Tawbah means repentance, and literally, returning. A sin takes a person away from Allah; tawbah is the walk back. It is not only saying sorry. It is a change in the heart that shows in what you do next: you regret the sin, stop it, resolve not to return, and put right what you can. Every person needs it, because every person sins. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Every son of Adam sins, and the best of those who sin are those who repent" (Jami at-Tirmidhi 2499, graded hasan).
The word
Tawbah comes from the root t-w-b, to return. The Quran uses the verb for both sides. A person "turns" to Allah (taba ila Allah), and Allah "turns" to the person with mercy and accepts it (taba Allahu alayh). Of the three Companions who stayed behind from Tabuk, it says: "Then He turned to them so they could repent" (9:118): Allah's turning came first. That is why He is At-Tawwab, the One who turns back to His servants again and again. The ninth surah is called Surah At-Tawbah, the Repentance, for the repentance it describes, including that story.
Tawbah in the Quran
۞ قُلْ يَٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ﴿٥٣﴾
Qul yaa'ibaadiyal lazeena asrafoo 'alaaa anfusihim laa taqnatoo mirrahmatil laah; innal laaha yaghfiruz zunooba jamee'aa; innahoo Huwal Ghafoorur Raheem
Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
Quran 39:53 · Sahih International · Read in Surah Az-Zumar
Allah calls the believers to "repent to Allah with sincere repentance" (tawbatan nasuha, 66:8), says "Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant" (2:222), and promises that for those who repent, believe and do good, "Allah will replace their evil deeds with good" (25:70). The first tawbah in the Quran is Adam's: "Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance" (2:37).
Tawbah in the hadith
اللَّهُ أَفْرَحُ بِتَوْبَةِ عَبْدِهِ مِنْ أَحَدِكُمْ سَقَطَ عَلَى بَعِيرِهِ وَقَدْ أَضَلَّهُ فِي أَرْضِ فَلَاةٍ
"Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than any of you would be on finding his camel after losing it in a desert."
Sahih al-Bukhari 6309, from Anas ibn Malik
النَّدَمُ تَوْبَةٌ
"Regret is repentance."
Sunan Ibn Majah 4252, from Abdullah ibn Masud, graded sahih by al-Albani
The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah stretches out His hand at night so that the one who sinned by day may repent, and by day so that the one who sinned by night may repent, until the sun rises from the west (Sahih Muslim 2759). He himself said: "By Allah, I seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6307).
The conditions of tawbah
- Regret for the sin, for Allah's sake.
- Stopping the sin now, not later.
- Resolving not to go back to it.
- Putting right the rights of people, if the sin wronged someone: returning what was taken, or asking them to forgive it.
It must come before death: "Allah accepts the repentance of a servant as long as the death rattle has not begun" (Jami at-Tirmidhi 3537, graded hasan). If you fall into the same sin again, repent again. For a step-by-step guide, read does Allah forgive all sins, and for the two rakahs of repentance, Salat al-Tawbah.
Hanafi positionTawbah from every sin is obligatory at once, and delaying it is a further sin. For a sin between you and Allah, regret, stopping and resolving are its conditions. Tawbah does not cancel an obligation you missed: missed fard prayers and fasts must still be made up (qada), and unpaid zakat must be paid. For a wrong done to a person, their right must be returned or they must forgive it.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali
- The same conditions. All four schools agree that a missed fard prayer or fast is not dropped by tawbah and must be made up.
To count missed prayers and fasts, use the qada calculator.
Tawbah and istighfar
Istighfar is asking Allah for forgiveness, mostly with the tongue: astaghfirullah. Tawbah is the turning back of the heart and the life. The Quran puts them side by side: "seek forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him" (11:3). The best words of istighfar are the Sayyid al-Istighfar.
How the word is used today
In Urdu, Hindi and Bangla, tauba is part of daily speech. People say tauba tauba on hearing something shocking, and tauba karo, "repent", to someone who has said something wrong. In Arabic, a common phrase is the one the Prophet ﷺ used in the hadith above:
| Arabic | Say it as | Meaning |
|---|
| أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ | astaghfirullāha wa atūbu ilayh | I seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance |
| تَوْبَةً نَصُوحًا | tawbatan naṣūḥā | Sincere repentance (66:8) |
| التَّوَّابُ | at-Tawwāb | The One who accepts repentance, a name of Allah |
| تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ | tāballāhu ʿalayh | Allah accepted his repentance |
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Related terms
- Quran 39:53, 66:8, 2:222, 25:70, 2:37, 9:118 and 11:3, translation by Sahih International.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 6309 and 6307.
- Sahih Muslim 2759.
- Sunan Ibn Majah 4252.
- Jami at-Tirmidhi 2499 and 3537.
- Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, on tawbah and making up missed obligations. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.