. There will be a terrible torment for those who sins EXCEPT those who repent and believes. So if we repent, form whatever it is that we have been doing wrongfully, our iman is supposed to rise. We repent and then we have iman. This shows that you shouldn’t be content to just have the iman in your heart. No it has to be transformed into action, by doing righteous deeds.

Also in soorah Ta-Ha:

وَإِنِّى لَغَفَّارٌ۬ لِّمَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحً۬ا ثُمَّ ٱهۡتَدَىٰ (٨٢)

And verily, I am indeed forgiving to him who repents, believes (in My Oneness, and associates none in worship with Me) and does righteous good deeds, and then remains constant in doing them, (till his death). (20:82)

Again, those who repent AND believe and do righteous deeds. So when we do tawbah it is supposed to revive our iman! Because when we really starts to think of what we have done and especially to whom we have done it, who it is we have wronged, sinned against. When we start to remember that, to think of Allaah, how small we are compared to our Creator, when we think of Allaah, and we become aware of Allaah and His attributes, His Mercy, His Forgiveness, His Greatness, how can we not become humble, how can we not humble ourselves. When we start to remember Allaah and decides that we will dedicate our lives to Allaah, then our hearts becomes soft, and we realise that we have no choice but to thank Allaah for all that He has given us, for that He has given us the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and to repent to Him. And also when we think of all the sins we made, and we realised that all this time, Allaah knew about them, but He never revealed them to others, he was so merciful to us that we didn’t have to be exposed. SubhanAllaah. If Allaah had wanted to, everyone on this earth could have been aware of all the bad things we do and have done. But He covers for us. And He is being patient with us. We go on with our lives. Good things happen to us, even though we have wronged the one who is most deserving of our love and obedience. Allaah can and could have punished us whenever He wanted to. But he didn’t. He is patient with us. Waiting for us to seek His forgiveness and to return to Him. Because Allaah loves when we return to him. Just as I said in the beginning:

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّٲبِينَ

“Truly, Allâh loves those who turn unto Him in repentance”

Subhanaka allahomma wa bihamdik
ashhado anla ilaha illa ant
wastaghfirooka waatoobo ilayk