Istighfar: Difference between revisions

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The word "istighfar" literally means to ask for forgiveness. It is from the Arabic root, "gh-f-r", {{inlineArabic|(غ-ف-ر)}} which originally means to cover. Terminologically, it means to verbally or practically ask God to forgive one's sins in order to be immune to the pernicious effects of the sins and divine punishment. Some scholars have taken some occurrences of the word "istighfar" in the Qur'an to refer to believing, converting to Islam, or saying one's prayers. These are instances of the practical sort of istighfar.

==The Use of Istighfar in The Qur'an==

The concept of asking for divine forgiveness has appeared in the Qur'an 68 times: 43 of these are different forms of "istighfar" (in the form of "istif'al"), 17 in the form "ighfir" (the imperative form, meaning forgive), 3 in the form of "yaghfir" (He forgives), 2 in the form of "taghfir" (you forgive), and one in the form of "maghfira" (forgiveness). In two [[verses]] of the Qur'an, the divine order for forgiveness has appeared with the word "hitta" (Arabic:{{inlineArabic| حطة}}): God issued an order for the [[Israelites]] to be forgiven.

There is a [[hadith]] from [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] according to which, "if a person frequently asks for divine forgiveness, the list of his or her deeds will rise (on the Day of [[Resurrection]]) while shining."

And [[Zurara]] quotes Imam al-Sadiq (a) as saying that "when a person commits a sin, he or she has a deadline until the end of night; if he or she asks for divine forgiveness, the sin will not be recorded [in the list of his or her deeds]."

The necessity of istighfar is obvious from the invitation to istighfar in many Qur'anic verses and reproaching those who ignore it in some others (such as 5:74). ordinary people need to ask God for forgiveness constantly, because they are prone to sin and error. On the other hand, no one can do justice to divine rights; everyone meets divine commands in terms appropriate to the extent of their knowledge. Therefore, even true pious people are even ashamed of their worships and hence need to ask for divine forgiveness.

* The angels ask for the forgiveness of the believers and people on the Earth.

* Asking for divine forgiveness is considered to be an attribute of the pious people.

*''' Recommended istighfar: ''' since istighfar counts as the best worship, it is particularly recommended in the following cases:  

#between the two [[prostration|prostrations]] (or [[sajda]]s) of the [[prayer]];  

#after [[al-tasbihat al-arba'a]];  

#in [[qunut]], especially the qunut of the [[watr prayer]];  

#during the dawn ([[sahar]]);  

#for a dead person in his or her funeral, burial and visiting his or her grave;  

#in [[rain prayers]];  

#in the [[Ramadan]];  

#for not doing some traditions, such as istighfar for hurting oneself while mourning as a [[kaffara]].

*''' Obligatory istighfar: ''' one case in which istighfar is obligatory, is [[hajj]]; when the [[muhrim]] engages in a quarrel or commits a vice less than three times. Another case is when one is required to give a kaffara (the emancipation of a slave, fasting for two months or providing food or clothes for 60 people in need) but one cannot provide any of them. It is said that if one cannot provide the kaffara for [[zihar]], then istighfar will be obligatory, though there is a dispute over the issue. It is a matter of controversy whether istighfar is obligatory in saying prayers for a dead person as well as istighfar for a person about whom one has committed [[ghiba]] (or backbiting).

*''' Forbidden istighfar: ''' according to the Qur'an, it is forbidden to ask for the forgiveness of pagans and polytheists as well as hypocrites.

#One's body should suffer from worships, just as it had enjoyed the sins.

* There are many verses of the Qur'an that order people to ask for divine forgiveness, so it is improbable that God does not accept one's istighfar.

Istighfar is not restricted to any particular time, place or condition. But there are special moments or places in which istighfar will definitely be accepted. For example, according to the [[Qur'an]], the best time for istighfar is the dawn (sahar). According to Qur'anic exegetes, the verse  

:"soon will I ask my Lord for forgiveness for you: for He is indeed oft-forgiving, most merciful" (12:98)

According to the Qur'an and [[hadiths]], istighfar has many constructive, worthwhile effects, such as the reformation of the community, divine blessings, and immunity to this-worldly and afterlife divine punishment.

According to the Qur'an, 8:33, "Allah was not going to send them a penalty whilst you were amongst them; nor was he going to send it whilst they could ask for pardon".  

[[Imam 'Ali (a)]] said: "there were two things on Earth that provided immunity to divine punishments: the presence of [[the Prophet (s)]] that is not available anymore, but the other one, that is istighfar, is always available; so appeal to it." He then recited the above Qur'anic verses.

According to the Qur'an, 71:10, the prophet [[Noah (a)]] tells his people to ask for divine forgiveness, and then the verse goes on "He is the forgiver (ghaffar)". The divine attribute, Ghaffar (forgiver), as well as others like Rahim (Merciful) and Wadud (loving), imply that God forgives the sins and gives His mercy to people. According to a [[hadith]], istighfar cleans the effects of the sins from one's soul.

Istighfar helps one achieve a good life and wealth, well fare, security, and respect. According to the Qur'an, "ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn to Him; He will provide you with a goodly provision to an appointed term and bestow His grace on every one endowed with grace". The 'good provision' in the verse has been interpreted as wealth and good material life. However, some people interpreted it as longevity, satisfaction, and turning away from people to God. According to a report, by an appeal to the above Qur'anic verse, [[Hasan al-Basri]] advised people who suffer from drought, poverty, and lack of children to ask for divine forgiveness.

Most of the relevant Qur'anic verses are concerned with the istighfar of ordinary people. However, in one case the Qur'an refers to the istighfar of "rabbiyyun", by which are meant people who do not engage themselves with anything other than God. And some verses talk about the istighfar of the prophets and angels.

Since prophets (a) are [[Infallibles]], their istighfar does not mean asking God to forgive their sins. According to Shiites and many [[jurisprudent|jurisprudents]] from the schools of [[Malik]], [[Abu Hanifa]], and [[Shafi'i]], all prophets are infallibles and they never commit even minor sins, since all people are commissioned to follow their lead, which is incompatible with their being fallible. Moreover, the Qur'an has described prophets as "mukhlasun". According to the Qur'an, 38:82-83, there is no way for the Satan to tempt and deceive "mukhlasun". Thus istighfar in the case of prophets (a) should be explained in different ways.

* It might mean that they ask God to forgive them because of not doing what is recommended of them to do (rather than what is obliged for them), that is, something that that had better do or not do.  

* It might well mean asking God to forgive the sins of their people.

* Prophets might practice istighfar in order not to commit sins, rather than asking for the forgiveness of something they did.

* The prophets' missions had effects that seemed wrong to many people. Thus they asked God to cover those effects from people. For example, people of [[Mecca]] thought that the Prophet (s) was an aggressive person who overlooked the traditions. However, after the [[Hudaybiyya peace treaty]] and the [[conquest of Mecca]], they learned the truth. And about the Prophet [[Musa (a)]], the Qur'an, 26:14 says: "they hold a sin against me", although it was not a sin for Musa (a) to kill the man from Copts, since it counted as a case of helping an oppressed person. However, it was considered by people as a sin, and thus Musa (a) asked God to forgive him, in the sense of covering the deed from people so that they no longer consider him as sinful. Likewise, according to the Qur'an, 7:129, "they [that is, [[Israelites]]] replied: 'we were hurt before you came to us, and after you came to us.'" Thus they blamed Musa (a) for their troubles.

* For their natural lives, the prophets had to spend part of their time meeting their bodily needs, such as eating and drinking, and thus they were disconnected from the divine world during such engagements. So they asked God to forgive their having to engage in such activities.

* Istighfar by prophets means that they only care for God, rather than their spiritual rankings, since such things prevent them from seeing God.

* Since prophets always ascend to higher levels of spirituality, whenever they reach a higher level, they ask God to forgive their being in a lower level.

These interpretations of istighfar by prophets also apply to that by [[Imams (a)]] and other [[Infallibles (a)]], since they also asked for God's forgiveness, such as [[Imam 'Ali (a)]] in the [[Supplication of Kumayl]] and [[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]] in the [[Supplication of Abu Hamza Thumali]].

According to some Sunni scholars, the fact that prophets (a) asked for divine forgiveness makes it probable that they committed some [[major sins]], and so they asked God to turn their major sins into minor sins or asked Him to make them immune from insistence on minor sins. Some other Sunni scholars reject that they commit any major sins, but they think that they asked God to forgive some minor sins they committed before or after their prophecy. Others maintain that prophets asked God to forgive their unintentionally committed sins.

According to the Qur'an, 9:113, [[the Prophet (s)]] and other believers are prohibited from asking God to forgive polytheists and pagans. This is because such a request is pointless, since God will never forgive them. Some scholars hold that the prohibition is because if believers think that God may forgive polytheists, they would think that their faith gives them no advantage to them over polytheists, since they both might be forgiven by God. Moreover, istighfar is an expression of love and attachment to polytheists, which is forbidden by God.

After prohibiting istighfar for polytheists, the Qur'an refers to why the prophet [[Ibrahim (a)]] asked God to forgive [[Azar]]; according to the verse (9:114), he asked God for Azar's forgiveness only when he still hoped that Azar would believe in God; thus he promised him to asked for his forgiveness. However, when he realized that Azar was an enemy of God, he dissociated himself from him.

According to the Qur'an, istighfar for hypocrites (munafiqun) is ineffective, since they do not believe in God and the Prophet (s) and there is no way for them to be guided to the right path.