Repenting is a prompt duty

Sin is a psychological disease that has a cure. The doctors who cure this disease are Allah, the Prophets (s), the Imams (s) and the ulama. Therefore, the diseased must submit to these doctors and follow their instructions so that they can recover and become sound psychologically. Then they can spiritually join the caravan of the good slaves of Allah.

Those diseased with sin have to see that, as with bodily diseases, they should hasten to the doctor as soon as the symptoms appear in order to get rid of that disease before it becomes chronic and incurable. They also have to hasten to cure the disease of sin by following the instructions of the True Doctor (Allah) and by repenting and turning to Allah to get rid of the bad effects of sin and the darkness of disobedience. They must get out of the circle of Satan and sinful desires; remove from their hearts the screens of disobedience and the dregs of sins and let the light of Allah’s acceptance of their repentance and turning, and the light of mercy and forgiveness shine in their hearts. Then they will become psychologically and spiritually sound and safe.

Sinners, from the first moment they awake from the darkness of carnality and desire and notice their miserable state before all the divine mercifulness and generosity, must spend the rest of their days and nights in obedience, worshipping, serving people and being kind to them, and they must purify their hearts from the dregs of disobedience and the darkness of sins. They must refrain from all the apparent and hidden sins. They must cut off their relations with Satan and desire and turn to Allah to repair all that they have committed. They must follow the right path, humble themselves before Allah and keep on worshipping Him and helping His people.

This duty, according to jurisprudence and the Sharia, is a prompt obligation. It means that we must repent at the very moment we notice that we have committed a sin and disobeyed our Creator, and rebelled against His Guardianship as Generous Creator, and fought His kind Lordship. When sinners notice this, they must, immediately and without any delay, repent, turn to Allah and pluck the roots of sins out of their souls and lives. They must regret their sin and remove all the effects of sin so they are able to purify their hearts and gain the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. If sinners delay repentance, hoping that they will be able to repent in the future, this is itself considered a sin and a kind of disobedience. This will lead to feeling safe from the punishment of Allah and will insure that they will keep on committing sins.

Abdul Adheem al-Hasani narrated from Imam al-Jawad (s) from Imam ar-Redha (s) that Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (s) had explained to Amr bin Ubayd the major sins according to the Qur'an and said, “…and feeling safe from the punishment of Allah.”[1]

Hence, sinners have no rights to appoint future times for their repentance and are not allowed to procrastinate in turning to Allah. Sinners are not permitted to put off the cure of their disease (of sins) until old age and infirmity.

What is the guarantee for sinners that the future, when they promise to reform themselves, will come to them?

Who can guarantee that sinful young men will live until old age to repair the sins they have committed during their youth?

Who knows that death will not snatch the lives of sinners during their indifference to Allah when they are committing their sins and immersing themselves in forbidden lusts?

How many sinners procrastinated concerning their repentance and put it off for the future, but that future did not come!

How many youth, polluted with sins say, “We now live in the prime of life and we have to enjoy pleasures and lusts, but when we become old we will repent.” But death did not give them time and it snatched them unexpectedly!

How many the sinners want to repent and turn to Allah, but they keep repeating sins and being disobedient, until their souls are shackled with the chains of the Satan and desire? They become fixed in their sin and disobedience and the ability to repent is removed from them so they cannot ever turn to their Generous Creator. Moreover, repeating sins, keeping on being disobedient and being far from Allah makes them deny the Divine mission, deny the true proofs, deny the Day of Resurrection, deny the punishment in the afterlife and deride the signs of Allah. Therefore, they close the door of mercy, forgiveness, repentance and turning to Allah.

Then evil was the end of those who did evil, because they rejected the signs of Allah and used to mock them.” Qur’an 30:10

Sin demolishes faith and belief, corrupts morals and personality, degrades dignity and leads, in the end, to denying the signs of Allah. Sin mocks the Prophets (s), the Imams (s) and the Holy Qur'an, and then no advice or preaching will be useful to sinners or will affect their hearts.

“And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord; and a Garden, the extensiveness of which is (as) the heavens and the earth, is prepared for those who guard (against evil.” Qur’an 3:133

In order to purify the heart from the effects of the apparent and hidden sins and to gain the forgiveness and mercy of Allah, it is one of the most important obligations for us to hasten promptly and immediately to repent and turn to Allah. Delaying repentance even for one moment is something despised and ugly. In fact, as some Qur’anic verses tell us, delaying repentance for any reason is injustice and aggression against ourselves, and this injustice and aggression is another sin added to our record.

“…and whoever does not repent, indeed these are the unjust.” Qur’an, 49:11

Sinners must know that Allah , His Prophets (s) and His saints hate sinners to such a degree that Jesus Christ (s) often said to his disciples:

“O disciples, be beloved to Allah by hating the sinners, be near to Allah by keeping away from them and ask for His contentment by being discontented with them.”[2]

Sinners have to notice that when committing any sin their dignity and personality become degraded before Allah and their honor and values are lowered to the level of the animals and beasts. In fact, they may be more deviant and lower than animals, and they will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection in an inhuman shape.

Imam Ali (s) said to al-Bara’ bin Aazib, “How have you found this religion?” Al-Bara’ bin Aazib answered, “We were like the Jews before we followed you. Worship was light for us but when we followed you and the true faith got in our hearts, we found worship so heavy inside us.” Imam Ali (s) said, ‘…and then people will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection in the shape of donkeys and you will be resurrected one by one taken to Paradise.’[3]

Repentance is an ethical obligation

The ulama and scholars have written many books about ethics. They have divided morals into two parts: virtues and vices. They have classified pride, haughtiness, selfishness and the like under vices, and they have put humbleness under the virtues. They have discussed this subject in detail. Sin is a result of man’s haughtiness before Allah, whereas repentance is the delicious fruit of humbleness. Haughtiness occupied Iblis when Allah ordered him to prostrate himself before Adam (s). Then Iblis was cursed and exiled from the sanctum of the Divine mercy. It was haughtiness before the Divine order.

But the repentance of Adam (s) and his wife, which had been accepted by Allah, was the fruit of humbleness and submission to the Almighty; therefore the ulama have said that haughtiness was the reason behind driving man out of the Paradise and keeping him away from the mercy of Allah. Therefore, it is obligatory to avoid pride and haughtiness because humbleness and submission to Allah lead us near to Allah and encourage us to obey and worship Allah. They also lead us to apologize before Allah for our sins and disobediences and then to repent and turn to Allah. We have to be servile and submissive to Allah and to turn to Allah with crying eyes and fearing heart. We have to determine sincerely to give up sins forever and to repair all we have committed before.

It has been mentioned in the following Hadith qudsi[4] that Allah talked to Prophet Moses (s) saying, “O son of Imran, give Me from your eyes tears, from your heart reverence, from your body submission and then call upon Me in the darkness of nights you will find me near and responding.”[5]

The Holy Qur'an, when talking about Iblis, says:

“He said: What hindered you so that you did not prostrate when I commanded you? He said: I am better than he: Thou hast created me of fire, while him Thou didst create of dust. He said: Then get forth from this (state), for it does not befit you to behave proudly therein. Go forth; therefore, surely you are of the abject ones.” (7:12-13)

The Holy Qur'an shows that the misery, meanness and exiling from the mercy of Allah , which had happened to Iblis, are the poisonous fruits of haughtiness before the orders of Allah ; the haughtiness that caused him to get out of the sanctum of Allah’s mercy and fall down into the valley of meanness and punishment. Hence, we must avoid pride and haughtiness because this satanic state prevents us from obeying the orders of Allah the Almighty.

Allah has said about Adam (s) and his wife:

“They said: Our Lord! We have been unjust to ourselves, and if Thou forgive us not, and have (not) mercy on us, we shall certainly be of the losers.” Qur’an 7:23

Thus, the Holy Qur'an has mentioned Adam (s) and his wife’s confession of disobedience and their asking for forgiveness and mercy of Allah as good and desirable. It means that the Holy Qur'an has mentioned this confession as a kind of repentance and turning (to Allah) by Adam (s) and his wife. The Sura of al-Baqara, verse 37 mentions the acceptance of this repentance too. We must pay attention to the fact that confession and turning to Allah are precious results of spiritual humbleness, hearty reverence and psychological submission. According to the ulama, pride and haughtiness make a dark screen between us and our Creator, but humbleness and submissiveness make a paved way and an open door between believers and Allah. Holding on to pride and haughtiness is a great sin, whereas avoiding them is a great obligation. It is necessary that we should be humble before Allah and other people. We should make use of this humbleness to purify our hearts and souls from the dregs of sin and the darkness of disobedience and to grace our souls with worship and obedience. Repenting of sins is, indeed, a sign of being humble before Allah the Almighty and of being free from pride and haughtiness. Repentance is one of the fundamental moral obligations.

We read in the traditions that talk about pride and haughtiness that Hakeem has said, “Once I asked Abu Abdullah (Imam as-Sadiq (s)) about the least sign of atheism and he said, “Pride is the least of it.”[6]

Al-Husayn bin al-Ala’ has said, “I have heard Imam as-Sadiq (s) saying, “Pride may be in the evil people of every kind. Pride is the dress (aspect) of Allah and whoever tries to put on the dress of Allah, Allah will make him meaner and lower.”[7]

Imam al-Baqir (s) has said, “Glory is the dress of Allah and pride is His loincloth and whoever gets something of that, Allah will throw him into Hell.”[8]

Imam as-Sadiq (s) has said about humbleness, “In the Heaven there are two angels responsible for people; whoever (of people) becomes humble before Allah, they exalt him and whoever becomes proud, they lower him.”[9]

The Prophet (s) has said, “Whoever is humble before Allah, Allah exalts him, whoever is proud, Allah lowers him, whoever is moderate in his living, Allah bestows more blessings on him, whoever wastes, Allah deprives him of blessings and whoever remembers death much Allah loves him.”[10]

In a Qudsi tradition, Allah said to Prophet David (s), “O Dawood (David), the closest people to Allah are the humble ones and the farthest people from Allah are the haughty ones.”[11]