kindness that despite us committing sins, He does not disgrace us. He instead conceals our sins, grants us health and well-being, bestows upon us all kinds of bounties, gives us wealth and sustenance, calls us towards repentance and encourages us to express regret over our shortcomings. Not only does He promise to forgive us, He also gives us glad tidings of making us His beloved. When we submit ourselves in His court, shed tears over our mistakes and repent, Allah then forgives all of our sins. For further motivation and encouragement, let us listen to a beautiful story.

The example of a repenting believer

Sayyidunā Shahr Bin Ḥaushab رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه says:

Prophet ʿĪsā   عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام was once sat with his companions, when a bird more beautiful than any other appeared, whose wings were adorned with pearls and rubies. In front of them, it proceeded to roll and thrash around. This caused its skin to come off, leaving it looking extremely unsightly and bald. It then went to a gutter and began tumbling in its filth, due to which it became black and even more unattractive. After that, it came to a stream of flowing water and bathed itself. With this, its beauty and charm returned, and it became beautiful like before.

Seeing this, Prophet ʿĪsā  عَـلَيْـهِ الـسَّـلَام  said, ‘This bird has been sent as a sign for you. The example of a believer is like this bird: when he engages in sins, his beauty and splendour depart; when he repents, the filth of his sin is removed and his beauty and splendour return.’^[1]

Dear Islamic brothers! Just like a bird covered in filth can become clean after bathing and its beauty returns, in a similar way, the filth of sins is cleansed after a believer repents. The sins of believers are washed away by repentance, and the light of faith returns. This is because in the