The second is seeking forgiveness—even when the sins are so grave and so numerous that they reach the very clouds of the sky. What is meant by seeking forgiveness here is that which is joined to abandoning persistence. As for seeking forgiveness with the tongue while the heart remains resolved to continue the sin, that is nothing more than a bare supplication: if Allah wills, He answers it, and if He wills, He rejects it. Persistence itself may block an answer. In the Musnad (6505) it is reported from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ: “Woe to those who persist in what they have done while they know.” Al-Bayhaqī recorded in Shuʿab al-Īmān (5/436) from Ibn ʿAbbās, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ: “The one who seeks forgiveness for a sin while still committing it is like someone who mocks his Lord.” Complete istighfār—the kind that guarantees pardon—is therefore that which is coupled with abandoning persistence, just as Allah has praised its people and promised them forgiveness. The best form of seeking forgiveness is that which accompanies the relinquishing of persistence, for at that point one hopes for a sincere repentance. Yet should someone merely say, “I seek Allah’s forgiveness,” without quitting the sin in his heart, he is still calling upon Allah for pardon, and a response may be hoped for. The noblest kind of istighfār is to begin by praising one’s Lord, then to acknowledge one’s sin, and only then to ask Allah for forgiveness, as occurs in the narration of “the chief supplication for forgiveness.”

The third cause is tawḥīd (pure monotheism), which is the strongest of all causes of forgiveness. Tawḥīd is the supreme cause: whoever lacks it is barred from forgiveness, and whoever brings it has come with the greatest means of obtaining pardon. The Exalted said, “Indeed Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills” (Q 4:48). Whoever meets Allah upon tawḥīd—even if he comes with an earth-full of sins—Allah will meet him with an earth-full of forgiveness. Yet this remains under His will: if He wills, He forgives him, and if He wills, He takes him to task for his sins, then