Be Regular in Istighfar

The Promised Messiahas says:

Man is a servant or slave. A slave is one who carries out all commandments of the master. Similarly, if you want to achieve grace through the Holy Prophetsa it is essential that you become his slave. Almighty Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:44

Here, slave means an obedient servant and not a creation. To become a slave of the Holy Prophetsa, it is essential to invoke Allah’s blessings upon him, not to disobey any of his commandments and to carry out all his injunctions. (Al-Badr, vol. 2, No. 14, April 24, 1903, p. 109)

The Promised Messiahas says:

(Barakatud-Du‘a ’ , Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 6, p. 11)

Translation: O Allah send down blessings and peace on him and on his people proportionate to the amount of his suffering and sorrow for the sake of the ummah and send down upon him the light of Thy mercy forever.

The third condition also enjoins istighfar. Almighty Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:45

44.Say, ‘O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls!…’ (al-Zumar, 39:54)

‘And I said, ‘Seek forgiveness of your Lord; for He is the Exceedingly Forgiving. He will send down clouds pouring rain for you in abundance, and He will strengthen you with wealth and with children, and He will give you gardens and He will give you rivers.’

Glorify thy Lord with His praise and seek forgiveness of Him. Surely He is Oft-returning with compassion. 46

There is a hadith on this subject.

Hadrat Abu Burdah Bin Abi Musara narrates from his father that the Holy Prophetsa said, ‘Allah the Almighty has entrusted me with two trusts that I must convey to my ummah in the following verses of the Holy Qur’an:47

But Allah would not punish them while thou wast among them, and Allah would not punish them while they sought forgiveness.

Therefore, when I leave them, I will leave istighfar with them up until the Day of Judgement.’ (Sunan-ut-Tirmadhi, Kitabu Tafsiril-Qur’an. Tafsiru Suratil-Anfal)

45.(al-Nuh, 71:11-13) 46.(al-Nasr, 110:4) 47.(al-Anfal, 8:34)

Hadrat Ibn-e-‘Abbas ra relates that the Holy Prophetsa said, ‘Whoever clings to istighfar (i.e., performs it regularly and often) Allah the Almighty grants him a way out of all difficulties, and grants him ease under all difficulties, and grants him provisions from ways that he could not imagine.’ (Sunano Abi Dawud, Kitab-ul-Witri, Babun fil-Istighfar)

The Promised Messiahas says: …istighfar, which brings strength upon the roots of faith, is mentioned in two ways in the Holy Qur’an. One: to strengthen the love of Allah in one’s heart, and through the relationship with Allah, stop the emergence of sins that arise in privacy—to be engrossed completely in God and to thereby seek His help. This is the istighfar of the elect, who consider it a ruin to be separated from Allah even for the briefest of the moments. They recite istighfar so that the mercy of Allah may keep sustaining them.

The second type of istighfar is to emerge from the bondage of sin and to flee towards Allah; to try that, as a tree is firmly planted in the soil, your hearts should become completely devoted to Allah. Your hearts should thereby be captivated by the love of Allah and, by attaining pure nourishment, be saved from the dryness and decline of sin.

These two types of istighfar have been called as such because ghafara, from which [the word] istighfar has been derived, means ‘covering’ or ‘suppressing.’ In other words, istighfar means that Allah may suppress the sins of someone who has immersed himself in His love and may not permit the roots of humanness from being exposed. Rather, He should grant him a place under the mantle of His Holiness;

and if a root has been exposed because of any sin, He should cover it up again and save it from the ill-consequences of exposure.

Since Allah is the Source of all Grace, and His Light is ever-ready to remove all kinds of darkness, the only way of discovering the straight path is that we spread both arms towards this Fountain of Purity in fear of this dreadful condition so that the Fountain may move towards us with great force and should carry away all impurities. There is no greater sacrifice for pleasing Allah than to accept death for His sake and present ourselves before Him. (Siraj-udDin ‘Isa’i ke Char Swalon ka Jawab, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 12, pp. 346–347)

The Promised Messiahas also says: …When one seeks strength from Allah—that is, does istighfar—[one’s] weaknesses can be removed with the help of the Holy Spirit and [one] can be safeguarded from sin like the

Prophets and Messengers. And if there be someone who has already become a sinner, istighfar saves him from the consequences of his evil deeds, i.e., from punishment. For no darkness can stay in the face of light. But the wrong-doers who do not do istighfar suffer the consequences of their misdeeds. (Kashti-e-Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 19, p. 34)

The Promised Messiahas also says:

Some people have an awareness of sin, others do not. Therefore,

Allah the Almighty has made istighfar incumbent for all times, so that one should continue to seek Allah’s protection from all sins—obvious or hidden, known or unknown, whether