Seeking forgiveness and repentance

فضل الاستغفار: أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ ⁽¹⁾.

‘The Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) said: ‘By Allah, I seek forgiveness and repent to Allah, more than seventy times a day.

الاستغفار مئة مرة: أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ ⁽¹⁾.

He (Peace Be Upon Him) also said: ‘O People, Repent! Verily I repent to Allah, a hundred times a day.

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الْعَظيمَ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ ⁽¹⁾.

He (Peace Be Upon Him) also said: ‘Whoever says: Astaghfirul-lahal-lathee la ilaha illa huwal-hayyul-qayyoomu wa-atoobu ilayh.
‘I seek Allah’s forgiveness, besides whom, none has the right to be worshipped except He, The Ever Living, The Self-Subsisting and Supporter of all, and I turn to Him in repentance.’ …Allah would forgive him even if he was one who fled during the advance of an army.

وَقَالَ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الرَّبُّ مِنَ الْعَبْدِ فِي جَوْفِ اللَّيْلِ الْآخِرِ، فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَكُونَ مِمَّنْ يَذْكُرُ اللَّهَ فِي تِلْكَ السَّاعَةِ فَكُنْ ⁽¹⁾.

He (Peace Be Upon Him) said: ‘The nearest the Lord comes to His servant is in the middle of the night, so if you are able to be of those who remember Allah at that time, then be so.

وَقَالَ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدٌ، فَأَكْثِرُوا الدُّعَاءَ ⁽¹⁾.

He (Peace Be Upon Him) also said: ‘The nearest a servant is to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so supplicate much therein.

كثرة الاستغفار: أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ ⁽¹⁾.

He (Peace Be Upon Him) also said: ‘verily my heart becomes preoccupied, and verily I seek Allah’s forgiveness a hundred times a day.’ preoccupied: i.e. in a state of ‘forgetfulness’. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) always used to increase in his remembrance of his Lord, in attaining a nearness to Allah and having consciousness of Allah to the extent that if this intensity lessened in anyway, he would regard it as a sin and would then race to seek forgiveness from Allah.