Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
APPENDIX 2
THE PROBLEM OF DESPAIR AND THE GOSPEL OF EMANCIPATION
In many human beings the consciousness of past sinfulness creates a sense of despair—sometimes involving great severity—as to the possibility of their moral emancipation; and it can actually damage their prospects with respect to moral reformation, unless they are offered some principle that may ensure to them that the evil spiritual consequences of their past sins could be washed away, enabling them to build up a healthy moral life with hope and confidence and serenity, and without any lurking sense of past guilt that may disturb their moral enthusiasm.
The Holy Qur’an has supplied that principle in its teaching that sincere repentance (taubah)[1] brings immediate forgiveness from God which washes away the spiritual stains of guilt. It says:
“O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentence:
Belike your Lord will expiate from you your misdeeds …” (66:8).
The fact is that doubtlessly the
commission of sins leads a person farther and farther away from moral purity.
But once a person performs taubah, i.e., repents truly and with all the force
of his personality, his latent will for the good is revived and activised,
reinforcing his moral fibre. This is what we learn from the story of Adam, the
father of humanity. The Holy Qur’an attributes his entanglement in the Devil’s
deception not to deficiency in knowledge but to deficiency in will. It says :
“And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot: and We found in him no firm resolve [2] (in that affair).” (20:115).
The wrong which Adam pbuh had committed was of an innocent type, consisting, as it did, not in moral turpitude but only in error of judgment. But even so, it did not repeat itself, because his repentance brought about the tazkiyah, i.e., purified him of the deficiency in his will, as we read in the Holy Qur’an:
“Then Adam learnt from his Lord words (of penitence), and He relented towards him; for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.” (2:37).
The Attribute of God as ‘Oft-Returning’ (Tawwab) in the above verse is expressive of the Islamic teaching that God’s attitude towards the sinners is one of continued mercy and compassion. Persons with weak will but a good heart may relapse time and again from their commitment in respect of taubah. But they should not lose heart. Rather, they should re-affirm their taubah with greater determination, each time they fail, and keep up the exercise for their firm establishment on the path of virtue. For that they will have to return again and again to the seeking of God’s mercy; and they will not fail to get it, because God is Oft-returning, Most Merciful.
Besides inviting to Repentance, the Holy Qur’an has also stated the law:
“Lo! good deeds annul ill deeds: Be that the word of remembrance to those who remember (their Lord).” (11:114).
However, the following proclamation forms the greatest Message of Hope even for the worst sinners, provided they repent truly and start their life in conformity with the Divine Law:
“Say: ‘O My Servants who have transgressed against their souls! despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: verily, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn you to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you after that you shall not be helped.” (39:53-54).
Indeed, evils already committed can
be blotted out, with regard to the spiritual effects on the human personality,
if: (a) an evil-doer repents truly, and (b) wages a determined struggle for
pursuing Good in Submission to God.
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[1] The act of taubah is actually three-dimensional, because it consists of: (1) sincere acknowledgment in one’s heart of the wrong committed; (2) firm establishment in one’s consciousness of a proper estimate of the evil nature of that wrong and the consequent dissociation from it; (3) firm resolve in respect of avoiding its commission in the future. As such, it might be termed as a ‘contract with the future’.
[2] “wa lam najid lahu ‘azma” in the Arabic text may also mean: “and We did not find in him determination (to disobey) “—implying that Adam’s act of eating from the forbidden tree was not voluntary, and, consequently, Adam’s sinlessness was not impaired in spite of that act.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
