A True Story about Repentance
عن أبي هُرَيْرَةَ رضي الله عنه قال: سمِعتُ رسولَ الله صَلّى اللهُ عليهِ وسلَّم يَقُولُ: « وَاللَّهِ إِنِّي لأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ وَأَتُوبُ إِليْهِ في اليَوْمِ أَكثرَ مِنْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً» . رواه البخاري . ـ
Narrated Abu Hurairah -may God be pleased with him- said: “I heard the Messenger of God -prayer and peace be upon him- say: ‘By God, I seek forgiveness and repent (make istighfar and tobeh) to God more than seventy times a day.’ ” Related by Al-Bukhari.
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1) ‘The Man with a Loaf of Bread’
Abu Burdeh narrated that when Abu Musa -Al-Ash’eri may God pleased with him- was on deathbed, he called his children to his bedside and said to them: “My dear children! Hark, listen and remember the story of ‘The Man with a Loaf of Bread.’”
Abu Musa said: “There lived a man who for seventy years had dedicated his entire existence to worshiping God in a hermitage, and he only left his house one day a week to acquire his basic needs.
One day, while in the market, Satan (Sheitan) made an attractive woman seduce him, and the man was lured to stay with her for seven days and nights (committed adultery). On the seventh day, the veil of darkness and evil that clouded his mind was lifted, and the man left the woman’s house repenting to God. With every step the man took, he prayed and prostrated himself to God, ashamed of himself, and begging God for forgiveness.
By nightfall, his steps led him to a shop, near which sat twelve destitute men. He was exhausted and so sat between two men of them.
In that town, there lived a monk who used to send these twelve poor men a loaf of bread each daily. That night he carried the twelve loaves of bread and brought them to distribute. In the darkness, he gave each needy person a loaf of bread. When he reached the extra man who sat in their midst, he thought him to be one of the poor, and handed him a loaf of bread, so the last man remained without a loaf of bread. The last man asked: ‘Why have you not given me my usual loaf of bread? Were you in need of it!’ The monk became angry, and replied: ‘Do you think I have kept anything away from you, or do you think that I kept it for myself? Ask around you, did I give any one sitting here two loaves of bread instead of one?’ They replied ‘No!’ He said: ‘Are you accusing me of keeping it for myself! I swear by God that I will not give you anything for tonight.’
So the repenting man handed his loaf of bread over to the person who did not get his share for that night, and spent the night hungry without food.
By morning, the repenting man died. When the angels came and weighed his deeds, the seventy years of worship he offered did not measure up to the weight of his sins during the last seven nights of his life, but when the angels weighed the sin of the last seven nights and his last offering of a single loaf of bread he gave to the needy man, his charity weighed heavier! Thus he was saved from eternal damnation.”
Abu Musa, may God be pleased with him, then added: “My dear children, remember well this story of ‘The Man with a Loaf of Bread.’ ” Related by Abu-Na’eem.
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2) ‘Has not the time yet come for Repentance’: Al-Fudail Ibn Iyadh
It is related that while Al-Fudail Ibn Iyad (who used to be a robber) was climbing the walls of a house one night, he heard someone reciting the verse: {Has not the time yet come for the believers that their hearts should become humbly submissive for the remembrance of God} (Surah 57, verse 16).
Al-Fudail was struck by the verse and retreated exclaiming: “Yes, by God the time has come.” He took shelter at night in an abandoned place where few other travelers were staying too. He heard them saying to each other: “Beware of Al-Fudail who robs the travelers.” Al-Fudail felt remorse and exclaimed: “Oh, do I keep disobeying God at night too. A group of Muslims feel afraid of me! O God, I declare my repentance to You, and make my penance living in the neighborhood of Your Sacred Mosque (in Makkah).”
Al-Fudail then went to Makkah and devoted his life to worshiping God and serving His deen. He used to advice people and even advised Haroon Al-Rashid.
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3) The Three Righteous Men:
Narrated Abdullah Ibn Omar -may God be pleased with them- that he heard the Prophet -prayer and peace be upon him- say: “Three men from among those before you, set out together till they reached a cave at night and entered it to sleep. A big rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said (to each other): ‘Nothing could save you from this rock but to invoke God with your righteous deeds.’
The first man said:
‘O God, I had old parents and I never gave my family milk before them. One day, I went far seeking something and I did not return until they had slept. I milked the sheep for them and took the milk to them, but I found them sleeping. I disliked to give the milk to my family or anyone else before them. I waited for my parents with the bowl of milk in my hand, and kept on waiting for them to wake up till the morning dawned. Then they got up and drank the milk. O God, if I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from our situation caused by this rock.’ So the rock shifted a little, but they could not get out.
The Prophet -prayer and peace be upon him- continued: “The second man said:
‘O God, I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have sexual relations with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me, so I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: ‘Do not violate my chastity except by legitimate marriage.’ So I refrained from having sexual intercourse with her and left her though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and I also left the gold I had given her. O God, if I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.’ So, the rock shifted a little more, but still they could not get out.
The Prophet -prayer and peace be upon him- continued: “Then the third man said:
‘O God, I employed few laborers and I paid them their wages with the exception of one man who did not take his wages and went away. So I invested his wages until it yielded a lot of money. He came to me after some time and said: ‘O slave of God, pay me my wages.’ I said to him: ‘All what you see of the camels, cows, sheep and slaves are yours.’ He said: ‘O slave of God, don’t mock at me.’ I said: ‘I am not mocking at you.’ So he took all the herd and drove them away and left nothing. O God, if I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.’ So that rock shifted away completely and they got out walking.” Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
4) One Hundred Souls:
Narrated Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri that the Prophet -prayer and peace be upon him- said (English translation):
“There was among those before you a man who had killed ninety-nine souls. Then he asked about the most knowledgeable person on earth, and was directed to a monk. He went to him and said to him that he had killed ninety-nine souls, so was there any repentance for him? The monk replied: ‘No.’ So he killed him and completed with him one hundred.
He then asked about the most knowledgeable person on earth, and was directed to a scholar. He asked the scholar that he had killed one hundred souls, so was there any repentance for him?
The scholar replied: ‘Yes, what stands between you and repentance. Go to so and so land, for there is a group of people who worship God there, so worship God with them. And do not return to your land, for it is a land of evil people.’ The man set out until he reached half of the way when death struck him.
The angels of mercy and the angels of punishment had a dispute about him. The angels of mercy said: ‘He came repentant, turning his heart to Almighty God.’ The angels of punishment said: ‘He had never done any good deed.’
An angel in the form of a human came to them and they appointed him a judge between them. He said: ‘Measure the distance between the two lands, and to whichever land he is closer, he belongs to it.’ They measured it and found him closer to the land he sought, so the angels of mercy took him.”
And In another narration: “So he was closer to the righteous village by one hand span, and so was considered from its dwellers.” Related by Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim.
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Qatadah said: “Al-Hasan said: ‘It was mentioned to us that when the angel of death came to him, he stuck out his chest toward the righteous village.’ ”
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There are three moral lessons in the above stories:
First, The believer should never belittle any sin, but rather should consider the enormity of disobeying the Lord and then hasten with repentance and asking forgiveness of God. As a righteous scholar said:
.(عن بلال بن سعد، قال: ( لا تَنْظُرْ إلى صِغَرِ الخطيئةِ ولكنِ انْظُرْ إلى مَنْ عَصَيْتَ
Bilal Ibn Sa’d said: “Do not look at how small the sin is, but consider Whom you have disobeyed.”
And how wise and meaningful is the statement of the scholar Al-Fudail Ibn Iyadh who said:
.(وعن الفضيل بن عياض، قال: ( بقدر ما يصغر الذنب عندك كذا يعظم عند الله، وبقدر ما يعظم عندك كذا يصغر عند الله
Al-Fidail Ibn Iyadh said: “The smaller your regard of the sin, the greater its enormity with God. And the greater your regret of the sin, the smaller it is with God. ”
Thus, the believer should strive to avoid sins, and in case he slips should always repent to God and ask His forgiveness. The Muslim should get in the habit of making istighfar often during the day and night. The believer should ponder upon his sins at a specific time every day, and then should resolve to abandon those sins and seek reward from God.
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Second: The believer should strive to do good deeds out of sincerity and devotion to God (إخلاص). The believer should do good deeds for the sake of God only, and seek reward from Him.
Sometimes one good deed done with the utmost degree of sincerity can wipe out all sins. Like the story of the sinful woman who gave a drink of water to a thirsty dog. God forgave her all sins. Or like the story above, the sinful man was forgiven because of one deed (a sincere act of charity done in the darkness of night when nobody could see him, and a righteous act in which he chose to stay hungry but feed the hungry poor man beside him). And how wise and enlightening is the statement of Ali Ibn Abi Talib who said:
وعن علي بن أبي طالب رضي اللَّه عنه، قال: ( لا خير في الدنيا إلا لأحد رجلين؛ رجل أذنب ذنباً فهو تدارك ذلك بتوبة، أو رجل يسارع في الخيرات. ولا يقل عمل في تقوى، وكيف يقل ما يُتقبل
Ali Ibn Talib -may God be pleased with him- said: “There is no true goodness in the world except for two types of people: Someone who commits a sin but atones for it and follows it up with repentance. And someone who strives to do good deeds. But no sincere righteous good deed is ever considered little, for how can the reward of a good deed accepted by God ever be little?”
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And third, through righteous good deeds and Piety (Taqwa), God turns troubles and calamities away from the believer. Through Piety (Taqwa), God finds solutions for the believer who has a problem.
قال الله عز وجل: { وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا * وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ} سورة الطلاق 2-3. ـ
God -the Exalted- says: { And whoever fears God (by doing obligatory things and avoiding sins), He will make for him a way out (of difficulty). And He will provide for him from where he does not expect} (Surah 65, verses 2-3).
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Thus, the believer should always take every opportunity to do good, whether in his own worship or in good acts extended to others, and devote such deeds for God alone, and seek reward from Him. May God make us learn from and follow the righteous people before us. And God knows best.
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Prophetic Profit 
Barakallahu fikum
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