Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And whoever does not repent, then those are the wrongdoers)
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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And whoever does not repent, then those are the wrongdoers)
Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Hujurat: 11] Meaning: Whoever does these things—and they are three—and does not repent, then those are the wrongdoers. The one who does not repent is a wrongdoer. And injustice, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Injustice is darkness on the Day of Resurrection) When the believers on the Day of Resurrection have their light moving before them and to their right, these wrongdoers have no light. So one must beware of what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden, for you, O servant, are a servant of Allah; you obey His command and refrain from His prohibition.
And his statement: (And whoever does not repent) If someone asks: What is the meaning of repentance?We say: Repentance is returning to Allah from His disobedience to His obedience. So if a person does not pray in congregation, what is his repentance? That he prays in congregation.
If a person has stolen money from someone, what is his repentance? That he returns the money to its owner.
If a person has sold with deception, what is his repentance? That he abandons the deception and returns to the other party what he gained in excess due to the deception.Meaning: For example, if he increased the price due to deception, he must return the excess gained through deception to the deceived man. If he does not know him, let him give it in charity on his behalf. For example, if this item is worth ten riyals without deception and twelve riyals with deception, he has increased it by two riyals.
So if he repents from the deception, he must return the two riyals to the deceived man. If he does not know him, he gives it in charity on his behalf.
And repentance: Returning to Allah from His disobedience to His obedience.
And repentance has conditions.Not everyone who says: I am repenting to Allah, so one is a repentant person.Rather, there must be conditions: The first condition: that he be sincere to Allah in his repentance, so that he is not driven to repent because he feared his father, or feared his elder brother, or feared the authorities.Or repented for the sake of being said: So-and-so is upright. No, he must be sincere to Allah. So what drives him to repent must be seeking the pleasure of Allah the Mighty and Majestic and attaining His favor. And sincerity is a condition in every act of worship.
The second condition: Regret for what he did, by feeling distressed and troubled that this thing happened from him.
The third condition: That he abandons the sin immediately.Meaning: He leaves it directly if it is a forbidden thing he left, and if it is an obligatory thing, he hastens to perform it.
The fourth condition: That he resolves not to return to it in the future.Meaning: There must be a firm, decisive intention in his heart not to return to this sin in the future.If he repents while saying: Perhaps it may occur to me to commit the sin. For this repentant person, his repentance is not valid. He must resolve not to return to it in the future.
The fifth condition: That the repentance be before the door is closed, for there comes a time when the door of repentance is closed and is not accepted from a person. The door that is closed to the repentant is general and specific.
As for the general gate: It is the rising of the sun from the west. We now see the sun coming out from the east and setting in the west. A time will come when the sun comes out from the west and returns. And the One who returns it is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If all creation gathered to return it, they would not return it. But Allah the Mighty and Majestic, who when He wills a thing, says to it: Be, and it is, will return this great sun. When it sets, it returns from the west. When the sun rises from the west, everyone on earth will believe, all of them: the Jew, the Christian, the Buddhist, the Communist, and others; all of them will believe, because they will see something clear in indicating the Lord the Mighty and Majestic. But will their belief benefit them? No.because of His saying, the Exalted: [Al-An'am: 158].
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-An'am 6:158]: Indeed, the rising of the sun from the west, at that time repentance will not benefit, even though all people will believe, but it will not benefit, because the door has been closed.
As for the specific gate: It is that a person’s death term arrives, so repentance will not benefit.By the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): [Al-Nisa: 18] The door is closed, it does not benefit.
And I ask you: Does any one of us know when he will die? No. Perhaps a person will die while he is at his desk, on his bed, in his prayer, at any moment. And if we know this and are certain of it, it is obligatory for us to hasten with repentance so that death does not surprise us and the door is closed. For this reason, it is obligatory immediately for a person to repent from his sin.
O my brothers! A person does not know when he will die, so it is obligatory for him to hasten with repentance to Allah the Mighty and Majestic.He (Mighty and Majestic) says: [Al-Nisa: 18] This is for whom repentance is available. This is news from Allah the Mighty and Majestic.
A real matter indicates this: When Allah drowned Pharaoh and his people,Pharaoh said while drowning: [Yunus: 90] He repented now, is that not so? But when?! When he saw death.It was said to him: [Yunus: 91] (Now) Meaning: Now you repent! Why did you not repent before? So his repentance was not accepted, refuge is sought in Allah.
So the conditions of repentance are five: Sincerity to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, regret for what he did, abandoning the sin he was upon immediately, resolving not to return, and that the repentance be before the doors are closed.
If someone says: Repentance between the servant and his Lord is clear. Allah the Mighty and Majestic rejoices in the repentance of His servant with great joy. If you repent to your Lord—and I ask Allah to accept my repentance and yours—then Allah rejoices in this with great joy, a joy that a human cannot imagine.The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Allah is more joyful with the repentance of one of you—or he said: The repentance of His servant—than one of you is with his mount. The mount is the camel. He had his food and drink on it, and he lost it—Meaning: It was lost from him—so he sought it but did not find it. He slept under a tree waiting for death—his strength weakened and he collapsed and ended—so while he was thus, he saw his camel with its rein hanging on the tree.So he took the reins and said: O Allah, You are my slave and I am your Lord—He wants to say: O Allah, You are my Lord and I am Your slave, but he—made a mistake out of extreme joy) Do you find a joy greater than this? No, because it is joy in life after being on the verge of death, so there is no greater joy than that.
So the Lord the Mighty and Majestic rejoices in the repentance of one of us more than the joy of this man with his camel. So if the sin is between you and Allah, the matter is easy. The difficult thing is if it is between you and people. A person stole from someone and repented from the theft. Between him and Allah, it is finished; there is no sin on him, no punishment, no cutting of the hand, or anything. But is this repentance sufficient for the stolen money to be returned to its owner, or is it obligatory to return the money to its owner? It is necessary to return the money to its owner. But the problem is how do I return it?Perhaps if he went to his companion and said: He stole this money from him and he repented. Perhaps he will hold onto it and take it to the responsible authorities.Perhaps he says: You now gave me ten thousand, and the one I stole is twenty thousand riyals—he might say this—so the person remains in a dilemma, what does he do?We say: He can look for a trustworthy friend and say to him: He stole from so-and-so such and such, and this is the theft. Go to him and say to him: This is from a person whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic has accepted the repentance of, and he took it from you before, and now it has reached you.
But this man whom he entrusted to deliver the money to its owner must be trustworthy in the eyes of the owner of the money and honest with him. Because if he were not trustworthy, the owner of the money would suspect him and say: You are the thief, and the stolen amount is more than this. But if he knows that he is his friend and honest, he will believe him and trust him.Let him say: O so-and-so, may Allah reward you with good. The case is such and such. If that is not feasible for him, he can put it in an envelope and send it via express mail.And writes in it a writing by which his handwriting is not recognized: Stating that these are your money from a person who took them from you previously and has repented to Allah.
That is all, and his conscience is cleared. The important thing is that repentance is necessary.Therefore, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: [Al-Hujurat: 11].
And if he does not know its owner.For example: A person stole in his youth from a person he does not know who it is, or after reaching maturity he stole from money he does not know whose it is. By what is repentance realized? That he gives this money in charity to get rid of it, not intending it for himself but for its owner, and by that he is cleared.
We ask Allah to grant us repentance before the doors are closed, and to help us and you in His remembrance, His gratitude, and the excellence of His worship.
Allah the Exalted said:
And whoever does not repent, then those are the wrongdoers
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَAnd his statement: (And whoever does not repent) If someone asks: What is the meaning of repentance?We say: Repentance is returning to Allah from His disobedience to His obedience. So if a person does not pray in congregation, what is his repentance? That he prays in congregation.
If a person has stolen money from someone, what is his repentance? That he returns the money to its owner.
If a person has sold with deception, what is his repentance? That he abandons the deception and returns to the other party what he gained in excess due to the deception.Meaning: For example, if he increased the price due to deception, he must return the excess gained through deception to the deceived man. If he does not know him, let him give it in charity on his behalf. For example, if this item is worth ten riyals without deception and twelve riyals with deception, he has increased it by two riyals.
So if he repents from the deception, he must return the two riyals to the deceived man. If he does not know him, he gives it in charity on his behalf.
And repentance: Returning to Allah from His disobedience to His obedience.
And repentance has conditions.Not everyone who says: I am repenting to Allah, so one is a repentant person.Rather, there must be conditions: The first condition: that he be sincere to Allah in his repentance, so that he is not driven to repent because he feared his father, or feared his elder brother, or feared the authorities.Or repented for the sake of being said: So-and-so is upright. No, he must be sincere to Allah. So what drives him to repent must be seeking the pleasure of Allah the Mighty and Majestic and attaining His favor. And sincerity is a condition in every act of worship.
The second condition: Regret for what he did, by feeling distressed and troubled that this thing happened from him.
The third condition: That he abandons the sin immediately.Meaning: He leaves it directly if it is a forbidden thing he left, and if it is an obligatory thing, he hastens to perform it.
The fourth condition: That he resolves not to return to it in the future.Meaning: There must be a firm, decisive intention in his heart not to return to this sin in the future.If he repents while saying: Perhaps it may occur to me to commit the sin. For this repentant person, his repentance is not valid. He must resolve not to return to it in the future.
The fifth condition: That the repentance be before the door is closed, for there comes a time when the door of repentance is closed and is not accepted from a person. The door that is closed to the repentant is general and specific.
As for the general gate: It is the rising of the sun from the west. We now see the sun coming out from the east and setting in the west. A time will come when the sun comes out from the west and returns. And the One who returns it is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If all creation gathered to return it, they would not return it. But Allah the Mighty and Majestic, who when He wills a thing, says to it: Be, and it is, will return this great sun. When it sets, it returns from the west. When the sun rises from the west, everyone on earth will believe, all of them: the Jew, the Christian, the Buddhist, the Communist, and others; all of them will believe, because they will see something clear in indicating the Lord the Mighty and Majestic. But will their belief benefit them? No.because of His saying, the Exalted:
Do they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come or that there come some of the signs of your Lord? The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good
هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لا يَنْفَعُ نَفْساً إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْراًThe Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the saying of Allah the Exalted:
The Day that some of the signs of your Lord
يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَAs for the specific gate: It is that a person’s death term arrives, so repentance will not benefit.By the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):
But repentance is not [accepted] of those who [continue to] do evil deeds up until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "Indeed, I have repented now,"
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَAnd I ask you: Does any one of us know when he will die? No. Perhaps a person will die while he is at his desk, on his bed, in his prayer, at any moment. And if we know this and are certain of it, it is obligatory for us to hasten with repentance so that death does not surprise us and the door is closed. For this reason, it is obligatory immediately for a person to repent from his sin.
O my brothers! A person does not know when he will die, so it is obligatory for him to hasten with repentance to Allah the Mighty and Majestic.He (Mighty and Majestic) says:
But repentance is not [accepted] of those who [continue to] do evil deeds up until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "Indeed, I have repented now,"
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَA real matter indicates this: When Allah drowned Pharaoh and his people,Pharaoh said while drowning:
I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims."
آمَنْتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرائيلَ وَأَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَNow? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters?
آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَSo the conditions of repentance are five: Sincerity to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, regret for what he did, abandoning the sin he was upon immediately, resolving not to return, and that the repentance be before the doors are closed.
If someone says: Repentance between the servant and his Lord is clear. Allah the Mighty and Majestic rejoices in the repentance of His servant with great joy. If you repent to your Lord—and I ask Allah to accept my repentance and yours—then Allah rejoices in this with great joy, a joy that a human cannot imagine.The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Allah is more joyful with the repentance of one of you—or he said: The repentance of His servant—than one of you is with his mount. The mount is the camel. He had his food and drink on it, and he lost it—Meaning: It was lost from him—so he sought it but did not find it. He slept under a tree waiting for death—his strength weakened and he collapsed and ended—so while he was thus, he saw his camel with its rein hanging on the tree.So he took the reins and said: O Allah, You are my slave and I am your Lord—He wants to say: O Allah, You are my Lord and I am Your slave, but he—made a mistake out of extreme joy) Do you find a joy greater than this? No, because it is joy in life after being on the verge of death, so there is no greater joy than that.
So the Lord the Mighty and Majestic rejoices in the repentance of one of us more than the joy of this man with his camel. So if the sin is between you and Allah, the matter is easy. The difficult thing is if it is between you and people. A person stole from someone and repented from the theft. Between him and Allah, it is finished; there is no sin on him, no punishment, no cutting of the hand, or anything. But is this repentance sufficient for the stolen money to be returned to its owner, or is it obligatory to return the money to its owner? It is necessary to return the money to its owner. But the problem is how do I return it?Perhaps if he went to his companion and said: He stole this money from him and he repented. Perhaps he will hold onto it and take it to the responsible authorities.Perhaps he says: You now gave me ten thousand, and the one I stole is twenty thousand riyals—he might say this—so the person remains in a dilemma, what does he do?We say: He can look for a trustworthy friend and say to him: He stole from so-and-so such and such, and this is the theft. Go to him and say to him: This is from a person whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic has accepted the repentance of, and he took it from you before, and now it has reached you.
But this man whom he entrusted to deliver the money to its owner must be trustworthy in the eyes of the owner of the money and honest with him. Because if he were not trustworthy, the owner of the money would suspect him and say: You are the thief, and the stolen amount is more than this. But if he knows that he is his friend and honest, he will believe him and trust him.Let him say: O so-and-so, may Allah reward you with good. The case is such and such. If that is not feasible for him, he can put it in an envelope and send it via express mail.And writes in it a writing by which his handwriting is not recognized: Stating that these are your money from a person who took them from you previously and has repented to Allah.
That is all, and his conscience is cleared. The important thing is that repentance is necessary.Therefore, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
And whoever does not repent, it is they who are the wrongdoers.
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَAnd if he does not know its owner.For example: A person stole in his youth from a person he does not know who it is, or after reaching maturity he stole from money he does not know whose it is. By what is repentance realized? That he gives this money in charity to get rid of it, not intending it for himself but for its owner, and by that he is cleared.
We ask Allah to grant us repentance before the doors are closed, and to help us and you in His remembrance, His gratitude, and the excellence of His worship.