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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين محمد رسول الله ﷺ صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً. أما بعد، my brothers and sisters, we are on the topic of istighfar and tawbah. As I said, Allah ﷻ commanded us to make istighfar and to make tawbah—to repent and turn towards Him, Jalla Jalaluhu—so that our lives in this world and the hereafter can be filled with khair. We have to understand and remind ourselves that when we say “repent” to Allah ﷻ, Allah does not benefit from that. Allah cannot be harmed; He does not need anything from the makhluk. This is for our benefit. So when we turn to Allah, we are doing a favor for ourselves.
Now, Allah mentioned in the Qur’an one of the reasons why people who are believers, people who are Muslims, disobey Allah. This is the beauty of the Qur’an: nothing is left out; everything is mentioned in detail. If we look at ourselves, may Allah have mercy on us, it is not that we disbelieve, alhamdulillah, but we believe selectively. We obey selectively; we do what we like and don’t do what we don’t like, whether this is obedience of Allah or not. The problem is selective obedience is disobedience because when you are selectively obeying, you are also choosing to selectively disobey. Selective obedience is kufr.
Allahﷻ mentioned this in the Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah. Allah said, “Selective obedience, you do something, you don’t do something, because of your own hawa, your own likes and dislikes.” Then Allah asked, “Do you believe in a part of the scripture and reject the rest? What is the reward, what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection, they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do. Those are they who have bought the life of this world at the price of the hereafter. They’re selling the hereafter to buy the life of this world. Their torment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be helped.”
Ayaazubillah, may Allah Ta’ala save us from being this. So selective obedience is disobedience. We have to be very clear. Allahﷻ said, “Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu, udkhulu fi silmi kafatan, wa la tattabi’u khutuwati shaitan, innahu lakum adhum mubeen.” Allah said, “O you who believe, enter into Islam completely. Not partially—not ‘I like this, I do this, I don’t like this, I don’t know.’ Completely. Enter into Islam totally. And do not follow in the footsteps of shaitan. Truly, shaitan is your open enemy, Adhum Mubeen—clear enemy.”
Then Allahﷻ said about those who insist on disobeying. People who have been warned over and over again but insist on disobeying will also abuse the people warning them. They will talk against the warners, which is very stupid because if somebody is warning you, he is doing it for you. If you abuse him, what difference does it make? If somebody is telling you that you are doing something wrong which will harm you, and you curse that person, you will be harmed because you will not listen to the warning. About such people, Allahﷻ said in Surah An-Aam: “فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَاذُوْا يُذُكِّرُ بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَتَّى إِذَا فَرِحُوا بِمَا أُطُوا أَخَذْنَاهُمْ بَغْتَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ مُبْرِثُونَ.” Allahﷻ said, “When they had forgotten all that they had been told to take to heart, when they rejected the warning… we threw open to them the gates of all good things.” So when people continuously disobey and nothing bad seems to happen—they get more money, power, wealth—it is a sign that the doors of hidayat have been shut and the doors of the azab of Allahﷻ have been opened.
Allahﷻ is saying that when they continue to disobey after being warned again and again, He throws open to them the gates of all good things until even as they are rejoicing in what they have been granted, He suddenly calls them—immediate death—and takes them to task. Lo, they were broken in spirit. فَإِذَاهُ مُبْلِسُوا. They completely lose all hope because there is not even time for them to make istighfar and tawbah. When they have been told to repent, they don’t do it; they continue to disobey. Therefore, Allah ordered us to make sincere tawbah.
Allahﷻ said: “يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ طَوْبَةً نَسُوحًا عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرْ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَتِكُمْ وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَهْتِيهَا الْأَنْهَارِ يَوْمَ لَا تُخْزِي اللَّهُ النَّبِيِّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ نُورُهُمْ يَسْعَى بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٍ.” Allah said, “O you who believe, turn to Allah with sincere tawbah. It may be that your Rabb will remit from you your sins. That Allah will then forgive your sins and admit you into gardens under which rivers flow (Jannah). The day when Allah will not disgrace the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and those who believe with him. Their light will emanate; it will run forward before them. And with their record books of deeds in their right hands, they will say: ‘Our Rabb, keep perfect our light for us and do not put it off until we cross over the Sirat safely and grant us forgiveness. Verily, you are able to do all things.'”
See this beautiful description of the Day of Judgment? We ask Allahﷻ to make us among those, inshaAllah, whose light emanates from themselves, running forward before them, with the book of deeds in their right hands as a guarantee of Jannah. In the final ayat regarding whose tawbah Allah accepts, He says it is very important to immediately make tawbah as soon as we realize something is wrong. Do not delay.
Allahﷻ says in Surah An-Nisa: “إِنَّمَا التَّوَّةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَحَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ فَأُولَئِكَ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا وَلَّيْسَتِ التَّوَّةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا عَضَرَ أَهَذَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنِ وَلَلَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ أُولَئِكَ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا.” Allah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and foolishness. They didn’t realize something was wrong; they were doing it unintentionally. But as soon as they are warned, they immediately make tawbah. It is they whom Allah will forgive. And Allah is ever All-Knower, All-Wise. Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one of them and he says, “Now I repent.” After warning over and over again, if you continue to do evil until the last moment, then say, “Oh, I wake up now,” Allah says, “No. That is over.” Nor is there tawbah for those who die while they are disbelievers. For them, we have prepared a painful torment. We ask Allahﷻ to save us from that and help us heed the warnings.
Allahﷻ does not send adhaab on anyone without first warning them—neither individually nor collectively. He does not punish people who don’t know. So when we know, what must we do? Immediately turn to Allahﷻ. Do not delay. Then, inshaAllah, we ask Allah for forgiveness because He said He will forgive. But if we delay and continue to do evil even after being warned repeatedly, may Allah have mercy. Allahﷻ says He will actually open the doors of all good so you can do even more evil. And then Allah will catch that person in a state where they will not have the opportunity to make istighfar and tawbah. We ask Allah to forgive us from that: “Rabbana faqfir lana dhunumana wa kafirana sayyatina wa tawaffana ma’ala buran.” “Rabbana zalamna anfusihina sana wa illam taqfir lana wa tarhamna la rakumina min khasirin.” See the difference.
Just as a closing thing regarding the importance of making tawbah instantly, consider the original sin—the original problem. Adam alayhi salam and Hawa alayhi salam made a mistake, and Iblis also made a mistake. Both mistakes are the same; neither denied Allah, nor did they make kufr. They disobeyed a hukum. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave the hukm to make sajda to Adam and all the malaika. Iblis, who was a jinn among the malaika at that time, refused. Right? So he refused the order. Adam and Hawa were given the condition: go into Jannah, enjoy yourself, be wherever you want, but do not approach this tree (la takhrabah wa hadha shajar). They disobeyed. The kind of disobedience is the same—an order of Allah was disobeyed. The difference lies in the reaction of the concerned people. In the case of Adam and Hawa, as soon as they realized they made a mistake, there was no justification, no argument, no delay. Immediately, they said: “Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa illam takhfir lana wa tarhamna, lana kunanna minal khasireen.” O Allah, we have sinned. They did not even say Shaitan tempted us because that was the reality, yet they didn’t blame Him. They said, “We have done zulum on ourselves. We have transgressed against ourselves.” And if You don’t forgive us, we will be among the losers. Immediately, there’s no delay, no denial, no justification, no blame on anyone—not even on Shaitan. “I did this; it is my fault. I apologize. Ya Allah, forgive me.”
What about Iblis? He also realized he did something wrong after all, for Allah gave him a hukm which he did not follow. What was his reaction? His reaction was, first of all, to say, “Ana khairum minhu. Khalaqtani minnaar wa khalaqtahu mintin.” He said, “I am better than him. You made me with fire. You made him with clay.” So, first of all, he is blaming Allah. He says, “Your hukm…”
is wrong. How can you give me this hukm? You created me from fire. You created him from clay. Therefore, now, his own logic: Fire is better than clay. So, I am superior. Ana khairum minhu. I am superior. I am better than him.
First, he is blaming Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala for justifying his disobedience. And then, what does he say? “Rabbi anzeerni ila yawmi yub’athu.” Give me time until the day of resurrection. No istikhfar. Do not seek forgiveness immediately. Just delay.
So, delaying when you have realized that you have done something wrong. He is saying, “Give me time.” Why? Because he knows he has done something wrong. That’s why he is asking for time. Time for what? To do what? To continue doing something wrong. You know it is wrong. Do it. Correct it. Make istikhfar. Give me time to repent later.
So, this issue of delaying is the amal of shaitan. The way of immediately seeking forgiveness of Allah is the way of Adam alayhi salam. We know both where each one landed. With Adam alayhi salam and Abu alayhi salam, Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala accepted their tawbah and istikhfar. And Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala gave them jannah back again with Iblis. He has been rajim. He has been cast aside, cast away, and he is in the hellfire as Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned.
So, we ask Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to follow the path of the Anbiya alayhimu salam and not the path of Iblis. We ask Allah to make us so that as soon as we are aware that we do something wrong, we immediately make istikhfar and tawbah. We ask Allahﷻ subhanahu wa ta’ala to accept our istikhfar and tawbah.
Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in. Alhamdulillahi rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.