Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Maaiz ibn Malik al-Aslami came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said:
O Messenger of Allah, I have wronged myself by committing adultery, and I want you to purify me.
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The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned him away. The next day, he came back and said:
O Messenger of Allah, I have committed adultery,
and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned him away a second time. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent for his people and asked them,
Do you know of anything wrong with him mentally? Have you ever noticed any strange behaviour on his part?
They said,
What we know is that he is of sound mind. He is among the righteous people, as far as we can see.
Maaiz came back a third time, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent for his people too, and they told him that there was nothing wrong with him or with his mind. On the fourth day, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had a hole dug for him, and commanded that he should be stoned. The Ghaamidi woman came and said,
O Messenger of Allah, I have committed adultery, so purify me.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned her away. The next day, she came back and asked,
Why are you turning me away? Perhaps you are turning me away as you turned Maaiz away, but by Allah I am pregnant.
He said,
Then no (I will not carry out the punishment). Go away until you have given birth.
When she had given birth, she brought the child wrapped in a cloth and said, Here, I have given birth to him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
Go away and breastfeed him until he is weaned.
When she had weaned him, she brought the child, holding a piece of bread in his hand, and said:
O Messenger of Allah, here he is, I have weaned him and he is eating solid food now.
The child was given to one of the Muslims to take care of, then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered that a chest-deep hole be dug for her, and that she be stoned. Khalid ibn al-Waleed picked up a stone and threw it at her head. Blood spurted out onto his face and he swore at her. The Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) heard what he said, and told him:
Take it easy, O Khalid! By Him in whose hand is my soul, she has repented in such a way that if the tax-gatherer had done so, he would have been forgiven.(Reported by Muslim)
According to one report, Umar said:
O Messenger of Allah, you had her stoned and now you will pray for her! He said: She has repented in such a way that if it were to be shared out among seventy people of Medina, it would be sufficient for them. Can you find anyone better than one who gives up her soul for the sake of Allah? (Reported by Abd al-Razzaaq in al-Musannaf, 7/325).
Repentance wipes out what came before it
One might say:
I want to repent, but who can guarantee that Allah will forgive me if I do so? I want to follow the Straight Path, but I feel very hesitant. If I knew for sure that Allah would forgive me, I would definitely repent.
I would say in response that these feelings of hesitation are the same as those experienced by the sahabah themselves. If you think seriously about the following two reports, the feelings you have will be dispelled, InshaAllah.
Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) reported the story of how Amr ibn al-Aas (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Islam:
When Allah put the love of Islam into my heart, I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: Stretch forth your hand so that I may give bayah (pledge of allegiance) to you. He stretched forth his hand, but I pulled my own hand back. He asked, What is the matter, O Amr? I said, There is a condition. He asked, What is the condition? I said: That I be forgiven. He said: Do you not know, O Amr, that Islam wipes out whatever came before, hijrah (migration for the sake of Allah) wipes out whatever came before, and Hajj wipes out whatever came before?
Imam Muslim reported from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that some people among the mushrikin killed, and killed a great deal, and they committed adultery, and did it a great deal. Then they came to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said:
What you say and advocate is good, if only you could tell us if there is any expiation for what we have done.
Then Allah revealed the words (interpretation of the meanings):
And those who invoke not any other god along with Allah, nor kill such life as Allah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. [al-Furqan 25:68]
Say: O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah [al-Zumar 39:53].
Footnote
Adapted from islamqa.info/en
(NOTE: If you want to build a strong and powerful relationship with Allah, check out Islamia TV, where you can watch Islamic speakers from across the globe deliver inspiring and motivational courses. Learn more at www.islamia.tv.)
