Sikander Hashmi – Ramadan Repentance KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The Shaitan has the potential to harm the soul and society, and the Shaitan's guidance and shameless person principles are key to achieving success. forgiveness and mercy are key to achieving success, and the importance of restore people's rights and properties is emphasized. The success of the program for children and younger people is focused on providing care for children and community members, and the caller is encouraged to donate and support the program. There is a 3-some purification process for forgiveness and mercy, including a 3-some step of stopping dis dis dis muscle, feeling remorse, and making a solid resolve. The importance of forgiveness and remorse is key to restoring people's rights and properties, and working in the community and finding the right people to serve is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
That we were with the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
When we detected
a foul smell
carried by the wind,
we were with the prophet
when we detected
a foul bad smell carried by the wind.
The prophet said,
that do you know
what this wind is?
It is the smell
of those
who backbite the believers.
Muhammad ibn Nawazir
Muhammad ibn Nawazir,
who was a Tabi'i.
He used to say,
That if sins
had an odor,
if sins had a smell,
then nobody would be able to sit with
me. And he was from one of the
pious people, one of the early salif. He
should say, If sins had an odor, if
sins had a smell, then nobody would be
able to sit with me. My brothers and
sisters,
each one of us can imagine
how we would be smelling right now
if
our sins
had odors,
if our sins had smells,
you can imagine for ourselves, nobody else, ourselves
what we would be smelling like right now.
And what the space
would smell like right now.
Sins, my brothers and sisters
have devastating impacts
on our soul and our spirituality.
We may never know
what we are capable of,
what good
we are capable of,
and what blessings
we are missing out on
due to our sins,
due to our misdeeds.
Most critically though, our sins
bring us down in the sight of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and make us more vulnerable to the attacks
of Shaitan.
Abu Huraira Radiallahu Anhu reported the messenger of
Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that verily when
the servant
commits servant of Allah commits a sin,
a dark stain appears upon his heart.
A dark
stain appears
upon his heart, the spiritual heart.
If he abandons the sin, if he
abandons the sin,
seeks forgiveness
from Allah
repents
to Allah
then his heart will be polished.
In that case,
his heart will be polished.
If he returns to the sin,
the darkness will be increased
until
it overcomes the heart.
The darkness, the stains will increase to the
point until
they overcome the heart, they take over the
heart.
And he said that it is the covering,
this is the covering, the stains
that Allah
has mentioned in the Quran, Surah Al Mutaffin
that no but on their hearts it's a
covering because of what they have earned.
So my brothers and sisters,
the scholars explain that how this starts
is that the hearts
The heart gets stained by sin.
There is
a spiritual effect of every single sin.
Every single act of disobedience towards Allah
It has multiple impacts,
right? We hurt ourselves because whatever Allah has
commanded for us
is good for us.
Whatever prohibitions He has given, it's because they
are better for us. So when we go
against that and we disobey Allah
then we hurt, we harm ourselves in ways
we may not even be able to perceive.
That may be the physical impact.
Then of course, there is the impact on
society and the people around us.
Because we are adding to the weight, the
burden of sins in society and in our
community.
But that this is the spiritual impact
that
the heart gets stained by the sin.
And if the sin increases,
then the stains grow bigger
until
the stains
become this haran, this covering of sin and
evil deeds.
And then they say that it's increases.
It continues to increase
until
it becomes a seal
and the heart becomes covered and sealed.
If that happens after a person has been
guided
and had understood, meaning this is not a
new person, this is a person who
was guided by Allah
this is a person who had understanding of
these things,
then his heart is turned upside down.
Spiritual heart is turned upside down. And at
that point, the shaitan gains control over him
and directs him as he wants.
In other words, my brothers and sisters, the
abundance of sins
open our heart to being hacked by Shaitan.
The abundance of sins
without Tawba,
without repentance,
without seeking forgiveness, without istighfar
and while continuing the sins. What does it
do? It opens our heart to eventually being
hacked by shaytan or being vulnerable to being
hacked by shaytan because it has lost all
its protection. It has become hardened, it has
become stained
and those stains have overcome
the heart that's flipped upside down and it's
open to vulnerability to be hacked by shaytan.
So if we feel spiritually down, you see
we are in the 12th of Ramadan now,
alhamdulillah.
Allah
has blessed us almost to the midway point
of Ramadan, 13th night tonight, Insha'Allah.
If we still feel spiritually down
and unable to feel Ramadan in a spiritual
sense,
then this can be a potential reason
that the heart
has become so rusty
and hardened
and covered.
And thus it is taking more time,
more repentance,
more istighfar
to become softened
and to become
polished.
The purer a heart is,
the softer a heart is, the easier it
will be able to grasp spirituality.
The easier it will be for it to
feel the mercy and blessings of Allah
The easier it will be for it to
feel this blessed month. And
the harder the heart is, the more difficult
it's going to be. Doesn't mean it's it's
a lost cause. You could still do it,
but it takes more effort and more time
for it to soften just like something which
has become hardened over time.
Our sins, my brothers and sisters are like
junk,
pollution,
unhealthy,
spiritually
and barriers to spiritual advancement
and further guidance from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And they are a reason
of
many forms of deprivation
from blessings,
from rewards,
from inner peace.
A person can never achieve inner peace
by sinning and disobeying the commands of Allah
Inner peace will only come as the scholars
say that the heart has a portion, the
spiritual heart has a portion in it
which will only receive peace, which will only
feel peace through through the remembrance of
Allah
Nothing else can bring peace to that portion
of the heart. So a person who achieves
peace and contentment
while ignoring the remembrance of Allah
while disregarding the guidance of Allah and His
Messenger
will never be able to feel complete peace.
We should understand this. If you want inner
peace and contentment in all situations, in all
forms, it can only come fully and truly
through the guidance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and his messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam and
through the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant us this
peace and contentment in our hearts.
Brothers and sisters, Allah invites us, instructs us.
All believers,
turn to Allah in sincere repentance.
Number 8.
All believers turn to Allah in sincere repentance.
And the word
literally means to turn
or to return.
In the sense of turning
or away from or withdrawing from sins.
And in the terminology of the Quran and
the sunnah, it signifies
to regret
committing sins or to have remorse about committing
sins in the past and to firmly resolve
to abstain from them in the future,
to regret, to have remorse
about committing sins in the past, and to
firmly resolve to abstaining from them in the
future. Now, one of the things that Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala also loves from his servants
is when they turn to Him seeking forgiveness.
And isn't this beautiful? Like it's amazing. On
the one hand, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
displeased with the disobedience of His servants. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is displeased
by the disobedience of His servants. But on
the other hand, after they have disobeyed Him,
and naturally none of us are perfect. Everyone
who is Islamically an adult, who is mature,
will make mistakes, will commit sins. This is
the way Allah has designed this. It's not
that we should seek to commit sins, but
naturally we will have shortcomings, we will fall,
and we will make mistakes. This is the
situation for every single person. So when that
inevitably happens, then Allah
loves
when His servants
turn back to Him seeking forgiveness. (QS.
3) Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly
repentant.
Allah loves those who are constantly
repentant. So Allah knows that we're going to
make mistakes.
But the question is, what do we do
after we have made the mistakes? What is
our response to committing those sins? Anas Subram
Malik radiAllahu anhu relates, and there's other companions
who have narrated similar wordings. When the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, that verily Allah is
more pleased with the repentance of his servant.
Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is more joyful, more pleased
with the repentance of his servant than what?
Than a person
who has his camel
in a waterless desert
carrying his provisions of food and drink, and
it is lost.
He, having lost all hopes to get that
back, lies down in the shade and is
disappointed about his camel, when all of a
sudden he finds that camel standing before him.
SubhanAllah, look how
descriptive
this parable is, this example is that the
Prophet
gave. You imagine yourself in a desert, it
could be in the Middle East, it could
be Death Valley, Arizona, wherever it is.
And you have an animal, a camel with
your provisions on it. You have packed your
water, you have packed your supplies, you have
packed your food, your snacks, Right? Your tent,
your sleeping bag. You have everything on that
animal. Okay? On that camel. And camel is
especially notable here because camels are known for
running away like this. Camels are known for
bolting if you don't tie them up. Okay?
So
everything is on that camel. And then,
right, you turn around for a second and
next thing you know that camel is gone.
Your water is gone. There's no cell phone
service. You don't have a satellite phone. You
know, your water is gone. Your food is
gone. Your provision is gone. Your everything is
gone. Okay? And you're stuck in the middle
of the desert. Death valley. Okay? You're stuck.
There's nothing there. And you have no hope
now. What's gonna happen? Who's gonna find you?
No one's gonna come around there. Nobody goes
by there in a year. You're in the
middle of the desert.
You lose hope. You find shade, and you
just laid lie down. You're just like, okay.
This is it. I'm done.
This is it. I'm gonna die now because
it's hot, and you don't have anything.
And then all of a sudden, you know,
after you have all given up hope, you
turn around and the camel is back, Any
water is back, your provisions back, and now
you can get out of there safely.
Right? Imagine that joy and relief a person
would feel, the happiness you would feel at
that moment. Prophet says, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is more joyful
with the repentance, with your repentance
than that person. SubhanAllah.
When we have the pleasure of Allah my
brothers and sisters,
everything becomes easy.
Everything becomes easy because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is loving you. You have the pleasure of
Allah.
In Hadith Qudsi, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says,
O
my servants, you sin
by night and
day. You sin by night and day, and
I forgive all sins.
So seek forgiveness from me and I shall
forgive you. So essentially what Allah is saying
that is, look, I know you're gonna make
sins. You do commit sins. I know that
because also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is our
designer. He's our creator. He knows we're going
to commit sins.
But what he's looking for is how we're
going to behave and act after we commit
the sin.
Right? Again, it doesn't mean that we should
be light on ourselves about committing sins. We
should restrain ourselves.
But naturally it's going to happen. And when
it happens,
our response
is what is key.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us,
And all of you,
all of you,
all believers,
together
beg Allah to forgive you so that you
may be successful,
So that
so that you may be successful.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is commanding all
of us collectively
to seek forgiveness from Him so that we
may collectively and individually
achieve success.
Now everyone, my brothers and sisters has some
history,
has some skeletons
in our closets,
some filth in our hearts, in our minds,
some evil thoughts,
some glances,
some words that we spoke
or heard or wrote,
some prayers perhaps that we missed or didn't
offer properly, some sins that we have committed
major or minor. Nobody is
pure and clean. Everybody has something,
right? And we are
sometimes many times we are ashamed of having
that exposed. We don't want it to be
exposed because exposure would mean embarrassment in front
of people. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows.
Now how should we feel about that? The
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says,
That a believer sees his wrong actions
as if he were sitting under a mountain
which he fears will fall on him.
The believer sees his sins as
he was sitting under a mountain which he
fears will fall on him. You know, you're
in a building, you're understanding under structure, or
somewhere where you're afraid is gonna fall on
top of you, right? The believer sees
his sins,
her sins, misdeeds as that mountain, as that
structure that could collapse at any minute and
take that person down.
The bill the impious person, he sees his
wrong actions
like flies
passing over his nose.
And the,
the narrator, Abu Shehab,
he says that he does this, and he
said with his hand in front of his
nose. You know? You just have some flies
that are bothering you and just go like
this. Right?
It's insignificant.
Right? It's nothing serious.
This is how the impious person sees their
sins. So we should ask ourselves, my brothers
and sisters, how do we see our misdeeds
and our sins?
We are all loaded up, and this can
drag us down on the day of judgment.
So this is the opportune time, the ideal
time to shed that weight,
Not just the physical weight we may be
shedding in Ramadan,
but the spiritual weight of the sins and
the disobedience of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Because
in this month, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
given a special opportunity
to wipe our souls clean,
to wipe our souls clean in this month
of forgiveness
and mercy. You know, it's a you can
think of it as special amnesty
or clemency.
Allah
calling out to our souls
to come back where it belongs
in the submission
and the obedience of its rub, of its,
of its Lord. And the doors of forgiveness
and mercy are still open.
One day they will be closed.
One day they will be closed. But for
now it is still open and we can
still make it. And if we turn to
Allah
in forgiveness, seeking forgiveness and repentance,
then we can become the best of the
people in the sight of Allah No matter
what you have done,
no matter what we have done in the
past, if we turn to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
it's sincerity,
seeking forgiveness,
repenting, we can become the best of the
people. Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
All the children of Adam are sinners, and
the best among the sinners are those who
repent. So it's a 3 step purification process.
Number 1, cease and desist, stop the disobedience,
number 1. Number 2, feel remorse,
bad about it. Not so that it pulls
you down, it makes you depressed, but you
feel remorse. You wish you hadn't done it.
You wish you would be able to stop.
Number 3, you make a solid resolve that
never to return to that sin and really
try your best not to go back to
it. But if it so happens,
then you rinse and repeat. You try the
same steps once again, and Insha'Allah, Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala will still forgive you no matter
how many times, even if you do it
70 times a day, you try your best,
but you slip and you fail. You try
again, you still slip and fail. Inshallah, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will still forgive you. That
is how great the forgiveness of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is. And 4th step, of course,
if it has to do with the rights
of people, then restore people's rights
and their properties. I'll end with the Hadith
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam Anas radiAllahu
anhu said, I heard the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam saying, Allah the almighty said,
oh child of Adam,
so long as you call upon me and
ask of me, I shall forgive you for
what you have done and I shall not
mind. Oh, child of Adam, were your sins
to reach the clouds of the sky,
and were you then to ask forgiveness of
me, I would forgive you. Oh, child of
Adam, were you to come to me with
sins nearly as great as the earth and
where you then to face me, ascribing no
partner to me, I would bring you forgiveness
nearly as great as it. SubhanAllah,
brothers and sisters, that forgiveness of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is great. Let us not lose
this opportunity in this blessed month
to seek the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala for all of our sins whether we
recognize them or not, whether we know of
them or not. We ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to forgive us completely on this blessed
day. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
shower us with his mercy and forgiveness. We
ask Allah
to guide us away from our addictions and
our sins and to purify our hearts and
our minds and our bodies, our actions.
We are midway through the almost the midway
through Ramadan. I pray and I hope that
all of you are taking the maximum benefit
with your siyam, with your qiyam, with your
and with your deeds, good deeds,
you know, that get multiplied many, many, many,
many times,
by Allah.
You know, as we enjoy this Ramadan in
the peace of,
you know, peace of our country and our
city, you know, many people around the world
are
are having difficult time, particularly,
people of Gaza, people of Palestine, and people
of Sudan where Muslims are going through a
very difficult time this Ramadan.
Please please remember them in your duas and
your actions
through, you know, any,
civic action through your emails and through your
phone calls to the members of parliament and
other people
as well as through your financial support. And,
of course, they are the most important thing.
Alhamdulillah in KMA now, in this Ramadan.
We are going full, you know, full capacity
as as last year, and, we noticed that
the population has grown and the demand for
our work has increased.
We can say that this little house on
Sand Hill,
since we established
has surpassed our expectations
or our you know, of the demand that
exists in the community
for the, you know, for the service to
the community. In the last, 2, 3 years,
we have expanded our work and our service,
and, you know,
the masjid,
is hustling and bustling even even
outside Ramadan.
There's activities and programs that are run-in the
masjid by the members of our community. It's
not coming people coming from outside. It's people
among us who are here, who are, you
know, coming together
as Muslims to serve Muslims
of all ages.
At this moment,
we are covering all sections of our community
and programs from a child who is newly
born to a senior citizen who is, you
know, who is over 65 or 60 years
old.
So in a short time, we have achieved
a lot of work and a lot of,
goals that we did not imagine that we
could do that. And that has only been
possible with the mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and with your help and support of
this community and the talent that we have
in this community.
And the dedication of people who are working
in our masjid
is so is is like beyond my belief.
There's a brother who moved to Orleans, but
he still comes here every day
to make sure to run a daily lift
hour program,
all the way from Orleans.
There are families here who are you know,
who raise their hands for everything anytime we
ask for something or even if we don't
ask for something, they come up with their
own ideas, and they are here,
they are here constantly doing a fikr and
doing the programs for our children and our
community.
And,
you know, our children are our future, and
that's where we are putting a lot of
energy and effort on. And you will see
a lot of programs
in our Masjid coming from,
coming for kids and for,
you know, younger people because they are our
future, and that's where we need to invest.
And your support has been, you know, has
been really grateful and, you know, have been
really great in order for us to carry
this program.
I can say this with,
with, you know, with a lot of humility
that at this moment of time, all the
operational expenses of this masjid
are covered from our revenues that we generate
from our rental unit
that we have, that we run day care
and through different programs and government funding,
which is not an easy thing to do.
Right? And all the donations that you give
is going towards the constitution of the merchant,
which is which is we have been trying
to do that, and in 2023, we have
achieved that. And I thank Allah
and the members of this community to help
us achieve that.
Our work, our we have you know, as
I said, we have received the permit, and
we have now finalized a general contractor, not
a general contractor. Construction manager
with McDonald Brothers Construction.
This is a company that built,
the masjid, the SNMC Masjid. This is a
company that built the extension of the school
that you see across the street,
and they have built many other, they're right
now building a church
on Greenbank Road. It's an Egyptian Coption
Coptic Coptic Church
that they are now construction. This is a
company that has experience in building,
buildings like, institutionals like this. And, you know,
we are now onboard. We are now signing
some final paperwork,
and we have, you know as you can
see, the sign the fence is on.
The, you know, the sign is on. We'll
have our own banner very soon,
And inshallah, make dua. You know? Allah, you
know, we can plan everything we can plan,
but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one
who is the biggest of the planners. So
with that, I say inshallah, please make dua
that,
the next steps are also easier, and we're
able to start construction on time.
Hamdulillah, the winter has not been that bad
this year, so we should be able to
start sooner than we planned.
But, you know,
it's all the mercy of Allah.
And we are do we are holding a
groundbreaking ceremony that is the, you know, that
is a ceremony where as a community member,
we get together
and we break the ground, you know, ideally
in the time of Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam and even, earlier even now, a
few years ago, you could build your own
your own house and your own magic by
your own hands, but now it requires
much more technology and much more knowledge and
engineering.
So what we will do is we'll come
to get together and make du'aat alaihi wa'ala
for the, you know, for the masjid
and for the construction to have successfully completed,
and we'll do a small ceremonial groundbreaking.
We're inviting all of you, please come together,
bring let your friends from outside Canada come
in as well.
There is a registration link
that we have sent. It's happening on 30th
March, which is next, not this Saturday, the
next Saturday, which is the long weekend that
most people have the days off, and you
should be able to attend
If it gets full, we will open slots
in on Sunday
So if you if you get if you
if it gets full before the time,
then will open these parts on Sunday so
that we can maximize the number of people
who can participate in this activity.
The donations at this moment, I think we
are at about 12% of
the target, Insha'Allah,
and we have some donors who are matching
donation this weekend until this weekend, and they
have committed to to match $27,000
So every dollar you donate, they will donate
$1 until we reach $27,000,
InshaAllah.
So I'm not gonna ask you to raise
hand. I will just, request you to go
and continue to support the masjid and inshaAllah
make du'a for the masjid and our community
to prosper
and to be a,
god fearing
and,
I know Allah's,
and and abiding,
community inshallah. Okay.
So, yes,
our target
for today or this weekend
is, $200,000.
We're at 120,000.
So we need 80 people, 80 brothers or
sisters
who can commit to $1,000 each after tax
credit. It should cost you estimated approximately. I'm
not an accountant. I don't know your financial
situation, and it varies by person, by income.
So approximately
$640 per,
per person, and which is 1.75 a day,
$1.25
a day.
So today, we ask you for 80 people.
Is there anyone who would like
to contribute? Just make the intention you could
do it on the way out. I know
by the way, my husband is not gonna
raise hands, but I'm gonna do this inshallah.
Anyone who can do that for us inshallah,
for the masjid, for the sake of Allah
to
grant your to secure your salaf Hajari
inshallah. Anyone for $1,000?
I see a child raising his hand.
Let's have the good intentions. I can't see
everywhere, of course. So perhaps there are brothers
and sisters who are raising their hands in
their in their hearts.
But as brother Mahmood mentioned, we have a
couple of generous donors,
who are matching funds, a dollar for dollars.
So,
you know, up to a grand total of
27,000, inshallah. So if you get 27 people
who can donate a $1,000 inshallah, then that
will be multiplied by 2. Right? What's 27
times 2?
54. 54. Okay.
So we'll have 54,000 that way Insha'Allah. And
then we have, you know, a little bit
more left to to make it up to
the, up to the 80 for for today
Insha'Allah. So this is our request to you.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala always bless you
and accept your good deeds from you. May
Allah make it heavy on your scale of
deeds as the prophet
said
that
that,
sadaqa extinguishes
sinful deeds, extinguishes sins just as water extinguishes
fire. So please let us take this opportunity.
May Allah accept it from you. Allah grant
Baraka in all of your affairs, in your
health, your wealth, your provisions, in your children,
your home, your work, your good deeds, your
iman. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always protect
your future generations until the day of judgment.