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A stench emanating from body when reading istighfaar

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Askimam.org

Salam a lay kum mufti sahib. I have noticed two things:

 

1.  I am in practise of reading 500 times durood sharif before bed with 1 tasbeeh istagfar.  Whenever I am reading istagfar there is a bad stench coming from my body. Can you please explain why this is? 

 

 

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Respected Brother

The practise of reading durood shareef and istighfaar before retiring to bed is of great benefit. Continue with the practise.

We are in no position to comment with certainty the reason behind the stench emanating from the body. It is possible that while making istighfaar with sincerity, you may be focusing on your sins and shortcomings and the strong thoughts of the sins and shortcomings exemplify themselves psychologically in the form of a bad stench. Allah Ta’alah knows best. While making istighfaar is praiseworthy, the focus must be on spiritual reformation as well. We take care of our physical hygiene to prevent bad stenches emanating from our body, the same care should be given to our spiritual hygiene.

One must look within one’s self and self-confess of the sins one is involved in, if there are any, be it with regard to Huqooq-Ul-Allah (rights of Allah Ta’alah) or Huqooq-Ul-Ibaad (rights of people). There are different ways the rights of fellow beings can be violated. These sins, such as gheebat (backbiting) etc. are often overlooked and treated lightly.

Whatever the sin may be, coupled with istighfaar, the scholars state that there are three conditions for the validity of taubah (repentance):

1)      Leaving the sin

2)      Regretting committing the sin

3)      Making a firm intention not to commit the sin again.

If one did not offer salat, fast, give zakat etc (sins related to Huqooq-Ul-Allah), the sin of leaving these obligatory acts will be forgiven by sincerely doing taubah with all its conditionsHowever, one will still have to offer the qadha of the missed salat and fast, and he will still have to give the zakat for each year that he missed. In short, the sin of leaving the obligatory act itself will be forgiven by the taubah, however the qadha will still need to be offered.

If one wrongfully took another person’s right such as money or back bitted, slandered etc., since these rights are connected with people, fulfilling them and asking for forgiveness will be associated with people as well. In order to repent from such sins, it is not only necessary to plead to Allah for forgiveness, but also ask the person whose right was violated for pardon and forgiveness. Until this is not done the repentance (tawbah) will not be complete. If the person usurped a financial right, the financial right will have to be settled unless the wronged party forgoes his right.

However, if someone has back bitted, slandered etc. another in such a way that that person did not come to find out about what has been spoken about him, then it will not be necessary to ask him for forgiveness. It will be sufficient for one to repent sincerely to Allah Ta’alah, and make the firm intention to abstain from the evil of such sins in the future.

Together with the great practise of reciting durood shareef, one should endeavour to practically bring each and every Sunnah, the inner (different qualities of character etc.) and outer Sunnats (dressing, beard, miswaak etc.) of Nabi (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) in one’s life.

The above advises are general and does not mean that the bad stench is due to one’s sins. Allah Ta’alah has favoured the followers of Nabi (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) with concealing their sins and gave them the opportunity to secretly repent to Allah Ta’alah.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Abdullah Noorgat

Student Darul Ifta

South Africa

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

 

This answer was collected from Askimam.org, which is operated under the supervision of Mufti Ebrahim Desai from South Africa.

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