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There are many texts to be found in the Book of Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, and in the sunnah of His Messenger () that encourage one to seek forgiveness: texts commanding it, showing its excellence, showing the excellence of its people and of those who are constant in it.  In fact, there are so many of these texts that it would be very difficult to enumerate them.  From them is the saying of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High:

Say, 'O My servants who have transgressed greatly against themselves through sins!  Do not despair of the Mercy of Allaah.  Indeed Allaah forgives all sins to those who repent.  Indeed He is oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.'¹

Some of the Salaf have said that this aayah from the Book of Allaah, is the one that gives the most hope to the one who seeks forgiveness.  Moreover, Allaah, the Most High, in encouragement of seeking forgiveness, and in making clear its excellence and it fruits both in this worldly life and the in the Hereafter, refers to what Nooh said.  He says:

I said to them, 'Ask forgiveness from  your Lord, indeed He is Oft-Forgiving.  He will send rain to you in abundance and He will give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on  you gardens and rivers.'²

This tremendous aayah promises numerous benefits and offers important lessons for those who seek forgiveness and for those who constantly ask forgiveness for their sins.  It is related that a man came to al-Hasan al-Basree, the noble Taabi'ee, and complained to him of poverty.  So he said to him, 'Ask forgiveness of Allaah.'  Another man came to him complaining that he did not have any children.  So he said to him, 'Ask forgiveness of Allaah.'  A third man came to him complaining of the barrenness of his garden.  So he said to him, 'Ask forgiveness of Allaah.'  He then recited to them the saying of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High:

I said to them, 'Ask forgiveness from  your Lord, indeed He is Oft-Forgiving.  He will send rain to you in abundance and He will give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on  you gardens and rivers.'³

These then are some of the fruits of seeking forgiveness and some of its benefits in the worldly life.  As for the Hereafter, then the benefits of seeking forgiveness are very great and tremendous.

With regard to the Sunnah, there are many texts from the Prophet () encouraging the seeking of forgiveness and making clear its excellence.  From them is the hadeeth of Anas ibn Maalik () that is reported by, amongst others, at-Tirmidhee in his Sunan.  He said, "Allaah's Messenger () said, 'Allah, the Most High, said, 'O son of Aadam! As long as you supplicate to Me, and hope in Me, I will forgive you what you have done and I do not care.  O son of Aadam!  If your sins where to reach the lofty regions of the sky, then you asked Me for forgiveness, I would forgive you.  O son of Aadam!  If you were to come to Me with enough sins to fill the earth, but you met Me not associating anything with Me -- I would bring you the like of it of forgiveness.''"  So the proof in this hadeeth qudsee for the excellence of seeking forgiveness is in the second sentence.  That is the saying of Allaah, the Most High, 'O Son of Aadam!  If your sins were to reach the lofty regions ('anaan) of the sky ...' as for the '`anaan' of the sky, then it is said, 'It means the clouds ...,' it is also said, 'It is the extent of the sky that is reached by ones eyesight.'

So, even if the sins were so many, so various and so monstrous, Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, would forgive the servant if he asked Him for forgiveness.

Also from the ahadeeth reported on the subject of seeking forgiveness is that of Aboo Hurairah, reported by al-Bukhaaree⁴ that the Prophet () said, "By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I certainly ask forgiveness of Allaah and repent to him more than seventy times each day."  The Prophet () was such that Allaah had forgiven his earlier and later sins, yet he still used to ask Allaah's forgiveness more than a hundred times each day.  Indeed, as Ibn 'Umar said, "We used to count that in a single gathering he would say, 'I ask Allaah's forgiveness and I repent to Him,' more than seventy times."⁵  Thus he would continually ask for forgiveness and give it great importance.

Also from the ahadeeth showing the excellence and great importance of seeking forgiveness is that reported by Muslim in his Saheeh from Aboo Hurairah () from the Prophet() that he said, "By Allaah!  If you did not commit sins, Allaah would have taken you away and brought a people who seek Allaah's forgiveness, and He would forgive them."⁶  He would have taken you away and He would have brought a people who seek Allaah's forgiveness, and He would forgive them--this shows the extent to which Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, loves the seeking of forgiveness and that He loves those who ask for His forgiveness.

¹ Soorah az-Zumar (39):53.

² Soorah Nooh (71):10-12.

³ ibid.

⁴ Eng. Transl. Vol. 8, no. 319.  The wording of al-Bukharee is, " ... more than seventy times."  And the wording of a narration of at-Tirmidhee is, "I seek the forgiveness of Allaah a hundred times in a day."  Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmidhee, no. 2597.

⁵ See As-Saheehah, no. 556.

⁶ Eng. Transl. vol. 4, no. 6522.