(9:118) Accepted Repentance P1: At-Tawbah - Talha Ghannam

#FridayReminders 65: Accepted Repentance (9:118)
#QuranReflections by Talha Ghannam
Video: • (9:118) Accepted Repen...
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وَعَلَى ٱلثَّلَـٰثَةِ ٱلَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا۟ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ وَظَنُّوٓا۟ أَن لَّا مَلْجَأَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّآ إِلَيْهِ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوبُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ١١٨
And (likewise for) the three who lagged behind until, when the earth-vast as it is-closed in on them and their own (inner) selves closed in on them and they thought that there was no refuge from Allah except in Him, He then granted them repentance, so that they may repent. Indeed, Allah is the Granter and Accepter of repentance, the Bestower of mercy.
[9:118]
How do you know if your repentance has been accepted? Ultimately, only Allah ﷻ knows, but the Quran hints at some of the signs on how the process work.
One example is that of the three companions of the Prophet ﷺ mentioned is surah Tawbah who absconded from the battle of Tabuk; Hilal ibn Umayyah, Murarah ibn Rabi’ah and Ka’b ibn Malik. For context; the Roman empire had assembled an army of 200,000 men to march on Madinah to eliminate the Muslims whom they viewed as a threat. In response, the Prophet ﷺ gathered an army greater than ever before, reported to be up to 30,000 men, yet their numbers, weaponry and experience still paled in comparison to their enemy.
The Prophet ﷺ left the believers amongst the companions no excuse; everyone was expected to go with them, as every man was needed. But, in the words of Ka’b, the prospect of battle against such a large army, in severe heat, with a long journey ahead in the desert, led some to find excuses not to go. Moreover, the season which the battle fell in was in the word of Ka’b; “when the fruits had ripened and the shade looked pleasant”, making a journey out not just less appealing, but also an economic sacrifice too. To leave the ripened fruit unpicked is to lose a year of produce and potential income. Finally, with the Muslim army larger than any before, it was possible to sneak away unnoticed from the army, lost in the huge numbers of soldiers.
What makes this story fascinating is that Allah's ﷻ forgiveness is explicitly confirmed within the Quran, providing a verified model for our own repentance. The narrative, narrated by Ka’b himself, offers valuable insights into his mindset throughout the incident, and provides specific details from which we can learn. Here are 10 key points from the verse and hadith on the nature of repentance and what we can learn from it
1 - The word order
When Allah ﷻ describes the repentance, notice the order in which He describes His forgiveness;
ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوبُوٓا۟ ۚ
“Then He forgave them so that they might repent.”
Allah’s ﷻ forgiveness proceeds the act of repentance! Why? A sign that Allah ﷻ has forgiven you is the fact that you are asking, as His pardon precedes your request! How wonderful it is to know that simply asking for forgiveness is a sign that you have been forgiven!
2 - The harms of sin
Sins bring about physical and psychological consequences. For the companions in this story, imagine the guilt they must have felt before Allah ﷻ and His Messenger ﷺ for what they did. Imagine the stigma from people knowing they were absent in their time of need. Before Allah ﷻ declares His repentance, He highlights the physical constriction and mental anguish felt as a result of the sin. Specifically, Allah ﷻ uses the word (حَتَّىٰٓ) “until”; a word used to describe the consequence of one thing from another, but carries an ambiguity on precisely when and how much will come. This is why Allah ﷻ prohibits us from sins; to help us avoid their negative effects and bring us back to Allah ﷻ in search of a remedy. Even with repentance, work may still be needed to rid ourselves of the harms caused by the sin we did.
3 - Introspection
Reflecting on what happened is the first thing that must follow doing something wrong. There is a beautiful nuance in the word used in the verse for thinking; ظن. Qurtubi, Tabari and others explain this word to mean “certainty”, yet the word itself linguistically means to be between doubt and certainty. A person has ظن on something when they are more than 50% sure, but not 100% certain. In the beautiful eloquence of the Quran, Allah ﷻ wishes to show that the moment you begin to turn your way back to Allah ﷻ, He will turn to you in forgiveness even if you are still in the process of doing so! This is further shown by the fact Allah’s ﷻ repentance precedes their own, showing that between our introspection and repentance comes Allah’s forgiveness.