Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Curing Despondency In God’s Mercy
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Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu lillahi Handan Kathy Iran
even Mubarak and fie Mubarak and Ali Gmail, your headboard buena La
Jolla, Jolla and who am unaware or Salatu was Salam o Allah say you
will have even Mustafa SallAllahu Darla Allah you are early he or
sabe he or Baraka was seldom at the Sleeman Kathira on Eli Yomi.
Dean Amma
Hamdulillah we have Ramadan right around the corner. And while we've
had numerous talks, and you must have numerous mashallah bits of
guidance about how best to get the most out of Ramadan and spend
Ramadan and take advantage of it, there's one angle that I want to
cover today, which I think is very important. And this is that we
need to really work towards removing any kind of barrier
between us and receiving the blessings of Allah subhana wa
Tada. Because if we're trying or not trying, there is something
which is going to maybe stop us and that is there's a concept in
our Sharia, which is actually one of the blameworthy trades. It's
called Yes, it's yes. Yes, means to be despairing in the Mercy of
Allah subhanaw taala. To display in the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa
Taala is called Yes, in Arabic and law. They assume your Rahmatullah
Allah subhanaw. Taala says that do not become despondent in Allah's
mercy. Lee assumere Rohilla. It is only the people who have been
given guidance by Allah subhanaw taala who do not despair in
Allah's mercy. So that's mentioned quite a bit of time a few times in
the Quran. What does yes mean? What does this despair entail? It
is basically despair of the mercy of Allah as Allah and Allah He
describes it, it despair at the mercy of Allah is to imagine the
absence of Allah's mercy and bounty, and then for the heart to
become fully convinced of that, that there is no mercy from Allah
subhanaw taala coming, and then to remain without even the slightest
bit of hope. So there's absolutely no hope left in the heart that
anything can come from Allah subhanaw taala to you. And of
course, if it gets to this level, where you have absolutely no hope
in the heart whatsoever, it means that we have no belief in the
unseen, that is what is tantamount to, and that means that that is a
level of cover and a level of disbelief in that regard. So a
person has to work on that, to get an understanding and get get a
belief and develop the belief that Allah subhanaw taala is there and
there is His mercy. And this is what we're going to be discussing.
Likewise, on a very similar level, it's something very similar, which
is a person to feel secure from the devising of Allah, this is
what I would call Aman, which means for a person to feel secure
from the devising of Allah subhanaw taala, for the heart to
be completely at ease and fully convinced that a that the person
will not be taken to account for their disobedience. The reason
that this can come about is if a person is rejecting the attribute
of retaliation or indicom of Allah subhanaw taala Allah subhanaw
taala is element ducking the one who retaliates the one who can see
somebody for something wrong that they have done, he is the one who
can give punishment who can deliver punishment. So, if a
person becomes fully convinced that heart that I am completely
secure, I am in Amman, I am in complete security, there is
nothing that Allah subhanaw taala can do to me. Generally, this kind
of attitude comes about because of Allah subhanho wa Taala putting
the person in a state of estate Raj which means allowing him a
loose lead that okay, go further into your go further into your
indulgence, go further into your setting. And eventually, when the
when Allah subhanaw taala. Once he will, he will capture that person.
So these are two things. One is to despair completely in Allah's
mercy. And the other one is to have full conviction that there is
absolutely no way that Allah subhanho wa Taala will take a
person to task both of these are massive problems. The opposite of
this.
The opposite of this is hope. Raja in Allah subhana wa Tada that he
will forgive that he will grant me that he will remove me from these
problems that I have that he will give me an opening. He will give
me
security, he will give me
a cure from the illnesses that I have. People have various
different things and sometimes they last for years and years and
years and then they feel that they're never going to get better
that they're never going to have a better time. They're never going
to have any kind of prosperity. And this is
The opposite of Raja Raja means that for a person in the heart for
a person to have this hope in the heart, a gladness in the heart,
due to the knowledge of Allah's immense favor. And then for the
heart to feel repose and satisfaction in realizing the
increased incredible vastness of Allah subhanho wa Taala is mercy.
This is what you call HOPE. And this is what we need to bring in
to remove the state of Yes, and despondency and hopelessness
because it is very, very detrimental. Ali Abdullah, we
thought the better the Allahu Anhu says, He said to a man whose fear
had led him to despair due to the sheer number of senses a person
who had a huge number of sins, and because of that become completely
despondent that who's going to forgive a sinner like me? Now,
when a person generally feels like that they don't feel like doing
Toba because they feel that they can't be any Toba for that they
can't be any repentance for that. So generally, what happens is that
it just drives them to more sins. And that's why you hear certain
people saying, I'm going to * anyway. I can't be forgiven. I'm
the worst person. There's no way that I can get any kind of
repentance or forgiveness for this. And that's very sad. That's
why earlier the Allahu Anhu said to such a person and think of
these words carefully, he said, your despair of Allah's Mercy is
actually more severe a crime than all of your other crimes.
All of the other sins that you've committed, they're not as severe
as you thinking that Allah subhanho wa Taala cannot show you
any mercy. Because here what you're doing is there you just
fell prey to certain lowliness and certain weaknesses within your
knifes and you did sins. However, in this case, what you are doing
is that you are rejecting an attribute of Allah subhana wa
Tada, which he reminds us of every day, several times a day, Rahmani
Raheem Rahmani Raheem Rahmani Raheem, is constantly mentioned
two characteristics, two qualities that are full of mercy and
blessing that he wants us to repeat each time we read the
sorbitol Fatiha in our Salaat in fact, each time we do something we
say Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim to remind us of this. So how can it
be that that mercy cannot do anything for us when Allah is
there, wanting to give that mercy to us, especially as the month of
Ramadan comes in.
True hope, true Raja and hope which is the opposite of
despondency is to have a high aspiration in performing spiritual
works with excellence and beauty. And that's why the sign of true
hope is exceptional obedience. That's what a person has to lead
themselves to doing. sha Allah Kimani says, that after, after
doing your good deeds, in the best manner possible, it is then to
have a good opinion about Allah subhanho wa Taala that he will
accept them out of his immense generosity. And despite despite
one's shortcomings there in despite one shortcomings there and
hope in divine acceptance, that Allah accept this hope, in turn
inspires even more spiritual resolve that you will then do
more. So
on the other hand, delusional hope, which is what you would call
Tammany, in Arabic, which is to be lazy, and spiritually idle, while
relying on the Divine Mercy and saying Allah is merciful anyway,
you know, that is taking a Rahman Rahim in the wrong context, that a
person doesn't do anything. You spiritually idle, lazy, in fact,
committing sins and just thinks Allah is going to forgive Allah is
going to forgive. On the other hand, the person tries their best
and then says Allah will forgive. I'm going to try to make my Toba
of the sins that I've committed Ramadan is coming and I know that
in Ramadan is an absolute storm of mercy that descends upon people.
So I want to get completely drenched in that. And I want to
take from that mercy and all my previous sins and wrongdoings and
all my idleness and all my laziness and all my weaknesses. I
want to remedy them this Ramadan and I want to be a change person
because Ramadan every moment of it is so powerful that it can turn an
absolute sinner into one of the greatest of the friends of Allah
subhanaw taala. That's why Abu Sahal assert leuke was seen in a
dream is one of the righteous people of the past. When he was
seen in a dream after his demise, His appearance was incredibly
beautiful. As seen in the dream. He was asked, How did you attain
this? How are you so so beautiful now in the state? He replied that
this I got by my good opinion about Allah, that I always kept a
good opinion about Allah subhanaw taala regardless of my state, I
always believe that Allah was there for me. That is very
important to remove the depression from our lives. shaytaan will
create depression shaytaan will
Create an absence, try to create a vacuum between us and Allah
subhanaw taala. So he said, by my good opinion of my Lord, by my
good opinion of my Lord, similarly, Imam Malik, the great
Imam of Madina, Munawwara Imam Malik, not ANISONG the hula. He
was asked on the evening of the night that he passed away. He
hasn't even passed away yet. He is in the last throes of his life.
Oh, Abu Abdullah, how do you find yourself How are you right now?
And he replied, I know not what to say to you. I know not what to say
to you, except that you shall be hold of divine pardoning you shall
serve usual experience of divine forgiveness, what you have no way
of measuring
an absolute storm of forgiveness will overcome. They closed his
eyes shortly thereafter.
And he passed away. Schakel Islam Zachary, alongside he says about
this incident that Imam Malik could not express. If you look at
his words, he was unable to express what he was experiencing.
Due to his bewilderment.
His bewilderment, his surprise, at the Divine Mercy that was
unfolding onto him.
This was coupled, he says with the beautiful forms of angels handling
his spirit.
That's the kind of ending that we want. And then he says, Indeed
those close to Allah shall have which is related by Imam Bukhari
and Imam Muslim from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
who speaks on behalf of Allah subhanho wa taala, saying that
people will experience those who are the close ones to Allah, they
will experience what No, I have seen what no ear has heard, and
what has not even as much as occurred to the human hearts and
the human mind.
So
may Allah subhanaw taala give us of this hope? May Allah give us of
this effort and this hope and may Allah subhanaw taala grant us of
His mercy?
How do we increase this hope? How do we engender this hope within
us? It's cause is to bear in mind Mahala, he says that its cause is
to bear in mind the previous bounties upon us. There must have
been some time in our past in our history, in our past days that
Allah subhanaw taala has given us some bounties maybe when we were
young, maybe when we were youth, maybe at a particular time. I'm
sure every one of us can recall some time when we can. We felt and
sensed the bounty is upon us granted us for no deed of our own,
no intercession of another. I mean, think of sometimes in Allah
subhanaw taala has given us things when you've got a raise in your
job for no reason, when you've suddenly been given a gift or
suddenly something opened up for you something good happened in
your life and you felt Wow, this is something extra, and you
weren't making much effort about it even to start with that proves
that Allah's Mercy is there he gives when he wants anyway. So why
wouldn't he give if we ask in a sincere fashion. So number one is
to think and bear in mind all of these previous bounties of Allah
subhanaw taala, which he grants us without even us having to ask or
intercession from anybody else, but purely out of Allah's fuddle
and His grace and His largest. Number two is all we have to keep
in mind all the immense reward he has promised. And for that, you
need to read the Quran, you need to read the verses of hope. And
for that we need to read the Hadith. And we need to read the
stories of the pious and their experiences in that regard.
Because the more we read about these things, the more you get to
like these things and understand these things. And thus we then can
hope for them. When you want to buy a new car you you identify a
particular car at maybe somebody's recommendation, you start reading
more about it and you see all of the qualities you find out what
are the qualities of these things. And then you want to get the you
want to get that car, if it's an if it's a phone, it's the same
thing, somebody recommend something to you read more about
it, they tell you more about it. The recommendations come in the
reviews are positive, and thus then you get more interested and
there is no way that the Allah subhanaw taala can ever have any
bad reviews. It's always going to be positive. It just takes us to
try to keep them in mind the immense reward that he has
promised even without us deserving it in the full manner whatsoever.
And number two, is to just keep in mind the vastness of Allah's
mercy. And the stories that we see where Allah's Allah's Mercy has
been manifested, which completely outstrips his his wrath. And
that's why it's written prominently above his throne, that
My Mercy has overcome my anger, my wrath, and that means that in most
cases, in the overwhelming majority of cases, he is going to
be dealing with his mercy
See, he's not going to be dealing with his anger, wrath and His
justice. Because when it comes to good deeds, he wants to just give
from his mercy he'd rather forgive them to punish. That's Allah
subhanaw taala he's made that his nature to deal with us.
That's why Allah subhanho wa Taala says in a beautiful verse called
Eva Dr. Levine ja Obadiah Latina so for Allah unfussy him la takana
to me Rahmatullah Oh my servants who have been excessive meaning
and transgression against themselves, Despair not in Allah's
mercy, Allah certainly forgives all sins. As the noble Jamia, He
forgives all sins, for he alone is oft forgiving and Ever Merciful.
He is the oft forgiving one, the one that frequently forgives the
one that forgives over and over again, and the one who forgives
even the greatest of misdeeds and he is the Ever Merciful One. His
forgiveness comes through his mercy as well.
It's narrated on the authority of Abdullah hymnal Masuda the Allahu
under the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
By Allah on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will grant a
forgiveness. Allah will grant a forgiveness on Kiama on the Day of
Resurrection, that has never occurred in a person's mind, the
sheer amount and vastness and the power of that forgiveness would
have never occurred in anybody's mind to the extent and this really
shows you how vast it will be, to the extent that a bliss himself
will out stretch his neck out of hope, that perhaps it will also
reach him.
He is going to see this mercy coming down. He thinks Okay, today
is a day of forgiveness and mercy. Let me see if I can even benefit.
Now that tells you something this is related by ignore a bit duniya.
It's narrated that Abu Huraira the Allahu Anhu said that he heard the
messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saying, Allah
divided mercy into 100 parts.
He kept 99 with him, meaning his withheld 99 with him, he's only
sent one portion of that in that intimacy just 1% into the world.
And so from this one part, extends the Mercy among creation for one
another. When you see somebody doing an act of mercy, expressing
an act of mercy, being merciful to somebody else, you see the the
same mercy that you have in your, as mothers that you have for your
children and for others. And you see that expression on others. And
you it really takes you back. So much. So it says that to the
extent I mean, the Hadith in Bukhari Muslim says, to the extent
that the beast will live will lift its who for its own child, despite
the fact that we look at a beast as just a wild animal. But Allah
has given it its mercy as well that it looks after its child in
for the number of days or number of weeks or for the period of time
that it requires for them to stand on their own, and thus it won't
trample over them.
And this is an animal that we would call while but Allah
subhanaw taala has inspired it with its mercy as well that it
lifts its hoof for its own child lest it strike it. This hadith is
related by Bukhari and Muslim in other in another narration of Imam
Muslim he mentions and he has postponed the other 99 parts that
he has withheld, he will grant this to his servants on had the
Day of Resurrection. So we can hope for an immense amount of
reward Subhanallah it fills us with so much hope this does,
especially when the month of Ramadan is coming as well. That's
why if not, I thought Allah Allah scan that he says that let no sin
be so immense in your mind. Let no sin be so immense in your mind
that it bars you from having a good opinion about Allah. There is
no sin that is so great, that it prevents you from saying that
Allah can forgive me about this from having a good opinion about
opinion about Allah subhanaw taala for indeed He who knows his Lord
will consider his sin to be insignificant compared to the
Divine Generosity. So the answer to all of this really, is that you
need to read the Quran with reflection, you need to see the
verses and you need to read the Hadith on mercy. This is what you
learned today. If you even search online, you will see huge amounts
of collections where people would have collected all of the ayat and
the verses of Mercy altogether. And these are really really
helpful for people who are generally depressed about this.
Likewise, the explanation of this from ignore above he says that the
immensity of sin in the perpetrators mind could be of two
types. You know, when a person has committed a sin, there is two ways
that it can affect us the Magnum the magnanimity, the greatness of
that
In the seriousness of that sin can affect us in two different ways.
Number one, it is it will either propel us to stop committing them,
oh, this is so bad, I'm never going to do this again, this is
just the limit now I can I've overstepped the boundaries,
there's no way that I can do this. And the more enormous ones deed,
deems his evil, evil deed, then
the secret of this is that the greater you think your sin is,
the less it has consequences with Allah subhanaw taala. Essentially,
the more seriousness, we take our sin and look towards forgiveness,
then that is how insignificant it becomes in the sight of Allah
subhanaw taala. And that is how much easier it actually becomes
for Him to forgive it. That's the wonderful thing. But of course, if
it becomes so, so great that we think it's beyond Allah's mercy,
then that becomes an act of disbelief and not knowing Allah
subhanaw taala. However, as great as the sin may be, if we are
thinking that Allah's Mercy can forgive this, Allah can forgive
this out of His mercy, then that sin becomes small in Allah sight.
And that is why it is said, the more insignificant one deems his
good deeds,
the opposite, the more insignificant we think of our good
deeds, that is how much greater their worth is with Allah. Because
then we won't be attributing them to them to ourselves, we'll just
be thinking that this is just something I have to do as a slave
of Allah, our sincerity will be greater, and the reward and the
status in Allah site will be much higher, and the more enormous one
deems his evil deeds, the less there consequence with Allah
subhanaw taala.
Number two, when a person commits a huge sin, this was the first way
this was the first approach. And the first consequence. The second
consequence is that it makes him full of despair.
It makes him full of despair, makes him hopeless, and it leads
to having a bad opinion about Allah subhanaw taala. This is so
blameworthy, this is so problematic, this is so dangerous
that he can actually remove your faith.
And it is indeed worse than all of the other sins because it leads to
comfort and comfort is the worst of sins. It's called cause Why
would this happen? Only one reason. It's a cause is the sheer
ignorance of the attributes of his master, the kind, the generous,
the noble,
coupled with the person's siding with his own ego, and drawing an
analogy using just his reason and his supposition.
This is just based on maybe prior experience that nothing happened.
Maybe seeing what other people have done, or just shaped,
allowing shaytaan to overcome his knifes to feel that nothing can
happen for him. Had he been known his lord with true understanding?
He would deem his sins trivial compared to the Divine Generosity
and bounty. And for what worth of value does the slave have? Think
about this carefully? What value does anybody have? What worth does
any human hold, that he could perpetrate a sin that his Lord
could not forgive? And his Lord's mercy cannot encompass? Meaning,
how big are you? How great are you that you can do something that can
even overwhelm Allah's mercy and
render it feeble and too weak? To deal with your mess to deal with
your sin? How great how big do you think you are as a person
or a sin to grateful his Lord to forgive?
So may Allah subhanahu wa taala open up his doors of mercy for us,
and his doors of guidance for us removed the darkness is of our
hearts that linger around and the cause these
confusions
and these problems within us and may Allah subhanaw taala grant us
a closeness to him. And may Allah subhanaw taala truly forgive us
during this coming month of Ramadan and keep us forgiven while
he read that one and in hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen