Tawbah is the sorry feeling after committing a forbidden action and having the fear of Almighty Allah and having a strong resolution not to do it again. Repentance for fear of a committing several different sins, one’s Tawba for some of the sins would be valid (Sahih) while one insists committing the other sins. AfterTawbaone’s repeating the same sin again and then repenting again would be valid. Repeating this chain of repenting, committing the sin again,repenting again several times would be valid. Forgiveness of a grave sin certainly requires Tawba. Five dailyprayers,Friday prayers,fasting during Ramadan,going on pilgrimage (hajj) making Tawbah,avoiding grave sins and all similar acts of worship will cause forgiveness of venial sins. Tawba for disbelief and other types of sins, when done in observance of their conditions,will certainly be accepted. Pilgrimage performed with sincerity and by observing all its conditions is called ‘Hajj-ul-Mabrur’. ‘Hajj-ul-Mabrur’ causes all types of sins tobe forgiven except the sins incurred by omitting those acts of worship which are Farz and sins wherein violation of others rights is involved. In order for these two types of sins to be forgiven, one has to carry out those omitted obligatory duties and one has to compensate the right owners for their violated rights ‘Hajj-ul-Mabrur’does not cause forgiveness of the sins incurred by omitting the obligatory(Fard) duties, yet it causes forgiveness of the sins incurred by not doing the obligatory duties within their prescribed times.
The gravest sins are disbelief, hypocrisy, and deserting one’s faith or apostasy (Irtidad). May Almighty Allah give us strength to make Tawbah after each and every wrong doing (Aameen).
After the pilgrimage,if one doesnot immediately start to perform the omitted obligatory duties, the sin of postponing the obligatory duties will start again and as time passes it will increase many folds. Postponing the performance is a grave sin. Everybody should understand this point clearly. The Hadith “the sins of a person who performs‘Hajj-ul-Mabrur’ will be forgiven. He will be like a new born,”includes sins other than the sin incurred by omitting the obligatory duties and sins incurred by violating other’s rights. It is Farz to make Tawbah immediately after a sin has been committed. It would be another grave sin to postpone the Tawbah, and in the case it would be necessary to make an additional Tawbah. The sin earned by not doing the obligatory duties will only be forgiven when the obligatory duty concerned is performed. Forgiveness of any sin committed requires Tawbah made with a remorseful heart, Istigafaar offered verbally and a physical compensation. The thirty-first Ayat-t-karima of Sura Noor of Quran purports “O you believers!Turn you all together towards Almighty Allah (make Tawbah). And the eighth Ayat- karima of Surah Tahrim purports: “Turn to Almighty Allah with sincere repentance (Tawba-i-Nasukh)”.The word ‘Nasukh’ in this Ayat-i-karima was interpreted in twenty-three different ways. The most famous interpretation is having the sorry feeling and saying the repentance through tongue and deciding strongly not to do it again. The two hundred and twenty second Ayat-i-karina of Sura Baqarahpurports, “For Almighty Allah loves thosewho turn to him constantly”.Another Hadith also reads: “The best of you is the one who makes repentance‘Tawba’ immediately after committing a sin”. The gravest sins are disbelief, hypocrisy, and deserting one’s faith or apostasy (Irtidad). May Almighty Allah give us strength to make Tawbah after each and every wrong doing (Aameen).
