In the years during which Allah’s messengers received revelations, communities and sometimes a whole nation of people were destroyed for a single sin or crime. For instance, the people of Prophet Luut (AS) were destroyed by Allah (SWT) with shower of brimstone for their indulgence in sodomy. Those who disbelieved in the message of Prophet Nuh (AS) were destroyed with flood. The Thamud people who killed the she-camel of Prophet Salih (AS) that was made to be a symbol for them were perished in a dreadful earthquake. The people of ’Ayilah were turned into apes for defying the divine order that prohibited fishing on Sabbath. Pharaoh and his followers were drowned in the red sea for their arrogance. Allah (SWT) summarises all these events in Qur’an 29:40.
Today, sins have almost become acceptable norms. The limits set by Allah (SWT) are transgressed with impunity. Today’s world, which is largely characterized by injustice, appears to have adored sin or sinning to a level of pride. The sins described in Islamic literature as ‘grave’ do not, nowadays; trouble the faith of those that engage in them. Neither do such acts of disobedience disturb the moral conscience of the few ‘seemingly righteous’ believers. This is probably because religious and ethical values have eroded to a ‘lowest of the low’ level. The act of telling lies, betrayal of trust, hypocrisy, forgery, cheating, fornication and prostitution are no longer treated with the disdain that greeted these grave sins (kabair al-ithmi) in the past. This could further explain why criminal acts such as rape, extortion, kidnapping and murder are being looked at, today, as if they were ordinary offences. Subhana-llah!
Although the waywardness by our generation against Allah’s injunctions on worship, food, drinks, chastity, trust, commerce, wealth, agreements, leadership, marriage, divorce and inheritance seems to be more reckless, more cruel and even more endemic than exhibited by destroyed communities; Allah (SWT) in His infinite mercy does not destroy us. He (SWT) affirms in Qur’an 16:61 “If Allah were to punish men for their wrong doing, he would not leave on the (earth) a single living creature. But He gives them respite for a stated term…” Nonetheless, we need to remind ourselves that Allah (SWT)’s resolve to spare us from the kind of destructions meted on sinful communities of the past must not be taken for granted. Indeed, the most-Beneficent grants our corrupt and sinning communities favours that were sometime never enjoyed by any human generation including those that were righteous. It is, therefore, to our benefit to take full advantage of the respite accorded us by Allah (SWT), and thus, repent and seek forgiveness of our sins. Our failure to explore this golden opportunity is a matter that should bother us.
In any case, the twenty-first century kind of aberrant society where many survive on sins is a strong reason for every believer to seek forgiveness of his sins. ‘Istighfar’ which is an Arabic word that derives from the root word ‘maghfirah’, means ‘to seek forgiveness’. Another compelling justification for which contemporary believers must constantly seek forgiveness of their sins is the fact that even righteous men of God including messengers and prophets who were infallible and had no reason to seek forgiveness (because they were divinely guided) also engaged in Istighfar. For example, Imam Muslim relates on the authority of al-Aghari bn Yasari that the Prophet (SAW) said, ‘O you people, turn to Allah in repentance and seek forgiveness (from Allah) for I certainly turn to Him in repentance one hundred times daily’. If the best spiritual guide to humanity, Muhammad (SAW), who (as mentioned in Qur’an 48:2) had been forgiven would yet seek forgiveness one hundred times daily, what reason thereafter has any believer not to seek forgiveness? Since the infallible also seek for forgiveness, it should almost be a duty for the unrighteous generation of ours to do so, even more.
Women, particularly, have an imperative need to engage in Istighfar. Imam Muslim relates on the authority of Ibn Umar (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said, ‘O you (congregation of) women, give alms and seek for forgiveness because I saw you constituting the largest number among the inhabitants of hell fire’. A woman asked to know why it is so and the Prophet (SAW) replied, ‘You engage much in curses and charge others with unbelief. I have not seen a people who are undersupplied in reasoning and religion like women’.
There are over a hundred verses in the holy book of Islam, the Qur’an, wherein Allah (SWT) enjoins believers to seek for the forgiveness of their sins from Him. We read, for example, in Qur’an 4:106 ‘Seek forgiveness of Allah; Allah is most-Forgiven, most-Merciful’. Similar exhortations on Istighfar can be found in Qur’an 3:133; Qur’an 3:135; Qur’an 11:52; Qur’an 11:90; Qur’an 40:55; Qur’an 47:19; Qur’an 57:21; Qur’an 71:10; and Qur’an 110: 3.
All the six authentic compilers of hadith relate on the authority of the Prophet’s wife, Aisha (RA), who said the Prophet (SAW) sort forgiveness most often with the expression ‘Subhanalahi Wa Bihamdihi; Astagfiru-llah Wa Atubu ilayhi’. At-Tirmidhi relates on the authority of Anas who said he heard the Prophet (SAW) say, ‘… O son of Adam, should your sins reach the horizon of the sky; if you seek My forgiveness, I should forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins (as they would) fill the earth, and then meet Me without associating anything with Me, I should come to you with a like size of forgiveness’.
Abu Daud relates on the authority of Ibn Abbas (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said, ‘Whoever remains constant in seeking forgiveness, Allah shall provide a way out for him in every difficulty; relieve from every distress; and shall provide (wealth) for him from sources he never imagined’. May Allah (SWT) guide us to make Istighfar a daily routine in our life, amin.
