Question:
What should a servant do when he is tried with a sin and he repents from it with a repentence where these three affairs (conditions) are fulfilled. But (then) he struggles with his heart regarding that sin, only to find that he fell into it (again).
Shaykh ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Abdirraheem al-Bukhaaree:
May Allaah bless you. I say: a sincere tawbah (repentance) requires an effort. Now, there is no command or prohibition – as Imaam ibn al-Qayyim said – except that Shaytaan (the devil) has two incitements regarding it: either to extremism or to negligence. He (i.e. Shaytaan) doesn’t care by which of these two he becomes victorious [over the servant]! The important thing (to him) is that you leave the Straight Path. Also, from his ways is that he doesn’t want you to be steadfast upon tawbah. He doesn’t want this! Because if you – the one he (Shaytaan) led astray and made fall into sin – are steadfast upon sincere tawbah and you adhere to obedience, he (Shaytaan) loses! Right? And this makes him feel very outraged, because he swore by Allaah:
(Iblees (Shaytaan)) said: “By Your Might, then I will surely mislead them all, except Your sincere slaves amongst them (faithful, obedient, true believers of Islamic Monotheism).”
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