Sikander Hashmi – The State of Seeking Mercy & Forgiveness KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the use of Allah's teachings in forgiving actions and the importance of forgiveness in Islam. They also emphasize the use of Jesus as a forgiving sinner and the use of Jesus as a forgiving sinner. The conversation includes disconnected sentences on forgiveness, forgiveness, and forgiveness, as well as a series of disconnected sentences from spiritual teachings about forgiveness. They also mention forgiveness and forgiveness as ways to make things better, and they say their goodbyes and promise to continue. The conversation includes a series of disconnected sentences from spiritual teachings about forgiveness, forgiveness, and forgiveness, as well as forgiveness and forgiveness as a way to make things better.
AI: Summary ©
When we travel by plane, my brothers and
sisters, we know that there are way to
restrictions on baggage.
For the benefit of the baggage handlers, but
most importantly,
for the safety of the plane,
there are weight restrictions
and a certain amount of weight that the
airplane is able to carry.
And if the plane
is overweight, then it poses a serious risk.
It may not be able to take off
or
worse yet, it could even crash.
My brothers and sisters,
our sins
are unnecessary
and overweight baggage
that prevent us
from taking off spiritually
in the pursuit of Allah
Ramadan is related
which is heat. And the scholars mention
the connection
between
the heat that is created
in
the bodies
due to the lack of food and drink
and its effect
on us spiritually.
Because over the year,
our sins that we have committed and every
single
person who has reached maturity
is a sinner because Allah
has designed us like that. So over the
year,
our sins cause our spiritual hearts to become
rusted,
to develop
a layer of filth,
a crust that develops on the heart, and
then leads it to become
the hardening of the heart is mentioned in
the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
so it is mentioned
that and we understand, we learn that the
spiritual heart is one that can harden and
one it's once it becomes hardened,
it is not able to absorb goodness.
It is not able to absorb
guidance.
It is related from Abu Huraira
that the messenger of Allah
said
that verily when the servant, meaning of Allah,
commits a sin,
a dark spot appears on the heart.
A dark spot appears on the spiritual heart.
If the person
abandons the sin,
seeks forgiveness, and repents to Allah
then his heart is polished.
If he returns to the sin,
the darkness
will increase
or will be increased
until it overcomes his heart.
And then the prophet
went on to say,
the messenger of Allah
said that it this is the covering that
Allah
has mentioned in
that no, but on their hearts is a
covering
because
of what they have earned.
And which is a collection of explanations
by imam Ibnu Qayim, He
says that
the basis
for this
is
that the heart
rusts
from disobedience.
The spiritual heart rusts from the disobedience of
Allah
If it increases,
the rust will overpower it, meaning the heart,
until it becomes
fully stained and fully covered. Right? So you
think about a car or a bike or
something, you know,
that's metal. You leave it outside, and it
starts developing rust. We know what happens if
you do not prevent the rust, if you
do not take dust, and if you don't
take away the conditions that are causing the
rust, it ends up overtaking
the entire object. So he says if it
increases, the rust will overpower it until it
becomes fully stained and covered.
Then it overpowers it further
until it becomes
marked, locked, and sealed. The heart becomes dim
and enveloped. And if that happens, meaning it
becomes fully covered. And if that happens to
it after guidance and insight. After it has
received guidance and insight from Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala. It is reversed.
And its upper part becomes lower than its
upper part. Meaning the part of guidance and
the part that was enlightened by Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. It flips, it goes, and it
becomes covered
by this
this this layer with
that has become
fully stained and locked and sealed.
Then he says, then his enemy will overtake
him and herd him towards wherever he wants
and of course, the enemy
being the Shaitan.
So together my brothers and sisters, the physical
and spiritual effects of Ramadan
should lead a person
to feel humble,
to feel weak, and to feel small in
front of
Allah
Indeed Allah
tells
us that oh people, it is you who
stand in need of Allah.
It is you who are the fukara in
front of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
SubhanAllah. The word that is used is the
word that we use for someone who is
destitute,
for someone who is
absolutely for poor. In the verse of zakat,
So the first category of zakat is mentioned
for qara.
So we understand in our minds when we
look for a poor person, someone who is
truly deserving of zakat. You know, what sort
of image you have in your mind of
the type of person that you're looking for,
who is absolutely destitute, who is needy,
who doesn't have anything.
So this is the word that Allah
uses to describe us,
to describe the human beings in relation to
him
It is you who are needy, who stand
in need, who are destitute in front of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But Allah alone is the self sufficient
and praiseworthy.
So this state, my brothers and sisters,
this state of feeling
heavy with sin,
this state
of feeling weak in front of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
This state, you know, a feeling that our
hearts
aren't as soft as they should be, that
our hearts have started becoming
hardened. Our hearts have have started becoming hardened.
This brings us to an act that should
bring us to an act that Allah
loves and an act that we all need.
Now
of the things that Allah
loves from his servants is when they turn
to him seeking forgiveness.
Allah
says
that indeed Allah loves those who are constantly
repentant,
who are regularly seeking forgiveness from Allah
And indeed, even the prophet
used to seek forgiveness from Allah
many many times a day. 70 times in
one narration, 100 times in another narration.
Whereas he
didn't need to do that because Allah had
taken care of him spiritually,
and he was protected from all of this.
He did not need to do that, yet
he would still turn in repentance to Allah
many many multiple times a day. And he
also
told us as narrated by
by Allah
That by Allah,
Allah is more pleased with the repentance
of his servant.
Look at pay attention to the saint.
Why? Allah Allah
is pleased or is more pleased with the
repentance
of his servant
than
what one of you would do or the
joy that one of you would have on
finding his lost camel in the waterless desert.
Right? In another narration, longer narration.
Right? He gives more detail
about a person who is traveling in the
desert. There's no water, and all of his
supplies, his provisions are on his camel, and
he takes a break to take a rest.
And he wakes up, and the camel is
gone. You can imagine the hopelessness that person
is feeling. And then all of a sudden
in his moment of, you know, of of
being down and of feeling lost and hopeless,
the camel comes back. When there's no hope
of the camel coming back. Right? Like it
is said, when the camel goes, the camel's
gone. Okay? He ain't coming back. Okay?
So, the camel comes back and the joy
that that person would feel at that moment,
the relief that they would feel, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's joy is greater than that feeling
at that time. Subhan Allah.
When his servant, when anyone of us turns
back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in repentance.
Allah tells us in the Quran.
And all of
you, all of you,
together, beg Allah
to forgive you, oh believers.
All of you,
turn back to Allah
beg Allah
to forgive you all believers.
So that you may be successful. So that
you may be successful. So here Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala tells us one of the secrets
of success,
of true success
for our spirits, for our souls, for our
bodies, our minds. In the big picture, when
we take the hereafter into the into account
and even in the worldly sense,
turn back to Allah
and repent for Allah regularly.
And thus we are told that you know
whoever increase
and does a lot of
Allah
removes their hardships from their lives. He provides
them from places where they could not even
imagine. So this is one of the secrets
of our pious predecessors of the scholars
to seek more from Allah
That is to do a lot of a
lot of to
seek forgiveness from Allah
But here what's interesting my brothers and sisters
is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
plural. All together.
Addressing all of the believers.
So our collective weight, my brothers and sisters,
the collective weight of sins,
the collective weight of sins,
it pulls down. It pulls us down as
a community.
It pulls us down as an ummah. It
has an effect on the entire state of
the ummah because every single one of us
is an important member of the community and
of the Umma.
So our sins are not only affecting us,
but they are affecting the collective state of
the community
and of society
and of the Umma.
But if you want success, we need to
keep turning back to Allah
in repentance.
Now, no one here
is perfect,
is sinless.
You know, no one here is pure
except of course for the young children who
have not
reached maturity yet.
You know, everyone
has some history,
some skeletons in their closet,
some filth
in their hearts and minds.
So how should we feel about that? The
prophet
told us
in That a believer sees his wrong actions
as if he were sitting under a mountain
which he fears will fall on him.
A believer sees his sins
or sees his wrong actions
as if he were sitting under a mountain
at which he fears will fall on him.
Right? You see a person who's in a
precarious situation, and they're not sure if something
above them is gonna fall on them. You'll
see how they behave and how they are
careful. Right? Whereas,
The impious person sees his wrong actions
like flies
passing over his nose and he does this.
Just
flings it away. Right? Just wipes it away.
Right? That is the approach of the impious
person of the whereas the believer
is one who sees his sins not as
being, oh, it's just something, you know, it's
okay. Allah will forgive me. Right? Yes. It's
important to have hope in the mercy and
forgiveness of Allah
Right? But it should not be taken for
granted.
It should not be taken for granted. It
should be desired
from the heart,
not taken for granted that, oh, Allah will
will take care of me. That is not
the approach of the believer. Yes, inshallah, Allah
will. Right? But as a believer, I should
feel
that what I have done was wrong and
that I have done something
unjust and something wrong against the law, and
I pray that Allah
will forgive me. And we talked, you know,
yesterday about the balance on sunset live. We
talked about the balance between hope and fear.
Right? So the believer state is between the
2, between hope and between fear. So brothers
and sisters, we are all loaded with sins,
and they can drag us down.
Now they are dragging us down now, and
they will drag us down. They can drag
us down on the day of judgment. May
Allah forgive us. So it is time to
shed that spiritual weight.
Created us upon the fitra, which is the
natural disposition
to recognize him, to worship him. Right? All
of these external influences and filth and exposure
that we find around us, it ends up
covering
that natural disposition
that Allah
has created us with. You think of the
default settings on your tablet, you know, on
your device, on your computer.
And if you change the settings around too
much, right, you do you go all around,
and you're downloading all types of stuff from
all types of, you know, websites
and and different app stores,
and you have too many downloads. You have
too many apps. You have too much spyware.
There's malware. There's all types of stuff. And
then your device can no longer function properly.
And you say, I'm trying to use my
computer. It's become too slow. You know, there's
all these pop ups that keep coming up.
You know, this is happening and that is
happening. It keeps crashing.
Right? It's because of what you have done.
So similarly,
you know, for our hearts, it is the
same state.
Right?
We become covered with all the various things
that we have taken in and the things
we have exposed ourselves to. But in this
month, my brothers and sisters, Allah has given
us a special opportunity
to wipe our souls clean because it is
the month of forgiveness
and mercy and there's a special amnesty, a
clemency.
It's like Allah
is calling out to our souls to come
back
to where it belongs,
into the submission
and obedience
of its lord. Because you know what? The
peace
and
the the sukoon
that the soul
and heart
find
and being where they belong can never be
found anywhere else. There's a special portion of
the heart that can only receive contentment and
peace through the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala and through the submission of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So people will go crazy seeking
happiness
and seeking joy, but they will never attain
it if they do not have the remembrance
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in their hearts.
Allah
tells us, Oh people, what has emboldened you
against your lord? Lured you away from your
the Kareem,
the most generous.
So the doors of forgiveness and mercy are
still open, my brothers and sisters. One day,
they are going to close. One day, those
doors are going to close. Either when we
go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or
when the signs appear that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam has told us after which the
doors
of forgiveness of repentance
will be closed. Right now they are open.
Right? And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us,
Allah, your lord has taken upon himself to
be merciful,
has written for himself
to be merciful.
That whoever amongst you commits evil, commit sins
ignorantly or recklessly,
then repents afterwards to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and changes
his or her ways, then Allah is truly
all forgiving
and most merciful. And one of the one
of the verses of the gives us the
most hope.
Allah
says that say,
oh my servants who have transgressed against themselves,
meaning by sinning,
do not despair of the mercy of Allah
Indeed, Allah forgives all sins, and indeed, it
is he who who is the forgiving
and is the merciful. My brothers and sisters,
if we repent, we can become the best
of the people in the sight of Allah
somebody who is disobedient to Allah
is a sinner can become from amongst the
best of people. How is that? The prophet
told us
That all the children of Adam are sinners
and the best among the sinners are those
who repent. So my brothers and sisters, it
is a 3 step purification
process. Number 1, cease and desist. Number 1,
stop the action of disobedience.
Hopefully, it has already start stopped in the
month of Ramadan and that it will not
restart
after Ramadan has passed. So number 1 is
to stop what the action is. Give it
your best effort to stop the sin. Secondly,
regret it and feel bad about it. Right?
Have regret. Have some feeling of guilt, not
to the point of depression, but to the
point of feeling that a realization that what
I have done or what I am doing
is wrong, and I wish I wasn't doing
it, And I wish that I hadn't done
it. So feeling
regret. And thirdly, making a solid resolve to
never return to the sin once again.
And
really try not to go back to it.
But if it so happens that a person
goes back, maybe it's an addiction, maybe it's
something else that a person cannot stop doing,
then again, repeat these steps. It's like it's
like a rinse and cycle,
you know, you know, process. So you redo,
run the wash once again. And fourthly, if
it has to do with another person whose
rights were taken or what that was wronged,
then correct that wrong and apologize to that
person if it involves another person. Finally, my
brothers and sisters, Anas Radi Allahu Anhu's,
told us that I heard the messenger of
Allah
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 me forgiveness,
then I would forgive you. Oh, child of
Adam, were you to come to me with
sins nearly as great as the earth, and
were you then to face me ascribing no
partner to me, I would bring you forgiveness
nearly as great as it. My brothers and
sisters, this is how merciful and how forgiving
our dear rub, our Allah
is.
So flee to Allah
as Allah says,
rush towards Allah
Do not wait until it is too late.
Just turn to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
surrender. Say, you Allah, I turn myself in.
You Allah, I have sinned enough. I have
rebelled enough. I have tried to outsmart you
enough. I have doubted you enough, and I
haven't gotten anywhere. You Rabbi forgive me. You
Rabbi shower your mercy and forgiveness upon me.
You Rabbi change my heart. You Rabbi forgive
my heart. You Rabbi purify my heart and
make me from your pious and obedient servants.
May Allah
grant us to all of this, and may
he make this Ramadan
truly life altering and life changing for us
in a good way. Ameen.
We'll take a quick break, inshallah, and we
will continue.