Podcast: Play in new window | Download (10.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Auto-generated transcript:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين محمد رسول الله ﷺ صلى الله عليه وآله وصحبه وسلم تسليماً كثيراً. From my brother and sisters, we are looking at the issue of making Istighfar and Tawbah—seeking the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. I remind myself in you that Allah ﷻ commanded us to make Istighfar and to make Tawbah: to seek forgiveness and to turn towards Allah ﷻ.
Before the time comes when we will be called to account.
Rasulullah ﷺ said everybody will be called to account.
Sayyidina Aisha ﷺ asked him, “Ya Rasulullah, even you?” He said, “Even me.” And then Allah ﷻ will make easy the accounting of those he wishes to make easy. For that, it is essential to make Istighfar and Tawbah. Sayyidina Aisha ﷺ said, “What is the meaning of ‘easy’?” Nabi ﷺ said, “Easy means Allah ﷻ will not actually go item by item in the book of records. He will just say, ‘Okay, give it, leave it.'” That is why Rasulullah ﷺ said, “Make the Dua: *Allahumma hasibni hisaban yasira* (اللهم حاسبني حساباً يسيراً).” Sayyidina Aisha ﷺ said, “Allah, make my account easy; make my account easy.”
So we must seek Allah’s forgiveness and we must change our lives from right now—right now! Because we don’t know when we will be called to Allah ﷻ. It’s absolutely essential.
Yesterday, we had a guest here who used to come and lead Taraweeh and Khayyam-ul-Layl many years ago, so he was here. He did not know that our brother Adnan Muhammad has passed away. He was very shocked. He said, “I didn’t know that he had passed away,” because he was very much one of the people who established this masjid.
And Alhamdulillah, we ask Allah ﷻ for forgiveness for him, and that Allah fill his qabar with noor and forgive his sins. So nobody knows when they will go.
So we ask Allah for Khatima bil Khair, Khatima, and Iman with the Kalima, in a way that pleases Allah ﷻ. And then we saw that Istighfar and Tawbah is for those who make Istighfar, who seek forgiveness as soon as they realize that they have been doing something wrong. They don’t wait; they don’t ask for *muhalla*; they don’t ask for delay. They don’t say, “I will do it tomorrow.” Day after tomorrow? Immediately! As soon as we know we are doing something wrong, we stop doing it and we seek the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ.
Now, for those who make sincere Tawbah. And then again, as I mentioned yesterday, we saw the Ayat of Surah Az-Zumar. Where Allah ﷻ, The Ayat of great hope, promised to forgive. He called those who sin, “my slaves.” So even if we commit sins, when we go back to Allah ﷻ, Say, “Allah ﷻ is the one who forgives.” Right? So we must never lose hope in the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ. For those who see the mercy of Allah, for those who make sincere Tawbah, the glorious mercy of Allah ﷻ is such that he not only promises to forgive our sins but to actually convert them into good deeds. Hmm. In Surah Al-Furqan, Allah ﷻ said: إِلَّا مَنْ تَابَى وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَٰئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ فَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا (Except those who repent and believe in Islam and do righteous deeds; for those, Allah will change their sins into good deeds). Hmm. Not only will Allah forgive, but he will change their sins into good deeds. And Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.
He asked Allah ﷻ for this when this Ayat was revealed. Sayyidina Umar ﷺ said to the Sahaba, said to his friends and companions, “I am the best of you.” So they said, “How do you know that? Make this claim.” You know we are all trying our best to be good with Allah ﷻ. How can you say I am the best of you? He said, “Because see what Allah revealed. Allah said, ‘I will convert your evil deeds into good deeds.’ So he said, ‘I had the most evil deeds among you,’ so therefore now I am the best of you because all my evil has been converted into good deeds.” So Alhamdulillah, we ask Allah ﷻ to forgive us continuously, keep on seeking forgiveness, and as I said, always have the best expectation of Allah ﷻ. Best expectation. Prophet said, “Expect the best from your Rabb,” and Allah ﷻ said himself, *Ana bi ni’mati* (أنا عند ذنبي عبد بي)—”I am for my slave as he expects me.” So we make Dua and say, “Oh Allah, we expect you to forgive us because you are Al-Ghafoor, so forgive us.”
But again, we have to understand these statements have to be supported by some evidence. You cannot be deliberately committing sin after sin and sin after sin with no change, and then say, “Oh Allah, I expect you to forgive me.” No, no! It doesn’t work like that. If you expect Allah to forgive you, there should be some evidence of that. So make Istighfar, make Tawbah, give Sadaqat, ask Allah ﷻ for forgiveness, show some change in the pathway. If there is no change in the pathway, then it’s a joke; then you are not sincere; you are just saying something. Now, for those who are sincere, we ask Allah to make us among them. Just a couple of very beautiful Hadith. One is:
The Prophet said, “A man will be produced before Allah ﷺ on the Day of Judgement. We ask Allah to make us among those InshaAllah.” And this person will be brought to Allah ﷺ, and Allah ﷺ will remind him of his sins one by one. Allah ﷺ will say to him, “On such and such a day, you did this.”
And the man will say, “Ya Rabb, how will you deny Allah? How can you deny Allah?”
Allah ﷻ said, “On that day, *innama nakhitum al-afwaha* (إِنَّمَا نَخْتُمُ عَلَىٰ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ), the tongue will be sealed. So all the fancy explanations and the fancy justifications—tongue will be sealed. And the hands will talk (*wa takallamuna aydihim*).
And the legs and feet will bear witness to what they used to do (*wa tashhadu arjuluhum bima kanu yaksibun*). So on that day, how will you deny? Your own body will be witness against you. In another place, Allah ﷻ said, the skin will speak. And the person will say, “How is it? How can you speak?” And the skin will say, “The One who created us gave us the tongue to speak.”
The Jil, the skin, will bear witness. So the man will be asked by Allah ﷺ: Will tell him, “You did this.” Say yes, “Ya Rabb, I did.” Then Allah will remind him of another sin. Who did this? Say yes, “Ya Rabb.” And a third one, and a fourth one, and a tenth one. And Allah, as many as Allah ﷻ wants.
And there is no denial; he has to say yes. There is no other way. How is he going to say no to Allah ﷻ?
Then Rasool Allah ﷺ said, the man will say, “Ya Rabb,”
“I accept all of this. I did all these sins.”
But in the world, You covered me! You did not expose me! You did not allow people to know that I was doing these things. And so people respected me; people thought highly of me. But today I am exposed before all of humanity.
This is one of the issues of the Day of Judgement: whatever If Allah wills, unless Allah wills, the person will be exposed before everyone—your children, your grandchildren, your parents, your spouses, your closest friends, your teachers. All those who thought highly about us, Allah ﷻ, we ask Allah to save us from disgrace. Will know the truth. Imagine the level of that disgrace. Everything we try to hide will be exposed to those from whom we try to hide it.
So this man will say, “Ya Rabb, I accept all of this. In this life, you did not expose anything; you covered everything for me. But now I am exposed bef…”
Ore, everyone. Allah ﷻ will tell him: “Turn around and look.” When he turns around, there is a curtain behind him—a curtain of light. Behind the man, and the man is hidden from everyone.
Allah ﷻ says to him: “I covered you in this life, and I am covering you now. Whatever happened here is between Me and You. Now I forgive you. Go to Jannah, Insha’Allah.” We ask Allah for this for all of us, Insha’Allah. Allah ﷻ forgives us like this, right?
We ask Allah ﷻ because again, as the Prophet ﷺ said to Sayyidina Ayesha: If Allah wants to make it easy, He will make it easy. But if Allah takes Hisab, He said nobody can survive. That! If Allah takes Hisab, we will be destroyed. So we ask Allah ﷻ not to take our Hisab and to keep us safe from Hisab, Insha’Allah.
Tomorrow we will conclude this. Which I want to tell you two more beautiful hadith, Insha’Allah, for hope. We ask Allah ﷻ to keep us in a state where we always have hope in the forgiveness of Allah ﷻ. There is no doubt about this, Insha’Allah. But we ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to make way for this hope. Keep the effort so that we can stand before Allah ﷻ with something:
“Rabbana fa-ghfir lana dhunubana wa-kaffirna sayyatinata wa-tawaffana ma’al-mu’minina. Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa-ilma takhfir lana wa-tarhamna lana kunna mina al-khasirin. La ilaha illa anta subhanaka innama kunna minaz-zalimin.”
“Rabbi warhamna wa-anta khayru ar-rachineen.”
“Allahumma rahmatika arju fal-a-takalna illa an-nafsun.”
“Tafa’ta ‘ayn as-silahun la shanana kullah.”
“La ilaha illa anta.”
“Wassallallahu ala Nabiyyil-Kareem wa-‘ala Aalihi wa-Sahbi Ajmaini bi-Rahmatika ya Arhama Ar-Rachineen.”
“Wal-hamdu lillahi Rabbil-Alameen.”