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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family, and peace and blessings be upon him, and peace and blessings be upon him, and peace and blessings be upon him.
After that, my brothers and sisters, I remind myself and you that all goodness begins with admitting and accepting that we need correction. All *islah* can only begin when we accept that we need *islah*. All cure of any disease, of any ailment, can only begin when you accept that you have that ailment, that you need to be cured. We see this anomaly especially in people who have certain kinds of mental illnesses, where everyone knows they have this mental illness, but they will not admit it. They will not take medication, they will not go to see a psychiatrist, and they cause unending problems for themselves, all of which were avoidable if only they had accepted that they needed treatment. Then they go to the doctor, they get treated, they are fine. But they don’t accept that, and they cause endless misery for themselves and others.
The reason I’m using that example is because this is the example of all of us, who first and foremost need to admit that we need to make *istighfar* and *tawbah*, that we need the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ, that our lives need correction. Sometimes when people, when we listen to khateebs, you listen to imams, and it seems that they are only talking about one thing, which is haram and halal. What is haram, what is halal? So sometimes there is this temptation, and the ignorant people, they even say it, they say, “Can you tell us something other than haram and halal?” Why do you say only haram and halal? Why don’t you say something else?
So my question is: if a house is on fire, what is the first thing you will do? The first thing anyone with any sense will do? Talk about the decoration, talk about the decor, talk about the color of the house. What will you do? If the house is on fire, what is the first thing you will do? Put out the fire. If somebody says, why are you talking about the fire? Why don’t we talk about the decor of the house? Why don’t we talk about the architecture of the house? You will say, you are insane. The house is on fire. If you don’t put out the fire, the house is going to burn down. Where is the decor? Where is the architecture? Where is anything? It will be a pile of ash.
So if your life has haram in it, if you are earning haram, if you are eating haram, if you are doing haram, if you are talking haram, you are going to haram places, unless you put out that fire, what other great *masala* of fiqh, what other great secret of the closeness to Allah ﷻ, can anybody talk to you? What’s the point of talking? When the basic fundamental haram and halal itself is not clarified, what is the point of saying anything? And that’s why Allah ﷻ said: “Fa-istaghfiru summa tubu ilayhi.” Allah said, make *istighfar* and then turn towards Allah. So the first and foremost thing to understand is that making *istighfar* is the beginning of all goodness. Admitting that there is something wrong in me, in my actions, in my life, and apologizing to Allah ﷻ for that. *Istighfar* is to seek forgiveness of Allah ﷻ. And *tawbah* is to turn towards Allah. Because the whole point of *istighfar* is you are saying that I am going on the wrong path. You admit that. You are driving down a road and you realize that you don’t recognize anything. Right? It looks like a completely strange place. So what do you do? Keep going? Because the world is around, you will go around the globe? No. At some point you will say something is wrong. I think we are on the wrong track. Let’s stop, ask somebody. And then the person you ask, the person says, no, you are in the completely opposite direction. Take a U-turn. So what do you do? You argue with him? You take a U-turn. That is *tawbah*.
*Istighfar* is to admit that you are wrong. And *tawbah* is to turn around and go in the correct direction. That’s why Allah ﷻ said, “Fa-astaghfiru summa tubu ilayhi.” In another place, Allah ﷻ said, “Tubu ila Allahi tawbatan nasuha.” Turn towards Allah ﷻ in complete and total sincerity.
So to understand what *tawbah* is, it’s a beautiful hadith. Jabir (r.a.) said, a Bedouin once entered the masjid of Rasulullah s.a.w., which is the Nabawi Sharif. And he stood there, he raised his hands, and he said, “Ya Allah, I seek your forgiveness. Ya Allah, I repent to you.” And then he said, “Allahu Akbar.” He started his salah. So he stood there first, said, “Ya Allah, I repent to you. Ya Allah, forgive me.” And then he started his salah. When he finished his salah, Ali bin Abi Talib (radhi Allah anhu) was there, and this was during his time when he was the khalifa. Sayyidina Ali said to him, he called him, he said, “Oh, come here.” And he said, merely rushing the tongue with words of seeking forgiveness, is the repentance of liars. See what he’s saying. He said, just rushing your tongue. “Ya Allah, Ya Allah, forgive me, forgive me.” He said, this is the repentance of liars. He said, your repentance itself requires repentance. He said, your *istighfar* requires *istighfar*. He said, your *istighfar* is so bad that you have to make *istighfar* for making *istighfar*, like this. He said, making *istighfar*, he said, this is the repentance of liars. This means that you are not really sorry for anything, by simply saying something. That itself requires repentance.
So the man said, “Ya Amirul Muminin, then what is repentance? What is *istighfar*?” So Sayyidina Ali (radhi Allah anhu), may Allah Ta’ala increase his darajat and grant him jannatul firdaus ila ala bi ghairi hisab, He said to him: “*Istighfar* is the repentance of liars. *Istighfar* is a term that encompasses six matters.” First, he says, remorse over past sins. This is something which I have mentioned before also to remind myself and you that simply saying, whether it’s to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala or to people, forgive me if I did anything wrong. Now that’s again, it’s the *istighfar* of liars because “forgive me if I did something wrong” means what? Did you do wrong or you didn’t do wrong? What does it mean if I did wrong? Right? You are seeking repentance. You don’t even know if you did something wrong. What is the repentance for? So it’s a general term. Forgive me if I did something wrong. Many people do that when they are going for Hajj or Obara or something or before Ramadan. You know, all of this. They’ll send one general message to everyone on their address list. They don’t even take their trouble to see who they are sending it to. They just tap it and send it. Please forgive me if I did anything wrong. What is this? This is a joke. Right?
So, says in Ali Radhiyalanu said, anyone who says that is, he said, that is the repentance of liars. So he said, repentance comprises of six things. First and foremost, he said, it is remorse over past sins. So it is required for us to reflect and think and say, what is it that I am seeking repentance for? What is my sin? So think, sit and reflect and say, what is it I did wrong? Okay, I did not pray. I used to miss my salah. So I am seeking repentance. Allah, please seek me. Please forgive me because I missed or did not pay attention to my first salah. Or I am somebody who tells lies. Or I am somebody who makes ghibat. I, you know, bad talk people. Or whatever it is. So, remorse over past sins. So, we have not even started asking for forgiveness. Feeling remorse. Remorse is the feeling. Remorse is not action. So, am I really sorry for what I am doing? I am earning haram. I am eating haram. I am talking haram. Whatever, right? So, remorse over past sins. Then, making up for neglected obligations. I have not been praying salah, so let me make *khada*. I have not paid my zakat. So, let me calculate and say how many years I didn’t pay zakat. Come to some figure, pay the zakat. And so forth. Right?
Third one, restoring the rights of others. So, if my sins were of a nature where I was oppressing somebody, took away somebody’s rights, whether it is rights in terms of physical, material things, or whether it is somebody’s right to dignity, I was treating somebody disrespectfully, and so forth. Then, restore that meaning, go, apologize. Third one, fourth one, is disciplining the soul through acts of obedience, just as you once nurtured it upon disobedience. So, increase nawafil, increase sadakat, fast, do things which strengthen the soul, which strengthen the soul, our commitment to Allah ﷻ. Number five, making the soul taste the bitterness of obedience, just as you once allowed it to taste the sweetness of sin. Now, bitterness of obedience does not mean that obedience is bitter. It means that if you have been used to, if I have been used to sinning, then not sinning is tough. Holding myself back is tough, not going to those places is tough. Breaking off from those circles of friends who were leading me to disobedience is tough. But we have to do that. Must do that. Without doing that, you cannot get to the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ. And then, the last one, he said, and replacing every laugh you indulged in with tears. Meaning that the regret of obeying, of disobeying Allah ﷻ is so heavy that the person is weeping and asking Allah ﷻ to forgive him for every time he committed a sin. Extremely important to understand this.
And then, to do this with the complete and total belief that Allah ﷻ in the past will forgive me if I make *Istaqfar* sincerely. The condition is sincerity. And only we know if we are sincere. This is not to show anybody. *Istaqfar* is a personal thing. We don’t tell anyone. If you have been doing, if you have been disobeying Allah ﷻ in the company of other people, of course, they will know because you don’t go to those places anymore. I keep talking about the in Hyderabad the our tendency of of having of being members of clubs which are which have gambling rooms which have bars or you have Malakpet race course the whole club itself is for the sake of gambling. Think about it. I mean, your name is in a list of a gambling den. Your name is on the list of a gambling den. Place with cells, alcohol and you are a member of that establishment. Your membership fee supports that action whether you like it or not, go and read the bylaws and you will know what is the meaning of being a member. If you are a member, for example, of Sikandarabad club or Nizam club or whichever club and tomorrow if that property is liquidated, if it is sold, then those properties are worth hundreds of crores. Right? Because of the location, location and all that. As a member of that club, you will get a piece of that action. If that property is sold, the proceeds will be distributed to whom? Among the members. So, if you are a member of that club, then you will get a part of the proceeds. What does that mean? It means that you are a shareholder in whatever is happening in that place. It’s not the same, for example, if you are a shareholder, you might say, well, you know, I go to the club because
of the gym. Suppose I went to Taj Krishna here, which also has a bar and is a hotel. If I go to the gym at Taj Krishna, you are not a shareholder of Taj Krishna; you are merely going there to use one facility. If Taj Krishna were sold tomorrow, you would not get five paisa because you are not a member or a shareholder of that establishment. Right? Why is it prohibited for us to be shareholders in such places? If you are a shareholder in a business that indulges in haram activities, can you have a shareholding position
in McDowell’s?
Why not? It is a liquor company. So, you cannot say, “No, I am not drinking.” You do not drink, you do not buy, and you do not sell. No, no, no. You are a shareholder in a company that manufactures liquor and alcohol. The fact that you do not drink makes no difference. As a shareholder, you own a piece of that company. Similarly, if you are a member of a club that indulges in these things, then you are an owner of a piece of that club.
So, you have two options. One option is to get rid of the bar, the gambling room, and whatever else constitutes disobedience to Allah within that club. Go ahead and do it.
You know whether you can do it or not. Right? So, what is the other option? Leave.
Take your name out of the list of people who are engaged in the disobedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Remove your name from that list.
Seriously, we must ask ourselves how much and how real our belief in the Akhirah truly is.
I remind myself: when you stop living in a world called a fool’s paradise,
where you are fooling yourself with no deal, you realize you are not fooling anybody else; you are only fooling yourself.
Why? For what purpose?
So, this is very important. I remind myself, I remind you, and I am saying this very clearly, knowing that I say the same things again and again.
Many people may not like it. Frankly, I don’t care because I am not here for votes.
It would be very stupid of me when the house is on fire to talk about the decor or the color of the carpets. I should talk about the fire. If somebody does not like that, no problem, boss. You know, I will still talk about the fire because I am interested in the house not burning down. So, if I tell you to get out of haram, I am interested in your welfare.
Your choice is either: understand that now and do it, otherwise on the Day of Judgment, I will also be there, you will also be there, and Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will also be there.
And then you will be asked.
“Did no one come to warn you?” “Did no one come to tell you that what you are doing is wrong?”
May Allah protect us from that. What will the people who refuse to listen to the word say? They will say: *Qalu bala qad ja’ana nazir fa kazzabna wa qulna ma nazalallahu min shay’ in antum illa fee zalalin kabeel*. Of course they came; of course the person came; and of course they warned us.
But we denied them.
We threw them out, we abused them, and we disliked them. We denied them and did not like them, telling them this is all nonsense and that they know nothing.
I remind myself and you: let us not put ourselves into that situation.
It is a sign of good sense when you know somebody is saying something right for your benefit—look at that and do it.
What is the benefit to me? If whether you are doing haram or halal, how does it affect me in any way?
Makes no difference to me. I don’t know why I should say what I am saying. I don’t get paid to do this work if I don’t do this there is no harm to me. I am saying it because I am interested in your welfare. Then Allah is my witness: as long as I have life, as long as I am in a position to say something, I will say it until the time I go into my grave.
You listen, don’t listen—it is up to you—but you will not be able to say *insha’Allah* that “Ya Allah, this man was there and he never warned me.” This will not happen because I warned you multiple times, not once. So, I say to all of whoever is here:
Let us make istighfar. Let us be remorseful. Let us turn towards Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala before it is too late. Let us be sincere. Let us make repentance. Let us seek forgiveness and let us change our lives. And then *insha’Allah*, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to fill our lives with khair and barakah, to fill our lives with His forgiveness, to fill our lives with His mercy. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain bi rahmatika ya Rahmatullah.