How often do we postpone repentance? 'I'll do it later,' 'I'm still young,' or 'There's plenty of time.' Yet have we considered this question, what makes us so sure that we will see tomorrow?
The Deadline for Repentance
Words of the Prophetﷺ
Every son of Adam makes mistakes, and the best of those who make mistakes are those who repent.
Volume3Ch.44No.2499
At-Tirmidzi. (2008). Sunan Al-Tirmithi. Translated by Haytham Kreidly.
Death Rasulullah (ﷺ) said: “Indeed, Allah accepts a servant's repentance as long as the angel has not yet taken their soul.”
The Occurrence of the Day of Judgment Rasulullah (ﷺ) said: “Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala keeps His Hand open at night to accept the repentance of those who sin during the day.And Allah keeps His Hand open during the day to accept the repentance of those who sin at night. This continues until the sun rises from the west (the Day of Judgment).”
The two deadlines of repentance, death and the Day of Judgment, aren't here to scare you. They're actually a reminder of how incredibly vast Allah's mercy is. As long as neither has come, the door of repentance is still wide open. What we need to realize is that Allah never closes that door. We're the ones who keep holding back from knocking on it. But here's what we need to remember, we never know when either of them will come. Death doesn't give a warning, and the Day of Judgment has no set schedule. So if not now, when?
In Surah An-Nur: 31, Allah says: "Turn to Allah in repentance all together, O believers, so that you may be successful."
In Surah Al-Isra': 25, Allah says: "Your Lord knows best what is within yourselves. If you are righteous, He is certainly All-Forgiving to those who ˹constantly˺ turn to Him."