Morad Awad – Time 4 Tawbah
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The speakers emphasize the importance of following the antidote of the upcoming holiday season to activate the change and avoid dying in a state of complete submission to Allah. They stress the need to learn and adapt to the new reality, burn ships and leave bad habits behind to avoid future return. The importance of trusting Allah and waiting for the end of life to see the end of everything, and staying steadfast on Islam and pray for Adal Asr. Procrastination and not delaying procrastination are also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We send
our peace and blessing to our noble prophet
Muhammad
And I remind myself and yourselves
to fear Allah
on this blessed day of Yomuljumah, in this
blessed month of Ramadan.
As Allah
reminds us of this when he said,
Which translates to, oh you who believe, fear
Allah the way he should be feared.
And do not die except
in the state of complete submission to him.
We ask Allah to die in this state,
and we ask Allah to be resurrected in
this state, and we ask Allah to be
united with Muhammad alaihis salatu wassalam in this
state upon the pond of al Kawthar where
we drink from his noble hand. A drink
that
no drink will suffice us more than it
after it. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to bless us with this. Amin You Rabbil
Aileen. Brothers and sisters,
after
a few weeks of Ramadan,
the few jamaas of Ramadan,
and time passed in Ramadan,
some of us
maybe feeling like
we are not improving
as much
as we should
or as
much as we planned.
We're not demonstrating
the characteristics
that we wanted to embody during this blessed
month, that we wanted to apply to our
souls, to our characters.
Sometimes,
we're not changing as fast as our ambitions.
But
for this, there is a particular antidote
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us.
And this antidote
is what
is considered the spiritual
catalyst
to change.
Whoever
does this properly
and applies it in themselves correctly,
then
they will indeed see this change in them
without a doubt.
And this antidote, my dear beloved brothers and
sisters
is the antidote
of Tawba.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
reminds us
of a Tawba
when he called every single one of us
to do it. Not only individually,
but in congregation. He said,
Yes. And
repent to Allah entirely,
all believers.
Why?
So that you may succeed.
We have
ambitions.
We have
goals. We want to change.
We
want to be the better person that we
can be. We want to live up to
that potential that every single one of us
has. And wallahi, we all have it.
If we didn't have it, Allah will not
call us to it.
If we didn't have the potential to be
the greatest people,
then Allah would not ask it from us
but we do.
And he called the Muslimen
the greatest people that Allah
made for this creation.
You are the best nation
that humanity has ever seen. And we can
live up to that.
But it can only come with tawba
because Allah prescribed it
as a solution in order to succeed.
Brothers and sisters,
Tawba
starts
by believing
that we are going to completely change,
by understanding
that we have the power to change.
By having self motivation
and by having
enough trust in Allah.
Enough trust in Allah
that he is able
to turn our hearts like a switch.
As the prophet
used to make dua every single salah.
Oh, turner of hearts just like a switch.
Allah turns the heart just like a switch.
Switch.
Keep the switch on your deen. That's exactly
what it means.
So,
if we
are not on the straight path, if we
are weak to our desires,
if we have these addictions,
we have these bad habits, we have these
people around us that surround us, these these
negative environments
that are drowning us constantly,
preventing us from fulfilling any ambition,
any goal that we ever set for ourselves
specifically, spiritually, but it could be anything,
then know that Allah can change.
And the only way to activate that change
is through sincere repentance to Allah.
How do we repent to Allah?
You know, some of us,
we want
to
we we we realize where the negative
input is coming from.
Say, okay. It's it's this group of people.
So in Ramadan, I'm not going to be
around them.
It's this social media app. It's Instagram. It's
TikTok.
So I'm I'm just I'm gonna delete it.
I'm gonna leave it. I'm gonna deactivate it.
Oh, it's it's Netflix. I keep watching movies,
and I binge watch, and this and that.
Right? So I'm just gonna unsubscribe from Netflix
for the entire month. But you know,
say, and then you ask the brother, you
ask the sister. Okay. So what do you
do? Oh, I'm trying to change. Well, maybe
trying isn't enough.
To try is not enough.
The moment a person says, I want to
try.
It means
that there is a way back.
It means that they're leaving for themselves a
way back
to what they used to be. But when
a person reaffirms and reassures themselves
that they are changed,
That there's no going back. No. This is
the new me.
This is what I am.
And they begin to identify themselves to that
which
they aspire to be. Then
That along with a sincere repentance which we're
going to talk
about will suffice and insha
Allah, every single one of us will witness
this change in their lives insha Allah. So
what is the first thing? There's only 2
things regarding tawba as we
All of us insha Allah heard talks about
tawba and repentance.
But one thing
about Tawba
that we need
to learn
is is the burning the ships
concept. They say when,
when
when the Muslim armies,
crossed into Spain
from Morocco,
Tareq bin Ziyad
had ships for the Muslim.
And they usually dock those ships on the
shores and they go.
So as soon as the armies left the
ships, Tariq bin Ziyad torched all of them.
He said, that's it.
This is
where we're going to be.
There's no going back home.
It's either this land or
or or martyrdom.
See that ship? That gesture
made them so much stronger.
Made them understand
that, you know what? There is no going
back. There's only forward. So sometimes in life
brothers and sisters, we need to burn
those ships.
Maybe it's a person.
Maybe it's
a thing.
Maybe
it's an app. Maybe it's a certain habit
that requires certain types of
resources or materials or whatever it is. Right?
Get rid of it completely. Burn those ships
so that there's no return whatsoever.
Make it difficult to go back.
Make it difficult to go back.
That is because
brothers and sisters, the prophet
said,
He
said, every action
has a time
of heightened
energy.
Like a spark.
Every heightened energy
has a futur, because you're gonna come down.
So maybe in Ramadan you're strong. Maybe in
Ramadan
you you made your decision, you made this
commitment, you want to change, you want to
improve, you wanna be that person you know
that you can be.
Then why not burn the ships behind you?
And I'm not talking about burn ships of
relationships
like
like in a disrespectful way
because that's not Islamic.
But I'm saying burn the ships in the
in the sense that like if there's a
particular friend or group that you would never,
you know, try to give dawah to or
say, hey, guys, you know, just chill out.
I don't like to engage in this stuff.
Man, why why are you talking like that,
man? What is it? What's wrong with you?
Oh, now you're a Sheikh Islam? Now you're
Mufti Saab
Let him say it. Burn it.
Well, guys, this is me now. That's it.
It's over. You know, I made my decision.
And I approached Allah.
And there's no one that leaves something for
Allah,
except
that Allah gives you better than it.
If you leave a friend
who was close to you for the sake
of Allah, Allah will give you a better
friend.
Wallah,
if you leave a habit
that got you away from Allah for the
sake of Allah, then Allah will give you
a habit that's rewarding and beloved to Him.
And that you love more than that thing
that you left.
Ask someone who tried.
Ask any believer and they're gonna tell you.
This
is the transaction.
If you're wondering how people improve,
if you're wondering how people transform,
how this person was a singer, how this
person was an actor, how this person was
in this or in that,
and then they completely
changed their life.
If you ask them a question, how did
you change? All of them would tell you
the same thing. We left something for Allah,
and Allah replaced us with something better. And
Allah replaced us with something better. And Allah
replaced us with something better. And
and Allah replaced us with something better.
Because that's the promise.
The prophet the prophet said,
If you leave something for the sake of
Allah, Allah will
repay you or give you or compensate you
with something that's better than that thing.
Trust in Allah.
Trust in It's not just lip service.
We don't say we believe in Allah and
just sit down and stagnate.
Burn the ships.
Burned them because he believed in Allah.
And An Dalas was Muslim for 700 years
after that ship burning.
It was
done.
Perhaps if he didn't burn them ships,
some people would have considered going back and
it wouldn't have been Muslim for that long.
Producing scholars that enlightened
Islam and Muslim. And until the day, until
today,
we read books and we benefit
from
the developments of those people
in Andalus. Why? Because of one thing.
Maybe that change is now.
As a matter of fact,
the time is now
and the change is now.
Don't wait. Don't delay it. Last
week, there was a janazah for a brother,
33 years old.
And then, before that,
an infant.
Not even
that was just born, died at death.
And an elder person,
death has doesn't discriminate.
Every single one of us is gonna die,
and reality is
that we, Every single one of us can
potentially leave here and and
and this will be their their last jummah.
Why keep procrastinating
this tawbah?
Why procrastinate the repentance to Allah?
Why
delay it to a time where it's not
gonna benefit us? Now is the solution.
If we're gonna drop something, we drop it
now.
If we're gonna make repentance, we make it
now in salatuljum'ah.
In our sujood,
we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive
us, and to accept our repentance, and to
have mercy upon us.
And
Respected brothers and sisters.
We're not sure how many Ramadans we're going
to live.
But we are sure of one thing.
That if we live to see the end
of this day,
it'll be the last
this day ever
for us
to
live.
Brothers and sisters, today is Friday, April 7th,
2023,
and
not a single one of us would live
to see another one of those those days.
And that's the reality.
And this day, once it's folded into a
scripture, it will not be opened or seen
or remembered or recollected by you.
The way you're in it right now except
on the day of judgement. When Allah puts
you back in it.
Read your book.
Remember that day?
You remember that day you
you you thought of making tawba? You remember
that day you were told Allah is happier
with your tawba
than
than the happiest person in this world?
On a day where an imam stood on
the minbar and told you,
Allah accepts the tawba. As a matter of
fact, in Surat Tawba, Allah said
Allah told us in the Quran
that the tawba is accepted
and the sign of its its its acceptance
is one thing, that we're actually doing it.
Tilba is the only thing,
is the only act
that
by doing it,
we know it's accepted.
As long as we keep doing it. Because
we wouldn't be doing it unless we know
Allah's Allah guided us to say it.
So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
guide us to proper tawba.
Brothers and sisters, we gotta approach Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. We gotta get closer to Allah.
The prophet
said, that Allah does not that a person
does not approach Allah a hand span except
that Allah comes to him an arm span.
A person does not go to Allah walking
except that Allah comes to him running. And
this is metaphorically speaking. Why?
Because meaning,
Allah is by our assumption of him. So
let us assume the best of Him.
You want to change a little bit?
You think your potential is this much? You
think that you can be this great as
a good practicing Muslim that's on the
If that's what you think? Once you
approach
the once you repent, once you get better,
guess what?
You're gonna be
multiplied
in reward. And not only that, you're going
to be much better than what you thought
you'll ever
be. You're going to be much better because
Allah compensates
more than what we
what we expect.
And the second thing my brothers and sisters,
and I'll end with this, insha Allah, ta'ala
is connecting
with the one that you love.
Sheikh Islam,
he said that a person doesn't get rid
of something bad that they love
unless they find something good
to replace it.
If there's something
that a person loves
more than Allah.
And of course, the tongue can claim whatever
it claims.
But actions
speak louder than words.
When it's salah time,
and we'd rather watch a movie or a
show.
Person reminds us, and I have a choice
to listen to somebody who speaks
bad with bad language and someone who reminds
me of Allah and of good, and I
chose and I chose the one who speaks
with bad language all the time, then that
shows something.
So we need
to revisit the love that we have for
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because
and a person that loves Allah, and obeys
him,
a person that knows Allah
and obeys him
will be much stronger on their faith than
a person that obeys Allah but doesn't know
him.
The one that obeys Allah but doesn't know
Allah.
And And when I say doesn't know Allah
because of a person doesn't know Allah, they
can't love Allah properly.
We need to know who Allah is. We
need to study Allah's names and attributes.
We need to know Him
by His miracles,
by His mercy, by His bounty, by His
blessings. If we don't,
then we have no knowledge of Allah. And
someone without knowledge of Allah is always
going to fall back into sin no matter
how obedient they
are. Their surface could be as righteous as
ever, but
deep down, they're always gonna be prone to
jumping back.
So to stay steadfast
on our,
on our repentance,
is not only to stop sinning, is to
get not only to get rid of
what displeases Allah, not only to regret
what we did
of acts of disobedience to Allah, but also
to gain knowledge of Allah.
To know who He is so that we
love Him. And then when we love Him
enough, we'll never want to disobey Him. And
that is how we can stay steadfast on
our tawba. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
not to end this blessed day of yamuljum'ah
before we make a true honest sadaq tawbah.
We ask Allah to
guide us to true repentance,
to guide our tongues to the words that
you will accept from us, You Rabbi alamin.
Make sure you fill in the rows in
the back, next to the windows inshallah, the
main Make
sure all the rows are are filled and
your heels are on the lines,
shoulder to shoulder inshallah.
We're going to
we're going to make Adal Asr,
and then right after Adal Asr, we're going
to pray Asr. Alhamdulillah. You're fortunate to get
2 in 1 package. So, we
do that right now. If
you want to make a dam, jazakalukha.