Fatwa ID: 06340

Answered by: Alimah Zakiratul Hoque

Question:

If a person sinned and he felt remorse, he left the sin and intended to not commit it again but he didn’t say Astaghfirullah verbally nor make Dua verbally, and based on something one read, he thought that this would amount to repentance such that it wouldn’t be required to say AstaghfiruLlah or did he have somewhere in mind that he didn’t need to seek forgiveness if he met the 3 conditions then after he feared falling into kufr and he repented intending to repent from kufr, what do you say?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

The scholars suggest that the method for repenting from sins is as follows:

1. To stop doing the sin
2. To regret doing the sin
3. To resolve to never return to the sin

“If one of the three is missing, his repentance is not valid.” (Riyaadhus Saaliheen, Pg 13)

If the sin relates to the rights of another person he should also fulfil their rights and seek their forgiveness (Riyaadhus Saaliheen, Pg 13).

Doing verbal Istighfaar is not a necessity for repentance. However, one should do istighfaar verbally as well.

Abu Hurairah (ra) said that he heard the Prophet ﷺ say, “By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.” (Sahih Bukhari, 6307)

Note: Regarding Kufr, the way a person would leave the fold of Islam is to stop believing in the things that make them a believer. Therefore, not verbally repenting would not lead one to Kufr.

إن كانت المعصية بين العبد و بين اللّه تعالى لا تتعلق بحق آدمي فلها ثلاثة شروط . أحدها أن يقلع عن المعصية و الثاني أن يندم على فعلها و الثالث أن يعزم أن لا يعود إليها أبدا فإن فقد أحد الثلاثة لم تصح توبته و إن كانت المعصية تتعلق بآنمي فشروطها أربعة : هذه الثلاثة و أن يبرأ من حق صاحبها فإن كانت مالا أو نحوه رده إليه و إن كان حد قذف و نحوه مكنه منه أو طلب عفوه و إن كانت غيبة استحله منها

قَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ ‏وَاللَّهِ إِنِّي لأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ فِي الْيَوْمِ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً ‏

قال العلماء التوبة واجبة من كل ذنب

Only Allah knows best.

Written by Alimah Zakiratul Hoque

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham