THE IDEAL MUSLIMAH

1. Repentance is the most noble and beloved form of obedience in the eyes of Allah Ta'ala. He loves those who repent and it is because of His love for His creation that He tests them with sins so that He may shower His blessings and favours upon them after they repent.

2. Repentance has a status that no other form of worship has. This is why Allah is extremely happy when a servant repents just as a traveller is happy when he finds his lost mount in the desert.

This pleasure of Allah has a great impact on the heart of the one repenting. Hence, the repenting person reaches the status of being amongst the beloved through his repentance.

3. Repentance brings about humbleness and a sense of helplessness that is not easily acquired through other forms of worship.

4. Allah’s statement, "Except those who repent, have faith and good deeds, those Allah will charge their sins for good deeds. Certainly Allah is most forgiving and merciful." (Qur'aan 25:70)

This is a greatest glad tiding for those who repent and combine their repentance with faith and good deeds.

Repentance breeds good deeds, whilst sinning (without repentance) can cause deprivation of obedience altogether. It has been said that committing sins regularly will darken and harden the heart. It may even lead a person to reject Allah completely (Allah forbid) or lead him to commit a bigger sin. There is no recourse for a sinner except to ask Allah for forgiveness and to feel great regret for his actions.

Repentance is to repent from the heart, to train the heart into obedience and to make a firm resolution never to commit the sin again.

The repenting person should remember three facts:

1. The grave consequence of sins.
2. The painful punishment for sins and
3. The helplessness of the servant with regards to these two things.