Why repent? Because through repentance the servant returns to the path of righteousness. By repenting we obey the order of Allah, we flee injustice towards success and we seek happiness. By repenting we flee from torment, the melancholy of being far from Allah and the veil that is put between him and the sinner. What keeps us from repenting? The first obstacle is the attachment of the heart to sin which prevents us from deserting the places of debauchery, from changing company, from sincere regret and from having a disgust for what is prohibited. The second obstacle is finding repentance heavy and commitment difficult, followed by excuses and excuses. One also finds delusion about oneself when one enjoys the covering of Allah and His unceasing blessings. We also find as an obstacle the fact that sin is bound up with laws which the sinner dreads if he repents. Where then should we start? Let us begin by exhorting our soul, reproaching it and frightening it, keeping it away from all that is conducive to sin, caring for it by fasting, depriving it of a patch of rest, raising in its eyes the eminent men of the hereafter, demolish these idols which are the passions, etc.

The author then details the question of the pillars of repentance, in particular the question of regret, the causes and aspects of which he marvelously develops, and he adds in this chapter a detail that is rarely found in books on repentance, namely the ways to preserve this repentance, through the maintenance of modesty, nobility of soul, awareness of the bad repercussions of sin, etc. Finally, he lists the signs of repentance accepted by Allah, all this in a simple speech, charged with emotions and compassion, rich in arguments and inspired by reality; you can easily identify with it.