Tawba
Purifying your Heart
What is Tawba (Repentance)?
The Sufi path is very simple: find and tend to the love inside your own heart and then follow that love all the way to its Source.
The love of Allah which resides within our hearts is always guiding us, through subtle and overt means. We are asked to perceive, think, feel, and act with beauty and perfect alignment.
This requires that we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts turned toward God without deviating.
When we are in complete surrender to the Beloved and the Love that He is constantly giving us, this is easy.
However, at times we will miss the mark, veer left or right, and lose the thread of the Love that guides us towards its Source.
When this happens it usually causes some form of dis-ease or constriction or trigger that causes us to divert even further from our intended destination (Allah).
To rectify your alignment with the Divine Love, Beauty, and Perfection you seek, you will need to stop and make tawba.
The Vehicle by which we Return
Tawba is the process through which we return to Beauty, Perfection, and alignment with Allah.
Tawba begins with the recognition that we have momentarily, or at a more significant level, lost our way. We are looking at our own selves, at the dunya, or at the shaytan. We are veiled.
We acknowledge that we made a mistake. A mistake that was based on a misunderstanding of Allah’s Truth.
In order to re-align ourselves with the straight path (siratal-mustaqim), we most we must take the time to return to Allah’s Truth each time we fall astray from the Love.
Our tawba is not complete unless it washes the mistake clean from our hearts, removing the very root of whatever the mistake was. This a vital part of the walking. We will make many mistakes as a result of the misunderstandings and false beliefs we knowingly or unknowingly hold.
Three Conditions for Successful Tawba
1. We admit our mistake and feel remorse for it. We regret the time we have wasted in the misunderstanding and lack of alignment with Allah’s Beauty and Perfection.
2. We ask Allah for forgiveness by saying “astaghfirallah al-adhim” (I seek forgiveness from Allah, the Most Great) until it’s clear the tawba is complete. Begin by saying it 100 times.
3. We commit to not repeating the same error again, God willing.
Helpful Tips
- When you repeat, “astaghfirallah al-adhim” it is important to do so with deep sincerity, longing, and trust in Allah.
- Allah is the Forgiver, al-Ghaffar, and the Most Forgiving al-Ghaffur, and the Acceptor of repentance at-Tawwāb. There are many traditions of the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) that tell us how much Allah loves us and is eager to forgive us. Trust that and allow yourself to let go and allow Allah to move you through the tawba.
- When the tawba is complete, you will know because the upset, trigger, or mis-perception will be replaced by peace, love, and a deeper understanding of Allah’s Truth.
- Our guide gave the most beautiful teaching on tawba in 2004, alhamdulillah. Sidi used this teaching as the basis for further teachings on tawba for years. It was published in SSC’s transcription book A Righteous Word is Like a Righteous Tree and you can read it here.