A: The word taubah, literally, means ‘to turn’ or ‘to return’, in the sense of turning or withdrawing from sins. In the terminology of the Qur’an and Sunnah, it signifies ‘to regret committing sins in the past and to firmly resolve abstaining from them in future’.
Sayyidnii ‘Ali radhiallahu anhu was asked as to what is ‘taubah’ and he replied thatit consists of six elements:
[I] to regret one’s past evil deeds;
[21 to carryout Divine duties that were missed;
[3] to restore the rights that were usurped;
[4] to ask forgiveness of a person who has been wronged by him physically or verbally;
[51 to make a firm resolve of avoiding the sin infuture; and
[61 to consume one’s self in obedience of Allah as one thus far consumed one’s self in His disobedience. [Mazhari].