Saying ‘I Wish I Had Not Committed the Sin’ Is Not Dispraised

5-9-2021 | IslamWeb

Question:

As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhMy question is If a person commits a sin and then repents from it. But he/she regrets that sin he/she committed and wishes that he/she didn’t commit that sin in the first place. So that wish of he/she has, of not commenting that sin in the first place, is it fall under the category of saying “if only I have done such and such”Jazak Allahu Khayran

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

This regret is something good, and it is a sign of a sincere repentance. Moreover, regret is the greatest pillar of repentance, as it was narrated in the Hadeeth: “Regret is repentance.” [Ahmad and At-Tirmithi]

If a person wishes that the had not committed the sin, then this is not something dispraised; rather, it is a sign of remorse, and it is not included in the prohibition of saying ‘if I had done such-and-such…’, because the prohibition of this saying is only when one says it as a matter of discontent with the Decree of Allah and objecting to His Predestination, but if one says it to blame his own self, then there is nothing wrong with it; rather, this is what every sinner should say.

Allah Knows best.