[Faith-talk] The concept of Repentance in Islam.

[Mostafa]

Dear all, peace be with you.



with the Will of Allah, I would like to talk about the concept of penitence in Islam.



Penitence in Islam is defined as the sincere remorse to Allah for your past misconduct or wrongful actions.



It is spiritually exulting, and it is just between the slave and His Creator glory be to Him.



We do not have canonization in Islam, that only belongs to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church.



What we rather believe in is the sincere penitence to Allah glory be to Him.



Islam believes in Allah only as the true Divinity to turn to in repentance.



Allah is the one Who atones our sins without any discretion from anyone.



Christians turn to Jesus or to their Priests for confession, depending on the denomination.

  

Islam considers that blasphemy.



How the Muslim  repent?



Well, at its inception, we have no intermediaries within Islam, that has to be plainly comprehended.



When a Muslim sins, and we all sin, he has just to abide by the following ritual regulations.



1; Sinning acknowledgement.



The first step in the pathway of repentance is to recognize your misdeed, to feel shameful and to have guilt about what you have done.



Admit your sin, and feel sad for committing it.



2; Sinning ruefulness.



As you have felt guilty, you should regret and condemn what you have done.



This is the 2nd step in the repentance phase, it is  to unfeignedly  regret your erroneousness, to seriously blame yourself, and to feel godly sorrow.



3; Committing to the firm allegiance.



Well at this point, you have to devoutly adhere your pledge of never committing that again.





What if someone commits the same sin over and over, should he give up?



Absolutely he should not.



Allah is all Beneficent, All Merciful.



His slaves should never feel depressed because of their sins.



They should feel bad about it for certain, but they should never feel depressed regarding the mercy of Allah, because He is All merciful, glory be to Him.



Worshipping others with Allah is not a repentant sin if the person died on adhering idolatry.



But certainly, someone can repent from associating others with Allah during his lifetime.



Of course, the Muslim should not expose the guilt of his cynicism to anyone but to Allah glory be to Him. 



4; Seeking propitiation. 

 At this point, we are coming to the most important element.



If the sin that someone committed is related to offending a human being or violating his seclusion, the sinner could not repent, or in clearer words, his repentance is not complete, unless he goes to the one whom he has wronged, to seek for his forgiveness.



Otherwise, the sin that is related to transgressing on someone will not be atoned, it is suspended until the one who was wronged forgives.



It does not matter whether the one who was wronged is Muslim or not.



Allah declared explicitly in the Koran, that indeed we have honoured the children of Adam.



What about if I just could not do that?



Will my sin be eternally unforgiven?



You have to pray much for that you have wronged, and on Judgement Day, Allah will bring you both together.



He will ask him if he wants to retaliate, and that means he shall take from your rewards until he is satisfied, or he will just forgive you.



If he decided to forgive, you will both go prosperously to heaven, holding each other hands, as it is described in the authentic Hadith of prophet Muhammad.



This is repentance in Islam, it is based on these four major factors chronologically.



Repentance in Islam is meant for our harmony, conscience, and prosperity. 



  Now within Christianity, they have repentance too but, the problem that it sometimes, and within some denominations, it belongs to confessing to human beings, such as saints, priests, or even Jesus.



Confessing to Jesus is a mass practice within Christianity.



But in terms of confessing to other human beings along with Jesus, it is quite popular in certain Christian denominations.



As in Catholicism, as well as what is traditionally preserved within eastern Orthodox Church, including the Coptic denominations here in Egypt.



They turn to Saints, Fathers and Priests in confession.



Now I would like to ask them to explain their point of view to me.



Repenting to Saints, Fathers and Priests, what does that say about the sincere monotheism?



Well in addition to repenting to Jesus, what does that say about the Trinity being one god? So why Jesus in specific?, Why not repenting to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit altogether?



Thank you for reading, and peace be with you.