in Islam, there's always a second chance!

Muse - Time Is Running Out



a blogger, Eugene ( a non-Muslim) came across my blog recently and then asked me (via email) whether there's a second chance given by Allah s.w.t to Muslims who have done major sins/mistakes in the past. so here are my answers which i actually dedicate them to my fellow Muslims:

first of all, as a Muslim, we have to believe that our taubat will be accepted (insyaAllah). that is on one condition, which is our sincerity in our repentance. the only one who would be able to measure this sincerity is Allah, our Only Witness. why am i saying that we have to be sure? because, this is simply a divine promise. Allah s.w.t has stated in the Noble Qur'an that He is the One who accepts sincere taubat (repenting ones sins with the sincere intention of never going back to them) from His servants.

He promised to accept taubat from all sins, all accept worshipping others with Him.

some Qur'anic examples of this promise are the verses that say:

* Surely Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with Him, and forgives what is besides that to whomsoever He pleases; and whoever associates anything with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin.*(An-Nisaa’ 4:48)

* Say: O my servants! who have acted extravagantly against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah; surely Allah forgives the faults altogether; surely He is the Forgiving the Merciful.* (Az-Zumar 39:53)

every sin needs a doer. a doer of any sin is always a weak creation. we sin because we are weak. whether we lie, anger, cheat, or commit fornication, these are reflections of our human weaknesses. this is why He never weakens like us. that is why He is the One and Only Divine. He is the Strong, One in His strength, never weakening. He forgives out of His Strength. utmost mercy is utmost strength. God forgives us because He knows how weak we are, how ignorant we are. and, when we go back to Him, He knows how much we want Him and how much we sincerely regret our deeds and that we wish we never existed to do what we did. He is the Only One who knows for real, since He is the Only One who can read our hearts, for He is the One who made them and made us all.

now, how do we know that we are sincere? we know that by taking our taubat as a serious goal and life-project and by intending never to go back to any of these sins or that sinful lifestyle we used to lead. scholars state that sincere taubat has to start by the determination and intention of never going back to the sin again. if the person ever gets trapped in the same sin again, due to his human weakness, he/she has to re-repent sincerely again. this is a matter of the heart as we say. it has nothing to do with telling your family members as you mentioned. in Islam we do not confess to a priest or to a guardian. we can only mention our problems to some wise religious person if he or she is capable of giving you a genuine advice of how to handle your problem. in Islam, the Only One who can judge our heart is Allah Almighty.

but, is keeping our intention in our heart and getting trapped in our fears of not being accepted is more than enough? no! we have to express our taubat by practically changing our lifestyle into a life of virtue. a basic move that would help us here is to change the company we keep. get away from those people who took us to vice. be determined they do not remain our friends. don't make them our enemies, but simply get them out of our life.

read the Qur'an when it says:

* And withhold yourself with those who call on their Lord morning and evening desiring His goodwill, and let not your eyes pass from them, desiring the beauties of this world's life; and do not follow him whose heart We have made unmindful to Our remembrance, and he follows his low desires and his case is one in which due bounds are exceeded.}* (Al-Kahf 18:28)

so Eugene, i hope my answer will exceed your expectation. Islam is a sacred religion. do not simply believe what some bias magazines/papers in western countries had defined about Islam. thank you for your question and i'm looking forward to meet you someday.