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Hello everyone, how are you? I hope you'll having a great day. This is going to be somewhat long, so please bear with me. I was born in southern Iraq, and was raised a Shia Muslim, but even as a child I was always doubtful of many things, especially religion. I upheld my Islamic from age 7 but stopped around the time I was coming of age (11, 13 or 14 I don't really remember) I remained a Muslim up until I was 18, when I decided I wasn't a Muslim anymore and I started looking for another religion/philosophy to guide me through my life. In the beginning I became a deist and looked at the ideas of Deists (many of whom are the founding fathers of the US), but that wasn't enough for me, so I took to Christianity. After reading the bible of St. John, I decided that Christianity wasn't for me. But reading through the history of Christianity I found about Hellenic philosophy, specifically the philosophies of Stoicism and Epicureanism. I was surprised by the unbelievable similarities between the Stoic doctrine and the Islamic(Shia) doctrine. So here I am once again contemplating Islam once again,and I'm thinking about coming back to Islam. But there's but one thing that is bothering me, the prayers and fasting months I missed (both during my teenage years and the period that I left Islam). And here lies my question, do I have to do those missed prayers(bearing in mind that I don't really know how many I'm required to do) and observing the many Ramadans that I missed? Or am I considered a new Muslim and thus I begin with a clean sheet? Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a nice day.

I don't really understand what exactly counts as back biting somebody. Does just talking ill about them really account or is it if you lie about them and gossip about them? Secondly, there is a hadith that said Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) won't forgive them until they apologize to the victim of the backbiting, what if (for whatever reason) it is improbable or if there is something in your way which prevents you from apologizing to them?

Some points to consider In order to get all our sins forgiven and attain to true repentance is by no means an easy task. It has been said in narrations that it is more tough to repent than it is to abstain from sin. Now what does it mean to truly repent. What constitutes true repentance? I'm not going to go in much detail but just going to give you some parts to make you understand what true repentance is. If you sin and then you have repented and then you sin again: if this cycle continues, then know that you haven't truly repented. Your previous sins might have been forgiven but what I'm saying is it isn't true repentance. True repentance can mean many different things but one meaning which can be applied here is seeing barzakh while one is alive in this world. Once a man sees barzakh (punishment, etc.), then its almost impossible to sin. Imagine you get burned by fire every time you do something in this life-in that case you would not do the action because you cant tolerate burning. So you will find an alternative way so you can abstain from sin such as getting married, or in cases of haram earnings, perhaps a low paying halal job. One way to look at repentance is to get cleansed to the point you are able to witness barzakh. Now everyone must do repentance even if you don't sin because all sins have to be accounted for and if proper repentance is not done for past sins, they can come back in your life so they must be wiped out once and for all. You really have to go and see the causes of those sins. Why did you sin in the first place? There are many other steps to repentance but these were just a few points I wanted to share. Also not to forget the evils of sinning. ONE MUST UNDERSTAND AND KNOW THE EVIL EFFECTS OF SINNING. SOME OF THEM BEING: Sin brings stress, depression Sin makes you a coward Sin destroys your beauty Sin reduces your lifespan. If you were to live for 60 years, you can even die at 40 or even earlier Sin is deception Sin closes the doors of guidance Sin can lead to other sins Sin can make one forget about TIME and before you know it THE HOUR ARRIVES Sin is what keeps Imam Mahdi away from us Quran, "It is but one Shout, and behold them brought together before Us" - meaning the shout can come anytime for you or me Quran, "This day no soul is wronged in aught; nor are you requited aught save What ye used to do"

So I know a person who committed theft of 533 dollars from a friend of his . He is extremely regretful of the act he committed and wants to make a sincere repentance by giving back the rights of the person he stole from. However he is ashamed and scared of letting that person know that he stole from him. What can this person do? How can he fix what he has done wrong while still keeping his reputation. Is there anyway the thief can fix his action without letting the victim know for sincere repentance to be accepted by God. Please give me your sincere advice.

There is some bad habits that is difficult to be leaved. For example, who, is addicted to smoking or telling lie, It is so difficult to leave rooted habits. fasting is great opportunity for human being to change himself and step by step decorates himself by moral positive behavior as holy Quran says: "وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاة ": " Find strength in fortitude and prayer According commentators say patience in this verse means fasting[1] so by getting help from fasting we get opportunity to remove and change our bad behavior. By other world fasting provide conditions to believers over come on bad habits and make themselves near to perfection toward to Allah. There are two types of repentance of sins, First, repentance from sin causes and second , repentance of sin effects ,repentance of sin cause is very difficult and requires a strong will to cure it's problem.For example, someone who lies and deception because of inferiority complex or self-interest or fear. Only by destroying the roots of telling lie can reform and amend it's character, And treatment of psychological problems require strong will and fasting will be effective in strengthening the will. Therefore fasting helps the human to repent from sin causes. [1] 1.verse.153.vRefer. Al-mizan .chapter 2.

i have 2 questions regarding this hadit below... my first question is regarding #5 in the hadith below... does this mean to fast? and my second question is regarding #6... does this mean to have my brain and heart that writhing pain that seems to come over my body as i remember my sin? is that the correct pain of obediennce ?? or is there a solace a blissfulness in being obedient in doing something i truly want to do an truly find Repentance?? It is narrated that someone said: Astaghfirullah (I seek God's forgiveness) before Imam ‘Ali Úáíå ÇáÓáÇã. He said to him. "May your mother mourn for you! Do you know what istighfar is? Verily istighfar is a degree of the 'illiyyun (people of high station) and it is a word that means six things. First is remorse over the past. Second, the resolution not to return to it ever. Third, to return to creatures their (formerly usurped) rights so that you meet God Almighty in a state of purity in which no one has any claim against you. Fourth, that you fulfil every duty that you neglected in order to satisfy your obliga­tion in respect to it. Fifth, that you attend to the flesh of your body that has grown on unlawful nourishment so that it melts away as a result of grief and mourning and your skin adheres to your bones, after which new flesh grows in its place. Sixth, that you make your body taste the pain of obedience in the same way as it earlier tasted the pleasure of sins. When you have done these things then say Astaghfirul­lah! [Nahj al‑Balagha, saying # 417]

(bismillah) (salam) We know according to sahih narrations from our imams that the repentance of a murtad who was born a muslim isn't accepted, whilst the opposite is true for a convert (i.e. one who wasn't born a muslim). Evidently the case of the former raised my eyebrows from a rational perspective, so I contacted asad qaseer from kawthar tv and he claimed that if there's any chance of bringing him back to Islam it is wajib on us to do so with the murtad who was a born muslim. A brother also contacted Shaykh Fayyadh's office about this issue and they answered it isnt wajib to inform the authorities of a man's irtidad, which leaves some open room for change of course. However, there's still something that doesnt seem to fit in all of this: If a murtad born of muslim parents is given the chance to be convinced to return, then why is the ruling different for him compared to the convert? What was the actual view of the classical fuqaha on this issue? Thanks (wasalam)