Day 7 – Bite Size Ramadan – 1437 A.H. – Miraath Publications
Audio: Day 7 – Bite Size Ramadan 1437 – Oppression of Oneself & Repentance
Urdu Audio: 7 wa man yamal soan 1437
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Urdu PDF Download: 7 wa man yamal soan 1437
ظْلِمْ نَفْسَهُ ثُمَّ يَسْتَغْفِرِ اللَّه
Oppression of Oneself & Repentance by Shaykh, Allaama, al-Faqeeh Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen -Rahimullaah-
Translated by Abbas Abu Yahya
Allaah Azza wa Jal said:
وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا أَوْ يَظْلِمْ نَفْسَهُ ثُمَّ يَسْتَغْفِرِ اللَّهَ يَجِدِ اللَّهَ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا
<<And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allaah’s Forgiveness, he will find Allaah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.>> [Nisa: 110]
‘Benefits from the noble Ayaah
1 – Whoever commits evil against someone then sought forgiveness from Allaah, then Allaah forgives him. Here we have an issue where some of the scholars say : that the recording of actions is of three types : from them, are the record of the creation, meaning the dealings between people, then Allaah Azza wa Jal- does not forgive him. However what is apparent from the texts is, that if the repentance is correct then Allaah will forgive him. The evidence for this is the saying of Allaah Ta’ala:
وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا () يُضَاعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا () إِلَّا مَنْ تَابَ
<< And those who invoke not any other ilâh (god) along with Allaah, nor kill such life as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace; Except those who repent >> [Furqan: 68-70]
Even though Allaah mentioned murder, if a person repents from murder, a repentance which is complete with its conditions, then Allaah will forgive that person.
From the conditions for repentance from murder is that the murderer surrenders himself to the guardians of the victim. If he hands himself in to the guardians of the victim then either capital punishment is applied to him or is pardoned, along with him having regret for that which he had done and sought the forgiveness of his Lord. Then in this case Allaah bears the right of the victim on his behalf on the day of judgement, this is because fulfilment of the victim’s right in this scenario is impossible. It is as if the murderer whose repentance is correct says to himself : if it were possible for me to take the place of the victim then I would surely do so, however, I now do not have anything more than the capability of surrendering myself to the guardians of the victim, so Allaah bears the right on his behalf.
If a person stole money from someone, then he has carried out something evil against this person and he repents, then will Allaah accept his repentance? The answer is: yes, if the conditions for repentance are completed and from the conditions of repentance is that the money is returned to its owner. If the money is returned to its owner then he has repented, so here we say: what is apparent from this Ayaah and from other texts is that when repentance is correct even if it is regarding the rights of a human, from which you cannot free yourself from then Allaah Ta’ala accepts his repentance.
2 – That a person’s repentance from a sin is correct even if that sin is repetitive and what points to this is the generality in the saying of Allaah:
وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا أَوْ يَظْلِمْ نَفْسَهُ ثُمَّ يَسْتَغْفِرِ
<<And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allaah’s Forgiveness >>.
This is general, regarding the one who repeats the sin or does not repeat the sin. What indicates to this is an established Hadeeth from the Prophet -alayhi as-Sallat wa Sallam:
‘That a man carried out a sin then sought forgiveness from Allaah, so Allaah -Azza wa Jal- said : My slave knew that he has a Lord who forgives sins and takes account of sins, so I have forgiven my slave’ – then the person repeated it a second time then a third time until Allaah said to him : Do whatever you wish indeed I have forgiven you.’ [Bukhari & Muslim from Abu Hurairah]
This indicates that repentance is established and occurs [accepted] from Allaah -Azza wa Jal- even if it is repeated. This is why the scholars say : that from the conditions of repentance is: that a person should have resolve that he will not repeat the sin, not just saying he will not repeat it. Therefore, if he had resolve that he will not repeat the sin then his repentance is correct. If he sins again then his first repentance is not invalidated, but rather his first repentance is correct and it is upon him to renew his repentance a second time for the second sin.
3 – That sinning is oppression of ones own self, due to the saying of Allaah : << or wrongs himself >> and this is something established and repeated in the Qur’aan.
Allaah Ta’ala said:
وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
<< And they did not wrong Us but they wronged themselves. >> [Baqarah:57]
And He said:
وَمَا ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَكِنْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ
<<We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves.>> [Hud: 101]
as well as other texts.
[Tafseer al-Qura’aan al-Kareem explanation by shaykh uthaymeen 2/198-199]