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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Spiritual Discourses Discourse 9 : Repentance II Lord we have wronged ourselves and if You do not forgive us, and have mercy upon us, we shall surely be among the lost. (7:23) In my previous discourse, I explained that repentance is the first step of the devotees on the journey of affinity to God and I promised to mention in this discourse the explanation of Imam Ali (as), peace be upon him, about the conditions and phases of repentance.

Before doing so, I wish to answer this question, "When is the time for repentance and when is it accepted?" A person has the opportunity to repent as long as that person is alive and before death comes. When a person is in the cluches of death, no time is left to be saved through repentance. According to traditional interpretations, this death time is the moment that one feels and sees death and gets a glimpse of the next world.

Repentance in the next world has no meaning for one is not in a position to repent nor can it be real. But the reason why at the time of death repentance is not acceptable, is explained in the Quran. Then when they saw Our might, they said, 'We believe in God alone and we disbelieve in that we were associating with Him. ' But their belief when they saw Our might did not profit them ... (40:84) Why is it so?

Because repentance does not mean simply regret or a return from the wrong path due to one factor or another. Repentance is real when an internal revolution takes place in a person, causing a rise against all lustful, evil forces and wicked deeds, and domination over them all. Seeing divine vengeance approaching and then experiencing belief and repenting is not an internal revolution.

The Quran says about Pharaoh, Till when the drowning overtook him, he said, 'I believe that there is no god but He in whom the Children of Israel believe. (10:90) As long as Pharaoh alive he acts like a despot and nothing and no counsel convinced him. He resorts to a contest between his magicians and Moses; he shows more rebelliousness and decides to kill Moses and his tribe.

He chases them in their flight and, when he is at the point of drowning in the sea and there is no escape, he repents and expresses his belief in the God of Moses. But it is too late for his repentance to be acceptable for it is not a real, internal revolution. His repentance is only due to his helplessness in a calamity. So they say to him, "Now?