Man’s default is to make mistakes

We are a creation who are prone to being forgetful and making mistakes. Allah created man to be perfectly imperfect. Thereby, we inherently have weakness and shortcomings. It’s not a question of if but when we will make mistakes. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

 “By Him in Whose Hand is my life, if you were not to commit sin, Allah would sweep you out of existence and He would replace (you by) those people who would commit sin and seek forgiveness from Allah, and He would have pardoned them.”[Muslim]

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is  preparing us and setting out our expectations – that from time to time, we will all commit sins and mistakes. That our desires, passions, liking for the sins, peer pressure, boredom, arrogance (feeling secure from sins), self-medication and our state of heedlessness may overcome us and cause us to fall upon our faces. It’s inevitable that it will happen, but what really matters is our response when we fall down. And there are one of three general responses:

Three types of responses post sinning

(1) Are we going to be those who commit a sin and follow it up with another sin?

We persist in the state of  perpetual sins either because we enjoy them and therefore actively pursue more and more or we fall further victim of Satanic whispers, ‘you might as well continue, get your fill, and then go back’.

(2) Are we going to be those who commit a sin, get all hung up on it and stay in a state of limbo, upset and angry at ourselves? 

We may feel embarrassed, ashamed, perhaps feel remorse and sadness that we let ourselves down, that we failed to channel our desires, that we were careless. We are genuinely upset, but our state of reprimand and Satanic whispers make us feel too ashamed, too unworthy, too impure to call upon Allah. This state is better than the first but it falls short. 

(3) Are we going to be those who commit a sin, thereafter realise we have sinned and turn back to Him in forgiveness?

We acknowledge what we did was wrong, and we must acknowledge a sin as a sin, we feel ashamed, we feel regret that we let ourselves down, that we turned our back to Allah. Whatever the reason, we are resolute not to repeat it and therefore we turn back to Allah in repentance.

The best of people

Of the three groups of people, the best of them are those who after committing a sin turn back to Allah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

“All of the Children of Adam constantly err, the best of those who constantly err are those who repent.” [Tirmidhi]

The first and second states are saturated with demonic whispers to keep us where we are and prevent us from turning back to Him. The third state is without doubt a state of of mercy and angelic inspiration.

“Allah doesn’t inspire the seeking of forgiveness in someone except that He wants to forgive them.”