Repent to Allah

It was narrated that Jabir bin ‘Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“The Messenger of Allah may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,  delivered a sermon to us and said: (O people! Repent to Allah before you die. Hasten to do good deeds before you become preoccupied . Uphold the relationship that exists between you and your Lord by remembering Him a great deal and by giving a great deal of charity in secret and openly. (Then) you will be granted provision and Divine support.)

This commandment combines all good delivered by the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,  to be a guide to people to rectify their lives, it is like a light that illuminates their way to Allah the Almighty..

The Messenger of Allah may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,  began this Hadeeth with mentioning the repentance, because it accompanies the believer in the beginning of his way to Allah, as well as in its the middle and end. He lives under its shade by the night and day, recalls it in his heart whenever he felt his sin, and take a source of tranquility if he felt fear of the torment of his Lord, it relieves him from despair whenever it approaches him.

It  has five pillars:

The first pillar: the knowledge of the seriousness of sin

The second Pillar: to initiate to repent, and not to insist on committing the sin

Third pillar: Determination not to return to sin.

The Fourth pillar: the determination to spend what is missed of prayer, fasting, zakat, etc., and to rectify the shortcomings in the acts of worship as possible.

The Fifth pillar: to return the rights to their owners if one is aware of their existence, otherwise they will be returned to their heirs, if he does not know their heirs he shall spend it in charity on behalf of the rights` owners.

People are of four categories when dealing with repentance:

• The first category: the repentance of those who have reassuring souls, those who repent to Allah sincerely and continue on the upright way to the end of life,

• The second category: the repentance of those who have reproaching souls, they are those who repent to Allah sincerely, and followed the straight path; they performed the main acts of worship, avoided the major sins, did not commit the minor sins deliberately, and whenever they commit minor sins they reproach themselves.

• The third category: the repentance of those who have enticing  souls which usually overcame them, so sometimes they restrain their souls and other times they are unable to do so.

• the Fourth category: the repentance of those people whose souls order them to commit sins; their repentance is not accompanied by a determination to abandon the sins, not to rectify their past negligence, and then they indulge in sins and sins and do not repent.