List Q&A

The sins that people commit are not all alike in terms of their greatness and the forgiveness of different sins depends on the kind of sin that has been committed.  Some sins can be forgiven by only saying astaghfurullah once while others may require more effort. We must note that according to Islam, anyone can repent to Allah up until the last moment of his life, and in order to do so, after asking for the help of Allah and the Ahlul-Bayt, he must make great effort to compensate for the rights he trampled in regard to Allah and people.

There are many ways mentioned below that one can be forgiven and purified from his sins and misdeeds:
1- Repenting according to its conditions and returning to Allah.
2- Doing extraordinary good deeds that cause the forgiveness of evil deeds.
3- Avoiding major sins which entails the forgiveness of minor sins.
4- Enduring the difficulties and catastrophes of this world, the hardships of Barzakh (the barrier between the mortal world and the hereafter) and the initial stages of the Day of Judgment will purify believers.
5- Intercession: Of course we must pay attention that Intercession will only purify a sinner from his bad deeds if he makes the required changes and possesses the qualifications of being forgiven.
6- Divine Forgiveness: It will only apply to people who possess the required qualifications and conditions; meaning that it covers the believers who had practical shortcomings and faults.

Magnanimity means to be far away from lowliness. The soul of he who is pure from every low attribute is called magnanimous. Magnanimity is opposed to lowliness. To reach the highest peak of magnanimity, one must be equipped with piety, which is staying away from anything that leads to sin.
As the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (‘a) has said,

“He who is pious will achieve what he desires and Allah will make him to dwell in the house of magnanimity; the house that is Allah’s alone. Its ceiling is the Throne of The Lord; its brightness comes from Divine Beauty; angels and the friends and companions of prophets frequent this house.”

Sin is like a foul-smelling swamp full of sewage; the more one sinks into it, the less he senses its smell, because he actually loses his sense of smell and can't tell that he is drowning anymore.
At the same time, anytime one makes a strong decision to return from this swamp, it is considered a victory. One who has decided to fight sin, needs to increase his ambitions for such, so that he can be victorious in the following stages of this struggle.
As for how to increase ambition and motivation, there are some methods that might be useful:
1- Paying attention to the disadvantages and harms of the sin
2- Paying attention to the high value of your own character
3- Paying attention to the magnanimous rank of Allah (swt) and that He has to be obeyed
4- Paying attention to the significance of struggling against sin and one’s illegitimate desires as a skill, and the pleasure of winning the struggle against the self.
In addition, you should try not to ever be alone anywhere and fill your free time with reading, sports, recitation and memorization of the Quran, worship, fasting, interacting with religious people, etc. This way, the chances of the sin being repeated will be less.
If you are single, try to get married as quick as possible, because fulfilling your sexual desires in a legitimate way might be the answer to the problem.
One of the most important points concerning this matter is for you not to lose hope in Allah’s (swt) mercy, and to trust in and ask Him for help. Don’t become hopeless just because you might sometimes return to the sin after you have repented from it; try to fight this problem using what was mentioned above. We believe that through the grace of Allah (swt), you will win this battle.