Muscat: While fasting requires discipline and willpower, seeking repentance not only requires an understanding of oneself, but also controlling the desires. But how do we know when should one repent?
“The importance of repentance can be seen as the root of this equivalent term, ‘Toba’, which can be found more than 10 times in the Holy Quran. We all know that the basic meaning of repentance is the act of showing one is sorry about something he/she has done. But the word ‘Toba’ in the Holy Quran has an additional meaning which is to return back to the track that is the straight path one is supposed to be on,” Shaikh Dr Kahlan bin Nabhan al Kharousi, Assistant Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, explained to host Hatim Abdulsalam on Radio Sultanate of Oman. He pointed out that this is the Quranic meaning and not a mere act of just showing one is sorry for the wrong they have done.
He said it is also an indication that one is supposed to be on the straight path, but presumably, they did indulge in wrongdoing either due to ignorance or to have forgotten their purpose in life or any other reason.
“With the mercy of the Almighty, He has advised us to return back to Him - to the straight path - to show that we are sorry for what we have committed and now we are making a promise that we are returning back and we are aiming not to fall again into the same trap,” he noted.
“We are not making this promise within ourselves, we are at least having the intention not to fall into the same trap and we can make our intention sincere. So it is an internal promise," he explained.
He said that in the Quranic perspective, it means returning back to Allah, the Almighty, asking His forgiveness for whatever mistakes, mischief or wrongdoing we have committed and is now having the intention not to do it again.
To a question from Hatim Abdulsalam on the need for repentance, Shaikh Dr Kahlan replied, by the nature of repentance, it is both objective and subjective.
To the question from Hatim, “Do people repent because we need to or is it because it is a command from God?” Shaikh Dr Kahlan replied, “Because the more we commit wrongdoings, the more we are imprisoning ourselves and it may become very painful for a human being to tolerate these wrongdoings. It can have a great negative effect on humans as it affects the soul spirit, morals, relationship with others and so on. They detach themselves from harmonious relations with others. They end up living a life full of contradictions between principles and behaviours. So the more they are committing mistakes, the more they are isolating themselves and the more they feel the need to return back. So repentance is objective. When we displease Him we feel the discomfort.” Shaikh Dr Kahlan pointed out that people feel a sense of a gap and that they can only get close when they repent.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
