Hope And Forgiveness

hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu salam ala Nabeel Karim Allah Allah He was happy as

we begin by praising Allah subhanho wa Taala and asking Allah to send his peace and blessings upon the final prophet Mohammed bin Abdullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and all those who follow his way with righteousness until the end of time.

Today I want to just mention a few words about a very important part of our Islamic belief. And that is the importance of balancing between fear of Allah and hope in Allah as mercy.

Human beings by our nature, we tend to go to extremes. And so we find that some people, they go to extreme in fearing Allah.

They fear Allah and the Hellfire so much that they believe there's no hope that they go into paradise. They believe there's no hope of anybody going into paradise. They lose hope in Allah's mercy and they fall into sin, going to disbelief because of this extreme fear.

And then on the other extreme, there are people who go to extremes in the hope of Allah's mercy. So they will spend the entire day committing sins and when you tell them not to send you see a load of photo Rahim. So, in the belief of Allah being a fool or him, which is a correct belief, they go to an extreme, which makes them feel this to sin. They believe it doesn't matter what I do, I'm still going to judge them. And both of these extremes are unhealthy. Both of these extremes account shape one Shakedown wants us to either become lacks so that we commit sins or do become so despondent of Allah's mercy that we commit sins. And Islam is in the middle Islam is balanced, a balance between

hope and fear. And this balance is based more on love of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And so one of the great scholars of the past even a Mojo Xia Rahim Allah, He described our Eman our fate as a bird. And he said that love of Allah is the head of that bird. And hope and fear are the two wings of the bird. So look at hope and fear like this, if hope or fear is missing, if one of the two wings is missing, the bird can fly it's not balanced. Likewise, if we don't have hope, or we don't have to have one of these two are missing, in our mind is not balanced. And love of Allah is the head of the bird meaning if you can't have a bird's head, it dies. If you don't love Allah, there's no demand.

There is no demand without love of Allah love of Allah is the foundation it is the most fundamental from which everything else comes out. And so what we should focus on is loving Allah. And from the love of Allah comes fear and comes hope. And this fear and hope is based on love. So let me break that down a bit more. What do we mean by loving love, this word love in our times, unfortunately, it tends to be used only in a romantic connotation when people talk about love to talk about romance. But the word love in Islam is much deeper. We talk about loving our parents, loving our children, loving the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam loving the Sahaba I love is a much broader

concept. loving your brothers in Islam, Islam, it's actually a good deal to walk up to a fellow Muslim and tell him I love you for the sake of Allah. Nowadays, we will try to save things like that. But this is part of our religion. This is part of the system. So Love is a very deep concept in Islam. And it's a very fundamental part of our religion. to such an extent that one of allies names is another one of the most loving. And

the Prophet Muhammad Joseph had mentioned in many pieces that if you don't love Allah, if you don't love the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, then you don't have a man. So what does it mean to that Allah loving Allah means that Allah is more important to you than anything else. What Allah once is most important, what Allah wants from you is, is what's the priority in your life? This is love. Look, for example, as someone who has a very deep love for their spouse, they do whatever their spouse asks them to do, they want to please them that becomes the number one priority in life. As somebody who loves their career, their whole life revolves around that career. Somebody who loves

Allah, Allah should be the number one priority and their entire life should revolve around Allah This is really relevant Allah content.

inshallah Allah insha, Allah Subhana, Allah teaches us, what is the sign of loving Allah? What is the sign of loving Allah, in contempt of a boon Allah, but we only

say oh Prophet Muhammad, if you love Allah, follow me and Allah will love you. So the beautiful thing here is if we love Allah, Allah will love us back but there's a condition is assigned. How do we prove our love for Allah subhanho wa Taala by following Prophet Muhammad

solo laquan he was sent away following the Quran and the Hadith, the Quran and the Sunnah.

So level one law is *ing fundamental. Now from that love comes hope and fear. Both of these come from love. And again when it comes to the fear of Allah subhanho wa Taala many of us Miss understand this concept. We think of fearing Allah as a skill. You know, sometimes we don't talk about it. They don't talk about Hellfire, don't talk about fear. Don't talk about these concepts. No. fear of Allah is part of loving Allah. What do I mean? Think about someone who loves the Father. But they they are afraid of disappointing the Father. Be afraid of letting him down. They're afraid of getting on his bad side. Why? Because they love him.

Likewise, I would love what love should be handled, it should be deeper than it should be great in this, though we should love Allah so much. We are afraid of disappointing him. We are afraid of disobedience, we are afraid of letting him down.

And so our love of Allah, this fear of Allah should be a part of it.

The hope of Allah also comes from love. So because we love Allah, we hope you will forgive us, we hope you will enter us into paradise, we hope he will have mercy on us. And so you need this balance between hope and fear in order to go to gender in order to pass the test of life.

And what happens in our in our time for many people, is that because we live in a time where sin is so easy, all around us this temptation. So everybody ends up falling into sin at some point in their life or the other some type of sin or the other. What shaytan does the ni*ani whispers to you? And he tells you, you are such a filthy, sinful person. Allah is never gonna forgive you.

This thought is from Sheikah. This talk is not from Islam. It's not from a light from sheet one. Why is she not putting the story in your head? Because he doesn't want you to make Toba. He doesn't want you to repent. He doesn't want you to turn your life around. He doesn't want you to become a better person. He wants you to lose hope in Allah's mercy. And so as Muslims, we have to come to this with the Khurana with the sinner. What is Allah say? Allah says, Yeah, Ivana the Astra unfussy la mirada de la la la la nouba Jamia in Allah Hakuna Rahim Oh my servant who has harmed his own soul, do not lose hope in Allah has mercy. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins because Allah is all forgiving, All

Merciful. This is a last message in the Quran. What ever sin you have fallen into in your life, Allah can forgive it. If you make Toba, the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has stated in Hadees that is disputed but nonetheless its meaning is authentic. That mantapa Amina dunkleman, Allah who whoever repents from a sin is as if he has never said it when you repent. The sin is wiped out completely from your book of deeds. And so to give us all a bit of hope, I want to share with you all today, a few stories from the Hadees which give us hope, in Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Some of these stories are from the Hadith some of them are from data points in Islamic history, but

each of them share the same central theme. No matter what sins you have fallen into, you can come back to Allah, you can come back to Allah, you can become a better Muslim, you can still go to gender.

And even for those people we know who passed away upon sin, we do not judge the afterlife, because Allah can still forgive them. This is a very important fundamental belief in Islam. And many of us have this misunderstanding, right? When somebody dies. I've seen this recently, for example, to be blind to when george bush died, or Wilson reposting that he's in how we actually not allowed to say that. We're not allowed to say that about anyone, unless the name is mentioned in the Quran. No matter how bad they were, you're not allowed to say about any person, that this person is inhaled, or this person is in Paradise, unless the name is mentioned in the Quran. ohanaeze Why? Because

judgment belongs to Allah not to us. Judgment belongs to Allah, not to us, no matter how clear it may seem to us that somebody is worth your paradise or hell, we are not allowed to see it. Because we are not the judge. That person is not standing in front of us on the Day of Judgment. They stand in front of Allah, and we don't know what Allah is going to say. So be very careful what we say about someone who passes away. We believe believers go to Paradise and disbelievers go to hell. But we don't say that about any individual because we don't know the individuals case with Allah. Is that clear? It could be someone did not know the message of Islam. It could be the message of Islam

never reached them in its proper form. It could be the secretly converted to Islam or to matoba before passing away. We don't know only Allah knows that.

We are not allowed to make a judgmental statement on somebody's afterlife who has passed away. Even if they're still alive. You're not allowed to point to someone and say you are judging them, or you definitely going to Johanna, we don't have the right to say this. So I want to mention a few stories from the Hadees that helped us to understand this part of our religion. The first story the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated that from amongst the children of Israel, he from amongst the Israelites, there was a prostitute, right? One of the worst things we can think of something most of us we see someone who commits the sin we can definitely go into hell, right? The

Prophet Muhammad wa sallam said, This prostitute, she didn't make the law. She She never changed her life. But she did one good deed. And that one good deed was she saw a dog that was dying, and she felt sorry for it and she gave it water. And the Prophet Muhammad was upset because of this one good deed ALLAH forgive.

This is why I say you know those out you see for any person, you definitely go into Johanna COVID. Oh, no, they may have a secret good deed because they CPD Allah for

another Hadith. The Prophet Muhammad Ali. So I mentioned that there was a man from amongst the children of Israel, who was a murderer in murdered 99 people. I this man was a serial killer. He murdered 99 people. But he wanted to repent, he wanted to change. So he went to a pious man who wasn't learned and told him you I kill 99 people, how do I repent for this? And this man, when you heard the other person kill 99 people in the door many of us do, he judged him. He said, there's no repentance here. There's nothing you can do about it. You know, you're going to help, you know, basically, he told you, there's nothing you can do about it. This man was so angry, he killed this

person as well. So he killed 100 people. He then went to an army a scholar, and he asked the scholar this killed 100 people. I want to be a better person I want to change I want to make Toba. What must I do? So the man said you must leave this lat Why did this land because this land is where you said this is this is the environment that's making you move to a better environment. So the man listen to the scholar, he repented, he said, moving towards another land where he was gonna change his life, but along the way he died. And so the angels of punishment came to take his soul to jahannam. And the angels of mercy came to take his social agenda. And they began to dispute the angel of

punishment saying this man killed 100 people he belongs to that the angels of mercy saying no, he was repenting and on his way to a land of righteousness to change his life. So he belongs in genda. And so Allah subhanho wa Taala made it such that his body was closer to the land of repentance. And so Allah forgive him and you intergender he murdered 100 people. Still there was hopefully still a lot forgiving. This is why I say we do not have the right to say about any person you are going to have. A third story from amongst the people of Israel is that there was an alcoholic and a scholar who knew each other very well. And the scholar to the alcoholic almost never gonna forgive you. To

the Prophet Mohammed Salaam, stated according to one of the narrations, that on the Day of Judgment, Allah will ask the scholar who were you to say I'm not gonna forgive that person. said your wife judges after. So Allah forgave that alcoholic for his sin, and entered him into gender. And He punished that scholar for his judgmental statement and put him in the Hellfire for a while.

Again, we don't have the right to say this. We do not have the right to say what any person you are definitely going to help for our own selves. We do whatever we can to stop ourselves from sinning. And when we fall into sin, we make Toba, we make ecfr we try to be with the Muslims, for everybody else we deal with, we see the attorney, we ask Allah to guide them. We ask Allah to forgive them. If they pass away and you're Muslim, we ask Allah to forgive them. If you are not Muslim, we keep quiet. We don't see you in help we keep quiet. We leave it to Allah. Right? It is not our place to judge.

Another story. And this story is about one of the early enemies of Islam. So he'll even amor he was one of the most outspoken members of the Kurdish. He's a very eloquent in his speech, and in the Battle of whether the Muslims captured him. And so Omar Abdullah, who wanted to remove his feet so he could not be eloquent in speech anymore. And the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, leave him because he may use that speech to say things that are pleasing to Allah one day. Fast forward eight years later, the prophet Mohammed slow some conquers Maka suhaila with amor converts to Islam becomes a Sahabi. After the Prophet Muhammad slowly some passes away. The people

of Makkah, some of them want to leave Islam. And so he climbed by the Kaaba and he delivers an eloquent speech that moves the hearts of people and sees different apostasy and keeps him upon the dean. The same man who spent his entire younger life speaking out against Islam in old age, ed.

Did Islam and then he went off to Jihad and spent the rest of his life in Jihad and died in Serbia.

Not our place to judge Holly even worried. In the Battle of Ovid, he led the army against the Muslims, which led to the only defeat that the Prophet Mohammed army faced in battle in which the prophets lies on himself was injured, and some of his beloved Sahaba were murdered. By Khalid bin Walid. Many years later, the Prophet Muhammad Hassan writes a letter saying, Where is Khalid an intelligent man like him should know Islamic the truck? Look how he talks about his enemies. There's no judgment, you're using any intelligent man that you should know the truth. And so he invites Holly to Islam and Holly moves to Medina and he takes the Shahada, and he becomes the sword of

Allah.

And he conquered Egypt and he and Syria and Iraq and Palestine, all these lands in the name of Islam, the same man who fought Prophet Muhammad, why Islam becomes the sword of Allah.

We see this even in later history.

For the Liberty yard, was one of the most famous robbers in the Muslim world in the second century. people feared his name, people wouldn't shower because they were afraid of him. And then one night, when he's out about you sneak into his illicit lovers house to do something Haram. He is a man reciting Quran and the man recites the verse, is it not time for the hearts of people to be moved? For the hearts of the believers to be moved to remember Allah? And immediately foody says, Yes, my heart is ready to be moved, for the sake of Allah. And he gives up all he said, he gives up Robert, he gives up Xena he gives it all up, he moves to Iraq, he becomes a scholar of Islam, he becomes one

of the greatest scholars of his time, and today his Hadees and the region in Sahih al Bukhari,

the same man who started off as a robber, as he feared famous robber who passed away as a saint and a scholar and an array of IDs. So this is my message to all of us today. If you have fallen into sin, understand that the Prophet Mohammed slash Ahmed stated that whoever depends from person it is as if they have never seen and unless you have 100 likes teach in the Quran, that you ever repent from their sin, Allah will convert their sins into good deeds. And Allah Subhana Allah says, Oh my servant who is transgressed against his own soul, do not lose hope in the mercy of Allah because Allah forgives all sins. Allah is all forgiving, All Merciful. And he could see our Shiva handler

states that even if your sins had to reach the sky, and you have to ask for forgiveness, I will still forgive you. Even if your sins fool the entire earth and you had to ask for forgiveness, I will still forgive you. So when it comes to our own souls, seek forgiveness everyday when it comes to our own major sins. Make doba and change when it comes to the sins of others. ask Allah to guide them. ask Allah to forgive them do not pass judgments are they accurate? Because you do not know their fate in the afterlife. They Allah subhana wa tada guide our hearts when he because merciful moneymakers loving moneymakers, from those who have Taqwa from those who have love of Allah love of

the Prophet Muhammad loves them and the Sahaba love of Islam moneymakers from those who are able to balance between fear of Allah as punishment so we do not sin and hoping Allah's mercy said we repent after we said, Allah subhana wa Taala makers from those who only see what is pleasing to Him. When he makes our heart soft towards each other. We have removed from our hearts this harshness and this judgment which has taken over our communities we have become a toxic community we have always judging each other since and always telling each other you are going to help us see brothers walking up to other brothers in your pants or below your ankles are going to help you don't have the right

to say that this difference of opinion on the matter. Firstly, number two what about these other goodies? What about his email? What about his love of Allah, you can't see you are going to hell, via Allah do not make statements like this. Only Allah has the right to decide who is going to hell and who is not. You can tell her brother nicely, you know according to Hannah, your pan should be above your ankles. See nice, but don't make a statement of judgment on the next person. Don't make a statement of judging the next person after correct them in a way that is beautiful. correct them in a way that is correct them in a way that is going to bring them closer to Allah not in a way that's

going to chase them away from Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah accept from us our good deeds, forgive us for our sins, keep us on the straight path and make our heart soft and merciful and guidance on our hearts the love of Allah the love of the prophets loves me the love of the Sahaba and his religion. Welcome to the Juana and hamdulillah salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.