steadfastness upon avoiding sins in the future. Grant me a heart full of fear of You, an eye that sheds tears and a body that trembles.’

After this, stand from that place with the certainty that the Merciful and Generous Creator has accepted your repentance. Then with a renewed intention, start a new and pure life and engage yourself in doing away with your previous sins.

How to know whether repentance has been accepted?

Imam Muhammad Ghazali رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه writes that: A scholar was asked, ‘If a person repents, can he come to know whether his repentance has been accepted or not?’ He replied, ‘A ruling cannot be given in regards to this, however, there is a sign; if he finds himself avoiding sin in the future, finds that his heart is free of happiness, draws close to pious people before Allah Almighty, stays away from bad people, considers a small amount of the world to be a lot and considers many deeds of the Hereafter to be little, and his heart always remains occupied in the Faraaid of Allah Almighty, he protects his tongue, ponders at all times and feels sadness and shame over the sins he has committed (then consider the repentance to be accepted).’ (Mukashafa-tul-Quloob, p. 29)

What to do after repenting?

Dear Islamic brothers! After a person repents from his sins, then the first thing he should do is to gain the recognition of sins in some way, so that he can save himself from committing any sin in the future; reading the books of Maktaba-tul-Madinah, like Ihya-ul-‘Uloom, Minhaj-ul-‘Aabideen, Mukashafa-tul-Quloob and Jahannam Mayn Lay Janay Walay ‘Amaal (volume 1, 2), will be very beneficial in this regard. Then he should avoid those sins completely, and he should try to abstain from every such action that leads toward sin. Besides this, he should busy himself in performing good deeds in abundance, for the light of good deeds dispels the darkness of sins. Just as the Beloved