Abdurraheem Green – E-Reminders Topic Repentance
AI: Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of Tober, a term used by Jesus to describe his actions, and acknowledge the need for consistency in one's life. They also emphasize the importance of acknowledging one's actions and not allowing them to hold out, particularly in the face of negative consequences. Additionally, they mention a woman who killed herself after a coworker.
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alaikum brothers and sisters, how Allah it's been. It's been a year since we started this era minders. It was last Ramadan that we started them and Hamdulillah. And it's been going full year. We've missed a few days, obviously, as one does. But you know what, today I want to talk about Tober. I want to talk about repentance because, well, it's that time of year, isn't it? It's Ramadan. And you know that the end of Ramadan, what is the end that well, we're into the second half of Ramadan now, right? And the end that this the end of Ramadan is about mercy. It's about forgiveness. And also because it's sort of appropriate to remind ourselves about the importance of
repentance. And it doesn't matter what stage you are on your journey of self mastery, self discovery, knowing yourself, which is what we've been talking about. Repentance is an essential part of all of it. And it doesn't matter what stage you are brothers and sisters, it doesn't matter what level you are, it doesn't matter where you are in your spiritual journey. Repentance is a it is an intrinsic part of every single stage of that journey and it doesn't stop. It stays with you until you die. This is the reality of Toba, the prophets Allah this is the messenger of Allah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. You know, he said that he makes Toba more than he made Toba more than
70 times a day and this is the messenger of Allah. So Toby is something that is what is Toba? First of all, what is repentance? What do we mean by repentance? Yeah, so this is as opposed to is the fork which we've talked about previously, seeking forgiveness. And we talked about the virtues of that. We talked about the benefits of seeking forgiveness, but Tober is different. Right? Toba is like a complete repentance. And what I think the key here brothers and sisters is complete. Yeah. Because it, you know, complete means that it is everything, it encompasses everything. It's the totality you know, so you may ask you make you may make stuff for or seek forgiveness for a
particular sin. But a Tober is like a complete.
It is complete repentance for everything within you. All your misdemeanors, all your transgressions, everything in which you've gone away from Allah subhanaw taala. Right. And this is why again, this whole journey that we've taken over this year, of,
of knowing yourself is again, important. We've talked about why it's so important for sincerity, but it's also important, it's also important
in the subject of Tober. Right? It's also important, because this self awareness, this being in tune with yourself, and this being honest with yourself about who you really are, what are your weaknesses, what are your shortcomings, if you really understand this, if you're really in tune with this, then surely the whole process of Toba of repentance is going to be more complete, it's going to be more full is going to be more real. And Salford for Toba or for real repentance for this complete. What it really means is returning an Arabic that's what it means it's a means to turn back or return to return. Yeah.
It's almost I guess that you could say that a real Tober would almost be going back to a childlike state, it's almost going back to your pure fitrah. That pure state of being when you are completely innocent, and you are completely free of every sin, because that's ultimately, what a real Tober would result in a true and complete repentance would indeed result in you being completely pure in front of Allah subhanaw taala free from sin. So I'm sure that you can understand that making real Tober making a complete Tobor making that pure and whole and full repentance is maybe not such an easy thing. And it reminds me of what armour had been a hot tub used to say that he used to say that
it's easier to abandon sins than it is to make a real sincere repentance. But the fact that it's hard and the fact that it's difficult, should not stop us.
Brothers and sisters from making the attempt. It shouldn't. It shouldn't stop us from trying and trying constantly. Always we should be making Toba to Allah subhanaw taala.
So brothers and sisters, what do we need to do in order to make Toba? How do we make Toba? Well, you know, there's no better time than Ramadan to make Toba. And it's for the same reasons we've mentioned before, you know, like Ramadan, the shayateen. First of all the shouting a chain, because the shayateen, the Shaytaan, The Shayateen are always trying to confuse you, trying to distract you, trying to cast doubts into your heart, trying to put misconceptions Shebaa hat, always trying to, you know, stir within you your desires and your impulses. And one of the strongest things for us to let go of brothers and sisters, you know, we like to think we're innocent, you know, we want to
think we enter so we don't like to do
things.
And we've talked about this before, this is one of the big challenges. One of the big challenges is that ability to be honest with yourself, not to tell yourself stories, not to fool yourself about the wrong things that you have done. This is what many people do. Many people instead of realizing and recognizing that they have done wrong. Instead of acknowledging that they have disobeyed Allah. One of the things that a human being can often try to do is try to rationalize it.
By unfortunately, doing something that is even more terrible than the sin itself. And that is by trying to imagine or pretend that the thing that was haram was not haram. After all, that you had a reason for it. You had an excuse for it. Oh, I needed to do that backbiting. I had a reason to slander and backbite people and carry tales about them. I had a reason to steal. I had a reason to do this haram thing or that haram thing. This is the real challenge brothers and sisters. Right? The real challenge is that because Subhanallah How can you make Toba? If you're not even going to acknowledge that you've done wrong? How can you make Toba for it? So this is where it all starts.
Real Tober starts with the acknowledgement. That's where it starts, right? It starts with first of all acknowledging that you have done wrong. So it has to start with that. It has to start with that realization, and that understanding of the wrong things that you have done. Okay.
And then from there, brothers and sisters, this is the first step. And this is why we do this effort. This is why we make this effort. This is why we
put in this time to discover ourselves to be real with ourselves to get real with ourselves to be honest about ourselves. Okay, because if you don't do that, excuse me, my my power is cutting.
My power is cutting
and making a difference.
Some sort of charge going into hopefully will hold out. So brothers and sisters. Yeah. So that's the first stage is acknowledgement. And remember, Toba is not just about one sin, it is about the you know, completely returning to Allah subhanho wa taala. Right. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that, you know, you got to be determined that you want to stop whatever it is you're doing. You want to stop these sins, you want to desist.
So with that, as well comes a whole load of things, right? If you're really sincere, and you're really honest, and you're really making a proper and complete repentance, then you'll know that with that comes some effort that you're going to need to make. So for example, if you are in a situation, that is you're in an environment, or when you're hanging out with friends, or you're with a group of people, and that environment that you're in those friends that you have that situation that you're in, is constantly causing you to sin again and again and again. Then, then Subhanallah, right. How can you be making real Tober if you are going to keep on exposing yourself to that situation and
that environment that is causing you to commit those sins. You see brothers and sisters. So real repentance means that you're going to need to remove yourself, you're going to have to distance yourself physically.
You
If need be,
because otherwise you're not really sincere. You know, you can say, you can say the words of Tober. You can say it with your mouth. But are you really sincere in wanting to change your life? So I'm reminded of that hadith of the man who killed 99 people.
Right? He killed 99 people and he, he wanted to repent. So he went looking for someone to advise him. And he went to some pious worship, someone who was famous for being pious and being a worshiper. And he asked him, I've killed 99 people is their repentance to me. This man said, how evil are you? How wicked are you? There is no chance that a repentance for you with such sins over your head, I'm just paraphrasing. So he got so angry, they took out his sword and he killed this man. Instead, he made it 100. But you know what he still wanted to repent, he still wanted to change.
So he searched again. And this time he found a scholar.
And he asked the scholar,
I've killed 100 people, is there any repentance for me? And the scholar said to him, there's no there's nothing between you and repentance, except that you need to leave the land of these evil people, this evil land and you need to go to a better land a better place where people are better, right? And he mentioned go to such and such land. So this man who wanted to make repentance started on his journey.
And he died. He died
halfway to the near the, you know, he said The point being brothers and sisters, he made this journey he made this effort. The scholar told him you need to change your circumstance, you need to change your environment. This is a real proof of real Tober right? So anyway, the end of the hadith is that he died halfway and the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment came they were arguing which one was going to take his soul because the angels are punishments that he didn't know he did nothing good in his life. He killed 100 people and the angels of Mercy were saying no, we make Toba.
So the Allah sent another angel to arbitrate between them and told them to measure the distance between you know, the land, the evil land and the land
of the good land, or the better place and, and according to one Hadith mentions that he was one step closer another one mentions that Allah shrunk the earth to make him closer to the land, so that his his togo would be accepted and complete. And what this does show brothers and sisters, obviously the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala is so great the Mercy of Allah is so vast Subhanallah there's so many lessons in that hadith alone, about the difference between a pious worshiper and a scholar right.
And that there's no barrier between you and Allah's mercy, except you making Toba? Right? So how Allah even if you killed 99 people, you can still repent, you can still make Toba
as that you know Subhanallah so that the gates of repentance are always open brothers and sisters, they're always open. Don't ever think that your sins are so great that you can't repent for them. Because this man look at his sins, look at the catastrophic crimes that he committed. But Subhanallah the scholar realize that Allah's Mercy is vast. But what is important is the effort. It's not just about saying the stuff for the lower Tobu lay is the effort the real sunsense The real sincere and complete and real Toba the real changing around of your life, it means to change your life. So he made this journey. Right? So what if happened, if you'd only made a few steps, what
would happen if you really hadn't got that far? Subhanallah
it just shows the importance of real repentance means real effort.
And, and the other thing is, obviously, that if you have abused other people, and you've hurt others, and you, for example, you've stolen from others, then you have to do your best to make up for the things that you've done. If you back bitten someone or slandered someone, then you have to speak good about them in the same way that you spoke even about them or perhaps you could give charity in you know, you know, hoping that the charity will be an explanation. But actually what you really need to do is go to that person and get that person to forgive you. Get that person to forgive you. This is really this is why brothers and sisters beat
very careful what you say about your Muslim brothers and sisters be very, very careful about what you say about their honor. Be very careful, because the Muslim is sacred, their blood and their honor and their property is sacred. If you take their property, if you spill their blood, or if you dishonor them, you have transgressed against something that is sacred, and you are going to be held to account for it. So brothers and sisters, you know, be careful what you say, especially in this day of social media, where you can just make one line you can type something and you could say something terrible about Muslim brothers and sisters and it goes around the world. Yeah, it does
just doesn't limit itself to you just abusing that person online. That slander that live can go across the planet, brothers and sisters right. So be careful. So this is all part of the complete and real Tober
is just take you know, rectifying yourself and your actions.
You see change in your character, you can change your character, you can improve your character, you can build your character. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, it's difficult, but it can be done. All of this is necessary, on the path to real and complete and true repentance brothers and sisters. So please, this is the month of Ramadan. This is the time to make Toba. This is the time to return to Allah. This is the time that you want to come out of this month with your sins forgiven. This is it Subhanallah
you know, how can we use Subhanallah it's a real disaster, that you came through the whole of the month of Ramadan, and you didn't finish this month without your sins being forgiven. So this is a time to make Toba to Allah subhanaw taala. Right. So that's the thing you're going to resolve not to do this thing again. And not only will you not do it again, the reality of that is obviously that you make whatever practical steps are necessary. Okay, so this is very important. And so that's the final part of a real complete Toba is that you don't go back to it. So what if you do go back to it? Well, you make Tolbert again.
You know, obviously, if you go back to it, that's a deficiency. That's a problem. It's like a man on a journey. Imagine a man on a journey and he gets, you know, he's on a journey. He's making a journey. And you get attacked on the way and you get by some bandits and they tie him up, you know, they take everything from him. And then some Kindly Man comes along and you know, releases him and says, Look, this, this road is full of bandits and thieves. You know, so if you take precaution, if you're clever, if you're clever, and you take your precautions and you watch out, you'll get to your destination safely. You see, this is like the example so take your lesson. This is the other thing.
Take your lesson from your sins. Take your lesson from your batteries. Take your lesson from all of these things. And of course of hammer life you do fall again. Then you get up again you keep trying you keep making repentance don't ever stop. It doesn't stop brothers and sisters. Like I said, this does not stop until you until the day you die. And there is it doesn't matter how spiritually, you know, advanced you get. Toba doesn't stop actually, the more spiritually advanced you get the more sincere and complete your Toba will be. This is the essential provision on our journey to Allah subhanaw taala
is making Toba.
So don't delay brothers and sisters. Allah talks him Allah mentioned in the Quran, he told us, he told the believers make repentance are you who believe so you will be successful? Yes, so Allah tied being successful to Toba and that Allah subhanaw taala mentioned that those who refuse to repent, that they will be destroyed. This is the meaning of what Allah subhanaw taala told us. So it's, it's connected to this matter of Tober. You see, this this matter is so important. Really, in reality, this whole issue of realizing how weak and deficient you are as a human being, that it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter how amazing your life
has been. You're always going to fall short. You're always going to fall short of Allah subhanaw taala but that's fine. That's okay.
You know, Allah is not expecting us to be perfect, only he is perfect. He is the one who is perfect.
That's what life is. That's one of the most important things to understand from life is exactly that. That Allah is perfect. He is the one who is the one who is true.
Be perfect we are not. We are human beings. The son of Adam sins by night and sins by day
with the best of the sons of Allah are those who seek forgiveness or those who repent for those who make Toba. So brothers and sisters, just to come around to where we started Subhanallah this beautiful month of Ramadan. It is a beautiful month. It's a hard month. It's a tough month.
You know, we've talked about in another
you know, a really interesting program I did with Abdullah Huck, Dr. Abdullah hug Baker. And we were you know, we, you know, we were talking about at least I was talking about look, you don't have to enjoy Ramadan. You may actually not like it that much. I mean, we do it because Allah has ordered us with it. It's okay. Not every single thing Allah mentioned about jihad, right about fighting he said, you know, you dislike it. But sometimes you have to do it. Sometimes you don't like a thing. It's good for you and sometimes you hate a thing was bad for you. But you know, unfortunately, if people attack our homes, attack our families or whatever it is, we need to defend that this is the
reality the unfortunate reality of life.
You see, so we don't you know that it's not a pleasant thing. Of course it's not. So some people some people love fasting, some people enjoy it. You know, I don't enjoy fasting. I don't get a kick out of it. I'm happy when it's finished. MashAllah Alhamdulillah but you know is beautiful Ramadan is beautiful. From the point of view is there is this month of opportunities is this month to get rewards to get so many awards and so many blessings is this month to make a staffer to make seek forgiveness is the month of October is a month to make repentance is a month to have your sins forgiven. It's the month to draw close to Allah is especially the month of the Quran.
It's not too late brothers and sisters look you're halfway through Ramadan. It's not to
make this you know attachment with the book of Allah is truly
amazing. Honestly, the Quran Subhanallah really it is something you want to attach yourself to this book. I mean like it's something you want to be familiar with it's something you want to read a lot.
And the more you do it a handler the more you know full of light and blessing your life will be So brothers and sisters that's it from me for today.
Does aka hurt for listening don't forget to share this video and why don't you join us for the IRA live appeal Tonight Show also it's going to be on my Facebook page and show a lot probably on my youtube if it's on my YouTube channel on my Facebook page. So do join us we're going to be talking about our efforts in Africa and some new places we're going to be moving into so join us for that and and all you know obviously keep up with the great programs on Newcastle FM and on my YouTube and Facebook pages. Don't forget to share and like and subscribe and all those things that hamdulillah helping helping us on our way in sha Allah. So rather than sisters may you have a blessed Ramadan
May Allah accept your fasting and your prayers and your charity. All your good deeds are last but not all forgive us our sins, which is up in the house and I want