HADITH (pl. AHADITH)

Report of the words and deeds of Muhammad and other early Muslims: considered an authoritative source of revelation, second only to the Quran (sometimes referred to as sayings of the Prophet).

Compilers were careful to record hadith exactly as received from recognised transmission specialists. The six most authoritative collections are those of al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, Abu Daud al-Sijistani, al-Nasai and al-Qazwini.

In an authentic hadith, the Prophet (bpuh) said:

"All blessed is He and Most High says: 'O' son of Adam, indeed you will not supplicate to Me and hope from Me except that I will forgive you in proportion to what came from you (i.e. your level of sincerity), and I won't mind. 'O' son of Adam, if your sins were to reach in magnitude the height of the heavens, and then you were to ask Me for forgiveness, I would forgive you, and I won't mind. 'O' son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins that (in their size) almost fill the earth, and you met Me without ascribing to Me any partners, I would come to you with its size in forgiveness.'"

Bukhari related that the Propet (bpuh) said:

"Indeed, Allah extends His Hand in the night to forgive the one who sins in the day, and He extends His Hand in the day to forgive the one who sins at night, and this continues until the sun rises from the west."

In another authentic narration, the Prophet (bpuh) said:

"Every one of you is constantly doing wrong, and the best of those who constantly doing wrong, are the ones who are constantly making repentance."

He (bpuh) also said in this authentic hadith:

"Truly, Allah is happier with the repentance of His slave than one of you who is on the mount, and upon his mount is his drink and food, then he loses his mount in the desert, and he searches for it until he loses hope, so he sleeps and then wakes up to find that his mount is beside him, and he says, 'O' Allah, you are my slave and I am your Lord'. He pronounces this mistake as a result of his extreme happiness."

He (bpuh) is also authentically reported to have said:

"Verily, a slave (of Allah) commits a sin and then he says, 'O' Allah, forgive me my sin, for indeed, none forgives sins except You'. Then he commits another sin, and he afterwards says, 'O' Allah, forgive me my sin, for indeed, none forgives sins except You'. Then he commits another sin, and he afterwards says, 'O' Allah, forgive me my sin, for indeed, none forgives sins except You'. Then Allah says, 'My slave knows that he has a Lord, Who takes one to account for sins, and Who also forgives sins, so let my slave do as he wishes.'"

The meaning of this is that as long as Allah's slave is contrite and repentant, then Allah will forgive him.