Mufti Menk – Hope with the Effort

			Assalamu Aleikum my brothers and sisters, very important message that I have for you regarding the
mercy of the Almighty. There are a lot of people who live a very normal life and the normal life
would mean that we try our best to earn the pleasure of the Almighty to fulfill the instructions
that he has asked us to stay away from the prohibitions, but we do falter. That's a normal life and
normal life means we falter, we're not perfect. We're not angels, we are not, you know, created
without imperfection, but rather, we are human beings, so we will try our best. From time to time we
will falter. The winners are those who turn back to Allah subhanho wa Taala, who repent who seek the
		

			forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala, who asked for his mercy, and have hope in his mercy. So what
I want to say today is never, ever underestimate the mercy of the Almighty, He is the Most Merciful
no matter what you do. We've given examples in the past of the magician's of the tongue of the
Prophet Moses, may peace be upon him where one prostration resulted in them earning paradise. How
many frustrations have you and I engaged in? We asked the almighty to accept at least one of them.
And to grant us that paradise. That's number one. Number two is never has the Almighty said that
whoever seeks forgiveness, I won't forgive him. Number three is that it's part of the conviction you
		

			have and the belief that you have in the Almighty and his mercy, that actually makes you regret your
sin. If you didn't believe in the Almighty, you would not regret anything you would do as you please
because you wouldn't have believed in anything anyway. But the fact that you regret your sin is
actually a sign that the almighty loves you, you love the Almighty and you're trying to develop your
relationship with the Almighty and become a better person. So when you've committed a sin as much as
we should never undervalue or underestimate the seriousness of a sin.
		

			We should also never lose hope in the mercy of the Almighty, we should understand that the Almighty
is the Most Merciful, the greatest He is the one who is ever ready to forgive us, no matter what
we've done.
		

			And you know, if you were to repeat the sin 20 times and seek forgiveness 20 times he will forgive
you 21 times Subhana Allah that's the almighty that says mercy But like I say, we need to strike a
balance never let the amount of Hope you have in the mercy of the Almighty lead you into the sin but
never ever commit a sin and then think that you know what, I cannot achieve the forgiveness of the
Almighty because I've been so obedient. I've been so good. I've been so such a pious person or I've
tried to be and now look, I faltered I've let myself down. I've let the almighty down. No, no, no,
you have made a mistake. You are just a human being you will turn back to the almighty you will seek
		

			the almighty forgiveness and inshallah you will be able to earn his pleasure and his mercy once
again. So always remember that balance. We're human beings we falter. We make mistakes, we do things
that are not correct. We do things sometimes intentionally. We commit sin, that sin is generally of
a minor nature. But sometimes even if it's a major sin, you need to just seek the forgiveness of the
Almighty and to be very honest, he's made that so so easy. So Allah Almighty is always waiting for
us to seek forgiveness when we seek the forgiveness feel good about it. Don't go back and start
doubting your connection with the almighty don't go back don't allow the devil or shavon to make you
		

			go back and start thinking to yourself You know what, I think I'm not normal. I'm very bad I'm say
tannic, I'm a devil etc. All those thoughts are from shavon himself. So the minute you see sort the
forgiveness of the Almighty, turn back and and you know, smile and continue in your path. Don't look
back in a way that makes you lose hope once again that mercy of the Almighty or doubt the
forgiveness of the Almighty. I've come across people of late more and more of the young who are
suffering OCD, they suffer so many other sicknesses they become depressed etc. For many reasons, may
Allah make it easy for you, and I pray that inshallah we can help you and even the others those
		

			around you can assist you but a positive point is
		

			a lot of the people are sometimes let down by themselves and they think very low of themselves
sometimes you are clean so hon Allah you are worthy of the mercy of the Almighty, you are forgiven
by the almighty You are a normal human being you have made mistakes just like everyone else. Now,
you know, pick up your pieces and inshallah make your puzzle once again, and inshallah you will be
from among those who earn the mercy of the Almighty. So, we will always hope in the mercy of the
Almighty, like I always say, We've all committed sins, myself included, we're not perfect, we're not
angels. We seek the forgiveness of Allah, we have hope in the mercy of Allah, we interact and mix
		

			with those
		

			are really good. And at times you will have to interact with those who are not good. Sometimes we
say, stay away from this one, stay away from that one obviously that means, if you cannot help them,
and if you cannot benefit them in any way, then to protect yourself and your sanity and your own.
		

			You know, to protect your own brain and your your body or system, you may have to stay away from
certain people. And that's why when we say stay away from toxic people, toxic meaning you cannot
help them you try to help them. In fact, it started affecting you in such a negative way. In that
particular case, yes, you will have to stay away from such people. But there comes a time initially
before you actually stay away from them. That the interaction makes you drop a level at times
because sometimes you get close to the Almighty, you're actually so happy so content and then you
interact with people who drop that level of yours you start backbiting you start sending you start
		

			looking at things that are considered sacred as non sacred, you start thinking, dirty thoughts and
so on. Yet, that was not the case when you didn't interact with x, y. And Zed well, that means that
that interaction has actually shaken you a little bit. It's made you come to reality to realize that
you know what company does affect you. Don't lose hope. Go back into the mercy of Allah subhanho wa
Taala by protecting yourself, perhaps have minimum interaction with such people, whatever is
necessary. whatever is needed. Don't be evil. Don't be nasty. Don't be harsh, but protect yourself.
Protect yourself. You don't have to interact with people who have a very, very negative effect on
		

			you. When you feel low. After you've been in a company you feel like you've done something very
wrong. When you cannot keep on remaining in that company, you have to start considering what the
prophet peace be upon him has told you and what the Quran says about bad company and you have to
protect yourself from it. So you will then obviously have hope in the mercy of Allah come back onto
the path that you know, seek the forgiveness of the Almighty start in a very, very pure way. And be
happy with yourself. Be content give yourself a pat on the back. And remember the almighty belongs
to you just like he belongs to everyone else. He loves you He created you He made you just like he
		

			made everyone else. So don't think you're any lower than someone in terms of ability and access to
the almighty No, you have access to the almighty you definitely do. You You need to call out to Him
and you need to feel convinced that that is the Almighty, the Most Merciful, the most beloved, the
most magnificent, the one who loves the most etc, etc. Those are beautiful qualities because
		

			also on the globe today, you know that there is a lot of suffering May Allah grant all those who are
struggling, ease there is a lot of negativity, a lot of
		

			war and killing there is absolutely unnecessary.
		

			It can be avoided, it should be avoided. It's very sad that there is only a limited amount that we
could do about it.
		

			But with all that negativity, people become so sad people become negative make the most of what you
have, make the most of what you've been blessed with by the Almighty and have hope in the mercy of
the Almighty you're just a beautiful human being. You need to make sure that you live in the best
possible way whilst Allah has given you this life. You actually try your best you keep on going. And
hamdulillah I hope that you feel much better. And this is dedicated to all those who might have been
feeling a bit low. You know, you feel distant from the Almighty. No, no, no. Make sure you get up
you fulfill your prayers, you do your Salah, you turn back to the Almighty and you feel good about
		

			it, and inshallah it will boost you it will make you feel good once again. The Almighty His mercy is
far greater than anything you have done. The Almighty His mercy is far beyond any amount of mercy
you can have on another person. So the Almighty is Mercy is something you need to ponder over. He is
so merciful, he's looking for any excuse to forgive you and I and to grant us paradise inshallah, we
will be there. By the will of Allah, I'm trying my best. I hope you're trying your best. You know,
we have to give a positive message to everyone, even those who don't like us. We give them a
positive message we try with them, we might have to stay away from them, like I said earlier, but we
		

			we have to try we have to keep trying shala I hope that message has benefited that what prompted me
to actually come live today. It's a Sunday afternoon here in Zimbabwe and SubhanAllah. I I was
dealing with a case where someone was feeling so low yet they're a good person, very good person
because of a similar to they've committed and you know, they needed that hope and the courage with a
balance in the sense that yes, we've all committed sins. We've all done that. Let's let's not
pretend that we're angels because we're not. We're not evil people but we have made mistakes. If it
was not for the mercy of Allah, we would be depressed. We
		

			would be sad. We would be people who really lost the plot because that mercy of the Almighty is
something that is great in terms of a gift from the almighty What a great gift. So Alhamdulillah my
brothers, my sisters, may Allah bless you all and Shall I hope to be back again soon with another
live session I haven't been live for a while. inshallah I will be visiting the Philippines this
weekend and then Indonesia the following weekend, we have a whole lineup of events, one in Sharla
the first one will be in Zamboanga, and then one in Manila and then in the fall, and thereafter,
beginning of October inshallah, I will be in Lombok, as well as in Jakarta. More details, inshallah,
		

			on my Instagram pages by the will of Allah inshallah, I'll post this up on YouTube just for
		

			the benefit of one and all. inshallah, I'd like to also speak about a very important topic, and that
is, parents, once again, I've come across cases of abusive parents, and the blackmail that they
sometimes would use, which is religious blackmail, such that
		

			they use religion in order to keep the child
		

			in a certain position in place. We'd like to talk about that in Sharla. If you have any points that
you want me to raise, you can email me and move to [email protected] inshallah. I hope to see the
emails, I would see quite a few of them. Sometimes I do miss the emails and that's because of the
volume. It's not like I don't want to respond. I don't reply if I don't reply to one of two reasons
either because of the volume or because I believe I cannot really help you besides say, a silent
prayer for you. Sometimes the problem is so big that it's not easy for me to help. So May Allah
bless you guys. Always lovely to speak to you guys and inshallah, hope to see you again soon as they
		

			come to life.