A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO PRACTICING RELIGION - PART 5

 On the other hand, the process of doing Taubah (repentance) for any violations of rights of people is a lot more complicated. If I start thinking (hypothetically) about all the violations of other people's rights I have committed in my life; how many times did I talk back to my parents or didn't do things they told me to do, how many times did I physically/verbally fight with my siblings/friends/class fellows/acquaintances, how many times did I borrow books/other items from other people and did not return these, how many times have I made harsh/nasty comments to my family members, said terrible things to them, said bad things about people behind their back, how about all the times I used items provided to me for doing my job, for personal uses, how many times have I done personal chores/spent time socialising, in duty hours for which I was being paid for by my employers, how many years have I not paid full taxes, how many times have I paid a workman in cash so that I/they wouldn't have to pay taxes?

Taubah for rights of others involves remembering and writing down all these infractions I have committed in my life. For all the times I have caused physical or verbal harm to anyone, I have to find those people and apologise to them, because unless they forgive me, Allah Ta'ala won't accept my Taubah. For all the items/money I unjustly took from or didn't pay to people/government I should have paid it to, Taubah will not be accepted until I find all of them and pay them their money back or beg them to forgive me. How realistic is it that I will now be able to find all the people I hurt or harmed in my life, so that I can make reparation or ask for their forgiveness? 

It is for all these reasons I tell younger people to keep their ledger of violating other people's rights as empty as possible when they are growing up, because the later in life it occurs to us to do Taubah the more difficult making reparations for other people's violated rights becomes. I only wish I had started listening to ny own advice sooner.

to be continued...

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