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We believe that a true and comprehensive understanding of Islam would not be possible without careful recognition of the Prophetic Tradition and the Prophet's Household. And Allah is the Source of Strength.
 

The Art Of Repentance 2

" In the original proposition The Art of Repentance, we emphasized how important is repenting. Not only will Allah not destroy us while the Prophet (SAW) is amongst us or we continue to repent, the prophet (SAW) being infallible and the master of paradise, continued to ask for his (SAW) own forgiveness.

As it goes, you cannot fix a problem until you realize there is a problem, and repentance is that realization.

Here we explore the power of repentance.

Iblis (La) was not kicked out of the garden when he refused to acknowledge Adam (AS) as the Khalifatullah and did not bow to Adam when the angels did. When Adam (AS) ate from the forbidden tree on the behest of Iblis (La), that is when both were sent to the earth till a finite time. As the Quran says in Surah 2 Ayah 36; "But the Shaitan made them both fall from it, and caused them to depart from that (state) in which they were; and We said: Get forth, some of you being the enemies of others, and there is for you in the earth an abode and a provision for a time."

At that point, both Adam (AS) and Iblis (La) were convicts, a prophet of Allah, and the archdeciever, same status, same punishment, kicked out from the gardens and sent to the earth.

Adam (AS) returned to Allah whereas Iblis (La) continued in his arrogance. The one who returned was promised paradise where as he who did not return was promised the fire.

What is important over here is not the deviation part. To deviate is maybe a part of being human. We will feel envy, and arrogance, and sorrow, and lust, and anger, and greed. Important is the return. Whatever negative we may feel as a part of us being human, we must let go of it and return before it is too late.

If you run a 400m race vs Usain bolt (a top athlete), at the end of the race, both will be tired. Even Usain bolt will be tired. Being an athlete does not mean they will not feel stress or fatigue. But the difference between the athlete and a common man will be that the athlete will return to his state of peace much quicker where as the common man will take a long time to recover his breath and be ready for the next race.

Just like the athlete, the believer must return to his state of being submissive to Allah and accepting his decisions once he has deviated from that.

Once in a conversation with a friend Mahwash, she said and i quote "Nothing in life should make us sad as long as the doors of repentance are open for us and hell has not been decreed just yet". When you think about it, how powerful a statement it is, that no matter what goes wrong in our lives, as long as we are alive and have the awareness and the opportunity to repent for ourselves to avoid the fire of the hereafter, there is much to be comfortable about. And if hell has been decreed on us and the doors of repentance closed on us, then no amount of health, wealth, women, children, would be worth any happiness or success.

Repentance is such a tool that changed even the status of prophets like Adam (AS) in the eyes of Allah. In Quran Surah 41 Ayah 11, Allah commands the earth and the heavens to "come both, willingly or unwillingly". The heavens and the earth responded "We come willingly". We must return to Allah willingly (repentance), before we are asked to come against our will (death). "

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