Azm
Definition
Azm is the third pillar of repentance — the decisive, unequivocal inner commitment to leave the sin immediately and never return to it. Al-Ghazali is careful to distinguish azm from a mere wish or a vague intention. A person who says 'I will try to stop' or 'I hope to stop' has not yet made azm. True azm forecloses the conversation; the matter is settled. He also addresses an important question: if a person makes sincere azm but later slips, was their original repentance valid? Yes, he answers — sincerity is judged by the state of the heart at the moment of repentance, not by future outcomes. The slip requires a new tawba, but it does not retroactively cancel the first.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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