How To Repent From Major Sins

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We make mistakes, we do Mischeif and we generally act human. because that is who we are in this world, human, flawed. But Allah also put in us a spectacular quality, the ability to repent, to make mistakes, and ask for forgiveness, every son of Adam commit sin. And the best of those who commit sin are those who repent.

We don’t have to indulge and sins and live in darkness. This is a major deprivation and injustice against one’s own self. One of Allah’s names is enormous, meaning the light, how can we see the light or appreciate the light?
If we’re drowning in so much darkness?

No sin is too great for Allah to forgive. For the one who repents, rather, he forgives the greatest of all sins, Shirt, other sins for those who repent. As Allah says in surah, Zumer
Oh my servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed it is he who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Repentance is to turn back to Allah and get back on the straight path after being sidetracked by sin, and misguidance. All of us need to repent from our sins, both for specific sense and in a general sense. But what are the conditions of sound repentance? (Surah At-Tahrim:8)
Is it an action or a feeling?
Or both?

These scholars agreed that it is an obligation to sincerely repent from every sin. That is both major and minor sins. Allah said, Oh, you have faith, repent to Allah with sincere repentance (Surah At-Tahrim:8).

the door of repentance, which is to say the opportunity to repent, is available to everyone at every time, except when imminent death is certain.

Abu Musa reported the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said, Verily, Allah Almighty stretches out his hand by night to accept the repentance of those who sin by day and he stretches out his hand by day to accept the repentance of those who sin by night until the sun rises from the west.

Ibn Omar reported, the Prophet (saw) said, Verily, Allah accepts the repentance of his servants, so long as they’re not on their deathbed.
As such, we shouldn’t procrastinate and repenting for our sins, because we don’t know when the hour of our death will arrive, and thereby lose the opportunity to receive the Mercy of Allah. For repentance to be accepted by Allah, it must fulfill a set of conditions as laid out by the scholars.

An-nawawi writes: The scholars said, it is an obligation to repent from every sin. If it is sinful disobedience between a servant and his Lord, unrelated to the right of a human being, then it has three conditions.

First, the disobedience is abandoned.
Second, one regrets what they have done.
Third, one is determined not to repeat it ever again.

If one of these three is missing, his repentance is not sound. In other words, repentance must include

one, stop committing the sin
two, regret having committed the sin.
three, decide never to go back to the sin again.

This repentance is the combination of an action, a feeling and a decision. If the sin is involved solely the rights of Allah, such as prayer and fasting, then repentance is fulfilled by these three conditions alone, even the worst of all sins, and the root of all evil idolatry. shirk, will be forgiven by Allah for doing these three things.

However, if the sin involves transgression against another human being, such as theft, or murder, then no fourth condition of repentance is added to these three. And no only continues. If it is sinful disobedience related to the right of a human being. There is a fourth condition alongside these three, it is that he acquits himself of the right by restoring it to its owner, if it is related to wealth or otherwise, for instance, if someone stole the wealth of his neighbor, he must return his neighbor’s wealth or otherwise justly compensate them in order for his repentance to be accepted.

This fourth condition is based upon the fact that a Shaheed who dies courageously, in a good cause for his or her faith will have all of their sins forgiven, except those involving other people, specifically their debts and financial commitments.

We find many traditions from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, which promised forgiveness of sins for doing acts of worship.
The five prayers Friday to Friday, and the Ramadan to Ramadan will be expiation for the sins committed between them, as long as major sins are avoided.

These traditions and others like them imply forgiveness for minor sins, mistakes, errors in judgment, and lapses in perfection. They don’t require specific acknowledgement, since we commit so many of them each day, but major sins such as idolatry, murder, and theft, require specific acknowledgement and restoration of the rights of the victim, if applicable.

Indeed, one must plead for the forgiveness of those he or she has wronged before they are held to account in the Hereafter. And this way, sinning against people can be more dangerous than sinning against Allah alone. People are after all, much less forgiving than Allah.

Abu Hurayrah reported, the Messenger of Allah peace and blessings be upon him said whoever wrongs his brother in his honor or anything else should resolve the matter today, before it can’t be resolved with gold and silver coins. If he has good deeds, to his credit, they will be taken from him, according to the measure of his injustice. If he has no good deeds left than he will bear the evil deeds of the one he has oppressed.

For every unrepentant sin we commit against another person, even seemingly trivial deeds like backbiting and gossip, our good deeds will be surrendered to them in the Hereafter, or we will bear the burden of their sins as compensation.
That is a terrifying prospect. In fact, some early scholars believed that it was possible for Muslims entire record of good deeds to be destroyed merely by indulging in backbiting against others. Al-Qushayri said, that a servant will receive his book of deeds on the Day of Resurrection and he will not see any good in it. He will say, where are my prayers?
Where’s my fasting?

Where are my acts of obedience, it will be said, all of your good deeds have been lost. Because you were backbiting against people. We shouldn’t assume that our obligations to other human beings will be dropped simply by performing voluntary acts of worship. Rather the rights of human beings are sacred, and cannot be violated without consequence.

Ibn Kathir Writes: indeed, rights among the rights of human beings are not relinquished by repentance. There is no difference between a victim of murder, theft, assault, slander, or the rest of the rights of human beings. For there is a firmly held consensus that these rights are not relinquished by repentance. They must be restored for repentance to be sound,

Al-qurtubi writes: If the sin involved an act of wrongdoing against their servants, then repentance is not sound until it is restored to its rightful owner.

Ibn Mulfih writes: The right of a murdered victim is not relinquished merely by repenting to Allah Almighty. Rather it must be taken out of the grievances of human beings.

Ibn Taymiyyah Writes: As for the right of the oppressed? This right is not relinquished merely by repentance. There is no difference between a murderer and the rest of the oppressed. Whoever repents from an act of wrongdoing. The right of the oppressed is never relinquished by his repentance alone.

Rather, it is among the conditions of his sound repentance that he compensate for the like of his wrong. Notice that the scholars have discussed this issue, using broad and inclusive language, such as the rights of human beings (Huquq Al-Adamiyyin), and the rights of the servants (Huquq Al-Ibad).