One Hundred And Fifty Lessons For Life
Lesson Eighty Six: Sins And Apology
Imam Husayn (a.s.) said:
إيّاكَ وَ ما تَعْتَذِرُ مِنْهُ فَانَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ لا يُسِيىءُ وَ لايَعْتَذِرُ وَ الْمُنافِقُ كُلَّ يَوْم يُسِيىءُ وَ يَعْتَذِرُ
Translation
Do not sin so that you do not have to apologize for it. A believer does not sin and does not apologize, whereas a hypocrite sins everyday and apologizes everyday.[^1]
Brief Description
Everyone is apt to make mistakes, but there is a marked difference in how the believers and the hypocrites deal with this reality. The believers try to avoid sins in the first place to pre-empt the need for having to apologize. They know that insincere and routine apologies do not acquit anyone. But the hypocrites carry on sinning and apologizing in a never ending cycle. A sign of hypocrites is that outwardly they show repentance through the apology while inwardly they are unrepentant since they are not averse to repeating the sin
[^1]: Tuhaful Uqul, page 177