Advice of Scholars - TO REPENT FOR SINS

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the  66th letter of the second volume of his Maktûbât:

Allahu ta’âlâ declares in the thirty-first âyat of Sûrat-un-Nûr: “O Believers! You all repent and ask Allah’s pardon! You can be saved only by repenting. ” He declares in the eighth âyat of Sûrat-ut-Tahrîm, which is at the end of the twenty-eighth chapter of the Qur’ân [the Qur’ân consists of thirty chapters equal in page numbers], “O elite, who have îmân! Return to Allahu ta’âlâ! Repent sincerely! That is, do not break your repentance! If you repent in this manner, maybe your Allah will forgive you and will put you into Paradise, where there are trees and villas under which water flows. ” He declares in the hundred and twentieth âyat of Sûrat-ul-An’âm, “Abstain from sins, whether they are evident or secret. ”

It is fard-i ayn for everybody to repent for his sins. Nobody can escape repentance. How can anyone ever escape it, despite the fact that all Prophets (alaihimussalawâtu wattaslîmât) used to repent? Muhammad (’alaihi wa alaihimussalawât), who was the final and the greatest of all prophets, stated: “A curtain [that prevents divine lights from penetrating] gets drawn across my heart. Therefore, I say istighfâr seventy times each day. ” If there are no human rights in the sin which is committed, if it is only between Allah and oneself, e. g. committing adultery, having alcoholic drinks, listening to musical instruments, looking at nâ-mahram women, holding the Qur’ân without having an abdast (ritual ablution), getting stuck in corrupt beliefs, such as Râfidî, Wahhabi, and others, one can repent by regretting [what one has done], by saying istighfâr, and by being ashamed, embarrassed towards Allahu ta’âlâ and begging His pardon. If one has omitted one of the fard without an excuse, for repenting, one has to perform that fard together with all of these.