Sincere Repentance from Zina

Ustadh Salman Younas is asked how to sincerely repent from having committed zina and if it is necessary to ask the other for forgiveness.

Question:

Assalam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

I am a young Muslim guy. I do pray five times a day. But I have committed zina several times. I did make tawba and went back to it. And then I did make tawba again. I am trying to full fill the 3 conditions of tawba. But since my crime involves other individuals, how do I ask forgiveness from them?

I heard one of the condition of tawba involves the rights of others. But I am so ashamed to go to the person that I committed zina with and ask for forgiveness. My question is, will that be sufficient if I regret my sin and ask Allah for forgiveness? Or do I have to ask forgiveness from them too?

Answer:

Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

It’s enough in this case to seek the forgiveness of Allah, feel remorse for your sin, and intend to never return to it again.

The sin that you have committed is something quite serious. However, you should not lose hope in the mercy of Allah, which has lifted people who were trapped in much darker places to very lofty states. As the Qur’an states, “Do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, God forgives all sins.’ (Sura al-Zumar 39:53)

Keep turning to Allah in repentance, and in thankfulness for allowing you to realize your errors. You should also seek forgiveness for those who you assisted in carrying out sinful actions by being a partner to it. While, you do not have to actually seek their forgiveness, you should ask Allah to turn their hearts towards Him, wipe clean their sins, and allow them to enter into His obedience.

Salman

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.