Turning to the Concealer of Faults

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is extracted from “The Purification of the Soul”, compiled from the works of Imam Zayn ad-Din Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (r.a.), Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (r.a.), and Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.). 

Turning away from wrong actions by turning to the Concealer of faults and the Knower of all secrets is the basis of those who travel to Him, the initial investment of those who finally profit, the key to putting right whatever is not correct, and the primary stage in the selection of those who will be brought close to Him. 

The station of turning in repentance is at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.  The servant who seeks Him never abandons it.  He remains in it until his death.  If he moves on to another station, he takes it with him and arrives with it.  Turning in repentance is the beginning of the servant and his end.  Allah (s.w.t.) Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ النُّور

… وَتُوبُوٓاْ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ (٣١) 

… And O ye believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah that ye may attain Bliss. (Surah an-Nur:31) 

This ayah is in a Madinan surah, in which Allah (s.w.t.) Addresses the people of iman, and those who have been Honoured from amongst His Creation.  He Calls upon them to turn in repentance to Him after they had already believed, made hijrah, and fought jihad.  Then, He Made success conditional on repentance, using the word “may” in order to make the believers aware that they could only hope for success if they turned to Him in repentance.  May Allah (s.w.t.) Make us follow in their footsteps.  Allah (s.w.t.) Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ الحُجرَات

… وَمَن لَّمۡ يَتُبۡ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ (١١) 

… And those who do not desist are (Indeed) doing wrong. (Surah al-Hujraat:11) 

He Distinguishes between servants who are repentant and those who are wrongdoers, and makes no other distinction.  He Calls those who do not turn in repentance, “wrongdoers” and “transgressors”, and Says that no one is more of a wrongdoer than such a person, because of his ignorance of his Lord and of the rights that are due to Him, as well as because of his own faults and the harmfulness of his actions. 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “O people, turn in repentance to Allah (s.w.t.)!  I swear, by Allah, that I turn in repentance to Him more than seventy times each day.”



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