Allah’s Pleasure At My Repentance

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than a person riding a camel in a waterless desert who loses his camel and all his provisions of food and drink which it is carrying. Having abandoned all hope of ever finding the camel, he lies down in the shade of a tree that he happens to come across. While he is resting, he suddenly sees the camel standing right in front of him. He grasps hold of its reins and then, in sheer joy, blurts out, ‘O Lord, You are my Servant and I am Your lord!’ He makes this mistake out of extreme joy.” [Bukhari; Kitab ad-Da’awaat]

Let us assume that a person whom you love dearly has been captured by an enemy and prevented from joining you, and you know that this enemy will inflict all manner of tortures on your beloved and destroy him, and that you are far better for him than this enemy – for he is someone whom you have nurtured.

Then imagine that he escapes from this enemy and comes to you without letting you know in advance, so that you are amazed to find him at your front door, praising you, and hoping for your pleasure, with his cheeks smudged with the dust from your door step. How happy would you be at his return, seeing that you had already made him yours before, approved of his closeness to you, and favoured him above everyone else?

That is the feeling that you experience – even though it was not you who brought him into existence and granted him your blessings. Allah, Mighty and Glorious is He, is the One Who brought His servant into existence, created him, and granted him His blessings – and He likes to complete His blessings on him!

[The Purification of the Soul, Compiled from the works of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali; Al-Firdous Ltd, London]