and were to ask Me, I would grant each one what he asked, yet that would diminish My dominion no more than a needle diminishes the sea when it is dipped into it.
O My servants, it is only your deeds that I record for you; then I shall repay you for them in full. Whoever finds good should praise Allah, and whoever finds other than that should blame no one but himself.
Al-Bukhārī also relates from Shaddād ibn Aws that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“The supreme formula for seeking forgiveness is for a servant to say,
‘O Allah, You are my Lord; there is no god but You. You created me and I am Your servant. I remain, as far as I can, upon Your covenant and Your promise. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge before You Your favor upon me, and I acknowledge my sin; so forgive me, for none forgives sins except You.’
Whoever recites it in the morning with full certainty in it and then dies that day will enter Paradise, and whoever recites it in the evening with full certainty in it and then dies that night will enter Paradise.”
A servant is always moving between a blessing from Allah that calls for gratitude and a sin of his own that calls for seeking forgiveness. Both of these matters are ever-present and indispensable, for he is constantly turning amid Allah’s favors and continually in need of repentance and forgiveness.
For this reason the master of Adam’s descendants and the leader of the God-fearing (peace and blessings be upon him) sought forgiveness in every circumstance. In the sound report collected by al-Bukhārī he said: “People, turn in repentance to your Lord, for I repent to Allah one hundred times each day.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar said, “We used to count in a single sitting of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he would say one hundred times,
‘My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance; You are the Ever-Returning, the All-Merciful.’” He also said, “I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him seventy-two times in the day.”
In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim it is related that he said, “A covering is cast over my heart, and I indeed seek Allah’s forgiveness one hundred times a day.”
Because of this, seeking forgiveness was prescribed at the conclusions of deeds. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “And those who seek forgiveness before dawn” (Āl ʿImrān 3:17). Some explained: they enlivened the night with prayer, and when the time of dawn arrived they were commanded to seek forgiveness.
In the authentic ḥadīth it is reported that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his prayer he would seek forgiveness three times and then say, “O Allah, You are peace and from You is peace; blessed are You, Possessor of majesty and honor.”
Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Then, when you pour forth from ʿArafāt, remember Allah at the Sacred Monument… and seek Allah’s forgiveness; truly Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful” (al-Baqarah 2:198-199).
He also commanded His Prophet—after he had conveyed the message, struggled for Allah with the fullest effort, and carried out what no one else attained—to do so, saying: “When the help of Allah comes and the victory, and you see the people entering Allah’s religion in multitudes, then hymn the praise of your Lord and seek His forgiveness; He is indeed Ever-Relenting” (al-Naṣr 110:1-3).
Thus the very pillars of the religion stand upon tawḥīd (affirming Allah’s oneness) and istighfār (seeking forgiveness). Allah, Exalted is He, says at the beginning of Sūrat Hūd: “A Book whose verses have been perfected and then detailed, from One all-wise, all-aware: ‘Worship none but Allah; I am to you from Him a warner and a bearer of glad tidings. And seek your Lord’s forgiveness, then turn to Him in repentance; He will grant you a goodly provision…’”
And He says in Sūrat Fuṣṣilat: “So hold fast to Him and seek His forgiveness.”