Leaving the Sin

So what is tawbah? Is it simply saying, "I am sorry, O Allah, please forgive me" — or is it something else entirely? A minimum of four conditions is needed for tawbah. The first is that the sin itself must be abandoned.

Allah (swt) directs a person to follow ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, the straight path, and a person instead does something else: complete disobedience, absolute defiance of Allah (swt). Allah (swt), in effect, says: this is My palace, you live here, under these rules, as a guest, free to enjoy yourself. But the defiant, sinning servant is like a squatter who lives in the royal suite of Allah (swt) and declares that he will build his own mud brick there — that this is his own palace. It is an act of defiance, and, in truth, stupidity. Once the heart yearns to go back, longing for Allah (swt), the door is tawbah — but the sin left behind first must be abandoned.

Certain entry into a freeway is the entry marked for it; there is an exit, or perhaps another exit. But sometimes, by mistake, a sign says: go back, wrong way, go back. A person sinning deliberately is a person driving straight on regardless, even as a red light flashes and there is oncoming traffic ahead — until the moment comes to realise what has been done, and a quick U-turn is made, coming back. This coming back, in the practice of a Muslim's life, on the path of Allah (swt), is called tawbah. In other words, the past must be left, the sin that is being practised must be left.

Honey and vinegar cannot be mixed together: honey will certainly be spoiled by vinegar if the two are mixed, and the vinegar will overtake it. Vinegar is the ḥarām, and honey is the ḥalāl; when they are mixed, the honey cannot be had without the vinegar in it. So to come back to Allah (swt), the first condition is that the sin must be left — no more ḥarām, no more drinking, no more gambling, no more zinā: finished, khalāṣ.