It’s good, however, it should not just be lip service. You can ask for muaafi from those with whom you are associated on a daily basis and where there are chances of things going wrong, but not from the whole world by sending out general texts to all contacts and all whattsapp groups.

There are plenty of texts going around asking people to forgive them.

Here are four points to keep in mind at all times:

1) The tongue should always be kept under control. Dont hurt anyone. Keep your heart clean. If it’s clean and you haven’t said anything bad, then there’s no need to ask forgiveness from people.

Hadeeth 1: ولا تتكلم بكلام تعتذر منه غدا “Do not say something for which you will have to apologise tomorrow.”

Remember! The heart is the king of the body. If the heart is controlled, then the tongue, eyes, ears etc are also controlled. The heart is the engine which runs the body.

Hadeeth 2: ‘A muslim whose heart is sweeped (cleansed) and who’s tongue is truthful, is a jannati person”

Hadeeth 3: ‘A Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand the other Muslims are safe.’

2) We are humans. If we do something wrong, we should apologise immediately. We should not wait for shabe bara’at!

STORY:

A young man named Al-Mubarak was once travelling. He saw an apple which had fallen from a tree in an orchard. He picked the apple up and ate it as he was hungry. He immediately realised that he ate the apple without the owner’s permission. So he quickly went to the owner of the orchard to ask for forgiveness.

The owner said to him that, I will only forgive you if you marry my daughter, who is dumb, deaf and blind. He thought that the suffering of this world is easier than the punishment of the hereafter. He was left with no choice so, Hoping to get the forgiveness, he decided to marry the girl. She turned out to be extremely healthy beautiful educated girl. The father said “She has never spoken, heard or seen any evil”

It is due to the piety of Al-Mubarak and his wife that Allah Taala granted them a pious child who we remember today as Abdullah Ibn Mubarak RA, the great muhaddith of of the 2nd century.

3) One should first fulfil the ‘Huqooqul Ibaad’ (the rights of fellow human beings) I.e the loan repayments, anything bought but not paid for yet, inheritance money owed to relatives, etc. They should all be given to the rightful owners.

2 – من كانت له مظلمةٌ لأحدٍ من عرضِه أو شيءٍ فليتحلَّلْه منه اليومَ ، قبل أن لا يكونَ دينارٌ ولا درهمٌ ، إن كان له عملٌ صالحٌ أخذ منه بقدرِ مظلمتِه ، وإن لم تكنْ له حسناتٌ أخذ من سيئاتِ صاحبِه فحمل عليه رواه البخاري

“Whoever has any wrongdoing with anyone, regarding honour, or anything, should resolve it with him today, before there is no dirham or dinar. If one has good deeds they will be taken from him according to his wrongdoing (to give the other person). If he does not have any good deeds, wrongdoings from the other person will be taken and loaded on him. (Bukhari)

4) People say our actions are closed on this blessed night. This is wrong. The truth is that on this night the a’maal (actions) for the following year are shown to the angels. E.g Rain, crops, births, deaths, etc..

Meaning during this month, the details are given to the angels from ‘lawhe mahfooz’ (The Preserved Tablet). I.e the angels of lawhe mahfooz pass on the actions for the following year to the angels of the earth. This continues until laylatul qadr.

SUMMARY:

1) Heart should be clean at all times

2) Don’t wait for shabe bara’ah for forgiveness from friends

3) Big huqooqul ibaad such as qarz, meerath, etc should be returned

4) Book of deeds is not closed on shabe bara’ah but copied from lawhe mahfooz.

May Allah forgive us all and be pleased with us. Ameen

Source: http://haqislam.org/asking-for-forgiveness-in-shabe-baraah/