A spiritual aspirant wrote:
After leaving bad habits (watching movies, songs, bad nazri etc) I feel more attracted towards these. I don’t know how do I deal with this?
Sayyidi wa sanadi Hazrat Moulana Mohammad Taqi Usmani sahib (Allah SWT preserve him and allow us to benefit from him abundantly. Ameen) replied:
“There is no impeachment in attraction. You will be impeached only if act on the impermissible (haram) desires.”
Meraj us Salikeen: Islahi Khutoot #9
If repentance is to have regret and remorse over a sin. Is the attraction towards the same sin not contrary to repentance?
Will one be sincere in his repentance if he is still attracted towards it and has the desire to commit it?
As salamu alaykum wrwb
One of the condition for repentance is to have a firm intention of not to do this sin again.
An unintentional (ghair-ikhtiyari) attraction and desire towards a impermissible activity is neither sinful in itself nor an individual is going to be reprimanded by Allah for it.
If such thoughts continue to plague the mind (usually because of poor previous uninhibited thinking habits), then measures are to be taken after consultion with the Shaikh.
However, a common mistake is that due to our negligence we actively make these thoughts intentional (ikhteyari) and derive pleasure or plan to execute them again, this is sinful. Hence, they are potentially dangerous!
Also we have to remind ourself that it is from the strategies of nafs and Shaytan to make the salik slip again or feel depressed or hopeless by repeatedly attacking with thoughts & desires of previously committed sinful activities.
Was Salam
abdlashy
Jazakallau khairan for the clarification.