Istighfar is a sentence that may be for some people so heavy spoken, especially when someone feels that his life is fine, and does not feel there is something wrong with what he did. That is the assumption if interpreting istighfar sentence can only be used or spoken when we do wrong or sin to Allah. But actually, istighfar is one of the sentences that the Prophet SAW encourage us to speak/read more because of some importance contained in it. Allah Himself commands us to always say istighfar because we always do sin.
“And whoever does evil or wrongs his soul then seeks forgiveness (of) Allah he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (An-Nisa 4:110)
Here is presented the importance of istighfar in Islam.
1. Give joy and rizq to the prayer
Muslim who always istighfar will be happy in his life because there are pleasures and rizq that will come to him. The life will become easier and he will welcome the day with happiness.
The Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever is always in the state of affairs, then Allah will give the joy of every sadness, and the spaciousness of its narrowness and give it the rizq from an unexpected direction.” (HR.Abu Daud, Ibnu Majah, and Ahmad)
See also: Dua for Journey in Islam
2. As a repentance to Allah
Human will always do wrong things and make sins that are hated by Allah. However, Allah is the Most Forgiving and will always forgive the servant who does a repentance for his wrongdoings.
The Messenger of Allah said, “Really, Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than the joy of one of you who finds his lost heritage in the desert.” (HR.Bukhari and Muslim).
3. Get grace from Allah
Grace is the most important thing that we need to do something or activities. Without Allah’s grace, all of our doing will be not accepted by Allah and they will be vain and useless.
And that “Seek forgiveness (of) your Lord and turn in repentance to Him, He will let you enjoy a good for a term appointed. And give (to) every owner (of) grace His Grace. But if you turn away then indeed, I fear for you (the) punishment (of) a Great Day.” (Hud 11:3)
See also: The Importance of Prayer in Islam
4. Give strength to the prayer
Allah promises to give a good life continuously throughout the life of the world until it comes to an end and gives various advantages and privileges to those who always istighfar and beg for Him. We will get more spirit and strength by saying istighfar every day.
“And O my people! Ask forgiveness (of) your Lord, then turn in repentance to Him. He will send (from) the sky (rain) upon you (in) abundance and increase you (in) strength (added) to your strength. And (do) not turn away (as) criminals.” (Hud 11:52)
5. Avoid punishment from Allah
Allah will not punish the people who are always do istighfar. The istighfar that we rejoin with a great deal of appreciation and guilty will also be able to withstand the coming of torment and disaster.
“But not is (for) Allah that He punishes them while you (are) among them, and not is Allah the One Who punishes them while they seek forgiveness.” (Al-Anfal 8:33)
See also: Importance of Inheritance in Islam
[AdSense-B]
6. Allah will give mercy to the prayer
Allah knows that every human will face problem and difficulties in his life. By saying istighfar, Allah will give mercy to us and make our life easier.
He said, “O my people! Why (do) you seek to hasten the evil before the good? Why not you ask forgiveness (of) Allah so that you may receive mercy?” (An-Naml 27:46)
7. Get opportunity to improve self
Humans often make mistakes, are often tempted, often neglectful of established rules. Human should be punished for the transgressions, but Allah delayed the punishment to the Hereafter. Before the deadline, humans are given the opportunity to improve themselves by re-complying with the rules. In the first step of self-improvement, he emphasized the need for self-approach, petition, and complaint, called Istighfar.
See also: Funeral Rights in Islam
8. Solutions for every problem
The principle that istighfar can be a medium to ask God to be given a way out of all difficulties and only applies to those who have made it a habit. As for those who only remember Allah in the narrow and hard times, this promise is not granted.
“Whoever always says istighfar, Allah will give for him the solution of every problem encountered, and the way out for every occasion and Allah will give him livelihood from the unpredictable path.” (Hadith Sahih, narrated by Abu Dawud (hadith No. 1297), Ibn Majah (hadith number 3809)
9. Increase the degree in the heaven
A hadith tells of a man who earns a high degree in the hereafter because of the voice of istighfar which the child read to him. This shows how strong the child’s prayer is to the parents.
The Messenger of Allah said, “Surely Allah will raise the degree of a servant in heaven, the servant said,” O Allah, from where can I glory this? “Allah said” Because your istighfar son is for you. “ (HR.Ahmad with sanad hasan)
See also: Importance of Time in Islam
[AdSense-A]
10. Following Sunnah Rasulullah
Every day we are fought by sinful acts and our vices, hearing, eyes, mouth, steps, and deeds of ours never stop creating sins. The act of sin and sinfulness is like the dust that is attached to it, no human can escape the dust. To clean it, we must do istighfar for every activity that may make sins. In addition, we also follow Sunnah Rasulullah who already does istighfar for seventy times in a day.
Abu Hurairah said, “I have heard the Messenger of Allah say, By Allah, I ask forgiveness of Allah (repentance) and repent of him in a day more than seventy times.” (HR.Bukhari)
11. Allah will provide wealth, children, and pleasures
Then I said, “Ask forgiveness (from) your Lord. Indeed, He is Oft-Forgiving. He will send down (rain from) the sky upon you (in) abundance, And provide you with wealth and children, and make for you gardens and make for you rivers.” (Nuh 71:10-12)
The mufassir and scholar say that the ‘gardens’ in the above verse are a lot of wealth. Thus, a diligent person will be blessed with a big amount of wealth and blessing. In addition, we will get children and whatever that makes us happy because we always do istighfar.
See also: Importance of Sacrifice in Islam
12. Get Directions
Allah will eliminate any difficulties or confusion, which is in front of us due to the many sins we cover and replace it with a guide in the form of the faith of Him when we always ask for forgiveness to Him. The guide and direction will be the light for us to continue our life and make it better because we are always in the darkness.
Shaykh Muhammad bin Muhammad Mukhtar As-Syinqity hafidzahullaah was once asked by someone, “O Shaykh, by what do you advise me to welcome the coming season of obedience? Then Shaikh replied, The best practice that can be done in meeting the observance season is to multiply istighfar. For sin will be to prevent a person from the taufiq of Allah (to perform obedience). “
13. A ticket to go to the heaven
Allah has promised and guaranteed a place in the heaven for His servant who always istighfar every day and does good deeds. This shows the most important of istighfar because every human’s dream is to go to the heaven after the death.
“And whoever pronounces the prayer during the day with full conviction, then he dies that day before the night comes, then he belongs to the inhabitants of heaven. And whoever mentions it at night with confidence and he dies before the morning arrives, then he belongs to the inhabitants of heaven. “ (Al-Bukhari No. 5831 and 5848)
See also: Dua for Conception in Islam
14. Eliminate evil and Satan
Satan always tries to persuade us and make us do sins as long as we live in this world. However, Allah is very kind and will forgive us as long as we ask for forgiveness (istighfar) even though we are persuaded by Satan.
The Satan has said, “For the glory, O God, I will continually seduce your servants as long as their spirits are in their bodies.” So, Allah replies, “And for My glory and My greatness, always forgive them as long as they ask for forgiveness (istighfar) to me. “ (HR Ahmad and al-Hakim)
15. Turn evil deeds to good deeds
Allah will replace all of our wrongdoings with the good one as long as we always istighfar. This shows that Allah is Most Forgiving and Merciful.
“Except (he) who repents and believes and does righteous deeds, then (for) those Allah will replace their evil deeds (with) good ones. And is Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al-Furqan 25:70)
See also: Importance of Jummah in Islam
The Other Importance of Istighfar in Islam
This is presented more importance of istighfar in Islam.
- The identity of us as a Muslim
- Get lucky in the life
- The heart becomes pure and clean
- Make the attitude soft and good in speech
- Become closer and loved by Allah
That’s all the importance of istighfar in Islam. We can do this every day to feel the benefits and warmness of the effect to our heart to continue our life.