Making an Effort to Improve one’s Character

Hazrat Shaikh Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

Through studying the lives of our pious predecessors, we learn that one should not suffice upon expressing grief over one’s shortcomings and weaknesses. Rather, one should make a concerted effort to rectify oneself and improve one’s character. Together with making istighfaar, one should impose a monetary penalty on oneself in order to discipline the nafs. For instance if one had wrongly expressed anger upon a person, (then together with making istighfaar and seeking forgiveness from the person) one should impose a monetary penalty upon oneself. If one does not have the money to give in charity, then one should perform between four rakaats to twenty rakaats nafl salaah as a penalty for the wrong one has committed. By merely expressing grief and not making an effort to improve one’s character and ways, one will not achieve any good. (Qutbul Aqtaab Hazrat Shaikhul Hadeeth Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) pg. 389)