The door of tawbah (repentance) is open for every sin. Every sin… This is said by Qur’an Al-Kareem, and you can find 10-15 ayahs/ayats (verse) about this subject. Let’s tell you one of those ayahs. This ayah is the one which gives hope most according to Abdullah ibn Umar (son of the Umar ibn al-Khattab who was the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate). This ayah is the widest ayah of Qur’an in terms of mercy for Hazrat Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib, was among the first Muslims, a cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and the fourth caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate).
This ayah is the one which enabled many people, especially Wahshi ibn Harb who was the killer of Hazrat Hamza (uncle of Prophet Muhammad) once and became a “Hazrat Wahshi ” later, to find the right path, the truth and became a companion. Do you know what we think while reading or writing these things sometimes? Those who died with an adverse aftermath come to our mind.
Today, there are plenty of people, a lot of young people who have not heard this ayah. There are a great deal of people with whom Shaitan plays with and makes them astray. Shaitan got them to commit some sins and make them despair by reminding them of those sins. He says, “You are not sober”, “You are sinful, you committed something evil.“ Shaitan constantly gives adverse messages to make people lose their hope and keep them away from the door of tawbah (repentance). He continuously devises new ways and employs diverse strategies. However, there is nobody like Umar ibn Khattab who will convey this ayah to people like Umar among us. There is no such person among us who will enable us to pull ourselves together and to be saved from the eddy of hopelessness and the hole of fire just like Umar did. May Allah Ta’ala make us those who strive for saving/helping people.
Do you know what the Messenger of Allah says about this ayah? He stated that he would not interchange this ayah with neither the world nor with anything inside of it. Which ayah is this? The 53. ayah of surah Az-Zumar. What does God (Allah) state in this ayah?
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذٖينَ اَسْرَفُوا عَلٰٓى اَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللّٰهِؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمٖيعاًؕ اِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحٖيمُ ﴿٥٣﴾
Say : “(God gives you hope): ‘O My servants who have been wasteful (of their God-given opportunities and faculties) against (the good of) their own souls! Do not despair of God’s Mercy. Surely God forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate.”
“Qul yaa’ibaadiyal lazeena asrafoo ‘alaaa anfusihim laa taqnatoo mirrahmatil laah; innal laaha yaghfiruz zunooba jamee’aa; innahoo Huwal Ghafoorur Raheem”, ”
Surely, Allah is the most forgiving. This promise is given by Allah Ta’ala. It is Allah who says this. My dear siblings, do not put forward any excuse or do not tell me anything like “But” or so on. Yes there are other ayahs in Qur’an which determines the scope of forgiveness by giving more details.
To illustrate, It is said “except to shirk (polytheism)”, yet if someone commits shirk and then makes a nasooh tawbah(great/sincere/serious repentance) will this person be forgiven? Yes, this ayah (verse) covers also this person.
If one commits one of the big sins like adultery, usury, or contravening the rights of an orphan child or other people and then make a nasooh tawbah, does this ayah address this person too? Yes, of course.
The Lord of this universe addresses these all and more.
May our Rabb (God) open the door of tawbah for all those who feel desperate, depressed and stuck in mud due to their sins. May Allah make us feel discomfort because of our sins we have committed. Feeling regret is quite an important point, it precedes making tawbah. If it exists, tawbah comes then. May Allah Ta’ala ordain us these two respectively.