Stories of repentant people(3)

Truthfulness that causes repentance

Once there was a group of highwaymen in the desert looking for a traveler or a caravan to rob their monies. Suddenly they saw a traveler at a distance. They attacked him and said to him, ‘Give us all what you have!’ He said, ‘All what I have is eighty dinars. I have borrowed forty dinars and I have to spend the rest on my living and my travel until I reach my country.’

The chief of the robbers said, ‘Let him alone. The signs of wretchedness and poverty appear clearly on him and he has no money except what is with him.’

The man left and the robbers remained waiting for another prey. But this traveler reached his country, paid his debt back and came back again in the same way. He found the same robbers who said to him, ‘Give us all what you have or we will kill you.’ He said, ‘I had eighty dinars. I paid forty of them for the debt and I have to spend the rest on my living.’ The chief of the robbers ordered his men to frisk him. They did not find in his cloths save forty dinars. The chief said to him, ‘Tell me the truth. What made you, in spite of danger, say the truth with no fear?’ he said, ‘I have promised my mother since my childhood not to say but the truth and not to pollute myself with lying.’

The highwaymen burst into laughter but their chief sighed and said, ‘How strange! You have promised your mother not to say except the truth and you have kept your promise till now but I have not kept the promise that is between me and Allah where He has put us under the obligation to obey Him and not to disobey Him!’ Then he cried, ‘O my Lord, since now I will carry out my promise with You. Repentance! Repentance! Repentance!’

Wonderful repentance

At the time of the Prophet (s) there was a man living in Medina who had the mien of gravity, benevolence and purity as if he was among the believers and the benevolent people. But this man went out some nights and away from the eyes of people to break into some houses to rob them.

One night and when he climbed up a wall of one of the houses he saw much furniture in the courtyard of the house and there was no one in the house except a young woman. He said to himself “I will win two pleasures; stealing the furniture and enjoying this woman.”

At that moment the rays of the unseen shone in his heart and lit the way to his mind. He sat in a corner pondering and then said to himself, “Shall I not die after all these sins and disobediences? Will Allah not receive me after my death and punish me for what I have committed? Shall I find a way on that day (of Resurrection) to flee from the Divine punishment and torment? On that day I shall be afflicted with the wrath of Allah and shall be burnt in the eternal fire of Hell.”

After pondering he felt very sorry and went back home empty-handed. In the morning he went out of his house with the appearance of the faithful and the mien of the benevolent. He came to the mosque and sat near the Prophet (s). Suddenly he saw that woman in the mosque. She came to the Prophet (s) and said to him, ‘I am unmarried woman and I have a big wealth. I have not intended to get married before but last night I imagined as if a thief had come to my house. Although he did not steal anything but he cause me to fear too much. Now I do not dare to live in the house alone. If you please to choose me a husband!’

The Prophet (s) pointed at that thief and said to the woman, ‘If you want to get married, I marry you now to that man.’ She said, ‘I have no objection.’

The Prophet (s) concluded the agreement of marriage between her and that man and they both went to the house. He told her what had happened last night and told her that he was the thief. He said to her that if he had stolen the house and pleased himself with her for some moments, he would have committed great sins and no doubt he would have pleased himself with her for that night only but because he had remembered Allah and the Day of Punishment and refrained from committing the sins, Allah had willed to let him enter her house from the door and to live with her happily forever.[1]

Repentance of Bishr al-Hafi

Bishr was a man of amusements and pleasures. One day Imam Musa bin Ja’far al-Kadhim (s) passed by Bishr’s house in Baghdad and he heard the voices of amusements, music and singing coming out of that house. Then a bondmaid came out carrying some sweeping and threw it in the street. Imam al-Kadhim (s) said to the bondmaid, ‘Is the owner of this house a free man or a slave?’ She said, ‘He is a free man.’

Imam al-Kadhim (s) said to her, ‘You are right! If he was a slave, he would fear his Lord?’

When the bondmaid came into the house, her master, while he was at the table of drinking, said to her, ‘Why did you come back late?’ She said, ‘A man said to me so-and-so…’ He went out bare-footed until he met Imam al-Kadhim (s). He repented before him. He apologized and cried before Imam al-Kadhim (s) feeling shy of his doings.[2]

The repentant will be in Paradise

Mo’awiya bin Wahab has narrated, ‘Once we left Mecca and with us there was a worshipping old man who knew nothing about this matter.[3] He offered full prayers (instead of shortened prayers) in the travel. His nephew, who was a Muslim, was with him. The old man became ill and I said to his nephew, ‘Would you tell him the truth so that Allah may save him?’ The others said, ‘Let him die as he is!’ His nephew could not be patient and he said to his uncle, ‘O uncle, The people have apostatized after the messenger of Allah (s) except some of them and the right (of the caliphate) and obedience were to Ali bin Abu Talib (s) after the messenger of Allah (s).’ The old man breathed and said, ‘I am on this.’ Then he died.

When we came to Abu Abdullah (s), Ali bin as-Sariy told him of this story and Abu Abdullah (s) said, ‘He is a man of Paradise.’ Ali bin as-Sariy said, ‘But he did not acknowledge that except for a moment before his death!’ Abu Abdullah (s) said, ‘Then what do you want from him? By Allah, he will be in Paradise.’[4]

Repentance of Abu Lubaba

When the battle of al-Khandaq came to an end and the Prophet (s) came back to Medina, Gabriel came down to him at noon and ordered him to go to fight the Jews of bani Quraydha who had broken their covenant with the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) ordered the Muslims to get ready and to offer Asr Prayer there. When the Prophet (s) blockaded the Jews, they said to him, ‘Send us Abu Lubaba to counsel with him our affair.’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘O Abu Lubaba, go to your allies!’ He went to them and they said to him, ‘O Abu Lubaba, what do you see if we submit to Muhammad?’ He said to them, ‘Submit to him but know well that you will be killed.’ And he pointed to his throat. Then he felt sorry for that and said, ‘I have betrayed Allah and His messenger.’ He went to the mosque, tied a rope around his neck and fastened it to the column of the mosque which was called “the column of repentance” later on. He said, ‘I will not untie the rope until I die or that Allah will accept my repentance.’ When the Prophet (s) was informed of that, he said, ‘If he came to us, we would pray Allah to forgive him but as he has turned to Allah so Allah is worthier of him.’ Abu Lubaba fasted during the day and ate in the night what could keep him alive only. His daughter brought him food and untied him when needing to go to the water closet. Some time later, Allah revealed to the Prophet (s) while he was in the house of his wife Umm Salama that Abu Lubaba’s repentance had been accepted. The Prophet (s) said to Umm Salama, ‘O Umm Salama, Allah has accepted the repentance of Abu Lubaba.’ She said to him, ‘O messenger of Allah, let you tell him that!’ The Prophet (s) said to her, ‘Let you do that!’ She took her head out of the room and said, ‘O Abu Lubaba, Allah has accepted your repentance.’ He said, ‘Praise be to Allah!’ The Muslims jumped to untie him but he said, ‘No, by Allah, until the messenger of Allah unties me.’ The Prophet (s) came to him and said, ‘O Abu Lubaba, Allah has accepted your repentance that if you are born today it will suffice you.’ Abu Lubaba said, ‘O messenger of Allah, do I pay all my money as charity?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘No, you do not.’ He said, ‘Two thirds of it?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘A half of it?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘No.’ Then he said, ‘One third?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘Yes, you do.’[5]

Repentance of the blacksmith

The narrator of this story says, ‘One day I went to the market of the blacksmiths in Basra and I saw one of them take a hot piece of iron with his bare hands, put it on the anvil and his boy hammer it. I became astonished at seeing that and how the flaming iron did not affect his hands. I asked the blacksmith about that and he said, ‘Sometime rainlessness had afflicted the city of Basra where people began dying of hunger. One day a young woman, who was our neighbor, came to me and said, ‘I am afraid that my children may die of hunger. Could you help us with some food?’ when I saw her beauty, I loved her. I suggested to her to commit the sin. She felt shy and hastened to her house.

After some days she came to my house and said, ‘O man, I fear for my children to die. Fear Allah and come to help us!’ I asked her to make love with her again but she felt shy and went out of my house.

Two days later she came to me and said, ‘I submit to you just to save the lives of my orphan children but please take me to an empty place so that no one can see us.’ I took her to an empty place but when I wanted to sleep with her, I saw her tremble terribly. I said to her, ‘What is the matter with you?’ She said, ‘You have promised to take me to an empty place but I see that you want to commit the sin with me before five lookers.’ I said, ‘O woman, there is no one in this house. Where are the five persons?’ She said, ‘The two angels who are responsible for me, the two angels who are responsible for you and Allah the Almighty Who sees our doings. How can I commit this sin before all of these ones?’

Her speech affected me too much that I began trembling and I did not let myself be polluted with sin. I left her alone and helped her with food until the time of barrenness elapsed. I saved her and her orphans from death and so she prayed Allah for me with this prayer “O my Lord, as this slave of Yours has put out the fire of his lust for the sake of You, protect him from the fire of this world and the afterworld!’ Thus fire did not affect my body at all.’

Repentance of the people of Younus

Sa’eed bin Jubayr and a group of interpreters say when mentioning the story of the people of Prophet Younus (Jonah) (s), ‘The people of Prophet Younus (s) lived in a land called Nineveh in Mosul (in Iraq). They abstained from believing in Prophet Younus (s) who had invited them to believe in Allah and monotheism and to refrain from committing sins. He invited them for thirty-three years but no one believed in him except two persons; one was called “Robil” and the other “Tanokha”. Robil was from the house of prophethood, knowledge and wisdom and he had been a companion of Prophet Younus (s) since too long. Tanokha was a weak man. He was ascetic and a sincere worshipper. He was a woodcutter carrying firewood on his head and living out of his toils. When Prophet Younus (s) saw that his people did not respond to him and did not believe, he became angry and complained that to Allah. He said, ‘O my Lord, You have sent me to my people while I was thirty years old and I kept on inviting them to believe in You and in Your mission and I threatened them of Your wrath and punishment but they disbelieved in me, denied my prophethood and disparaged my mission. They threatened me and I feared that they would kill me. O my Lord, inflict your torment on them for they are unbelieving people.’ Allah revealed to Prophet Younus (s), ‘There are fetuses, children, old men, old women and weak persons among your people and I am the Fair Judge. My mercy has preceded My wrath. I do not punish the children for the sins of the adults of your people. I like to be patient with them and to wait for their repentance. I have sent you to your people to be a keeper to them; to pity them with mercy, to treat them with the magnanimity of prophethood, to be patient to them with the prudence of the mission and to be to them as the curing doctor who fully knows their medicines. Then you asked me out of your (misestimation) to bring down torment upon them out of your impatience. My slave Noah was more patient with his people, better in his companionship with them and more serious in excusing them than you so I became angry for his anger and responded to him when he called on Me.’

Prophet Younus (s) said, ‘O my Lord, I have become angry with them for the sake of You and I prayed You against them because they disobeyed You. By Your glory, I will not be kind to them at all and I will not look at them with pity after they have disbelieved in me and denied my prophethood. My Lord, bring down Your torment upon them for they do not believe forever.’ Allah the Almighty said, ‘O Younus, I respond to your request. I will afflict them with torment. A severe torment will come to them on Wednesday, the middle of Shawwal after the sunshine. Tell them of that!’

Robil stayed with his people in their village. When the month of Shawwal came, Robil cried loudly at the top of the mountain, ‘I am Robil, who is kind and merciful to you. This is the Month of Shawwal. It has come to you and your prophet, the messenger of your Lord Younus has told you that Allah has revealed to him that torment would afflict you on Friday the middle of Shawwal after the sunshine and Allah will not fail in His promise. See what you will do!’

They said to him, ‘O Robil, what do advise us to do? You are knowing and wise and you are kind and merciful to us.’ Robil said to them, ‘I see that when the dawn of Wednesday comes, you should separate the children from their mothers and begin crying and weeping, the young and old of you. Pray Allah, repent, turn to Him and say “Our Lord, we have been unjust to ourselves and we have disbelieved in Your prophet. We have turned to You and repented of our sins. If You do not forgive us, surely we will be among the losers and the punished. O You, the most Merciful of the merciful ones, Accept our repentance!’

All the people agreed to do as Robil had advised them. When Wednesday came, Robil left the village to where he could hear their cries. When the sun shone, a yellow, dark and terrible storm blew with roaring and rustling. When the people saw that, they began crying and clamoring so loudly. They repented and asked Allah to forgive them. The children began crying wanting their mothers. When it was noon and the doors of the Heaven were opened and the wrath of the Lord calmed down, the Merciful Lord had mercy upon them, responded to their prayers, accepted their repentance and forgave their sins. When the people of Younus saw that the torment had been turned away from them, they came down from the tops of mountains towards their houses. They joined their women and children and thanked Allah for turning His wrath away from them.[6]

Repentance of the young prisoner

Sheikh as-Sadooq mentions that Imam as-Sadiq (s) has said, ‘One some prisoners of war had been brought to the Prophet (s). He ordered them to be killed except one of them. The prisoner said to the Prophet (s), ‘O Muhammad, may my father and mother die for you! Why did you set me free from among the others?’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘Gabriel has told me from Allah the Almighty that you have had five aspects that Allah and His messenger like; jealousy of your women, generosity, good manners, truthfulness and courage.’ When the man heard this, he became a Muslim and he became a sincere believer. He fought with the Prophet (s) so bravely until he was martyred.[7]

Repentance of one of tyrants’ assistants

Abdullah bin Hammad narrates that Ali bin Abu Hamza has said, ‘I had a friend from the clerks of the Umayyads. One day he asked me to take permission to him to come to Abu Abdullah (Imam as-Sadiq) (s). I asked permission and Abu Abdullah (s) permitted him to come. When he came in, he greeted Abu Abdullah (s) and sat down. Then he said, ‘May I die for you! I have worked in the divan of the Umayyads and I have got much money instead. I was indifferent to its legality or illegality.’ Abu Abdullah (s) said, ‘If the Umayyads had not found people writing to them (clerks), collecting taxes, fighting for them and attending their congregational prayers, they would have not extorted our right. And if the people had left them alone, they would have not found anything except what they had had in their hands.’ The clerk said, ‘Do I have an exit from this situation?’ Imam as-Sadiq (s) said to him, ‘Will you do as I say to you?’ He said, ‘Yes, I will.’ Abu Abdullah (s) said to him, ‘Get rid of all what you have got from their divan. Whoever you know, pay his money back to him and whoever you do not know, give his money as charity and I assure you that I will intercede for you with Allah to take you to Paradise.’ The clerk kept silent long and then said, ‘May I die for you! I will do!’

Ibn Abu Hamza added, ‘The young man (the clerk) went back with us to Kufa. He did not leave anything of his properties unless he got rid of it even his clothes which were on him. I collected some money for him. We bought him some cloths and gave him some money to spend on his living. After some months he fell ill. We visited him from time to time. One day I visited him but he was dying. He opened his eyes and said to me, ‘O Ali, your friend (imam as-Sadiq) has carried out his promise to me.’ Then he died and we prepared the affairs of his funerals. Later on, I went to Abu Abdullah (s). When he saw me, he said, ‘O Ali, we have carried out our promise to your friend (the clerk).’ I said, ‘You are right, may I die for you! By Allah, this is what he has said to me before his death.’[8]

Wonderful repentance

One day I went to perform preaching in the city of Bandar Abbas (south Iran) which was the centre of the governorate of Hormozgan. It was the anniversary of the birth of Imam al-Mehdi (s) on that day and the night was of Friday. It was decided that we should recite Du’a[9] Komayl at the end of the meeting.

As I have learnt Du’a Komayl by heart, so I could recite it even in the darkness. The meeting had special spiritual environment and the morale of the attendants was high.

A few moments before reciting Du’a Komayl by heart, a young man, who was about twenty years old and whom I had not seen before, gave me a letter in my hand.

After Du’a Komayl had finished and I went home, I opened the letter and read it. I wondered too much at it. It was written in it: “I was not from the people who attended such meetings. Last year about midday, one of my friends told me by the telephone that he would come to me at four o’clock in the afternoon to go together to a certain place. He came to me and while we were in the car, I asked him, ‘Where are you going to?’ He said, ‘My parents have traveled for some days and our house is empty now. I want us to be alone for sometime. I have invited two beautiful young women. They are in the house now and ready for us to sleep with them. He took me to one of the rooms and he went to another. When I came into the room and wanted to sleep with the young woman, I remembered that I had read a poster concerning your program of preaching where it had been written in it “Du’a Komayl in the night of Friday”. I knew that this Dua’ had been said by Ameerul Mo’mineen (s) but I had never attended such meetings before. During that satanic state I felt too shy of Ameerul Mo’mineen (s) where it had overcome me until I hated myself. I got up, went towards the door and fled from the house. I was still confused wandering in the streets until the night came. I came to the mosque and sat behind you immediately in the darkness of the mosque. I began crying ashamedly since the beginning of the Du’a until its end. I prayed Allah to prepare the affairs of marriage for me to save me from being polluted with sins. It was no more than two or three months after that when I got married to a girl from a noble and honorable family after a suggestion offered by my father and mother. I had not seen a beautiful one like her at all. Now I feel that this grace is due to the blessing of refraining from that sin and due to participating in the Du’a of Ameerul Mo’mineen (s). Since the beginning of this year I have attended all the meetings and I have written this letter to you to know the many advantages of such meetings especially for the youth.”