*“ REGRET IS REPENTANCE ”

 

*Regret is a Main Condition, or the Greatest Aspect, of Repentance*

Hence the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: 

الندم توبة ، وهو حديث حسن من حديث ابن مسعود، أخرجه ابن ماجه، وصححه الحاكم، وأخرجه ابن حبان من حديث أنس وصححه

“Regret is Repentance, and it is a ḥasan (good) hadith narrated from Ibn Masʿūd. Ibn Mājah transmitted it, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic. Ibn Ḥibbān also transmitted it from Anas and declared it authentic.”

One of the scholars even said:

يكفي في التوبة تحقق الندم على وقوعه منه، فإنه يستلزم الإقلاع عنه والعزم على عدم العود، فهما ناشئان عن الندم لا أصلان معه

 انظر: فتح الباري (13/471)

*Regret is sufficient to achieve repentance*, for it implies giving up the sin and resolving not to go back to it, which stem from regret and do not occur independently of it

See: Fath al-Baari (13/471).

 

*“Regret is repentance”: * because this will lead to the other essential components of repentance – namely *giving up the sin and resolving not to go back to it, and restoring people’s rights wherever possible*.… What is meant is remorse for having committed the sin because it is a sin, and for no other reason.