بَابُ ٱلتَّوْبَةِ

Once the servant has rectified his conviction in the Oneness [of Allah] and has made his intention exclusively for Allah, the first station of his spiritual journey is repentance.

Hadith 3: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – has reported to us, he said: Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Bālawayh narrated to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: Maʿmar narrated to us on the authority of Hammām ibn Munabbih, who said: This is what Abū Hurayra narrated to us, he said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said, “Would one of you be delighted if his mount were to break loose from him and then he found it?” They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “By the One in Whose Hand my soul lies, Allah is more delighted with the repentance of His servant when he repents than one of you would be upon finding his lost mount.”

The Shaykh, the teacher, Imam Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Qushayrī – may Allah have mercy on him – said: “Delight, as an attribute of Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, is to be understood as His beneficence and generosity towards His servant.”

Hadith 4: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī, – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: al-Ṣawmaʿī narrated to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Minhāl and ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣيم narrated to us, they said: Ḥammād ibn Salama narrated to us on the authority of Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmra, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant him peace – who said, speaking on behalf of his Lord: “A servant committed a sin so he said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then the servant returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then he returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin. Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.’”