and press forward in all that is good.

Allah the Exalted says, “And hasten toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the God-fearing—those who spend in prosperity and adversity…” (Āl ʿImrān 133–134). In short, He commands: hurry to forgiveness and to Paradise.

Hastening toward forgiveness means that one should rush to every deed that wipes away sins. Foremost among these is seeking pardon by uttering phrases such as “astaghfir Allah” (I seek Allah’s forgiveness), “O Allah, forgive me,” or “O Allah, I seek Your pardon,” and the like. It also includes hurrying to acts whose performance brings about forgiveness—ablution, the five daily prayers, the span from one Friday prayer to the next, and from one Ramadan to the next. When a person performs ablution, perfects it, and then says, “I bear witness that none is worthy of worship but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O Allah, make me among those who constantly repent and among those who purify themselves,” the eight gates of Paradise are opened for him, and he may enter through whichever of them he wishes. Likewise, as he washes, his sins fall away from the very limbs he is washing with the last drop of water. All of these are avenues to forgiveness.

Other means of forgiveness include: the five daily prayers, which atone for whatever occurs between them so long as the major sins are avoided; the Friday prayer to the next Friday prayer, which expiates what lies between them provided the major sins are shunned.