Saad Tasleem – 5 Ways People Rationalize Sins

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah. While he was like me, he said, I'm on
equal watch with Allahu Akbar to to everyone. So the topic that I have for today is rationalizing
sins. Now what exactly do I mean when I when I say rationalizing since now rationalization is
basically we can think of it as making excuses. And sometimes we can say that we're talking about
justification. So how we justify certain things that we do and rationalization is actually a defense
mechanism. It's, it's, it's a way by which we try to justify certain behaviors or actions or even
feeling sometimes that are not good, that are bad. And in Islamic context, what we're talking about
		

			is obviously sinful behavior, or that which is displeasing to Allah who's peddling to either now
this process of rationalization, it takes place, we can say pretty much in two steps, number one is
a decision takes place and action takes place for any number of reasons. And then the second step is
the rationalization of that particular action. Now, the rationalization is not always we can sit we
can say it's not always in line with the original reasoning, it is more so as I said earlier, a
process of justification. Now, rationalization takes place for us as Muslims, and when it comes to
the disobedience of a lunchtime to Allah, from two main sources, number one is our own knifes that
		

			we rationalize certain things for ourselves, we come up with these seemingly logical
		

			reasoning reasonings are these these logical reasons or reasonings to to justify to make ourselves
feel better about what we have done. So it can be, as I said, number one, from ourselves. Second of
all, also, it could be whispers of the she have been that we want to do a sin or we commit a sin,
and that rationalization can be a whisper of the sheriff. And basically, the excuses that the
sheriff pod makes to help us feel better about that sin. And this rationalization, in essence can
really take place at three different times the rationalization can take place before a sin, during a
sin and after a sin. So it can happen before a sin when we may
		

			be thinking about committing a sin may be inclined towards the sin, and we justify it to ourselves
in order to go ahead and commit that sin. The rationalization can take place during a sin, meaning a
person is involved in a sin. And when they rationalize it to themselves, or the chiffon comes and
whispers, that rationalization that justification. Those excuses that helps a person continue in
that sin. So you can think of this panel often give the example we're talking about continuing in a
sin, we can give the example of smoking cigarettes, we know that islamically smoking cigarettes is
how long it is impermissible.
		

			And the vast majority of our scholars are of this opinion. Now a person may be smoking a cigarette.
And as they're smoking a cigarette, they may rationalize it to themselves, they may make excuses to
continue on smoking that cigarette or to continue smoking in their life. So that's during this in
now, rationalization can happen after the sin as well. So a person may commit a sin, they're done,
and they're over with it. But because of that process of rationalization, number one, it'll it won't
it's done to make themselves not feel so bad about the sin that they have just committed. And also
it can happen. The purpose of it may be that a person returns to that sin, they don't want to feel
		

			bad about returning to that sin. They don't want that those feelings of of guilt. And so they may
have rationalized that sin to themselves, and therefore returned to that sin. So today, so that's
what rationalization is. And that's what we're talking about. So today I want to present to you gela
data, five ways in which we rationalize sins or we can say these are five excuses, that we make for
sins or as I said, justification, five ways in which we justify since So number one, and I put this
in the form of a statement that we may say to ourselves, or even to someone else, we may we may just
		

			To find the center, someone else who may rationalize the center some someone else. So number one
person may say, at least I'm not doing something worse. So a person commits a sin and to not feel
bad about that sin or to once again to justify or rationalize the sin. They may say, Well, at least
I'm not doing something worse. Now, this is an you know, the thing with rationalization,
rationalization, as I said, these are seemingly logical arguments. They are seemingly, they seem to
make sense, they seem to be good arguments, but if they're broken down, they will fall apart. So
yeah, that, you know, on the surface level, it seems seems to make sense. And that is why the
		

			chiffon may even employ this, this particular argument, and that is comparing our sins to bigger
sins or to worse sins. Now, this is problematic, because the reality is that any sin can be compared
to a worst sin. Right? So someone can you know, let's take the example of smoking. Someone may be
smoking, shisha or hookah Very good, very common, right? Many people do that. And in and you say to
the person, you know, this is not is not okay, is this is a sin, it's sinful. And the person says in
reply, they said, Well, at least I'm not smoking cigarettes. Okay, well, here's the problem with
that. Now, you can go to the person who's smoking cigarettes and say, Well, you know, smoking
		

			cigarettes, and they said, it is hot, um, and they say, Well, at least I'm not drinking alcohol.
They said, Okay, that makes sense. But the reality is, you can go to someone who's drinking alcohol
and say, you know, drink alcohol is the sin. And they'll reply to you and say, Well, at least I'm
not, I don't know, smoking pot.
		

			And Okay, once again, at least, you're not doing that it makes us feel better about ourselves. But
the reality is, you could go to somebody's smoking pot, and say, you know, this is the sin. And
they'll say to you, well, at least I'm not doing like hard drugs or harder drugs, at least I'm not,
you know, whatever, smoking crack, or at least I'm not, you know, at least I'm not doing cocaine,
whatever it may be, and you go to someone who does those drugs, and they may, once again, there's
always something worse to compare it to. So that is why, as we said, this actually doesn't make
sense that any sin can really be justified. In this way, we can always compare it to something,
		

			something else. And so that's number one. Number two, the statement or person may say, and I have
actually heard this myself as well. someone commits a sin. And you know, we're like, Okay, this is
how I'm This is not good, it's a sin, it's something bad. And they may say, Well, do you think God
will really send me to *, for this one sin? Now, does this seem rational? Does it seem logical?
Yeah, we know that a loss of data is merciful. We know Allah is all forgiving. And we know how great
of us mercy is. So once again, surface level, these all all of these excuses all of these
rationalizations, they make sense. So a person may say, look, as you said, you know, at least you
		

			know, isn't really that big of a deal. And that's really the essence of this argument here. The
essence of this argument, when a person says, Do you think God will send me to * for this one
sin? It is really saying, Is it really that big of a deal if I commit this sin?
		

			Now, here is why this is problematic. When we say it's not a big deal. What are we actually doing
here we are belittling this sin and belittling a sin is actually extremely problematic. A book
called The love data, and he said, one of the worst sins that a person can commit is to take their
sins lightly. Why did he say that? He said that, because it's not the sin itself. And sometimes
that's the other thing. We take a look at the individual sin without any context, as if that sin
exists in a vacuum and that is not how sins happen. That's not how they exist. There's there's so
much that surrounds that sin. So this and this is highlighted to us and Heidi's present him where he
		

			said, he said he Yocum one more karate. He said I I warn you of those sins that people think are
like very small repeat sins that are be little like people don't think there's in there, they're
that big of a deal. percent of men said that the example of those types of sins is like the example
of a group of people who are traveling and they come upon a worthy a, a valley to spend the night
and they need to build a fire. So they go out in search of something to build that fire with. And
they go out and you know, they go out searching for things and one by one they go find something but
what they find is not very significant. So
		

			You know, one person brings like a small twig, one person brings a couple leaves, one person brings
some shrubs. And, and to them, it's not something significant, like how are you going to have a fire
with a couple leaves with a couple small pieces of wood, they all gather, however, they all gather
all of these one by one, they come and they bring these little things, these little things that are
not very significant. They bring them all together, and they pile them all up. And when they
eventually light, this fire, a huge fire goes up into the sky. And so the percent of said in karate,
no matter how the we have saw how to how to lick who he says, I tell them, that these sins that
		

			people belittle, when a person indulges in those sins, they will eventually destroy this person. So
notice, once again, it is not that particular sin, it may be a small sin. And it may be you know,
and this is not just what to watch. But yeah, a lot most likely will not send you to * for one
particular small, small sin. But what happens when we belittle those sins, we begin to collect those
sins, and eventually they become a big deal, and they can overcome that person. And so that is why
our scholars would say, Don't look at the sin itself. Look at the effects of that same like if
you're having a problem understanding why the sin is problematic, or why it's not such a big deal.
		

			Look at the effect of that sin. So what are the effects of belittling sin? What happens? Well,
number one, a person if when we belittle sins, when we say that they're not a big deal, you know,
it's not significant. One of the things that happens is that the sin becomes insignificant in their
heart. And as it becomes insignificant in their heart, it leads them to commit other sins. So a
person sinned. They didn't, it's not a big deal. You know, they rationalize it, that's not a big
deal. It's a small sin level and send me to * for this one particular sin. The next time, the sin
will be that same sin, or sinfulness in general will become a little bit easier. And then the time
		

			after that, it will become a little bit easier. And then the time after that, it'll become a little
bit easier, until a person to have had a lot sins all together, become insignificant for this
person. And that is when it becomes problematic when sinfulness becomes a lifestyle. And so yeah,
that particular sin probably won't be the means, but it probably won't be the reason why this person
goes to help our but it is what belittling that sin led to the lifestyle that had led to that led
this person to the Hellfire, may Allah protect all of us. Also, the effect of belittling sins is
that eventually we can become heedless, eventually our heart can become sealed. And this was
		

			actually described to us by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. When he told us that a person
when they commit a sin a.is placed upon that heart, if they repent to Allah, if they seek Allah's
forgiveness, and that.is removed, and actually, you know, there's a there's a there's a added
meaning of the heart Even becoming polished, meaning when we repent when we make Toba then we our
heart actually becomes even better, that process of Toba and repenting becomes even better for us.
And that's why, by the way, the chiffon. One of his goals is that we don't repent that we don't make
Toba because he knows that through our repentance, we can become even better than we were before the
		

			sin. All right, so someone may commit a sin and because they repented, they got even closer to a
loss product out. Anyway. I said, I said, What if the person repents that is removed. If the person
does not repent, they don't seek forgiveness that dot remains on their heart until the person
commits another sin and another.is placed upon the heart and they continue to send until thoughts
are being placed upon the heart until the heart becomes covered until the heart becomes sealed. And
then the profits that I send them recited coming out of honor will be hidden not Can you see boom,
that no but surely, they're the their hearts became covered by that which they used to do, meaning
		

			their actions are what caused the hearts to become covered. And when the heart becomes covered, when
the heart becomes hard, when the heart becomes sealed, it means that it has lost a lot of its
spirituality. It means that is hard. It is hard for the heart to be penetrated, penetrated by what
penetrated by the remembrance of Allah just kind of Tada, penetrated by the foot on penetrated by
reminders, all of those things that normally would soften our hearts that normally would bring us
closer to a loss. Because now the heart has become sealed, that it becomes very difficult not
impossible. Obviously, people can come back from any state of sinfulness now, but it becomes
		

			harder and harder as more and more sins begin to cover the heart, that it becomes harder and harder
to come back and becomes harder and harder to penetrate this heart. Also, the effect of belittling
sins, is that a person begins to lose any shyness or shame that they have, that may be associated
with a sin. So sometimes what keeps us from sinning is our sense of modesty is our sense of shame,
that we may feel bad that first and foremost, we may feel bad that a law sees us sitting right so we
have this, we'll talk about the greatness of a law in the next point, but you know, we may be shy
that law sees us sitting and also, we may be shy that other people may see a setting. And that is
		

			why I say,
		

			hiding our sins is actually a sign that a person has some shyness and modesty in shame. And
therefore it is a good sign that when a person commits a sin, they try to hide their sin, they don't
expose their sins. And so when a person B little sins, when they keep on sending eventually they
don't hold that place in their heart, and then we stop caring. You know, the prophet settle by
Senator told us an authentic hadith mentions hailed Buhari, he said, one of the statements of the
earlier prophets that has reached us is the statement either to stay fastener shit that if you have
no or if you feel no shame, or if you feel no shyness, then do as you like, meaning what meaning
		

			that if a person doesn't feel shame, then then they're not going to care, they're gonna do whatever
right they're gonna have, they're just going to basically nothing is going to hold them back from
committing a sin, as we said, shyness, with a lot first and foremost, but also shyness with our
fellow human beings, that what is stopping this person now from committing this sin, they may sin
openly. And so as we continue to belittle the sins, that we lose this sense of shyness and modesty,
when it comes to our sins, and this is very, very dangerous, and you know, even publicly sending or
exposing our own sins, the prophets that I sent him, he said, couldn't be more alpha. He said, all
		

			of my own mom can be forgiven, except those who in the Mujahideen except those who expose, they,
they, they, they publicly commit sins. And this is a person who will meaning the list, what this is
referring to, is really the hardness of that heart, that these people they will not seek almost
forgiveness, or they're very unlikely to seek Allah's forgiveness because they don't care. And we
don't want to get to a point where we stop caring about our sins, you know, and when a person says,
you know, and I've heard people say, like, you know, I'm not a hypocrite, if I sin, I'm going to
send it in front of other people, or I'm not a hypocrite, it's not about being a hypocrite. So I've
		

			had a lot. If a person wants to hide their sins, it means that at least they have some shame. At
least they have some shyness. And that shyness is from our taqwa of Allah, it is from our
consciousness of Allahu Allah. And it may be that because of a person's shyness or shame that they
may return to kind of data. The other effect of the littling, since the other problem of belittling
our sins, is that the the, the the greatness of law in our hearts is reduced, meaning we won't see a
lot, or we stopped seeing a lot as being great or as great as we could see a lot of parents are what
do I mean by this? Well, the sin itself, as we said, is not the problem. The problem is, is is is
		

			that is the one who we are sending again, that's why our scholars, the earlier generation, they
would say, Don't look at the sin itself. rather look at the one who you are sending against, look at
the one who you are disobeying. So instead of looking at the sentencing as just a small sin, look at
how great a lot of peddling data is the one you are disobeying and one of the examples that I often
give is parents and children. Sometimes when parents tell their kids not to do something, don't do
this. The kids may not understand why their parents are saying that, especially if they're younger,
especially if they're 234 years old. They really don't they cannot really comprehend why something
		

			is bad, why something is good.
		

			But their parents may say to them, don't do this, and the child may listen to their parents, why
will they listen to their parents because they have you know that they can logically understand why
why that behavior is bad, or because they don't want to disobey their parents because they don't
want to upset their parents they want they don't want their parents to be
		

			unhappy, and that is why a young child, they don't know why this behavior is bad to them, it seems
good, right? Um, so how long if it's cold outside, taking off one's jacket and clothes and running
out into the cold, you know, My son has done this a bunch of times, if I say to him, don't go
outside, in the cold, it's cold, you're gonna get sick, or whatever, all of those reasonings. He's,
you know, especially earlier when he was like three years old, that doesn't make any sense to him,
he doesn't comprehend cold and getting sick, or, or all of those problems. And it doesn't make sense
to him. But he may listen, he didn't always listen. But sometimes he may listen. And you may listen,
		

			because he knows that I am not happy with him going outside or running outside, without like a
jacket or something. And he doesn't want to make me unhappy, right. And for a lot is the hardest
example that we may not understand the specific reasoning of that sin. And we can be literal and
say, you know, what's the big deal? It's not a big deal. It's not a big sin, who cares? or whatever
it may be. But do we understand the one or the greatness of the one who has instructed us or
commanded us not to commit that sin, as we be little sins, the greatness of a loss of data in our
heart begins to diminish, and that is highly problematic. So that's number two. The second way in
		

			which we rationalized sins, and that is basically belittling that sin or saying, you know what, it's
not a big deal. Number three, so what is the third way in which we may rationalize a sin? The third
way is a person may say, Look, you're telling me this is a sin. But this is just my natural desire?
And if I naturally did desire something, how can it be so bad? Why would a law create me with this
type of desire? It is something which is so bad, obviously can't be bad, obviously can't be a sin,
how bad can it really be if we naturally as human beings, we desire I in particular desire, I have a
desire for this. Now, once again, face value, okay, that can be the can, it does face value and can
		

			make sense. But as soon as you break it down, we begin to understand that it that is not actually a
logical argument when it comes to justifying a sin. The reason for that there's many reasons for
that, but one of the main reasons for that is that something can be a natural desire and also a sin.
Why because it could be a test from a lifespan to Allah has given us certain natural desires, and
also made those desires how long as a test for us in sort of earlier marohn was paired with Allah
says, Zoo you know, the nurse, you have to show chahatein mina nissa t when Bernina was an athlete
and often thought that'd be when filled up when halen was a warmer when an army when it has a lost
		

			time to Allah says that Allah has beautified for people, the love Zuni, 90 minutes to help push our
allies beautified for people, the love of that which they desire. And then I'll give some examples.
I mean, a nice up from women, and this is speaking to span a lot our sexual desires, when well being
and children right offspring, and what cannot lead and will continue the minute that we will be
filled out. And basically piles have piled up gold and silver, right, this excessive wealth, this is
something that alone has made desirable for us and then lucky other examples like find horses, in
our context, we can think of it as like nice cars, right? That would be our equivalent in our time.
		

			And, and, and, and land, right. So that land and ownership of land, and lust,
		

			and cattle as well. Right? So these are some examples of material possessions, right? And desires
that we have. So here are a lot of saying like, Look, a lot has made these things beautiful for you.
And this is a test for us that become utterly hated dunya This is the enjoyment of the worldly life,
while lowering the whole host know that Allah has the best return with him. And so these desires can
either be can either lead us away from Allah, or actually they can lead us towards Allah. And isn't
that a little bit of a fine point. And I don't want to complicate this issue too much. But some of
our scholars will say that the fact that we desire these things means that in actuality, we desire
		

			them for the that we should desire them in the afterlife in the US, that we have the desires and we
know that because we have these desires, we know that all of our desires will be fulfilled in the
afterlife. And that's why Allah says Allah has the best return with him. Meaning if you think these
things are great, then imagine what Allah has in store for us in the US and so on.
		

			Once again, these desires are can be given to us. But love is kind of like to Allah as a test. And
as a trial for us, even if you notice in this area, even children's of how to love children can be a
test and a trial. For us. It is natural. any parent will tell you this natural to love your child,
it is natural to have this great amount of love towards your child. But sometimes what happens, our
intense love towards our child can lead us to the disobedience of left and right, someone who may
and this happens a lot to a lot, someone
		

			may see something which is sinful, but they'll do it for the sake of their children. They say, you
know, because I love my children, I want this for them, I want that for them, they may justify that
sin. And so now here, this is a natural desire to want to help your children to want to protect them
to want to give them everything in life. But it can also be a test from a lossless bandwidth data.
So just because something is a natural desire, doesn't mean that it is not also something which
allows paddle data has made impermissible rather it is through struggling with our nuts, through
struggling against ourselves through struggling with our desires that we attained closeness to
		

			Allah, Tada. All we have to do is look at the month of Ramadan. And that should be a clear example
for all of us. Is it natural for us to desire to to not be hungry and not be thirsty, of course,
that's a natural desire. But during the month of Ramadan during the day, Allah has made it harder
for us to eat and drink. Right? So once again, if we're going by that argument that it's a natural
desire, how can it be bad than eating and drinking is the most natural desire. But in that moment,
in those times in that context of law has made it how long right even though it is a natural desire,
but through struggling against our nuts, we get closer to a loss penalty. And this can be applied to
		

			many of the desires that we have. Number four, a person may say they may rationalize a sin by saying
		

			they may rationalize a sin by saying that, you know what, this is a matter of difference of opinion
amongst the scholars. Some scholars say it's okay. Some scholars say it's not okay. And because it's
a difference of opinion, why does it matter what opinion I take? And therefore it look this scholar
holds his opinion. Now,
		

			once again, surface level, it seems like a pretty convincing argument. But the reality is that yes,
many matters have differences of opinion, obviously, the main principles the main aspects of our
face.
		

			They there's no difference of opinion on them, right? There's no difference of opinion upon the fact
that we have to work last night that alone the the the pillars of our faith, the fundamentals of our
Deen, the major aspects, praying five times a day, there's no difference of opinion. But there are
other matters that a person may find differences of opinion. Now, what happens when we see
differences of opinion? Well, the Shere Khan will come to us and say, Look, everything's, you know,
everything, not everything, but it makes the ship on may make it seem that way. Or we may get that
impression from our own knifes that, you know, everything's a difference of opinion, who cares what
		

			you do, right? And if this matter was so important, it wouldn't be a difference of opinion. What the
shear bond is not telling us is that the scholars when they hold that opinion, they go they hold
that opinion based off of evidences, and they hold that opinion based off of what is most pleasing
to Allah has what it what is what does Allah want from us in this time? Or in this situation? Or in
this matter, they are not approaching it like you're approaching it by saying, you know what, it's a
difference of opinion, who cares what you do, every scholars desire, inshallah, to Allah is to
please Allah who's kind of a data regardless of it being easy or difficult or convenient or not
		

			convenient. And so that has to be kept in mind. And also, if we were to take every matter of
difference of opinion, then we there and say, you know, I'm just going to pick whatever seems
easiest to me, there would be nothing left of the majority of the rulings of Islam because most
things as you said, other than like, the main aspects of our faith, you will find some difference of
opinion. And and so a person may say, Okay, I just got it because the difference opinion doesn't
matter what I do, they will basically end up losing a big chunk of the deen of Allah has power to
and also to take the easiest matter in every single opinion means that once again, the deen of
		

			Allah, Allah is is is changed now. Right that there is nothing left now of the so much of the deen
almost 90 out of a person picks the East
		

			opinion every single matter Also, sometimes we may see something as a difference of opinion. But
that because of our lack of knowledge, that just may be our, our impression. Sometimes there's there
are matters of difference of opinion. But the difference of opinion is not that great of a
difference of opinion. Sometimes we have certain issues where the vast majority of scholars hold
that opinion. And then you find a small minority holds a difference of opinion. And yes, that matter
will be get, it will get labeled as a difference of opinion. But naturality the vast majority of
scholars didn't disagree on this matter. And that is why it is important that we don't make the deen
		

			of Allah to Allah a theme that we pick and choose what we want to do. Right? So that's number four.
Lastly, and I'll end with this point in sha Allah, Allah, how are we how, how can we rationalize
since a person may commit a sin and they may say to themselves, you know, I can always make Toba.
Right? I can always repent to Allah, and that, you know, and then that sin is removed, that sin is a
racist. And once again, I can't keep saying this, but it's true, like face value, it can make sense
or just a quick look at this at this argument, you know, seems like a logical argument, right? Why
does it matter if you commit a sin if you can make Toba but just give it a moment's thought, and in
		

			a moment's thought, you will understand it is very clear to us. And I'm sure some of you are even
thinking this right now. And that is, how do you know that you're going to have the chance to make
Toba? The only way we can say that we are guaranteed a chance to make Toba is if we can say, I have
guaranteed for me this much life. And the reality is none of us can say how much life we have
guaranteed to us. We don't know how long we're going to live. We don't know if we're going to live
even till tomorrow, this knowledge is not with a loss of data. Yes, we may look at life and begin to
feel that we are you know, we are not we are we are yours, how safe, nothing's going to happen to
		

			us, we get comfortable in life, we become heedless, we begin to think of ourselves as being self
sufficient. And that gives us the false impression that you know what nothing's gonna happen.
Obviously, the younger you are, the more you tend, the more we tend to feel like this because of our
youth.
		

			But even people who are older and how to lead the ship and deceive us into thinking that you know,
who knows when we're gonna die, death is far away, and so on and so forth. You know, the afterlife.
So patent law, a lot of how each other tells us this within marriage, or in the home your own
number, either one of arriba that they see it as being far away, they look at the afterlife, they
look at the Day of Judgment, heaven and how all those matters. They see it as being very far away.
And law says when not all arriba. But we see it as being close. Right? For a loss outside. Look, in
actuality, the afterlife is very near. And the reality is that we don't know. We don't know
		

			Launchpad to outer says, but either a genuine No, Your Honor, sir, I don't when I saw the moon, that
when their time comes, they will not be delayed an hour, nor will nor can they preceded by an hour
mean you cannot change the time of your death. Death is guaranteed for all of us. Even someone who
doesn't believe in the most I will admit, has to say I'm going to die. And I don't know when I'm
going to die. These are two undisputed facts. Anybody who is sane, logical, regardless of their
faith, or lack of faith, will admit to these two points. You're going to die. We're all going to die
and we don't know when we're going to cannot guarantee when we're going to die. It is not in our
		

			hands. And so that's why this argument this rationalization this justification is so problematic
that we may say to ourselves, yeah, I have plenty of time to make Toba but we don't know and so and
even you know specifically now I think this is a really good reminder for all of us. For all of us,
myself included, when we see some had a lot of death and destruction around us. You know, we're all
dealing with the Coronavirus right now it's very interesting to paddle on the example the the the
example of the Coronavirus, I'll tell you here in America when the whole Coronavirus thing started
COVID-19 and we heard about Wu Han and so on and so forth. We sat back and I can't like I can't
		

			speak for other countries but least in America. We sat back and we said oh all the way over there in
China. We got nothing to worry about. And then it started to move closer and closer and even he got
he got close and got to Europe and we're like you know what?
		

			Big deal. It's not a problem that's all the way over there in Europe. And then slowly but surely is
starting to come to our shores, it started to become a reality. And then we started to wake up and
say, oh, wow, this is, you know what, this is a problem and we need to take measures to protect
ourselves. It's kind of there's still people, people, even to now who are in complete denial, right?
People were like, yeah, you know, what, it's not a big deal, I'll be fine. You know, I know people
were still hanging out in public going to their social gatherings and other gatherings or whatever.
And they'll make excuses like, you know, what, Allah will protect me. You know, it's not a big deal.
		

			It's not a problem or whatever. Without taking the means and measure measures that Allah has given
us to protect ourselves. What is that? Well, that is not understanding our own vulnerability that is
being heedless of the reality of our life. And so Likewise, when it comes to making Toba, it's easy
to fall victim to that it's easy to fall victim to this argument. We say you know what, nothing's
gonna happen to me. I'll be fine. I'll make Toba at the end of my life right before I die, I'll
repent to most friends, and everything will be fine. But the reality is, we don't know we don't know
how long we have to make Toba to Allah has kind of went to Allah. And a lot was paired with Deanna
		

			knows best. So those are five of the rationalizations or the justifications we may make. And as we
said to ourselves, or even sometimes a she upon may whisper these justifications to us as well. And
Allah knows, that knows best. So this is this is, by the way, this is. Hopefully this served as a
reminder for ourselves, when we find ourselves rationalizing our sins, or if we have these types of
thoughts or their whispers of the Shabbat. We know how to fight these whispers of love of atoms and
how to go home or become big enough to suffer to be late.