The Best Manner of Seeking Allah’s Forgiveness
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
اللَّهُمَّ أنْتَ رَبِّي لا إلَهَ إلاَّ أَنْتَ، خَلَقْتَنِي وأنَا عَبْدُكَ، وأَ نَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ، أعُوْذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ، أبُوْءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ، وأبُوْءُ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِر لِي فَإنَّه لا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إلاَّ أَنْتَ
O Allah! You are my Rubb. There is no true God except You. You have created me, and I am Your servant, and I hold to Your Covenant and promise as much as I have the ability to. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge the favors that You have bestowed upon me, and I own up to my sins. Pardon me, for none has the power to pardon the sins but You [1]
Benefits
- The ending of this Hadith’s wording is , “ Whoever says this during the day certain of Allah’s forgiveness and dies before the evening on that day then he will be among the inhabitants of Jannah and whoever says it during the night certain of Allah’s forgiveness and dies before the morning then he will be among the permanent residents of Jannah.[2]
- The intended meaning of this supplication being referred to as the best manner of seeking Allah’s Forgiveness is that it is the most beneficial and most rewarding for the one seeking Allah’s forgiveness. This is similar to how Mecca is better than Madinah in the reward for the servant worshipping there.
- At-Tibi said : these wordings in this supplication contain all the details for repentance.
- Ibn Abi Jamra said: this Hadith is among those with wonderful meanings that is the perfect in its wording, so for that reason it has the right to be called the master of seeking forgiveness. In this supplication there is the wording which the servant acknowledges that Lordship belongs solely to Allah alone. The servant recognizes that he worships Allah alone as He earned that right. The Muslim acknowledges that Allah is the Creator and he acknowledges the covenant that he took.[3]
- In many cases the wording for seeking Allah’s forgiveness begins with the word, “ربي “meaning my Lord. Different Prophets and Messengers sought Allah’s forgiveness in this fashion
Adam said: {رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنْفُسَنَا}: Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves.
Nuh said: {رَبِّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَسْأَلَكَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِهِ عِلْمٌ}My Lord in seek refuge in You from asking you something which I am ignorant of.
Musa said: {رَبِّ إِنِّي ظَلَمْتُ نَفْسِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي} My Lord I wronged myself so forgive me.
The believers say: {رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا} our Lord forgive us. And between the two prostrations we say: رب اغفرلي, my Lord forgive me. Ibn Al-Qayyim said the wisdom for using the word Rabbi ,my Lord, when seeking forgiveness is that Allah is asked through his Lordship as it contains His ability, the good He does towards his servants and nurturing of them. Also, in the Lordship of Allah is the well-being the Most High does towards the servants in governing his affairs.[4]
- O Allah! You are my Rubb. There is no true God except You…There is no diety worthy of worship to me other than you. There is no one that can give me refuge except you.
- You have created me, and I am Your servant,…You are worthy of my worship as You alone created me
- and I hold to Your Covenant and promise … I adhere to the covenant that was taken by Adam’s offspring when you took them from his back. Moreover, I adhere to the covenant that the Prophet (ﷺ) said. “Whoever dies free from Shirk will enter into Jannah. I acknowledge Your Divine Lordship and Your promise made to me for Jannah. I will continue to observe Your Oneness in search of the promise You made to me.
- as much as I have the ability to…To best of my ability and within the limits of my physical strength. I acknowledge my shortcomings and weaknesses in fulfilling Allah’s rights. In other words, I am unable to worship You as You deserve to be worshipped. However, I try my best within my ability. The servant doesn’t have the ability to do anything except that which is in his capacity.
- I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done…I seek protection in You from being punished due to my sins and evils.
- I acknowledge the favors that You have bestowed upon me… I recognized the great bounties you have given me.
- and I own up to my sins… I am aware that I have a large number of sins.
- Pardon me, for none has the power to pardon but You). My sins can only be forgiven and pardoned by You as you are the forgiver of sins, the accepter of repentance and a severe punisher of sins.[5]
- The Servant of Allah must admit Allah’s fairness and Justice towards him. Allah doesn’t wrong mankind in the least. Mankind is only punished on account of his sins. Therefore, every retribution that comes from Allah is fair and every blessing that comes from Him is a favor.[6]
[1] Al-Bukhari 6306
[2] ibid
[3] Fathul Bari vol 11/pg 99 Ibn Hajr
[4] “بدائع الفوائد” لابن القيم (2/ 419 – 420
[5] Refer to explanation of Mishkatul Masabeeh by Mulla Ali Qari vol vol 4 pg 1619
[6] Majmou Fatawa vol 5/pg 226, Sh Islam Ibn Taymiyyah