Sorrow

It is also essential that the penitent feel deep sorrow and regret for his transgression. Remorse is the foundation of the act of Tawbah. Without it repentance becomes a meaningless ritual devoid of any sincerity and substance. The sinner who repents without self-condemnation secretly relishes the memories of his sin while outwardly pretending to give it up. As long as the violation of God’s law is not given up inwardly the sinner will soon return to the sin. Tawbah without remorse will also be devoid of consciousness and fear of God and thus will likely be for some materialistic goal. For example a position requiring that one holding it abstain from certain vices may cause those who apply for it to hypocritically eschew these vices while harbouring in their hearts a secret love for them. Since such a form of repentance lacks the initial ingredient of sincerity it will likely be transformed into a sin and held against its perpetrator. The primary role of regret in repentance was emphasized by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in such a way as to leave no doubt about it. Ibn Ma’qal said “I came with my father to Abdullah and heard him say: ‘I heard Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) say ‘Remorse is repentance’. My father asked him ‘Did you actually hear the Prophet (Peace be upon him) say ‘Remorse is repentance?’ He replied ‘Yes!’” (Collected by Ibn Maajah and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah vol.2 p.418 no.3429).

There should also be a firm intent not to repeat the sin again for the remorse to be real. For how can someone feel sorry about something wrong they have done while planning to do it again in the future. Sorrow in such a case would only be a show for the benefit of others; it could not possibly be due to a conscious recognition of sin and the fear of God.

True sorrow will produce a strong and sincere desire not to repeat the cause of the sorrow. This does not mean that if someone repeats a sin the original repentance was not sincere and was not accepted. It is possible for one to slip in times of weakness back into the same sin but it would not be to the same degree nor would it take the same length of time to realize the sin, remember Allah and abandon it. If one falls back into the same sin to the same degree or to a worse degree the sincerity of the original repentance would then become doubtful, as it did not appear to have had any effect on the sinner’s spirit.