Repentance: Salat at-Tawbah

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I don't know if I had posted this. I don't care this is a reminder for me to repent to Him. I think while living in this area of Bukit Gambir I had eaten doubtful foods and also haram foods. There is no Malay restaurant here. Usually I only believe Malay restaurant. If I can't find Malay restaurant I can't also eat in Indian Muslim restaurant I am not familiar with their food so I sometimes have to take Chinese food as to avoid from stomach ache. When I try to eat anything now I feel like vomiting. Any musalla or masjid brother who knows me please forgive me if I just don't spend time with you people. I care about you people I don't want to spoil your appetite. It is so torturing. Allah orders and commands me and brothers and sisters to repent. He says in the message of glorious Quran surah at-Tahrim verse 8: "O the faithful ones, repent to Allah with the "true" repentance".

Allah opens up the portal of hopes for His servants and slaves and says: "Say (dear Muhammad): "O My servants who had stepped over the limit tyrannizing themselves do not lose hope from the mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving to all of your sins. Indeed He is all-forgiving and the Most compassionate" (Surah az-Zumar v. 53). 

How to Perform It?

Just like normal prayer services. Ablution like always with perfect ablution. Stand at a clean place facing the qiblah.

1. Time: any time when one feels had committed sins except in the time prohibited to perform any prayer services. The most good time is at 2/3 night which is around 2:00 above while waking up for salat. 

2. Intention: "I perform this salat sunat at-tawbah two units of prayer only for Allah". Just enough by mentally reciting it or according to our school of jurisprudence.

3.First unit of prayer, it is optional to recite the iftitah supplication and followed by al-Fatihah. After that recite any surah in glorious Quran that we could remember.

4. In the second unit final prostration or the second prostration, recite the supplication of Jonah a.s 40 times in order to ask for forgiveness from Allah followed by the sincerity to repent: "There is no gods but only the God/Allah, indeed I am among those cruel people". It is ok to mentally recite the supplication in our language if we could not remember the Arabic sounds as long as we recite other obligatory prayers and supplications in Arabic.

5. After the salaam, recite the sayyidul istighfar or the lord of all repentance/the main repentance supplication. It could be found in brothers' and sisters' mission orders prayer books or in ma'athurat stamped by local religious departments. It means: "Dear Allah, You are my Lord, there is no one except You who created me, and I am your slave (not slave to fellow human, genies, demons, money, women, men, property, etc), and I am bound to Your covenant and Your promises and obeying them as possible as I can. I seek refuge from my evil deeds. I admit all of the grace are from You. I confess my sins to You. Nobody forgives my sins except You".    

Insha Allah I will always perform this optional prayer services. I also recommend my dear brothers and sisters to always perform this to purify ourselves and asking forgiveness from Allah. We commit sins everyday whether we notice it or not. Sometimes when people turning away from me, I know that I had committed sins. In the beginning I might be very sad and it actually makes me thinking deeper and trying to find faults in myself. When I realize it I actually do not blame anyone. So, I always ask forgiveness from Allah. I also wanted to ask forgiveness to people around from brothers and sisters if I sinned you people. I will be sad if people do not tell me what is my wrong-doing. I am just human-being like you, I am not an angel nor a genie. If I did wronged you, please inform me don't be shy. I am not a person who quickly lost temper but I appreciate people who tell me what is wrong. I always explain things to people as to avoid misunderstanding though I don't speak much.       

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Repentance: Clearing Mind and Soul

Assalaamualaikum wa rahmatullah

Lord, I wanted to repent to You on all the errors that we had mistakenly committed and for all the sins I had committed without I realize them or I realize. We were ignorant and we realize that now. We seek Your forgiveness and please forgive us, be Merciful to us never leave us alone... We have no Shield and vulnerable if You leave us alone.

Lord ordered us to repent through His Word in Surah at-Tahrim verse 8th : "O faithful believers, repent to the God with the real repentance!" 

The God has opened the door of hope to His servants and slaves: "Say (O Muhammad)! O My servants who had crossed the line of their limit don't give up from the mercy of the God. Indeed the God forgives all of sins. Indeed, He is Forgiver above all, the Most Compassionate." (Surah az-Zumar verse 35) 

Conditions for Repentance

I. Sincerity to repentance

II. Promise Him that we would never commit the same sins again

III. Remorse on the evil deeds committed

IV. Determination to leave the evil deeds

V. Performed before death

If one of these conditions is not fulfilled, the repentance is not valid. If the sin is related to brethren in humanity, another condition applies. The sinner must free himself from the right of the related person who had been wronged. For example, if it is in the form of property, it must be returned to the rightful. If it is in the form of punishment and sentence, the person must submit himself to apologize from the wronged. If it is in the form of insults and abusive words, the sinners must sincerely apologize to the one who was wronged. 

According to Hanbali madzhab, a person who missed the obligatory prayers without any valid reason is counted as an ingrate to the Lord which will lead to infidelity and being excommunicated from community. It is a serious evil deed. Besides performing the qadha salat service for the missed prayer services must also repent to Him.  

Time to Repent

Repentance should be done immediately once a person realizes his sins and crimes. Sin is dangerous to the heart and the purity of the soul. If a person delays his repentance, little by little he will be influenced by the sins. It is like dots in the heart and blocking the heart from receiving the Light.

Among the reason which will bring the soul toward repentance is the remembrance to death and reckoning the time when we will be alone in the grave. Death indeed is scary for most of human-being. It means that we will have to leave the people that we love. We will leave our family, children, wife, husband, friends, lovers, properties, belongings, parties, pleasures and etc. Death is the time when all of the grace will be taken away forever.

Says the Lord in surah az-Zumar verse 30: "You indeed will die and indeed they will die too!"

Beside remembering the bitterness of torments that will be faced by the sinners, death also reminds everyone about the grace of His Kingdom where the faithful believers will be rewarded in it. It will raise up the spirit and enthusiasm to repent because nothing to lose...

How to Repent

In our Path, we perform repentance with the prayer service alone without anyone except our selves with the God. The prayer is called as Salat at-Tawbah which means the Repentance Optional Service. The way we perform it just like other prayer services but with the intention to repent to Him on our sins. Perform the ghusl (shower or dipping in the water) and wudhu (ablution) in a complete manner. All of these require intention only for Him. Stand at a clean place and facing the qiblah (direction of holy land).    

The time to perform the prayer service for those who thinks they are sinful is most likely around 2/3 night which means around 02:00 in the morning and later which is also apart of the raising up at night time. Please check the time to perform optional prayer services before performing them. 

Intention to perform the prayer service for repentance is important. Make sure to place it firmly in the heart and mind to focus. Just mentally say: "I perform this prayer service to repent two units only for the God."

The first unit of the prayer service, it is optional to recite the opening supplication. And then, recite the surah al-Fatihah. And then choose any one surah from the Glorious Quran to recite in the unit after Surah al-Fatihah.

The second unit, recite the surah al-Fatihah again since it is obligatory for a valid service. Then another surah from the Glorious Quran and this is optional. While prostrating in the final second unit, recite the supplication of repentance of Jonah a.s at least 40 times. Make sure to focus the heart into sincerity and try to ponder on the meaning of this prophet's supplication. The prayer means: "There is no one except You, glory be to You, I am sincerely repenting on my sins and I am among those who exceed the limit of crime and sins." The meaning could be simple, I just make it longer in English so people could understand what Jonah a.s. is praying about.

Before the peace greeting and prayer or the Tahiyyat al-Akhir, recite astaghfar as much as possible. It means like: "Forgive me dear God, whom no gods other than Him, He is the Living God, the One who Stands alone without any support and I repent to Him." 

Recite the Sayyidul Istighfar which means the Chief of Apology to seek forgiveness from the Lord and asking for purity of the soul and heart. It means: "O our Lord, You are our God. There is no one except You who created me. And I am Your servant and slave (I am not slave to other idols which includes worldly materials and etc). And I am in Your grip and in Your covenant as firm as I can. I seek refuge with You from the evil that I had committed. I confess all of Your grace on me and I confess all of my sins to You. Please forgive me dear Lord. There is no one who could forgive me except You." 

Let us repent dear beloved brothers and sisters in faith. Don't wait until its too late. This is an advice firstly to myself and I really regret myself on my ignorance. It goes to others to also help me spread the message for repentance to others if stepping by this humble and meaningless slave's site. Make sure we equip ourselves with the knowledge of the Path so we won't go into wrong directions. Let us together try to obey the covenant of our patriarch Abraham a.s. with the Lord and recite salawat for both of noble prophets' soul and their family members.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!   

Reminder: Everyday Practice and Worship

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

What worthless slave should always remember... Tidak boleh ditinggalkan sesuka hati....

Make intention to worship the Lord and to express love to Him. 

1. Ablution in all circumstances to avoid from evil
2. Ma'turat  Morning and Evening
3. Repentance all the time, servant needs His Mercy to get knowledge
3. Wazifas of Glorious Names of the Holy Lord
4. Salawat all the time 
5. O, He who knows the hidden prayer
6. Quran Memorization
7. Pray for brothers and sisters to be blessed may Lord love them all 
8. Prayers for Lord to be Merciful to brothers of the past, hidden brothers and prayers for teachers 

If possible ya Abdullah, please pray to Lord to help you quickly memorize everything which will make things lot more easier. Jot down the new important supplications in a separate book and memorize them by heart and if possible make sure recite them together with meanings in any language. Burn the old supplication notebooks and nicely dispose them according to prescriptions by teacher. Close your eyes to the world but open up the light of the heart. Quick finish up thesis so it won't harm Quranic memorization. The Time is coming day by day we would be losers if it hits our head....

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!