Repentance and The Prohibition of Backbiting and Talebearing pdf download

Repentance and The Prohibition of Backbiting and Talebearing

The Explanation of the Chapters on Repentance & The Prohibition of Back- Biting & Talebearing by Shaykh Uthaymeen From the Classical Collection of Hadith Riyadh Al-Saaliheen by Imam An-Nawawi

REPENTANCE AND THE PROHIBITION OF BACKBITING AND TALEBEARING

From the Book a

So the act of seeking repentance is deemed obligatory from every sin committed. For an individual’s repentance to be accepted, then there are three conditions, as the author states, but after review, there are in fact five:

The First Condition:

That is, an individual repents sincerely and whole-heartedly to Allah alone. If this is done, Allah will surely turn to him in forgiveness.

 It should not be done to show off or to please the people so as to gain closeness to them, or as a means to prevent harm befalling him from the ruler or those in authority. Rather, an individual does so seeking the pleasure of Allah and the next life. If the repentance is done in this way, as we said, Allah will overlook the servant’s faults.

The Second Condition:

The individual regrets committing that sinful act, which is a sure indication that his (her) repentance was truthful, and this means, the individual was sad and grieved over committing that wrongdoing. So the individual realizes he has fallen short, and will not free himself from that sin until he repents to Allah.

The Third Condition:

The individual discontinues the disobedience, and this is the most important of all the conditions.

For example, if an individual has abandoned one of the obligatory deeds, such as not paying his Zakat, if this· person now wants to repent to Allah, he would have to pay that Zakat and that which he has previously fallen short in paying.

 If the individual is falling short regarding his dealings and bad treatment towards his parents, then in this case he starts treating them in a good and correct manner.

Also if an individual has cut ties with his (her) parent, similarly he would have to mend that relationship and maintain ties with them. Just like the individual who falls short and commits any of the forbidden acts, then right away he should abstain from it.

Likewise, if the servant’s sin is lying, cheating, or not fulfilling any trust assigned to him (her), it becomes a must upon him to also give that act up; say if he was acquiring wealth in an unlawful way, then it becomes obligatory upon him to return that wealth he has amassed to its rightful owner to become absolutely absolved from that wronged individual.

To add to this, if the individual has fallen into backbiting any particular individual or he reviled them, in this case, if he wanted to repent from that act, he must completely abandon and give up that action; if this individual repents but persists upon that act while remaining repentant, then this type of