The Woman Who Repented, and Removing the Cause, Not Only the Sin

If a bad habit takes root early in a person's life, it rarely leaves. A good doctor, a good environment, a protected place, are needed. The ʿulamāʾ relate that in the past, when Muslims genuinely loved Islam, loved other Muslims, and hated sin, there is the account of a woman, a prostitute, who once made tawbah. What was done for her? She was taken in, given a house, and lodged among fifteen of the most pious families in the area — elderly Muslim women of taqwā, ḥayāʾ, and yaqīn. Within five or six years, that same woman, who had once been a prostitute, became one of the most pious people in the whole area, and went on to become a scholar. Muslims did not judge her past: alḥamdulillāh, she had made tawbah, a fresh start was hers, she was one of them now — and even should she fall back, she would still be welcomed back again. This is the way of this dīn.

The key to successful tawbah is not merely resolving to leave the sin, but identifying the root cause that leads to it, as already discussed, and taking active steps to stay away from that cause — the example of the internet applies here again. To say, "Alḥamdulillāh, I have made tawbah, I will never go back to that life, I can taste my īmān in every limb of my body, in every dharrah of it" — does that mean the matter is safe? Certainly not. Safety is not yet secured; precautions are still needed.