How to Deal with Injustices After Repentance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: “Your Eminence, I have a friend who committed many errors, whether between herself and Allah, or between herself and people. However, she repented to Allah with a sincere repentance. She no longer has the means to rectify the errors she committed with people. Will Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) forgive her for what is between her and people? Or how do you advise her to act? May Allah reward you with good.”
Answer:
She must feel remorse for the past sins she committed, cease from them, and resolve not to return to them. These are the conditions of repentance. There are three conditions: remorse for the past sins, ceasing from them, and abandoning them out of fear of Allah, reverence for Allah, and sincerity to Him. A third requirement is the sincere resolve not to return to them.
There is a fourth condition, which relates to the rights of creation. If she owes the rights of creation—such as disputes, theft, or retaliation—she must fulfill their rights, unless they forgive her. If she owes someone rights, if she wronged them, or took their money, she must return it to them. If she stole, she must return it to them by the means that reach them. If she owes retaliation, she must enable them to take retaliation.
The same applies to a man; the wording is the same for both men and women. Fulfilling rights is a condition of repentance and its completion: that the rights of people be fulfilled, along with the three previous conditions: remorse for the past, ceasing from the sin out of fear of Allah, reverence for Him, and sincerity to Him, and the sincere resolve not to return to it. The fourth condition is fulfilling rights. If a man or a woman owes rights, each of them must fulfill them. If they are financial, he or she pays them. If they are related to honor, he or she seeks the forgiveness of his or her brother, having spoken about his or her honor. If he or she fears something, he or she seeks forgiveness for him or her, prays for him or her in his or her absence, and mentions the good character traits he or she knows about him or her, and the good deeds, instead of those deeds for which he or she criticized him or her. That is, if he or she backbit him or her, he or she mentions the good character traits and good deeds he or she knows about him or her in the gatherings where he or she backbit him or her, if it is not possible to seek his or her forgiveness for that. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. If they are financial rights, Your Eminence, should he or she present them in the form of a gift, or how do you view that?
The Shaykh: He or she returns them by the means that reach them. He or she returns the money by the method that reaches them, through a trustworthy person he or she sees, delivering it to them, and saying: “These are your rights from a person who believes they are yours and that he or she owes them. He or she sent me with them.” He or she should not mention his or her name. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you, and may Allah reward you with good.
The questioner says: “Your Eminence, I have a friend who committed many errors, whether between herself and Allah, or between herself and people. However, she repented to Allah with a sincere repentance. She no longer has the means to rectify the errors she committed with people. Will Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) forgive her for what is between her and people? Or how do you advise her to act? May Allah reward you with good.”
Answer:
She must feel remorse for the past sins she committed, cease from them, and resolve not to return to them. These are the conditions of repentance. There are three conditions: remorse for the past sins, ceasing from them, and abandoning them out of fear of Allah, reverence for Allah, and sincerity to Him. A third requirement is the sincere resolve not to return to them.
There is a fourth condition, which relates to the rights of creation. If she owes the rights of creation—such as disputes, theft, or retaliation—she must fulfill their rights, unless they forgive her. If she owes someone rights, if she wronged them, or took their money, she must return it to them. If she stole, she must return it to them by the means that reach them. If she owes retaliation, she must enable them to take retaliation.
The same applies to a man; the wording is the same for both men and women. Fulfilling rights is a condition of repentance and its completion: that the rights of people be fulfilled, along with the three previous conditions: remorse for the past, ceasing from the sin out of fear of Allah, reverence for Him, and sincerity to Him, and the sincere resolve not to return to it. The fourth condition is fulfilling rights. If a man or a woman owes rights, each of them must fulfill them. If they are financial, he or she pays them. If they are related to honor, he or she seeks the forgiveness of his or her brother, having spoken about his or her honor. If he or she fears something, he or she seeks forgiveness for him or her, prays for him or her in his or her absence, and mentions the good character traits he or she knows about him or her, and the good deeds, instead of those deeds for which he or she criticized him or her. That is, if he or she backbit him or her, he or she mentions the good character traits and good deeds he or she knows about him or her in the gatherings where he or she backbit him or her, if it is not possible to seek his or her forgiveness for that. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. If they are financial rights, Your Eminence, should he or she present them in the form of a gift, or how do you view that?
The Shaykh: He or she returns them by the means that reach them. He or she returns the money by the method that reaches them, through a trustworthy person he or she sees, delivering it to them, and saying: “These are your rights from a person who believes they are yours and that he or she owes them. He or she sent me with them.” He or she should not mention his or her name. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you, and may Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.