A hadîth-i-sherîf reads: “O my Ummat and my Sahâba! I have put forth two paths for you: One of them is the Qur’ân al-’adhîm ush-shân, and the other one is my Sunnat. A person who follows a path other than these two is not my Ummat!” [’Abd-ul-Ghânî Nablusî ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ (1050 [1640 A.D.], Damascus – 1143 [1731]) states as follows in the ninety-ninth page of his book entitled Hadîqa (and which is a commentary to the book entitled Tarîqat-i-Muhammadiyya and written by Imâm Birgivî): While Allâhu ta’âlâ announced a part of Islam by way of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, He announced its other part throught the Sunnat of His blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. The Sunnat of Rasûlullah consists of his beliefs, utterances, practices, moral behaviour, and his tacit admission of someone’s act or statement, [which was construed as his accepting (what had been done or said).]” This hadîth-i-sherîf indicates the second one of the (four Islamic sources called) Edilla-i-shar’iyya.]

To make tawba means to repent for your sin(s), to be resolved not to sin again, and to beg Allâhu ta’âlâ for forgiveness. Although there is not a prescribed manner of tawba, Islamic scholars recommend a certain prayer which, they say, will serve both as an invocation for forgiveness and as a protection against worldly disasters and misfortunes. The prayer is: “Estaghfirullah al-’azîm al-lazî lâ ilâha il-lâ huwa-l-hayya-l-qayyûm wa atûbu ilayh.”