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Al-Ghazzali on repentance m. S. Stern distributed By apt books, inc


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THE THIRD PILLAR: ON THE FULLNESS, REQUISITES AND PERMANENCE OF REPENTANCE

We have already mentioned that repentance consists of regret which leads to determination and resolution. This regret is itself caused by knowledge that the offenses are a barrier between man and his Beloved. Each of these - knowledge, regret and determination - has permanence and fullness. Its fullness has a mark, and its permanence has requisites, all to be clarified.

As for knowledge, examination of it is a study of the cause of repent­ance; its strengthening and its perfection by factors such as the com­pany of the virtuous, attendance of the dhikrs,394 questioning about the fatal impact of transgressions and about the punishment they may bring on in this world. But cleaving to a shaykh is more useful than all this; indeed it is the efficacious remedy. It will be discussed later on 395

As for regret, it is the heartache when man discerns that the Beloved has been missed. It is marked by long grief and sorrow, tears flowing

and much weeping396

One who becomes aware of torment afflicting his child or one of his dear ones, his grief and weeping are protracted. And, who is dearer to a person than himself, what punishment is severer than hellfire, what is more indicative of the descent of punishment than sins, and [,finally,] what announcer is more reliable than God and His Apostle?

If a man was told by one called physician that his child would not recover from his illness and would die thereof, surely his grief would be aroused. Yet, his child is not dearer than himself, nor is the physi­cian more knowledgeable or more reliable than God and His Apostle, death not more severe than hellfire and sickness not more indicative of death than sins are of God's wrath and the risk of hellfire.

The stronger the anguish of regret, the more likely is the expiation of sin through it. The sign of the sincerity of regret is the mellowness of the heart and the profusion of tears. It is said in a tradition: 'Sit with

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the contrite, for their hearts are the most mellow.'° A sign thereof is that instead of the sweetness of those sins, their bitterness seizes man's heart, and inclination turns- into loathing, desire into aversion.



It is stated in the 'Isra'ilyat that Almighty God said to one of His prophets who had asked that the repentance of a certain man be accepted after he had strived in vain for years in worship: 'By My power and majesty, if the hosts of heaven and earth interceded, I would still not accept his repentance, for the sweetness of that sin, of which he repents, yet lurks in his heart.'

You might say:

Sins by nature are agreeable acts. How, then, can one find bitterness in them?

One who partakes of honey containing a poison, and does not discover it by taste, and relishes it, but afterwards falls ill, his illness and its pain progress, his hair falls out and his limbs are left paralyzed, - should honey containing a like substance, be set before him, even if he is in an extreme state of hunger and urge for sweetness, would his soul shun such honey or not? If you answer negatively, such answer would be a denial of the evident and of experience.

Rather, it is possible that even uncontaminated honey would be avoided because of its similarity to the other. That is how the penitent may have the sensation of the bitterness of sin. This is brought on by his knowledge that the taste of every sin may be the taste of honey yet its effect is that of poison. Repentance is not sincere or true without such belief. As such belief is rare, repentance and penitence are rare. You see only such as turn away from God, think lightly of sins, and persist in them.

This is a requisite for the fullness of remorse, and must be constant unto death.

Man must find such bitterness in all sins, even if he has never com­mitted them before, just as one who consumed poison contained in honey feels aversion to fresh water as soon as he learns that it contains a simi­lar poison, since the harm was not from the honey but rather from what it contained. Likewise, the damage that afflicts the penitent from his theft or fornication does not stem from the nature of the act itself but rather from its being a rebellion against God's command. This applies to every sin.

As for the resolution which emerges therefrom, it is the will to cor­rection and it has a connection with the present. It entails renouncing anything prohibited which he practiced, and the fulfillment of every obli­

gation which faces him in the present. This has a connection with the past, namely correction of what has preceded; and a connection with the future, namely continued obedience and permanent renunciation of sin unto death.

The requisite of the sincerity of repentance, as far as the past is con­cerned, is that man should turn his thought back to the first day when he came of age or attained virility, and scrutinize his past [351 life, year by year, month by month, day by day and moment by moment. He should review, in what acts of obedience he was remiss and to which sins he yielded.

If he missed a prayer or performed it while wearing an impure gar­ment or not with the proper intent because he was unaware that the inten­tion is a requisite of prayer, he should perform it in full. If he has doubts as to the number of prayers missed, computing from the period of his attaining majority, subtracting the number of prayers which he feels sure he had performed, he should perform the remainder. He may use com­mon sense, and he will attain the right figure by way of inquiry and careful reckoning.

As for fasting, if he had neglected it during a journey, if he broke the fast intentionally or forgot the proper intention at night and did not make it up, he should, after most careful computation, busy himself with making it up.

As for alms, he should compute his total wealth and the number of years that elapsed since he acquired it. (The computation is not made from the time of his attaining majority, for alms are due even on the property of a youth.) He then discharges that which he feels he prob­ably owes. Further, if he discharged it in a manner inconsistent with his rite, as not having disbursed to all the eight categories or discharged an alternate397 while he is of the Shaf'i rite,398 he should execute all that; otherwise it is not fully satisfactory. The computation of alms and the knowledge of this matter is protracted, and requires lucid considera­tion: He may have to consult the jurists on how to settle the matter.

As for the pilgrimage, if one had been able, over the years, but his departure did not come to pass, and presently he has become destitute, he still should go on the pilgrimage. If, considering his destitution, he is unable, he must acquire, by licit means, enough for provisions. If he has no means of acquisition nor means, he should request people to grant him from the zakat or charitable funds, the necessary sum for the pil­grimage. If he dies before performing the pilgrimage, he dies in trans­gression. The Prophet said: 'One who dies without having made the

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pilgrimage, might as well die a Jew or a Christian.'° Accidental inabil­ity succeeding a state of capacity does not cancel man's obligation of pilgrimage.

Such is the way for a man to examine acts of obedience and to cor­rect them.

As for sins, he should trace his hearing, eyesight, tongue, stomach, hand, foot, pudendum and the rest of him limbs, from the beginning of his majority, then look through all his days and hours and detail to himself a record of his transgressions until they all are established, the minor and the major, and he should sift them. Some of them are between God and himself, i.e., do not entail injustice to man. This includes such acts as gazing at a woman unlawful to the man, sitting in a mosque despite a major ritual impurity, touching a Koran before performing an ablu­tion, entertaining a heresy, drinking wine, listening to entertainment, etc., all unconnected with harm to another person.

Repentance of these comes through remorse and contrition, also by reckoning their measure as regards magnitude and duration, and seeking for each of these sins a corresponding good deed. He performs good deeds in proportion to the measure of the transgressions relying on the Prophet's saying: 'Fear God wherever you be and follow an evil deed with a good one to wipe it out.'b God, moreover, has said: ... SURELY THE GOOD DEEDS WILL DRIVE AWAY THE EVIL DEEDS399

Listening to entertainments is atoned by listening to the recitation of the Koran and dhikr sessions. Sitting in a mosque in an impure state is atoned by retreat at a mosque for engaging in worship. Touching the Koran while unclean is atoned by deference to the Koran, extensive read­ing from it, kissing if often, and400 by making a copy of the Book and making it an endowment. The consumption of wine is atoned by charitable donation of a licit beverage which is better and liked by him.

It is impossible to enumerate all the transgressions. The object, however, is treading the opposite path. Illness is cured by its opposite. Every stain, which arose upon the heart through transgression can be erased only by an illumination raised upon it through an opposite good deed. These opposites are proportionate to one another. Therefore, each evil should be expunged with a good of its own kind but opposite in effect. White is cancelled by black, not by heat or cold. This classification and verification are subtleties toward expunging transgression. Expectation is so justified, trust [36] so great that one should not persist in one variety of worship, even though this too is effective in expunging sin.

Such is the rule concerning sins of man towards God. That a thing is atoned by its opposite is indicated by [the Tradition] that the love of the mundane is the beginning of all error, and that the effect, in the heart, of the pursuit of the mundane is delight in it and craving for it. Since faced with anxieties and worries the heart shuns the world, certainly any hurt which befalls the Muslim and draws his heart away from the mun­dane, will serve as an atonement.

The Prophet said: 'There are sins for which only anxieties atone.'° And, according to another version, 'only the anxiety in the search of a livelihood.' A tradition of 'A'isha:401 'When man's sins multiply and he has no works by which to atone for them, God brings upon him anxi­eties, that should become atonement for his sins.'b It is said that the anxiety which enters the heart, while man is unaware, is the strain of sins, and the worry about them, the feelings of the heart at the eve of Reckoning and the terror of the day of Resurrection.

You might say:

Man worries mostly about his wealth, children and status. This is [in itself] an error. How, then, will it be an atonement?

Know then that love for these is an error, and deprivation of these is an atonement. If man savoured it, the error set in. It has been related that Gabriel entered unto Joseph in the prison. - 'How was my poor father when you left him?' - 'He grieved for you with the sorrow of a hundred bereaved mothers.' - 'What has he, then, with God?' - 'The reward of a hundred martyrs.'

Thus, anxieties also atone for sins against God. This is the rule con­cerning sins against God.

As for injustices towards one's fellow-men, they too include felony and transgression of God's due. For God has also forbidden the wrong­ing of one's fellow. The correction of such, insofar as they pertain to ,God's due, is achieved through remorse, contrition, renunciation of simi­lar acts in the future, and the performance of good deeds counted as oppo­sites of the sins. The penitent will requite with benevolence toward men for the hurt he may have caused them.

Illegal seizure of their property he will atone by charitable works from his lawfully held property. Degrading their dignity by slander and vilifi­cation will be atoned through praise for co-religionists, telling people of what the penitent knows of the good qualities of one's fellow etc. The taking of life is atoned by manumission of slaves. For this is like giving life, since the slave is lost to himself, and exists only for his master.

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Manumission, therefore, is a creation, the maximum of creation man is capable of. The destruction [of life] is countered by the creation [of life]. By this you learn that what we have discussed of following the path of opposites in atonement and annulment, is attested to in the Law, as the atonement for slaying is the manumission of slaves.402 But, even if he did all that, it would not be sufficient so long as he has not turned away from injustice to men, be it against life, or property, or dignity, or heart, I mean sheer hurt.



As for matters of life, if a man happened to slay by error, then his repentance is by compensation, through conceding the blood money, either from him or his clan, and its reaching the entitled party. Such is his responsibility until the delivery has been executed. If the murder was committed intentionally, and retaliation was due, then repentance is through [being ready to suffer] retaliation. If he was not identified, he must reveal himself to the avenger who will decide about his life: [the avenger] may forgive him or kill him. Only by such means is the killer's responsibility fulfilled. Concealment is not permitted.

This is not like his having fornicated, drunk wine, stolen, robbed or had part in an illicit affair for which legal punishment under the divine law had been stipulated, for, these cases do not require that the penitent publicly compromise himself, disclose himself or seek, from the ruler, the application of the sacred law. Rather, he should avail himself of God's protection, and carry out God's declared punishment upon himself by various sorts of effort and chastisement. Pardon, in the case of sins toward God alone, is nigh unto the contrite penitents.

If, however, he submits his case to the authorities and the prescribed punishment is imposed, he did his duty; his repentance is sound and accepted by God. This is attested to by what is related of Ma'iz b. Malik, who came to the Prophet and said: '0 Apostle of God, I have stained my soul and fornicated, and I desire that you cleanse me!' The Prophet then turned him away. The next day Mil'iz approached the Prophet: '0 Apostle of God, I have fornicated!' Again the Prophet turned him away. When MA'iz came the third time, the Prophet took up his case, a pit was dug for Ma'iz, [37] then the Prophet gave the order, the man was stoned. People, in this matter, were of two opinions. Some said: 'He perished as his crime engulfed him.' Others said: 'No repentance is more sincere than his.' But the Apostle of God said: 'His repentance surely would, if divided, suffice for a whole people.'°

A woman of the Ghamid clan came and said: '0 Apostle of God, I have committed adultery, cleanse me!' The Prophet turned her away.

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Then, on the morrow, she said: '0 Apostle of God, why do you turn



me away? Do you reject me as you did Ma'iz? By God, I am pregnant!'

The Prophet said: 'As for now, go away until you bear the child.' When

she gave birth she came with an infant boy wrapped in a tatter and said:

'Here, this is the child I bore.' 'Go away and nurse him until he is

weaned.' Then, when she weaned him she came with the infant, and

in his hand was a piece of bread. '0 Prophet of God, I have weaned

him and he has already tasted food.' The child was given over to a man

from among the Muslims. The Prophet gave command, she was buried

unto the chest, and stoned. Khiilid b. al-Walid403 approached with a

stone and cast it upon her head. The blood splashed upon his face and

he cursed her. The Apostle of God heard him reviling her, and said:

'Easy, Khalid, by Him in whose hand my soul is, she has certainly

repented in such a fashion that if the tax collector repented like her, he

would be forgiven.' After which he issued instructions [for the matter's

disposition], prayed for her and she was buried

As for retaliation and the punishment of false accusation, the one

responsible must expiate his guilt before the one in the right. If the sub­ject is property grasped through unlawful seizure, treachery, or swindle

in business matters by means of fraud, such as sale of spurious goods, concealing a defect in the goods sold, undercutting a workman's wage or withholding his wages, all this requires investigation, not from the limit of a man's maturity but from his earliest c, ys. That which is due from a youth's property, the youth, upon his attaining majority, must pay if the trustee failed to do so. If he does not do this, be becomes a transgressor liable for it. For the youth and the adult are equal as regards monetary claims.

Let man, then, be careful of the smallest sums from the first day of his life until the day of his repentance, before he is held responsible on the Day of Judgement. Let him examine before he is examined. One who is not careful of this world, his accounting is protracted in the next.

If his total obligation is, most plausibly and with all possible effort, summed up, let him write it down. Let him, also, record the names of the wronged, one by one, and travel around the world seeking them, to expiate his guilt before them or give them satisfaction. Such repent­ance is hard on the sinners and the merchants, as they are unable to seek out all their business contacts or the heirs of these. Each one, however, must do as much as is within his power. If he is unable, there remains for him only the path of a, profusion of good works that, on the Day of Resurrection, will prove abundant, so that they will be taken and placed

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on the scales of the wronged claimants. The abundance of his good deeds, however, is measured against his wrongdoings. But if his good works do not counterbalance them, he will be saddled with some evils of the wronged claimants, so that he will perish by the evil of others.



Such is the path, for every penitent, of repelling the claims of the wronged. This necessitates the investment of a lifetime in good deeds, commensurate with the duration of unjust behaviour. How is this pos­sible when it involves an unknown quantity? And perhaps the end is near? Time being limited, he must be more energetic in accumulating good deeds than he was in gathering sin over extended time. Such is the rule concerning injustices upon his conscience.

As for his actual possessions, let him return to the rightful owner that which is known to belong to that owner. Property, whose rightful owner is not known, should be distributed charitably. If lawful possessions become mixed up with unlawful ones, he must do his best to learn the amount of the illicit property, and distribute charity in that amount, as has been specified earlier in the Book of the Lawful and the Unlawful 404

As for such verbal offense against the heart, as having tormented people or defamed them,40S he must seek out everyone who suffered from his tongue or whose heart be hurt by his actions, and seek to expiate his sins with each, one by one. If one has died or disappeared, that matter is forfeit, and correction is possible only through augmenting good deeds to be accepted as substitutes at Judgement. If he finds a claimant who releases his guilt in good faith, then that is his atonement. The penitent must put his offense and opposition before the claimant, [38] for ambig­uous pardon is insuffcient406 Perhaps, if [the wronged party] were to know [all] that, and the magnitude of the offense against him, he would not be inclined to forgiveness, and would store [the violation] until Judge­ment Day, subtracting it then from the penitent's good deeds or loading it upon his evil record. If the penitent's offense against others includes anything that, were it mentioned or made known, would hurt the wronged person, such as the penitent's fornicating with the wronged person's slave girl or relative, or verbal reference by the penitent to some secret fail­ings, the pain may be increasing however the penitent sought to induce him. Then the penitent's path in search of pardon, is blocked. There remains, then, naught save to seek release from his guilt. Still a guilt will remain. Let him seek to compensate for it through good deeds as in the case of the injustices against those now dead or missing.

[Injurious] remark and characterization, again, is a new evil from which

expiation must be sought. Whenever the penitent mentions his offense and announces it to the aggrieved, yet [the latter's] soul does not permit expiation, the penitent's guilt remains. Such is the right of the aggrieved. The penitent must, therefore, subtly win him over, act in his interests, and show love and solicitude such as would take sway over his heart. Indeed, man yields to407 beneficence. Everyone who feels aversion to an evil may be swayed by a good deed. When [the aggrieved man's] heart recovers, through the abundance of [the sinner's] affection and solicitude, he will permit himself pardon. If he persist in refusal, the sinner's solicitude and pleas are counted among his good deeds which, at Judgement, will possibly make good for his offense. Let his effort at gladdening the other's heart through tenderness be as great as it was in inflicting harm, or surpass it. At Judgement, this will be taken as his compensation, according to the divine judgement. This is similar to one who, in this world, has damaged property, then offered the equivalent [in reparation], but the owner declined to accept it or absolve him, and the Judge then ordered the owner to accept whether he wanted to or not. That is how God will decree on the Day of Judgement.

In both Sahihs408 it is related, in the name of 'Abu Sa'id al-Khudri,409 that the Prophet said: "There was, in the past, a man who had killed ninety-nine persons. He inquired after the wisest man upon the earth, and was directed to a monk. He came to the monk and asked: 'One has killed ninety-nine people, is there [a possibility] of repentance for him?' 'No.' The man then killed the monk, completing, thereby, the number of his victims - a hundred. Then he again sought the wisest man in the land, was directed to a learned man, to whom he said: 'One has killed a hundred men, is there repentance for him?' 'Yes,' was the reply, 'who prevents him from repenting? Go to such and such a land, where people410 serve God, worship with them, and do not return to your land, for it is an evil land.' He set out on the road but midway death overtook him. Then the angels of mercy argued over him with the angels of chastisement. The angels of mercy said: 'He came as a penitent, in his

heart directed toward God.' 'He has never done any good,' retorted the

angels of chastisement. An angel, in human form, approached, and they

appointed him to judge between them. He said: 'Measure the distance

to the two lands; he belongs to the one which is nearer.' They meas­

ured, and found him nearer the land he sought. So the angels of mercy

seized hold of him.'° According to another version, 'he was closer to

the righteous city by a span of the hand, so he became one of it.' In

yet another, 'God urged this side to move away and the other side to

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draw near, then said: Measure what is between them. They found the man closer to the one by a span; he was forgiven.'



From this you may learn that there is no salvation except through the preponderance of good deeds and even to an atom's measure. The peni­tent must show an abundance of good deeds. Such is the rule of intent as far as the past is concerned.

As to the determination linked to the future, it consists of man giving a firm undertaking to God, and contracting with Him a firm covenant not to repeat such sins nor their like. This is like the man who, in his sickness, knows that a fruit, for example, will cause him harm. He resolves, with determination, that he will not partake of the fruit so long as he remains ill. This resolution is immediately imperative, even though it can be imagined that craving will overcome him next. One is not, however, a penitent so long as he has not firmed up the resolution in the present. It is inconceivable that a penitent should succeed therein, at the start, except by means of solitude, silence, reducing food and sleep to a minimum, and sticking to lawful nourishment.

If he has lawfully inherited wealth, or a craft by which he can acquire a sufficient amount, let him be content with it. [39] The beginning of all sin is the consumption of the forbidden. How can one be penitent while persisting therein, not content with the lawful and abstinence from the doubtful, unable to give up the cravings for food and raiment? Some­one said: `He who is sincere in giving up desire and conquered himself for God's sake seven times, is no longer afflicted by that desire.' Another said: `He who has repented from sin and kept to the straight seven years, will never return to it.' The penitent, if he is not learned, should learn what is incumbent upon him in the future and what is forbidden, so that he be able to cleave to uprightness.

Unless man chooses solitude his uprightness is incomplete, even though he may have renounced some sins. Such is the case of him who renounces, for example, drinking wine, fornication, homosexual rela­tion,

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