DETAILED REPENTANCE (TAUBAH)

When a disciple requested Hazrat for bai't (formally becoming a religious disciple) Hazrat said, "Bait is neither necessary, nor a goal in itself. The primary goal is Taubah (repentance) and self-improvement. As far as bai't while it is a sunnah but one should not rush in making that commitment."

About doing Taubah Hazrat said, "First pray two nawafil (non-obligatory prayers), then recite these two tasbeehat;

ربّنا ظلمنا انفسنا و ان لم تغفر لنا۔۔۔

استغفرالّٰلہ ربّی من کلِّ ذنب۔۔۔

After that pray to Allah Ta'alah in your own language, "Ya Allah! I have committed a lot of sins. Now I want do Taubah and I intend never to commit a sin again. I am very weak and that is why I pray to you to please grant me strength and steadfastness."

This is superficial Taubah. Then do the detailed Taubah which goes like this. There are two kinds of Huqooq (rights), Huqooq-Ullah ( rights of Allah Ta'alah) and Huqooq-ul-Iba'd (rights of human beings). 

For Huqooq-Ullah calculate that how many Salah have you not prayed since attaining puberty (which is when Salah becomes Farz). Make a chart and then with daily prayers instead of nawafil (non-obligatory prayers) start praying a Qaza (missed) Salah. Also make a will that if you die before praying all Qaza Salah then fidya (financial atonement) should be given for the remaining Salah. Similarly you will have to keep all the fasts that you have not kept in Ramadan or pay fidya against them.

For Huqooq-ul-Iba'd, you will have to ask forgiveness from all those whose people whose rights you breached, or you will have to atone in some other way. 

Then Hazrat advised to read four Tasbeehat every day which are;

سبحان الّٰلہ و بحمدہ سبحان الّٰلہ العظیم

سبحان الّٰلہ والحمد الّٰلہ و لا الہ الا الّٰلہ و الّٰلہ اکبر

استغفرالّٰلہ ربّی من کلِّ ذنب و اتوب علیہ

درود شریف

Set up a regular time after Fajr Salah. In that time read a little bit of Quran Karim every day, then Munajat-e-Maqbool ( book of prayers by Hazrat Thanvi RA, and then the four Tasbeehat. Set the amount of Quran and number of Tasbeehat as low as you can do consistently but then do it regularly. Try not to miss these. It is very important that you do these daily even if you commit that you will recite only one Ruku of Quran every day but then do it daily. It is much better to set a small number to begin with that a person can continue to do regularly than set a big target and then not to be able to stick to it."

About the same matter on another occasion Hazrat said the number of Tasbeehat should be set realistically. If you feel that you won't be able to recite each tasbeeh a 100 times each day then set a target of 33. If you feel that even 33 is too much then set a goal of 11 each. If some day you are very busy then try to recite each Tasbeeh three times only that day but try not to miss it altogether.