One of the Quranic teachings is tauba, which means repentance. When you make a mistake and do tauba, the blessing of God will return to you. In the chapter entitled Al-Tahrim (Prohibition), the Quran says:

O believers, turn to God in sincere repentance, in the hope that your Lord will forgive you your bad deeds and admit you into gardens watered by running streams. (66:8)

In this verse, the Quran declares that after engaging in genuine repentance, one who has erred will be unburdened of the effect of his bad deeds. What is most important about this is that the wrong-doer will be granted forgiveness by God and will consequently be rewarded with Paradise in the Hereafter. This divine blessing is not confined to the next world; in the extended sense, it also includes the present world. Family life and social life will also be blessed with the fruits of tauba.

If you make a mistake that arouses anger in another, but then you repent and say: “Please forgive me, I was wrong”, this will certainly cause the aggrieved person to have a change of heart. Such an apology will, on the one hand, inculcate positivity in your soul and on the other, it will promote the culture of love among the people you are living with.

It is, however, relevant to understand that often people have no difficulty in saying: “O God, forgive me.” But when it comes to a human problem, they are reluctant to say: “O brother, please forgive me.” This kind of hesitation is against the spirit of faith. A true man of faith will say to another: “Forgive me,” just as easily as he says to God: “O Lord, forgive me.” Tauba is an inner spirit, a readiness to atone for every kind of mistake.

Source: Spirit of Islam July 2016