Is it too late to come back to Islam?
You think you are too far gone. That belief is the only thing keeping you there.
Some people are not going through a flat month. They stopped praying years ago. Enough time has passed that coming back to Islam now feels ridiculous.
For most of them it is not the sins that keep them away. It is the embarrassment. Walking into a masjid when you are not sure when to stand. Being asked where you have been.
So is it too late? No. And the Quran and the hadith go out of their way to say so.
Can Allah really forgive everything I did?
Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ to say this, in His own voice: My servants who have wronged themselves, do not give up on Allah's mercy. Allah forgives all sins.
All sins. It was said to people who had done the wrong, not to people who had kept clean.
Another verse goes further. For the person who turns back, believes and does good, Allah replaces their bad deeds with good ones. Not only wiped out. Replaced.
What if what I did was really bad?
Nabi ﷺ told the story of a man who had killed ninety-nine people. He went to a man of worship and asked if he could still be forgiven. The man said no. So he killed him too, and that made a hundred.
He kept asking. Someone who knew better told him: yes, nothing stands between you and turning back. Leave this town and go to a place where people worship Allah.
He set out, and he died on the way. Allah forgave him.
He had not fixed his life yet. He had only started walking. That was enough.
Whatever you did, it is not a hundred people. And that man was forgiven for starting.
How does Allah feel when someone comes back?
Nabi ﷺ described a man alone in the desert with his camel, carrying all his food and water. He loses it. He searches until he gives up, lies down under a tree to die, and then opens his eyes and the camel is standing right in front of him.
He is so happy that he gets his words the wrong way round and says: O Allah, You are my servant and I am Your lord.
Then Nabi ﷺ said that Allah is happier when His servant comes back to Him than that man was with his camel.
Most people come back expecting to be told off. That hadith says something completely different is waiting.
What about all the prayers I missed?
This question stops a lot of people, so here is the honest answer.
Most scholars, including all four schools, say you make up the prayers you missed. Not in one go. A few at a time, alongside each day's prayers, for as long as it takes.
Some scholars held that for years of prayers left on purpose, what is asked is sincere repentance and a lot of extra voluntary prayer from now on.
Ask a scholar you trust which applies to you. But do not let this question stop you from praying today's prayers. Today's come first either way.
So where do I start?
Not in one night. People imagine that coming back means becoming a different person by Friday, and when that fails by Tuesday they decide it was never for them.
It is usually one prayer. Then that same prayer again the next day. Everything else follows later, and it follows the habit rather than leading it.
You do not have to fix your life first and then start praying. That order has never worked for anyone.
What to do
- Pray one prayer today. Not five, not a plan. One.
- Go to the masjid at a quiet time first if the crowd is what is stopping you. Nobody is watching as closely as you think.
- Learn one thing properly instead of trying to relearn everything at once.
- Find one person who is normal about all this. Not the most intense person you know.
What not to do
- Do not wait until you feel worthy of it. Nobody has ever arrived at that feeling, including people who never left.
- Do not tell yourself it is too late. That thought has kept more people away than any sin has.
- Do not try to rebuild your whole life in a weekend. That is the pattern that convinces people they cannot do it.
One last thing
The man with the camel got his words backwards because he was too happy to speak properly. That is the picture Nabi ﷺ chose for how you are met when you come back.
Today, pray the next prayer that comes in. Just that one. Then see how you feel tomorrow.
Source: Quran 39:53; Quran 25:70; Sahih al-Bukhari 3470; Sahih Muslim 2766; Sahih al-Bukhari 6309; Sahih Muslim 2747
SM
The teaching in this post comes from the Quran and the hadith listed above. I only put it in plain words. The tips on what to do and what not to do are my own advice. If you want to talk about anything in this post, write to me at salam@sunnahdaily.com.
For a ruling on your own situation, please speak to a qualified local scholar. You are welcome to email me about it as well, and I will help if I can, or point you to someone who can.