The State of Taubah (Repentance)

The act of repentance in the sense of religion is to ask Allah swt for forgiveness for the sins. For Muslims, the act of repentance is a must. It is mentioned in Holy Quran;

4:17 �In fact, forgiveness is (incumbent) upon Allah for those who commit the sinful act out of ignorance and indiscretion; those who (repent and) seek forgiveness soon after. They are the ones whom Allah will forgive. Allah is the all-Aware, the Wisest!� 

Islam is the most easy religion to follow. It is based on the very nature of humans because human is not free of error. Therefore asking for Allah's forgiveness is prescribed. But there is a huge difference between forgiveness and repentance. The act of repentance means to feel bad about the committed sins and only then forgiveness should be asked for. One cannot get the forgiveness of Allah if his forgiveness is empty of repentance.

Allah swt has created us with an internal alarm system. This alarm goes off whenever a sin stains our heart. This system is called conscience. But if one continues to disobey Allah swt and continues to ignore his mistakes, this system shuts down. But with an alive conscience, one will always feel bad whenever he does wrong. Allah swt say in the verse below;

5:39 But if someone (relents and) repents his evil deeds and mends his ways, then of course Allah will accept his repentance. Indeed, Allah is the most Forgiving and the most Merciful. 

That, if and only if one feels bad and corrects his mistakes, only then his repentance is accepted and only then he is forgiven otherwise, empty cries are useless if they do not make anything right. In the following verse, Allah swt say;

3:90 Of course, the repentance will never be accepted from those who, having believed (at first), disbelieve, and then increase (and grow stubborn) in denial. Such ones have (truly) gone astray. 

Which makes it clear that those who not only deny but persist in sins even after knowing the reality will never be forgiven and no matter how bad they feel, if they do not correct themselves then there is no forgiveness for them. Thus, if one intends to be forgiven by Allah, then he should realise, by his heart and soul, all his mistakes.

Realization of mistakes is mostly attributed to the states of failure in life. That is, mostly people repent and make dua and try to correct themselves when they are hurt, otherwise they do not even bother to give their daily routine a second thought. Repentance should not be linked to hard ties only. If one loves Allah, one should fear him and seek His mercy all the times. In fact, a believer is the one who seeks Allah mercy every minute of his life. Our beloved prophet pbuh used do Astaghfar at least seventy times a day despite of the fact that he (pbuh) was the last and final messenger and his life is an excellent example for all the mankind to follow.

"O people, make tawbah to Allah. By Allah, I make tawbah to Him more than seventy times each day." (Bukhari) 

This hadith indicates that one should not think that he is pious so he does not need forgiveness of Allah instead, the more one grows pious, the more his heart inclines towards Allah and the more His fear grows inside him. Only the one who actually realize the might of Allah swt would know how important it is to make Allah pleased with him all the times. To be in the good list of Allah is not at all difficult. All it takes is to realize our mistakes, and repent and remember that without repentance, asking for forgiveness is as empty and wrong as an empty vase places purposelessly at the wrong place.