Omar Suleiman – From Bad to Better – Good to Great

			Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his final messenger, we ask Allah to send his peace and
blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that
served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment and we ask
Allah to make us amongst them Allah him I mean the brothers and sisters now just a few days away
when Allah al Hemd from Ramadan Allah Allah Lebanon Ramadan Allah whomever living out Ramadan Allah
Allah but little known Ramadan Oh Allah, allow us to live to witness this blessed month, allow us to
be forgiven through this blessed month allow us to be elevated in your sights to be freed from the
		

			punishment and entered into your eternal bliss Allahumma Amin. So many of us, as we approach this
month, are approaching it with with all sorts of goals in mind. And one of the things that we should
be approaching it with is some sort of set of resolutions, that something about me has to change.
And obviously you already know that the last has been Ramadan or the Hitler right after it is how do
you maintain progress. But if you don't already set in motion what that progress looks like before
Ramadan starts, then afterwards, the only thing that progress is going to mean to you is maintaining
the feeling of Ramadan, which is a misguided notion because Ramadan is meant to bring about taqwa in
		

			our lives meant to bring about God consciousness in our lives, that allows us to sail with the
example of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ahead of us always guiding us throughout the
entire year. And we talked last week quite a bit about the tactics of the shape on and what we can
take from that. And of course, as I said, he's going to be extremely active before the start of
Ramadan. We know what the last few days look like before Ramadan, all types of deflections, the most
wild and bizarre and harsh tactics that you expect from the shayateen right before Ramadan starts as
they are about to be chained away. Here's what I want to discuss today in sha Allah Tada in that
		

			regard, when we talk about the way the shape arm comes to a person, many of us are familiar with the
story of Bob Cseh, the monk and I've spoken about this narration that comes from the books of tifosi
in various iterations of a monk from Bani Israel, that was known to be a righteous man. And he was
entrusted to take care of the young daughter of some man or the younger sister of some men as they
went away. And slowly, slowly, the shaitan crept up on him and got him to commit to Zina got him to
fall into a major sin, though it was something that was unimaginable to him at the time. And in that
narration, which I'm not going to go through in detail now, in that narration, if you pay attention,
		

			the way that it starts off with is a messaging of care, a messaging of good, she's going to be all
alone, you should take care of her, you know, you putting the food out there and not talking to her
and giving her company is going to be a problem and all of that up until he falls into that major
sin. So he uses the tactics of goodness, he preys on the man's good sentiments, his goodness that
he, you know, you should take care of her, you should show her some kindness until he gets him to
fall into that. And then you just see that narration take the turn, where the shape on takes him
from bad to worse and bad to significantly worse. First, it is adultery, then a child, then murder
		

			her and murder the child then lie about it to cover up your tracks. And the entire time, you can see
the psychology of the shape on and the psychology that the shape on preys upon to take someone from
a very bad situation, to a situation of no return, up until the last part where he goes from being a
lifelong worshipper to Allah to listening to the shaytaan who says to him, that look, I was the one
who got you in this situation. I'm the one who can get you out. And so he curses his Lord, He
worships the shape on and he dies in that state when the biller so it starts off with preying on a
good sentiments and tricking him trickery. And then it becomes turn a bad situation into a worse
		

			situation. When the man have been able to repent from Zina from committing adultery Of course, we
know of a woman at a time of the prophets lie Selim whose repentance from Zina cut was was greater
than all of the repentance of the people of Medina and the words of the messenger SallAllahu. It was
telling him the story of Marisol the Allah Tala animal, there are so many stories that we see of
repentance even from a horrible and major sin. It doesn't take away from the status of the sin. The
sin remains as it is. It's a horrible sin, but he could have repented from it. He could have turned
back
		

			But then the next thing and the next thing followed up with murder. Because how can you turn back to
Allah after committing that major sin, then follow it up with lying and follow it up with trickery.
And you can see how even though it's an extreme example, the shape on can play with a person's mind
and take them from bad to worse to where they can even have logic to their horrible actions. And we
see that manifest Subhanallah all the time when the shape on is able to mess with a person like
that. And then you see the other side, a hadith that is actually narrowed in the body. Another
famous story, another man from Bani Israel, the man who killed 99 people. We've all heard that
		

			story. I can see you shaking your heads already. Then he goes to a monk, he asks the monk, any
chance for me to turn back to Allah? I mean, I didn't murder one person.
		

			I didn't just commit Zina or steal or lie. I mean, I've killed 99 people. I'm a serial killer. Any
chance of turning back to Allah? He tells him, are you crazy? You killed 99 people. He doesn't use
those words. But that's the sentiment, right? I mean, you killed 99 people. What do you want to meet
Allah? Now you should have thought about that after two or three people? What's wrong with you? And
so he kills him too.
		

			Because the man tells him You have no hope. Then he goes to a scholar. And he asks the scholar, and
here's the thing.
		

			You've all heard the story. I think, for the most part, I don't want to focus on the story. I want
to focus on a few sentences from the Hadith. And I'm going to tell you why. Because often, we read
the stories so paraphrased, and they're so extreme in their manifestations that we just don't get it
until extreme things happen in our community. And we're like, wow, okay, like some of these things
from a hadith that we never thought we'd witnessed in our lives we're witnessing now. And we don't
relate to our behavior, the message that is there so this story gets quoted to mention the Mercy of
Allah. But there's something so deep and just the next few sentences when he tells the scholar, any
		

			hope for me. I killed 100 people. Will Allah ever forgive me? I'm going to just read the sentences.
Carla Woman Yeah, who Binaca Well, Dana Toba, he said, Who's going to stand between you and your
repentance?
		

			It's not up to me. It's not up to the last guy you killed. It's not up to the guy that you'll go to
if you kill me after. Who's going to stand between you and tell but your repentance is between you
and Allah? What do you mean do I have hope? Do I have a chance? God Oak Ridge Middle Korea till
Hadith. Atilla T enter vi ha, il Korea to slaley. Korea ticka ticka Ferragudo Rebecca, he said, but
you have to leave your bad company. Leave this group of filthy people.
		

			And everything that comes with that companionship and go to this town of righteous people and adopt
their waves and worship Allah in that place. Now again, an extreme example, right? I mean, what do
we do here? Obviously Hijra is the thing right? Migration for the sake of Allah is the thing. But
can't we adopt that in our own lives to realize that look, if you're trying to set new standards for
yourself, but you plan on keeping the same company in Ramadan after Ramadan, then it's very likely
that the standards of that company if they are lower than the standard set for you by Allah and His
Messenger, sallallahu alayhi salam, they're gonna pull you right back down. So the man was smart,
		

			subhanAllah he created, he was wise, he made sure to say, as for the sincerity of your Toba, no one
has between you and your Lord, that's between you and Allah. But you really want to make it sincere
and not just say a stuff that Allah for killing 100 people but stay in the same environment that led
you to that until you kill 101 and say, oh my god stuff but Allah No, you gotta leave this place.
What do we take for that in our own lives? You have to abandon certain company, certain groups,
certain people that hold you back and move on. So he goes for Harada you read in Korea to saleha
Allahu Allahu photonic kasama Te Hemara ecotour. Right now Analytica to Lada. Now, the Hadith says
		

			that he died on the way and he was going there to do exactly what the man told him to do. And then
the angels of mercy and the angels of wrath came to argue about him. They didn't I mean, his
situation is truly perplexing. And guess who shows up in the Hadith for the very first time he was
there all along, but his name shows up for the first time call it a bliss. Now, Stefan speaks the
whole time he was operating in his head, operating in the background, pushing him towards certain
things. Right. Now he makes himself known. This is the first time Shavon as mentioned in the
narration and what does he say? He says, no, no, no, no. Oh, lovey. He's mine.
		

			He's mine. He
		

			Hola Myasthenia satin cut. He never disobeyed me for a single hour. I had him his whole life. He
never disobeyed me for a single hour, not a moment of his life did he not disobey me Subhanallah the
whole time. This whole Hadith as we're going through it Shavon is not mentioned. But now when it's
time for him to receive either mercy or punishment, wait, wait, wait. That's my guy. I messed him
up, and he never wants disobeyed me for a single hour. Carla for college melodica Tirana in Nahata
Eva, but then the angels of Mercy said but he went out seeking repentance. And of course we know
that the end of this narration Allah forgives the men. Allah says measure the distance between him
		

			and the land he left and the land he was going to. And Allah subhanaw taala shakes the land
according to one narration so that he could actually be closer to the land he was going to and Allah
forgave him and showed mercy to him. This man could have easily gone from bad to worse, but Cseh
killed one and then kill to the baby as well. But Cseh killed to this man killed 100 but the outcome
is literally the exact opposite. This man ends up in the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. This man
but a siesta ends up in the worst state a murder and adultery a devil worshiper at the end of his
life Subhanallah what is it? It's that he went from bad to worse, whereas this man who killed the
		

			100 people was going from bad to better.
		

			And that's what Allah azza wa jal calls you to clear either the Alladhina Astra for Allah and
foresee him talking to him and Rahmatullah in Allaha FIRA de novo Jamia in a Hoover for Rahim say oh
my servants who have transgressed against themselves do not despair from the mercy of Allah Allah
forgives all sins. Allah is Most forgiving, Most Merciful. But then the second part that's by the
way, this ayah is in the first part of the advice the scholar gave to this man.
		

			The second I will enable era become honestly moolah, turn back to your Lord and submit yourself to
Him is the second sentence the second eye matches the second sentence that came from the scholars
mouth to this man after he found himself in a hopeless situation shape on traffic's and despair and
shape on traffic's and delusion. Despair, when he finds you there, he takes your situation from bad
to worse, if you continue to listen to him. Allah azza wa jal takes you from your deepest pits of
despair, and gives you a chance. But you have to develop the resolve and you have to develop the
roadmap or rather follow the roadmap that's already set out there for you. And aim for the Mercy of
		

			Allah subhanho wa taala. So that's one set of people, dear brothers and sisters, as we go into
Ramadan, that importance of setting that resolution to quit abandoned company, follow the roadmap
towards good. The other set of resolutions is in regards to what is already good and making that
great putting a son into it. And in some ways, in some ways, you find a person that is neglectful of
their prayers altogether. And you find a person that prays kind of five times a day, kind of five
times a day, right? Sometimes they miss sometimes they pray much later, but kind of that person who
is neglectful of prayer altogether, right? might find that spark, and because they recognize the
		

			sense of urgency, turn back to Allah subhana wa Tada and start to pray all five prayers in the right
way. Whereas that person says, Yeah, I pray, I count myself amongst the most Eileen Subhanallah
sometimes you find people that are half fulfilling obligations, go through the obligations of the
deen have fulfilling obligations, and they settle in that place, and they stay in that place for the
rest of their lives. Whereas you see someone who's not fulfilling obligations at all, and they make
a complete switch in their lives. And so they adopt those ways. And so yes, even if we count
ourselves amongst those who fulfill the obligations, how do you better those obligations? Are you
		

			satisfied with your Salah? Are you satisfied with your obligations? Are you satisfied with where you
are at with them? Or do you bring in the quality that makes it Ehsaan the you embellish them with
those voluntary deeds and put out a plan for yourself right now the resolution for yourself right
now to adopt that bid in light on it and Ramadan, and beyond. And finally, dear brothers and
sisters, we have Ramadan resolutions, but we have timeless standards. We have timeless standards. We
cannot lose sight of the clear guidelines in Al haram a billion Halaby and the prophets lie Selim
says that what is prohibited is
		

			clear in what is permitted is clear. Well being the whole mountain with a shabby heart and you have
the doubtful areas between them that we abandon the guidelines are there. The good has been made
clear, the bad has been made clear. Let's say that you start on the lawn and you start struggling
with your resolutions. Do you just give them up? No. There's there is such thing as Tober in Shaohua
to there is such thing as Tober and they'll be like, Oh, well, there's Tober there's repentance
throughout the year. This however, is a time where we get to make those resolutions within 90 Tana,
while the Most Merciful is inviting to His Mercy in a way that what a failure a person would be if
		

			they miss out on the mercy of Allah in the month of mercy. That's the one that Gibreel at his salaam
says Kaaba will hustle. That's, that's a fail, that you would miss out on mercy even in the month of
mercy, where the gates of paradise have been flung open the gates of hellfire shots and the
shayateen change away. Make those resolutions their brothers and sisters and make them concrete
don't leave them abstract concrete resolutions for yourself Bismillahi tan to make changes in
Ramadan May Allah subhana wa Tada allow us to go from what is bad to what is better from what is
good to what is great. May Allah azza wa jal makers the people of Taqwa are people of Exxon, people
		

			that often oscillate between it's too far seeking Allah's forgiveness and to speak, glorifying
Allah's perfection and acknowledging our own imperfections always Allah whom I mean a hookah we have
our stuff alone we will accompany satin Muslim in First off we don't want to hold off for Rahim.
		

			Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah while Ernie he also he were Manuela llama me Nina
wellmont me nuts. Well, the Muslim you know what it was 30 minutes here even from Walmart in
Kissimmee or on Caribbean Mooji without Allahumma Freeland our Hamner wife Wanda Allah to Allah BANA
alumna and for sent our inland Jaffa Lana Alltop Hannah, then Hakuna nominal ha serene, Allah him
inna careful when Kareem went to symbol alpha for ANA Allah Muhammad Ali YT Deena Robert Hamama
Kamara, bonus era Robin I have a dynamic as well as you know the reaction of Kurata Aryan where Jana
Lin with subpoena Imam Alonso is one and mustafina fee machete because out of the Omaha it'd be her
		

			Allah Allah killed while Amina with vitamin or footage not with one and then beat him certainly mean
rebirth Allah and Allah here and we're gonna I do understand what the quarterback way and how and in
fascia he will carry well yeah overcoming Allah come to the Coronavirus Corolla half go to come
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