“Allah is more delighted with the repentance of one of you, than one of you is, when finding his lost animal.”
Hadith Text and Reference
"Allah is more delighted with the repentance of one of you, than one of you is, when finding his lost animal."
Book: Chapters on Supplication | Author: Jami' at-Tirmidhi | Reference: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3538
The Nature of Divine Delight
This hadith employs a powerful analogy to convey Allah's immense pleasure in human repentance. The comparison to finding a lost camel in the desert illustrates extreme joy, as camels represented survival, transportation, and wealth for desert dwellers.
Allah's delight exceeds even this intense human emotion, demonstrating His boundless mercy and compassion toward His servants.
Theological Significance
This narration affirms that Allah possesses attributes of pleasure and delight in a manner befitting His majesty, without resembling human emotions. It refutes those who deny Allah's attributes while maintaining His transcendence above creation.
The hadith emphasizes that repentance isn't merely accepted grudgingly, but is met with divine joy and celebration.
Practical Implications for Believers
This teaching should remove despair from sinners' hearts, encouraging them to return to Allah regardless of their transgressions.
It teaches that no sin is too great for Allah's mercy when accompanied by sincere repentance (tawbah). The believer should never feel that their repentance is insignificant to Allah.
This knowledge should inspire frequent turning to Allah and immediate repentance upon committing sins.
Conditions of Valid Repentance
Scholars clarify that this divine delight applies to proper repentance (tawbah nasuh), which requires: ceasing the sin immediately, feeling genuine remorse, firmly resolving not to return to the sin, and restoring others' rights if the sin involved wrongdoing toward people.