remembers his sins and then seeks forgiveness for them.” Mujāhid said, “He is the one who, whenever he recalls a sin while alone, seeks pardon for it.” (1) Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said, “He is the servant who sins and repents, then sins again and repents again.”
- The second quality is to be ḥafīẓ, a faithful guardian. Ibn ʿAbbās explained, “He safeguards what Allah has entrusted to him and made obligatory upon him.” Qatādah said, “He preserves what Allah has deposited with him of His rights and His blessings.” (2)
Because the soul has two powers—the power of pursuit and the power of restraint—the awwāb employs the power of pursuit to return to Allah, to seek His good pleasure, and to obey Him, whereas the ḥafīẓ draws on the preserving faculty to hold back from His prohibitions and offenses. The ḥafīẓ, then, is the one who restrains himself from what is unlawful, while the awwāb is the one who turns toward Allah in obedience.
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The third quality is found in His words: “who feared the Most Merciful though unseen” (Qāf 33). This necessarily includes affirming His existence, His lordship, His power, His knowledge, and His encompassing awareness of every detail of the servant’s state; it includes affirming His scriptures, His messengers, His commands, and His prohibitions; and it includes affirming His promise and His threat and the meeting with Him. Genuine awe of the Most Merciful in the unseen is impossible without all of this.
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The fourth quality is in His words: “and comes with a heart that is penitent” (Qāf 33). Ibn ʿAbbās said, “He turns back from disobeying Allah and advances toward obeying Allah.” The essence of inābah (penitence) is for the heart to be devoted to Allah’s obedience, to His love, and to turning toward Him.
The Exalted then mentions the reward awaiting those who embody these traits: “Enter it in peace; this is the Day of everlasting life. They shall have whatever they wish therein, and with Us there is yet more besides.” (Qāf 34–35)