Is there anything else one must do after commiting zina, other then repent and recognize ones sins?
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum
wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon
all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Is
there anything else one must do after commiting zina, other then repent and
recognize ones sins?
Can the person who has commited zina, marry someone who has not? And does the
person have to tell his or her wife/husband that they have done so
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Zina Repent
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Q-1: Is
there anything else one must do after commiting zina, other then repent and
recognize ones sins?
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumur verses 53-54:
(O Prophet) say: “O My
servants who have wronged their own souls….Do not despair of Allah’s
Mercy! Surely, Allah forgives all
sins. He indeed is the All Forgiving,
All Merciful. Return to your Lord and
submit to Him before the scourge overtakes you;
for then you may get no help from anywhere.”
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imraan verse 135-136:
Allah likes such good
people very much, who, if ever they
commit a base deed or wrong their own soul by the commission of a sin, remember Allah instantly, and ask for forgiveness from Him for their
shortcomings. For who, but Allah,
can forgive sins? (And Allah
loves those) who do not knowingly persist in the wrongs they did. These will be rewarded with forgiveness from
Allah, and with Gardens beneath which
canals flow, and they will reside
therein forever! How excellent is the
reward of those who do good deeds!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 25 Surah Furqaan verses 63-71:
The (true) servants of
the Merciful are those who walk humbly on the earth. When the ignorant people behave insolently
towards them, they say, “Peace to
you”; (And those) who pass their nights
in prostrating themselves and standing before their Lord and pray, “O our Lord, save us from the torment of Hell, for its torment is killing! It is an evil abode, and an evil resting place”. (And those) who, when they spend are neither extravagant, nor miserly,
but keep the golden mean between the two extremes. (And those) who do not invoke any god but
Allah Alone, nor kill a soul
unjustly, which Allah has
forbidden, nor commit adultery… He who
does this shall be punished for his sin,
and his torment shall be doubled on the Day of Resurrection, and he shall abide in a state of
ignominy; EXCEPT THE ONE WHO MAY HAVE
REPENTED (AFTER THOSE SINS), AND HAVE
BELIEVED AND DONE RIGHTEOUS DEEDS. For
then, Allah will change his evil deeds
into good deeds, and He is very
Forgiving and Merciful. In fact, one who repents and does righteous
deeds, returns to Allah as one rightly
should!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 54:
When those come to you
who believe in Our Signs, say:
"Peace be on you! Your Lord had
inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy.
Verily if any of you did evil in ignorance, and thereafter repented and amended (his
conduct), Lo! He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
Whatever
deeds one might have done, if one turns
to Allah Subhanah in sincere Taubah and seeks forgiveness, Allah Subhanah has promised in the Holy Quran
that He will forgive all the sins of such a believer, even if one has committed the gravest sin of
all: ‘Shirk’! Not only that, our Lord is so Merciful and Generous, that He not only will forgive the sins of the
believer, He will change his evil deeds
done into good deeds!
The conditions or ways to seek
sincere Taubah or Repentance from the Merciful Lord are:
To make absolutely sure that
one’s sins are forgiven it is not merely enough to verbally repent and admit
one’s sins; but it is absolutely imperative that one’s taubah and repentance is
manifested by his words and deeds thereafter.
One should feel extreme fear and guilt in his heart at his transgression
of the boundaries of the Lord Most High, make a solemn covenant with the Lord
that he will not approach the sin again, remain constant in seeking
forgiveness, and strive to do as many good righteous deeds as he possibly can.
Such is the mercy and grace of
the Lord on his believing and sincerely repentant slaves who turn back to Him
seeking forgiveness for their sins, that He wipes out that deed completely from
their Book of Records! Praise and Glory
be to Allah Subhanah, for He Alone indeed is the Most Merciful of all those who
show mercy.
Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2357 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
Allah's Messenger (saws said, "He who
(sincerely) repents of a sin is like him who has committed no sin."
Q-2: Can
the person who has commited zina, marry someone who has not?
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 24 Surah
Noor verse 3:
3 Let no man guilty of ‘zina’ marry any but a woman similarly guilty
or an unbeliever, nor let any but such a man or an unbeliever marry such a
woman: to the believers such a thing is forbidden.
If one daringly and openly transgresses the boundaries of
the Lord Most High and commits the heinous crime of ‘zina’ and is not repentant
at his grave sin, in light of the above guidance of the Glorious Quran, it is
not lawful in Islam for a believer to marry such an evil person.
But if one has committed the grave sin of zina in one’s
past and has subsequently repented, that repentance would completely purify
him/her of their sin….and there is absolutely no harm and it is encouraged in
Islam that they should seek to marry a chaste eligible believer.
Q-3: And
does the person have to tell his or her wife/husband that they have done
so?
There is absolutely no obligation that those who have
wronged their own soul through the commission of a sin should confess and
repent for their sin to anyone except to their Lord Most High.
Once one has sought sincere repentance from their Lord for
their transgression, Islam guides that it would not be considered righteousness
nor prudent that one expose one’s sins to others after their Lord Most High has
Himself concealed their evil, and thus saved them from humiliation in this
world.
If one has sought sincere repentance from their Lord for
their crime of ‘zina’ which they did in ignorance in the past, it would be best
not to willingly inform one’s future husband/wife of their past lest it should
effect their relationship in their sacred bond of marriage; but rather remain
constant in their seeking repentance and forgiveness from their Lord for their
evil abomination till their last breath leaves their body, in the hope that
their Lord Most High will forgive them their evil and wipe out that deed from
their Book of Records.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan