The word “repentance” and its derivatives have been mentioned in the Qur'an about eighty-seven times. It has been mentioned so much and this shows the greatness of this fact near Allah the Almighty.
We can classify what has been mentioned in the Qur'an concerning the matter of “repentance” into five parts:
- The command of repentance
- The way of the real repentance
- Accepting repentance (by Allah)
- Turning away from repentance
- The reason of not accepting repentance
1. The command of repentance
Allah has said,
“…and ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn to Him.” Qur'an, 11:3
“…and turn to Allah all of you, O believers, so that you may be successful.” Qur'an, 24:31
Ar-Raghib al-Isfahani says in his book Mufradat al-Qur’an,
‘Success on the Day of Resurrection is life without death, honor with no ignominy, knowledge with no ignorance and wealth with no poverty.’
Allah has also said,
“O you who believe! turn to Allah a sincere turning.” Qur'an, 66:8
From these Qur’anic verses it is understood that Allah the Almighty has ordered the believers and other than believers of repentance. It is well-known that obeying Allah is something obligatory and it leads man to the way of forgiveness and mercy and on the contrary that disobeying the order of Allah is impermissible and it leads to Allah’s wrath and torment and brings disgrace in this life and in the afterlife and causes eternal perishment.
source : REPENTANCE THE CRADLE OF MERCY By Husayn Ansariyan
