Stages of repentance
Indeed, humans are creatures who are given reason and thoughts. So maybe humans are not free from mistakes. But Allah swt does not just stay silent with all the prayers made by his people.
As servants of Allah, humans have two choices in life. That is, let go of the sin that has been committed or continue to commit that sin for the rest of his life.
Even though humans commit many sins, Allah will still forgive sins for humans who repent with nasuha repentance. Because Allah is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful God.
Repentance is conviction or awareness and the will arises in humans to leave the sins they have committed. Meanwhile, repentance is a repentance that is done in earnest with full determination, intention, and perfecting it with an effort to improve oneself.
Here, Muslimcreed writes 7 steps of repentance for nasuha:
1. Self Evaluation
The first thing that is usually done for those who want to do penance is self-evaluation. Reflect on the sins that have been committed. Without contemplating, they will not find out what mistakes and sins they have committed. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth self-evaluation.
2. Admit Mistakes
By admitting all the mistakes that have been made, and asking forgiveness from Allah is a step in doing repentance. Anyone who makes mistakes needs to be recognized, so that they can ask for forgiveness and are committed not to repeat their mistakes.
3. Fix Error
After admitting and realizing all the mistakes that have been made, then correct all these mistakes. This is one proof that they really do repent. In this step, Allah judges not only from intentions, but of course also consistent good deeds.
4. Ask forgiveness from Allah
Next, ask Allah for forgiveness by praying repentance and praying by surrendering to Him for all sins that have been committed, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Because only Allah can judge it, so ask for forgiveness every time. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful, so ask Allah for forgiveness in earnest.
5. Repent with the Condition of Faith
People who believe will always protect themselves by repenting. Then he will not repeat the sins he has committed. Allah promises to forgive people's sins if they will ask Him for forgiveness.
Allah will also erase the sins of humans on the condition that the repentant is a person who is in a state of faith. While people who are not in a state of faith, their repentance will not necessarily be accepted.
6. Repent for Mistakes
The next way to repent is to not repeat the mistakes of the sins committed. In fact, they will stay away from wrong actions and bring bad effects.
Nasuha repentance is a sincere repentance and mistakes are not made on purpose but because of a mistake or ignorance. Because believers will not do things that Allah forbids intentionally. His repentance will be accepted by Allah as long as he will not commit the sin again.
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7. Repent Before Death
Before death picks up, it would be nice as a Muslim to repent every time by realizing the mistakes made. Humans do not know when death will come. Meanwhile, death in an unconverted condition is one of the causes of restless hearts according to Islam.
We, as Muslims, often misunderstand repentance which according to Imam Al Ghazali is an obligation commanded by Allah.
We often give the meaning of repentance only to the process of asking God for forgiveness for sins.
Whereas according to Imam Al Ghazali, repentance, in essence, has stages and stages that must be passed.
Every human being, according to Imam Al Ghazali, no one is free from sins and mistakes. Therefore, they were commanded by Allah to repent.
However, this repentance, according to Imam Al Ghazali, cannot be carried out properly without knowledge.
Therefore, as reported by Priangantimurnews.com from the book Ihya 'Uluum al Diin, Imam Al Ghazali said that repentance is a term that refers to a meaning that includes three things.
Three things that are in the meaning of repentance, as mentioned by Imam Al Ghazali in his book, Ihya' 'Uluum al Diin are: knowledge, circumstances, and deeds.
These three things, according to Imam Al Ghazali, are interrelated with one another, so that if one of these three things is not present, then one cannot perform repentance as commanded by Allah.
Knowledge in the sense of repentance, according to Imam Al Ghazali, means that a person first knows that what he is doing is a sin.
If a person does not have knowledge of what the sins and prohibitions of Allah are, then he will never be able to truly repent to Him.
Therefore, so that we can truly repent, Imam Al Ghazali said that each of us is obliged to seek knowledge about what are the sins and prohibitions of Allah.
After that, according to Imam Al Ghazali, in order for our repentance to become true repentance, we must also know the harm caused by these sins.
Everyone who repents, according to Imam Al Ghazali, must be aware that the sins he has committed have a bad impact on his soul.
In addition, a person who repents must also be aware that the sin he has committed has made Allah stay away from him.
And a person who repents must also be aware that the sins and mistakes he has committed have prevented him from getting the grace and blessing of Allah SWT.
If the person who repents is aware of this, according to Imam Al Ghazali, he will truly regret all these sins.
After the person who repents truly regrets his actions, he will earnestly ask Allah for forgiveness.
However, according to Imam Al Ghazali, the stage of repentance is not enough to regret the act, but must also be followed by determination and intention not to do it again and repeat it.
If someone who does repentance really understands and goes through these stages, he will be at the state of repentance nasuha (true repentance).
That is the meaning and stages of repentance according to Imam Al Ghazali in the book Ihya 'Uluum al Diin. Hope it is useful.
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