What is the concepts of repentance ‘Tauba’ in Islam. If someone has sinned and a person is harmed as a result. Now the person who is harmed passes away and the person who has sinned is truly sorry and does Tauba. Will Allah forgive him, even though that person who has passed away will never be able to forgive him?
Answer
Assalamo Alaikum
My humble understanding on the subject is that if you have expressed your sense of regret sincerely on the wrong you did to the Almighty and have done enough to correct the damage you did to the aggrieved party, your repentance is complete. Of course, there is no limit to how much you can express your sorrow at what had happened and to the extent you can go on correcting the damage. However, the Almighty expects from us only what we can possibly manage to do within our limits. He doesn’t expect from us what is beyond our limits.
If the person you had harmed has passed away, you should seek forgiveness for him from the Almighty, be good to his family, and further some of the good causes he had been pursuing during his lifetime.
There are scholars who believe that you will not be forgiven on the Day of Judgment unless the person aggrieved by your actions forgives you. I don’t quite agree with this understanding. I believe the essence of repentance is a sincere feeling of regret which is expressed wholeheartedly before the Almighty. If the aggrieved person stubbornly rejects your request to be forgiven, it is none of your faults. May be, the Almighty, in case of those who sincerely repent would make the hearts of those from whom forgiveness is sought incline to forgive. And Allah knows the best.