Suleiman Hani – The Power of Repentance- A Journey Back to Allah #09
AI: Summary ©
The importance of reciting the Qwork for personal and daily life is discussed, as it is linked to a lifestyle and a lifestyle that is linked to their heart and life. The negative impact of forgiveness, including forgiveness of one who holds back one's anger and the one who takes, is discussed. The negative impact of forgiveness is discussed, including the negative impact of forgiveness on family members, particularly those who are oppressed and hurt, and the importance of forgiveness is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah wa alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala
rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man
wala We begin in the name of Allah,
the ever-merciful, the all-forgiving, the creator,
the sustainer, the maintainer of the heavens and
the earth and all that is in between.
We ask Allah to send his peace and
his blessings upon his messenger Muhammad ﷺ and
all who follow him until the end of
times.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
send down his swift justice and his relief
and his peace to our brothers and sisters
in Gaza and Palestine and all around the
world and in Sudan as well.
Sometimes when people take a detour, when they
make a mistake, they try their absolute best.
You'll notice in their response, their reaction, they
will do everything to get back to the
place they were trying to go.
Other people you'll notice are a little less
concerned.
They'll put in a little effort but they're
not that afraid, it's not that urgent.
And then some people we may notice, may
Allah protect us, they don't care at all.
They've fallen off the path, they've taken a
detour, they made a mistake, they don't try
to correct at all.
There's no remorse, there's no attempt whatsoever.
There's a very beautiful story from the early
generations of Islam about a man who later
on became a very notable scholar.
He became a very righteous Muslim and his
story is very famous and he is Al
-Fudail, rahimahullah.
Al-Fudail, when he was younger, he used
to be a highway robber.
In other words, he was a robber, people
were afraid.
Highway robbers were people who used to be
in between the cities and anytime someone would
come by or a caravan would come by
with its supplies and everything it had, they
would rob it, they would steal from them.
And highway robbers were sometimes notorious for what
they would do to the people, how frightening
they were.
Al-Fudail, before he became a practicing Muslim,
was a highway robber, he was a bandit.
So sometimes, when he would be in a
certain area, they would all know, don't go
that route at night, Al-Fudail is there
waiting for you.
In other words, you get robbed, don't go
to this place, Al-Fudail will rob you.
I'm going to paraphrase parts of the story
to make it age appropriate, inshaAllah ta'ala.
One day, he came across someone really beautiful,
a beautiful woman, and he wanted to speak
to her.
So he followed this woman, as Imam Al
-Dahabi, rahimahullah, reports in his biography, in the
biography of Al-Fudail.
So he followed this woman, he wanted to
get to know her and her family, find
out who she is, and eventually maybe marry
her, allahu alam.
So he followed her to her house.
He followed her to the house.
And then, because at that time, you could
not get to the houses unless you climbed
these walls that they had behind the houses,
he climbed this wall.
As he climbed the wall to try to
spy and see like, okay, which of these
houses is she in?
What's going on?
He said he got to the top of
the wall, and he heard someone reciting an
ayah of the Quran, a passage, a specific
passage.
And this passage is from Surah Al-Hadith.
And the verse that was recited at that
time was a verse that shook his heart.
It's a verse we recite often.
We talk about it all the time that
this is an ayah to reflect on.
This is a verse that if you were
to have a single ayah put up, you
know, as calligraphy, as a reminder, in your
house as a reminder, then this would be
one of the greatest reminders for you.
So he gets to the top of the
wall.
And remember, he's a man who's committing many
sins.
He's stealing from many people.
And now he follows this lady to her
house, wants to find out more about her.
He climbs the wall to spy and he
hears someone reciting this saying of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala, أَلَمْ يَأْنِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن
تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ
to the end of the ayah.
And this verse is so powerful.
The translation loosely is the following.
Has the time not yet come?
Is it not time for those who believe,
for the Muslims, those who believe, for their
hearts to become humbly submissive, moved at the
remembrance of Allah and what came down of
the truth to the end of the verse.
So Al-Fudayl rahimahu Allah, he said to
himself, Ya Allah, my Lord, the time has
come.
The time has come.
Meaning what?
Perhaps up to this point he had been
thinking for a long time, I need to
change.
Somebody does not say something like this unless
they had been contemplating, I'm not living the
right lifestyle.
I should let go of this sin.
I should be doing this ibadah.
I should not be doing this.
So when someone hears a reminder from Allah
and they say the time is now, it
is time for me to change.
What am I waiting for?
This is a good sign that they have
been contemplating and they're taking action.
So what did he do?
He left.
He climbed down the wall and he left.
And he went to spend the night out
somewhere else.
And there he heard a group of travelers.
Some people were trying to travel between the
cities.
And some of them said, No, no, don't
go out tonight.
Al-Fudayl is waiting for you.
He's overhearing people talk about him, afraid of
him.
So then he said to himself, I spend
the night sinning.
And here the Muslims are waiting and they're
frightened of me.
I think Allah brought me to them so
I could hear what they are saying.
And I could repent and change my ways.
He says, I repent to Allah and I
ask for his forgiveness.
And as a condition of my repentance, I'm
going to go live next to Masjid al
-Haram, next to the Kaaba.
He ended up actually repenting.
He changed.
He became a practicing Muslim.
And he went and he lived next to
the Haram, which means what's generally, generally, you
will find access to a lot of scholars,
Muslims from all over.
So he started learning and learning and learning.
He became an advanced student of knowledge.
And as the years went by, and he
practiced and he made this condition of tawbah
to live next to the Kaaba.
As he followed through with his promise and
his vow, he ended up himself becoming a
teacher and later on a scholar.
And sometimes people, they take these stories and
they romanticize the sinful part.
And they laugh and they joke and they
say, Oh, ayyam al-jahiliya, I used to
do this and to do that.
But the reality is we are not supposed
to normalize that.
That's not something to normalize or make light
of.
In fact, we are supposed to generally, if
we have been guided to what is good,
supposed to cover the things that Allah has
covered for us, that you moved on, you
repented.
Al-Fudail, rahimahullah, we see in his story
a number of lessons amongst them.
The power and potential for one ayah, for
one ayah of the Qur'an to change
your life.
However, if we all know, for example, I
was really enjoying the Salat al-Isha, the
recitation, may Allah reward the brother, Allahumma ameen.
If you know that there is a recitation,
a surah, a passage that affects you, and
you recognize this, you heard a surah like
this surah, every time I hear it, it
affects me.
But then by choice, voluntarily, the entire week,
the entire month, you choose not to listen
to any Qur'an.
You choose not to recite the verses that
you know will affect you.
You are virtually choosing to cut yourself off,
to disconnect from the thing that will affect
your heart.
Has the time not yet come?
What's amazing about this ayah, Imam Muslim reports,
one of the earliest converts to Islam, he
said, only four years passed by when we
converted to Islam.
Four years passed by since the time of
our conversion to Islam, he was one of
the first converts, and Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala bringing down this ayah, so this is
a Meccan ayah.
Surat majority, it is a Madinah surah, but
the core part of the surah came down
in Mecca, and he said, Allah rebuked us,
commanded us, reminded us with this verse.
Why?
If you think about the beginning of this
ayah, and what it does when it comes
to introspection, you thinking about yourself, and you
ask yourself this rhetorical question that Allah is
asking you, you have the potential to respond
internally in many different ways.
When Allah asks you, oh Ahmed, oh Sara,
oh Khadijah, oh Maryam, oh Ibrahim, has the
time not yet come?
Is it not time for you to change?
Is it not time for you, oh Muslims
who say, I believe in Allah, that when
you hear the name of Allah, when you
hear his recitation, that your heart is moved
by that?
Is it not time?
Because if you say no to yourself, if
not now, then when?
If not now, if you don't want to
repent now, and turn to Allah now, if
you don't want to get back on the
straight path now, when are you going to
turn to Allah?
Because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed, and if you make
it a lifestyle to always think of tomorrow,
and to fall into a type of frightening
escapism, you know, the thought that I don't
want to think about my sins, I don't
want to think about how bad I am,
I don't want to think that I need
to repent, so you ignore it, and you
go on with your life, and you stay
distracted, what happens?
Eventually that person could potentially leave this world
with an abrupt departure, and it might frighten
them.
The reality that you might leave unprepared, you
didn't repent as a lifestyle.
A single verse of the Qur'an has
that potential, if we are attentive, and we
connect.
May Allah make us amongst the people of
the Qur'an.
By the way, a side point, this completely
seems unrelated.
When people are connected to the Qur'an,
they also respond to tragedies, they also respond
to hardships, they also respond to life in
general, in many different ways, because they're referencing
what?
Kalamullah, this is what Allah said about my
situation, this is what Allah told me to
do in this matter, and this is why
we find generally, when people are in a
society, in a village, generally connected to the
Qur'an, you will notice that society dealing
with tragedy in a very interesting way, and
Gaza is a perfect example of that.
May Allah bring down his justice and his
relief, Allahuma Ameen.
That when you look at the United States,
and you look at other countries, you look
at a city where there's a lot of
good people, and there are a lot of
bad people, like for example, Hurricane Katrina, one
of the things some of us may remember
and recall is the emphasis on looting, on
robberies, on crimes that were being committed in
the midst of a disaster, and a tragedy.
You look at Gaza, and you're hearing what?
People are helping each other, supporting each other,
protecting each other, they're referencing the Qur'an,
and they're very young in age.
There are many hufadh, many graduates, many who
memorize the Qur'an in Gaza as well.
It's a lifestyle for them to connect to
the Qur'an.
So we take this as a reminder for
our daily lives as well.
Of course, another of the lessons from this
story is that the door of tawbah is
open for you.
This is a man who was at a
young age, he was a very bad person,
and he repented to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
There's a potential for significant change.
We learned this from the sahaba as well.
How many people who converted to Islam changed
in a very significant way.
And of course, when we talk about the
concept of converting to Islam, we reference this
following point.
Sometimes we think of the sahaba as having
known Islam their entire lives, but many of
the sahaba were in their 40s, 50s, and
60s when they converted to Islam, when they
learned about Islam and the Prophet ﷺ received
revelation.
So it's a reminder for us that sometimes
the one who embraces Islam at a young
age or an old age, they equally have
the potential to do a lot of khair
for the ummah, a lot of good in
their personal changes as well.
And every single one of us is either
a convert or the descendant of a convert
in this religion.
Every single Muslim in the world is either
a convert or the descendant of a convert
at some point.
Alhamdulillah that we have the opportunities in this
day and age to connect with one another
and to teach and to learn.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep our
hearts united.
Allahumma ameen.
And this brings us to the topic of
tonight.
We have two traits in particular with regards
to the revival of the ummah at the
individual level first, and it is the trait
of tawbah, the trait of repentance, Allah turning
back to him.
Tawbah is a very interesting word, and generally
when we talk about tawbah, we know to
turn back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
to go back to the straight path.
But I want to just go on a
small tangent here and emphasize something interesting about
the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
At-Tawwab.
At-Tawwab is found in the Qur'an
11 times.
And what you'll find interesting linguistically when you
see like taaba or taaba alayh, the concept
of tawbah here is the person who repents
to Allah and the one who's accepted by
Allah, the one who's accepted in terms of
the tawbah.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّ اللَّهُ وَيَقْبَلُ تَوْبَةً عَنْ عِبَادِهِ
وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ Why
is Allah not At-Taaib?
Why is he At-Tawwab in these verses?
At-Tawwab, when we turn to him, he
turns to us.
This name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
a very powerful name, a name that really
liberates us from ever despairing, this name of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala indicates that Allah
turns more to us than what we do
in turning to him.
Allah turns, At-Tawwab has an intensity to
it, more towards us, when we're taking that
turn to him, he puts in more towards
us than we to him, meaning in other
words, you take one step, he takes many
towards you in his own way, لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ
شَيْءٍ And of course, even though we are
in need of him and we repent to
him and we turn to him, he gives
us more by turning to us and he
is not in need of us.
At-Tawwab, we turn to him.
One time a young man asked, why do
we keep talking about tawbah?
Why repent?
What's the big deal?
Why do we ask Allah for forgiveness?
We talk about it all the time, but
in a very practical sense, if we were
to break down some reasons, five, six, seven
reasons, why tawbah in other words?
And this is a question for us on
a daily basis.
Why should I turn back to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala?
First and foremost, it is the definition of
success.
You can't succeed without tawbah.
وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تُفْلِحُونَ Turn to Allah together, O believers, in
repentance to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so
that you may truly succeed.
The second, when you ask Allah to forgive
you, Allah's love for you increases.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ In one
of the Surah, you have, I think Surah
Al-Buruj, you have an emphasis, وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ
الْوَدُودُ And the pairing of the names of
Allah in the Quran is always for a
wisdom.
Anytime you see two names combined in any
ayah, there's a wisdom, so pause and reflect
on what that wisdom could be.
It's related to the context, the ayah, the
passage.
وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ He is the Oft-Forgiving الْوَدُودُ,
the Most Intense in Love for His servants.
What's the link between these two?
That the one who repents to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala sincerely, Allah will forgive, He
is Oft-Forgiving, but also His love for
you will increase, because you did the right
thing.
So you'll forgive and He will love you
more for what you did.
The third is that sins, when you repent
sincerely, become transformed into good deeds.
فَأُولَٰئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ Allah replaces your
sins with good deeds.
Now there's a really interesting trap of Shaytan
that comes up here.
There's a really interesting trick that comes up
here.
A lot of people ask, first of all,
why?
Why does the good deed, a sin get
erased and replaced with a good deed?
Because this person has truly, truly turned back
to Allah.
And there are conditions here, we'll talk about
in a moment inshaAllah.
Then somebody asks, okay, someone committed a sin,
they repented and they got good deeds.
What about the one who did not commit
the sin at all?
It seems as though there is a disparity,
like it's unfair.
This person was about to commit haram, and
they stayed away from it.
And you have examples of people running away
from sins, a job offer, bribery, corruption, temptation,
seduction, they stay away.
فَاسْتَبَقَ الْبَابَ يُصِفْ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامَ Was racing to
the door, the wife of al-'Aziz racing to
the door.
They're both racing to the door, but for
very different reasons, one for haram and one
for security and safety, one for protection from
Allah.
So people rush towards different things.
If you were to refrain from sinfulness, your
reward is greater than the one who lets
go thinking, well, I'll perform tawbah later.
It's a trap of Shaytan to think, well,
I'll just get hasanat later on through these
sins.
First of all, if you think like that,
you're not guaranteed to do tawbah.
And second of all, you're not guaranteed that
your heart will be in a place where
you are even sincere in your tawbah.
Meaning what?
You're corrupting your heart by saying, I'm going
to commit a sin, I'll just ask Allah
for forgiveness later and get hasanat.
So it's a trick of Shaytan.
And the third, there have been many people
who committed a sin.
And then it became not a عَمَلْ بَرَ
عَادَةٍ, an action, it became a habit.
And it became a habit, they stopped repenting
from why?
Because it became difficult for them.
They became entrenched in their sin.
Like you know what, no matter what, I'm
always going to do this, always going to
do that, always going to gossip, always going
to lie.
So they stopped caring.
What happens?
They ended up dying in that state where
they don't repent anymore for their sin.
And the initial thought was what?
I'll just take care of this later.
May Allah protect us all in our hearts
and our actions.
Number four, tawbah is the only rational choice.
We have two options.
We either want the record clean when we
die, or we go with a dirty record.
May Allah protect us.
And when the records are given to us
on the day of judgment, when we have
these scrolls that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
mentions are tied up to the necks in
some way in al-barzakh, and these scrolls
are open on the day of judgment, and
they go out as far as the eye
can see according to an authentic hadith.
And some people will see the scrolls filled
with sins as far as their eyes can
see.
And they will look on the other side
to see what there is of goodness and
they will find very few things.
And so when you think about the reasonable
choice, there are some people in this world,
if their credit score in America, for example,
if their credit score gets affected, and it
was an accident, let's say, or it was
intentional, their credit score gets affected and something's
on your record.
Now, in I think, generally speaking, in many
cases, you have something on your record for
like seven years, 10 years, five years, depending
on what it is, what will they do,
they will try to do everything to get
it removed.
Some people have something on their record, or
a crime or a misdemeanor, they will try
to do everything to wipe their record clean.
We think about the more important record, not
that this isn't, but the record of the
afterlife that we will all see.
We want to make sure we're meeting Allah
with a clean slate.
And that requires work from our end.
It is the only rational choice.
It's either purified here through tawbah, or there's
going to be purification that's painful in the
afterlife, may Allah protect us.
Number five is that Allah promises if you
do tawbah as a way of life, He
will give you relief from hardships in a
way you could not have planned for.
And this is linked to number six, Allah
promises blessings for the people of tawbah and
istighfar.
فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ نُوحًا عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ Said, seek
forgiveness from your Lord.
إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا He is the Oft-Forgiving.
He's always forgiving.
يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا He'll bring down to
you the rain in abundance.
When people are looking for rain for their
crops.
وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ He will extend to you your
wealth.
You want money?
Allah can take care of that for you.
وَبَنِينَ أَنْ أَفْسِبْرِينَ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ He will
grant you gardens.
وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ أَنْهَارًا He will grant you rivers.
And this is mentioned elsewhere in the Qur
'an as well and in the authentic hadith,
disputed in its authenticity but authentic in terms
of its ma'na and sunan Abi Dawood.
The Prophet ﷺ says, مَنْ لَزِمَ الْإِسْتَغْفَارُ Whoever
makes istaghfar as a way of life.
أَسْتَغْفِرُوا اللَّهُ I seek forgiveness from Allah.
جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُ مِن كُلِّ هَمٍ فَرَجَةٍ Allah
will make for them from every anxiety a
relief.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when He
tells us this and you think about the
ayat in the Qur'an, وَمِن كُلِّ دِيقٍ
مَخْرَجَةٍ As well from every hardship a way
out.
وَيَرُزُقُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ He will provide
for you from sources you didn't expect or
imagine.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is bringing our
attention to a reality.
The reality that we are always in need
of turning to Allah.
We also have mistakes and sins and we
overlook them at times.
And we're supposed to grow from these mistakes
and not just repeat them over and over
and over again.
And finally number seven, do we want to
meet Allah face to face?
وَجُوهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاظِرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَ Do we
want to be meeting Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala thinking, I have all these sins, meaning
all this disobedience, I disobeyed Allah.
And I didn't even ask Him to forgive
me knowing that He forgives and we forget.
Allah forgives and we forget.
We keep moving on and on and on.
And this is why when Allah tells us
in a very clear command, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَىٰ اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً
نَصُوحًا O you who believe, O believers, repent
to Allah with a complete repentance.
They asked Umar ibn Al-Khattab, what is
taubatan nasuha?
We know what tauba is.
What is taubatan nasuha?
He said, أَن يَتُوبَ الرَّجُلُ مِنَ الْعَمَلِ السَّيِّئِ
ثُمَّ لَا يَعُودُ إِلَيْهِ أَبَدًا For someone to
repent from a sin, from a sinful action
and then to never go back to it
again.
We always say, no matter how many times
it takes, you keep repenting to Allah.
But the objective of tauba is not to
go back.
The objective of tauba, taubatan nasuha, complete sincere
repentance, يَا أَللَّهِ أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَىٰ
اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحًا O Allah, I will never
do this again.
What helps?
The remorse helps.
Now there's a very interesting question that comes
up.
And somebody asked me this question maybe a
decade ago.
And it was a question that when he
asked, I said this is a very good
perspective, a different angle.
Why don't people, Muslims in general, we know
about tauba.
Why don't we do tauba more regularly?
We know how important it is.
We know its value.
These are just seven examples of why.
Why don't we perform repentance more consistently in
life?
Despite knowing how valuable and necessary it is.
And there are generally three categories.
Every one of these has its subcategories.
Number one is despair.
Someone has lost hope.
So they've fallen into the sin of saying
Allah will not forgive me.
I'm too bad.
There's no hope for me.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says what?
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الدِّنُوبَ جَمِيعًۭ Allah forgives all
sins.
إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ Surah Az-Zumar, one
of the most cited ayat of hope and
forgiveness.
So you're not allowed to, you can't possibly
know these ayat and say, I'm a Muslim
and I believe there's no hope for me.
Allah is telling you there's hope.
We've had in the last two and a
half months, three months, so many people from
all walks of life reach out and convert
to Islam.
And we all know the one who rejected
Islam, whether for a day or for decades,
and they sincerely embrace Islam and submit to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we all know,
and even our children know.
When they enter into Islam, all the sins
that they committed before, will Allah forgive them
for all of that?
Yes or no?
Yes, absolutely.
And that was the worst of crimes of
shirk and kufr.
And we have so many stories like that
in our community.
Embracing Islam, a new slate, a clean slate.
It's a good feeling.
When you go for Umrah and you come
back, we just had a group come back,
alhamdulillah.
It's a good feeling thinking, you know what?
I have a clean slate, I don't want
to mess this up.
And every day is an opportunity, don't wait
for another environment, another place.
Every day is an opportunity, don't wait for
Ramadan.
Less than three months away, may Allah allow
us to make it, Allahumma ameen.
Number one is despair.
The balance for this is what's the prescription?
Go back to what Allah said, turn to
me, I will forgive you.
Ya Ibn Adam, O children of Adam.
How can you possibly lose hope in Allah?
Say that I don't have hope.
When Allah tells you, as long as you
have hope in me, ask me for forgiveness,
I will forgive you.
And I don't mind, meaning I want to
forgive you.
Number two is procrastination and laziness.
And I mentioned this earlier.
There's a type of psychological escapism.
When people don't want to think about their
sins, what will they possibly do?
They'll try to procrastinate, they'll be lazy, they'll
drag their feet with regards to going back
to Allah.
They'll say to themselves, I'm not ready yet.
The circumstances are not ready yet.
I'm not in a place where I can
start doing this act of worship that Allah
commanded of me.
What does that mean?
So long as you're not doing what Allah
commanded and obligated, you are disobeying Him.
And you might die before the opportunity to
repent to Him.
And it might be, again, an example where
you procrastinate for so long, the change becomes
even more difficult.
And you no longer really care about changing.
So procrastination, laziness, there's no excuse for this.
Every day is a reminder.
Every morning you wake up.
Every night before you sleep, you make dua.
You ask Allah for forgiveness.
You have, alhamdulillah, so many different ways to
do this.
And we'll talk about some in a moment
inshaAllah.
The third is arrogance.
And this is the scariest of the three.
Why is arrogance the scariest of the three?
Despair, you understand that someone maybe was not
introduced to ayat about hope and mercy.
So you give them the prescription.
Procrastination, you remind someone who's slow in repenting
to Allah that you need to take this
seriously.
Life is very short.
Every day could be your last.
So what do you do?
You remind them and inshaAllah ta'adil, move
forward.
Arrogance is the most frightening one.
Arrogance is when someone says, I'm not doing
anything wrong.
Arrogance is when someone justifies their sin.
Or they might say, it's not my fault.
And so in that conversation, or when they
think their thought process, when someone shares with
them something, an article, or they're on social
media and they see a reel.
And the reel is addressing the very sin
that they are committing.
In their minds, the thought process, because of
this pride, shift the blame to someone else.
It's not my fault.
My parents did this.
My parents raised me like this.
My community, my friends, everyone's doing it.
So the problem with arrogance is you have
a type of defensiveness that's paired with kibir
that no matter how many advices you give,
it may not affect the person.
They have to be willing to change.
And that's the most frightening thing.
Why?
Because you could be a Muslim who practices
every part of Islam except for one area,
one domain.
And with that domain, you might be arrogant.
May Allah protect us.
And I'm not saying arrogance in the sense
of a disbeliever.
But arrogance could affect the believers.
Because this is when someone says, I'm not
doing anything wrong.
And I'm not talking about fiqh.
I'm not talking about differences of opinion.
I'm talking about something that is known to
be amongst the scholars.
Something that is sinful.
There's no doubt regarding it.
And the scary thing about it is it
shows us our reaction.
And we look at the two examples from
the origins of Adam alayhis salaam.
The two examples and how you can respond.
Adam and Hawa.
Allah reprimanded them.
And what did they say?
Right away.
Our Lord, we wronged ourselves.
Even though we all know the story.
Why did they commit?
Like, why did they do what they did?
Because the devil tricked them.
He swore to them.
I'm a sincere advisor to you.
They could have blamed the shaitaan.
But they made the decision at the end.
Rabbana, our Lord, we wronged ourselves.
وَإِلَّمْ تَغْفِرُ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنِ الْخَاسِرِينَ If
you don't forgive us and have mercy on
us, we will be amongst the losers.
We need you, Allah.
Forgive us.
The second reaction is the reaction of the
devil.
May Allah protect us.
What did the devil say?
قال ربي بِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي Or in another ayah,
بِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي You have caused me to do
this.
You have caused me to...
He blamed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Why?
Because Allah created Adam alayhis salaam.
And told the devil to prostrate.
So we think about these reactions and we
make sure internally inshaAllah ta'ala.
When you know you're doing something wrong, accept
that it is wrong first and foremost.
That's the most important thing.
And then move to the next step of
the practical aspects of tawbah.
A few weeks ago, we had a topic
that we were covering and somebody asked me
afterwards.
They said a lot of times we talk
about tawbah but we don't mention.
How do you even do tawbah?
What do you say?
You just say, استغفر الله You just ask
Allah, Allah forgive me for this sin, for
lying, for backbiting, for hurting my parents, my
child, my husband, my wife.
What do you say?
What do you do?
Tawbah generally has shurut conditions.
The first is that you stop the sin.
You can't be for example, like stealing, like
at work or you're hurting someone, you're abusing
someone.
And at the same time you're saying, I'm
doing tawbah right now.
Like I'm, Oh Allah forgive me, Allah forgive
me.
You have to stop the sin.
The second, and this obviously is paired with
sincerity.
The second is you have to have remorse.
You have to know why this is a
problem.
You may not understand the wisdom of a
ruling, that's not the point here.
The remorse is because you broke the law
of Allah.
Allah told you not to do something.
The Prophet ﷺ said, الندم توبة Remorse, regret
is repentance.
It's the core of it.
That you felt bad about what you did.
And I don't mean just that you did
something bad towards someone, but also that you
violated the laws, the commands of Allah.
You did something wrong.
The third condition, you intend sincerely, I will
never go back to this again.
I lied, I backbite, I did this thing,
profanity, whatever it be, I will, ya Allah,
I will never do this again.
And you ask Allah for firmness.
And I wanna pause for a moment once
again.
This is where the scholars say, pay attention
to the tricks of shaitan.
Someone who commits a sin multiple times in
life and repents might think, you know what,
I can't control myself, I'm probably gonna do
it again, what's the point?
We have a lot of people who ask,
what's the point of tawbah if I think
I'm gonna do it again?
The point is that you don't give up
on yourself.
You never think to yourself, I might do
it again, so there's no point.
Otherwise, the devil has gained victory over you.
You ask yourself, what can I do differently?
What changes do I need to make?
Because if the devil tricks into thinking, I'm
gonna do it again, then the tawbah might
feel like it's lacking.
Always tell yourself, this time will be different.
And try to do something different.
Ask for forgiveness in different way.
And this is what brings us inshaAllah to
the fourth condition.
If your sin involves other human beings, you
have to restore that right as best as
you can.
Every single type of sin has its application.
You have to try to restore the right.
If you stole something ever in your life,
you have to restore that right.
You can't just say, Allah, forgive me.
So if you don't know where the person
is, you try your best to locate them,
figure out how to give them the money
back.
And you can't.
You give that money on their behalf in
charity.
But first, you're supposed to try to restore
that right.
If you backbite someone, what do you do?
This is the most common question and example
about tawbah with regards to people's rights because
backbiting is so common.
May Allah protect us.
With regards to backbiting, the scholars say, if
you know that the person you backbite is
likely to be more hurt and there to
be a fitna between you.
If you are to go to them and
say, I backbite you, I said something bad
about you, please forgive me.
If that's going to cause a bigger fitna,
they say speak good about them in front
of the same person or the same audience.
The second is defend their honor when they
are not there.
The third is don't do this to anyone
else, meaning learn from it.
And the fourth is make dua for them.
But you should try to restore the reputation
that you took which is sacred, the sight
of Allah.
Here's a story just to kind of give
this example.
Imam Ahmed is a very famous scholar.
His son Salih, rahim Allah, he said, one
time a man came to my father while
he was in his final illness.
He was on his deathbed.
And this is the final illness that he
would pass away from, he would die from.
So the man said to me, please ask
your father to allow me to enter.
I was one of the people present while
your father was being tortured.
Imam Ahmed was tortured for a long time
because he held on to a theological belief
and he defended basically orthodox Sunni Islam.
Anyways, so he said, I was one of
the people there and I want to ask
him to forgive me.
Can you imagine?
He was tortured by the way and beaten.
He was whipped.
He was starved.
He was physically hurt in prison and he
was innocent.
He's a scholar.
So he said, I was one of the
people there and I want to ask him
to forgive me.
Why?
Because he sees Imam Ahmed is about to
die.
So what happens?
I told the man to wait.
I went to my father.
I continued to ask him until he gave
me permission for or he gave the man
permission to enter.
What happens?
The man entered.
This is a man who witnessed Imam Ahmed
being whipped and tortured and he was innocent
and this is at the end of Imam
Ahmed's life.
He said, O Abu Abdullah, he started to
cry.
He said, O Abu Abdullah, I was amongst
the people who was present while you were
being tortured and I'm coming to you now.
If you wish to have revenge upon me,
you can do whatever you want.
You may have it and if you wish
to forgive me, then please forgive me.
And Salih said, my father said, I have
one condition, one shahadah.
I'll forgive you.
I have one condition which is that you
never do anything similar again, meaning to anyone
else.
He wants the man to repent not just
for the man to feel good about this
particular repentance.
I want you to never do this to
anyone again.
The man agreed.
He said, my father forgave him.
The man left crying and he made the
rest of us cry as well.
It is not an easy thing to forgive
and this is a moment, a very important
trait that we'll keep in mind shortly inshaAllah.
The second way you repent to Allah, very
simple, very quick, salat al-tawbah, two rak
'ahs.
If you back me, you lied, you did
something, you asked Allah sincerely for forgiveness, one
of the best things you can do, make
wudu and pray two rak'ahs, salat al
-tawbah, the prayer of forgiveness.
You don't have to recite anything in particular
but in your sujood, ask Allah for forgiveness.
The third is when you actually say, Oh
Allah, forgive me for, and you specify the
major sin.
Many scholars say tawbah, when you remember the
sins, tawbah requires specifying the major sin.
And of course if you've forgotten, you say,
Oh Allah, forgive me for such and such
and for the things that I've forgotten, the
things we remember, the things that we forgot.
The fourth is a very famous dua every
Muslim should be equipped with.
And I hope, I pray to Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, if this is
not a habit you have, that starting tonight
inshaAllah ta'ala we all implement this as
a consistent habit.
One time in the morning and one time
in the evening.
Athkaru sabah, athkaru al-masa.
And this is the famous dua, Sayyid al
-istighfar, the master dua for forgiveness.
It starts with, Allahumma anta rabbi la ilaha
illa anta.
To the end of this dua, please learn
this dua, teach it to your children, have
the, written out on an index card, have
the meaning explained.
It is one of the greatest comprehensive dua
for everything.
So make sure you learn it.
The Prophet ﷺ said, whoever says it in
the morning dies before evening is guaranteed Jannah.
Whoever says it in the evening and dies
before morning, guaranteed Jannah.
It's as though you have a clean slate.
Number five, general istighfar, day and night.
Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.
Number six, is you try to do a
lot of good deeds.
One time a brother said, I slacked off
and I missed a salah on its time
because of my mistake.
How do I make up for this?
The scholars say, remember, you made up the
prayer, what do you do?
A lot of nawafin.
You work even harder.
You punish your nafs for that shortcoming, so
you try to do even more.
Number seven is a lot of prayer, fasting,
charity, and generally to be kind to other
people.
These are specified in different ahadith and ayahs.
And finally remember, minor sins, minor sins, are
wiped away in many different ways.
When you say salam to your brother or
to your sister, sins are being erased.
In salah, when the imam says ameen and
your ameen coincides with your sins, from salah
to salah, your minor sins are erased so
long as you do not fall into the
major sins.
This is with regards to the minor sins.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us,
guide us and increase our ranks.
Allahumma ameen.
I want to suggest for a moment to
link this to one final trait.
We talked about tawbah as a matter of
us turning back to Allah.
The ummah cannot be revived if the inhabitants
of the ummah are straying from the path
and they're not turning back to it.
May Allah guide us and forgive us for
all of our sins, the major sins, the
minor sins, the past sins, the present and
the future, the sins that are public, the
sins that are private.
Allahumma ameen.
This is directly linked to another trait.
And I'll shorten this one inshaAllah ta'ala.
And it is the trait of afu, forgiveness
towards others.
Forgiveness towards others.
Just remember this.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us so
many powerful ayahs and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam so many reminders, so many ahadith
about your relationship with people being an extension
of your relationship with Allah.
How?
Think about this.
I'm gonna go through 10 examples very fast
and some of you will think of these
examples and you'll recognize them.
For example, be merciful to those who are
on the earth, Allah will be merciful to
you.
Number two, spend in charity.
Anfiq yamna adam unfiq alaik.
Allah says, I will spend on you.
Number three, concealing the faults of others, Allah
will conceal your faults in this life and
the next.
Number four, you alleviate the hardships of other
human beings.
You take care of the hardships of others,
Allah will take care of your hardships.
Number five, wallahu feeAAooni alAAabmaa kana alAAabdu feeAAooni
akhee Allah will be in your service so
long as you are in the service of
your brothers and your sisters.
Number six, forgive other people and Allah will
forgive you.
waliAAafoo waliAAasfahu ala tuhibboona yaghfirAllahu lakum Do you
not wish for Allah to forgive you?
So forgive and pardon.
So in other words, it's an extension.
Number seven, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives
us the example in the hadith Qudsi, I
was thirsty, O son of Adam, and you
didn't give me anything to drink.
Or I was hungry, you didn't give me
anything to eat.
And the man on the day of judgment
says, how, ya Allah, when you are the
Lord of the worlds?
Didn't you know that my servant was hungry?
Didn't you know my servant was thirsty to
paraphrase.
Number eight, when you cut people off family
or your brother and your sister, and you're
not allowed to, it's a situation that is
not a rare exception, Allah will cut you
off.
I mean, there's a cutting off of some
darakah, some rizq.
Number nine, when you thank people, it's like
you're thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as
well.
And finally, number 10, when you speak on
behalf of the oppressed and you defend those
who are suffering, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will protect you and bring you divine support
as well.
What does this all mean?
Forgiveness starts with the people closest to you.
Sometimes people are very generous in forgiving strangers,
you know, giving people the benefit of the
doubt.
But their own family because they've been around
for so long, because they've accumulated a lot
of different types of resentment or different problems
that haven't been dealt with, they stop forgiving
them as quickly.
They start lashing out at them.
They lash out at their children, their parents,
their husband, their wife very quickly.
And the people that deserve your best treatment
are your family members.
The people that deserve the kindest treatment and
the greatest standard of forgiveness is your family.
But sometimes people conflate forgiveness with justifying oppression.
They are not the same.
You could forgive someone who is oppressing, oppressing
you, hurting your feelings, saying things to you,
and you forgive, and you forgive, and you
forgive.
And you have a great reward with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And we have an example of this in
which a man comes to the Prophet ﷺ
in Sahih Muslim.
He says, I have relatives.
I try to keep in touch with them,
they cut me off.
I treat them well, they abuse me.
I'm patient and kind to them, but they
insult me.
In the United States of America, with a
lot of different movements today, you will have
most people telling you what?
Cut them off.
Put your boundaries in place.
If they're mean to you, don't handle it.
You don't have to handle anything.
You don't have to have a thick skin.
Just don't deal with them.
Block them.
Who cares if they're your uncles, your aunts,
your parents.
So estrangement, family disconnection, is in fact at
a proportionate high in America, disproportionately higher in
America and many Western countries than many other
places in the world because family is not
that important.
If you don't like that somebody said something
mean to you, just cut them off and
block them.
Leave the WhatsApp group.
Who cares if these are your parents, these
are your children?
Who cares?
So it's very easy to misunderstand what it
means to put a boundary and when the
exception is in place.
Are there exceptions?
Yes.
We're not talking about the exceptions.
We're talking about the default.
The default is صلة و رحم.
So the man is talking about cousins, uncles,
aunts.
He's talking about relatives who abuse him and
hurt him.
If this was in 21st century America, you
would think what?
Don't talk to them.
Okay, cut them off if they don't want
to talk to you.
And the Prophet ﷺ is hearing this man's
complaint and he said, if things are as
you say, if you're really acting like that,
you're doing good, they're being evil, you're connecting
to them, salam and they're cutting you off.
If that's the case, then it's as if
they are putting dust in their own mouth.
Meaning it's as if they're punishing themselves with
this sin.
They're going to regret it later.
Allah will continue to support you as long
as you continue to do what you're doing.
Allah will continue to support you so long
as you do what you're doing.
There are many exceptions no doubt.
Please don't misunderstand.
And the exceptions should be dealt with with
a personal fatwa, personal counseling, with therapists, with
scholars.
This is not the example of an exception.
We're talking about the default ruling.
The emphasis is on silatur rahim.
There are people who say, I don't want
to forgive.
But at times, you don't need to get
to the point where you have to forgive
if you can also prevent conflicts.
If we can learn generally about conflict resolution,
how to communicate, how to talk to another,
how to hold back one's anger.
Sometimes people are just trying to win arguments.
So they are fighting with strangers, with community
members, with their family all the time.
They're lashing out.
It's about who gets the last word, who
wins the argument.
You're waiting to respond, not waiting to listen.
May Allah protect us and forgive us and
keep our hearts united as well.
Remember this, two angry people don't solve any
problems.
Have you ever seen two really angry people
solve a problem in terms of the conflict?
They don't.
They're insulting each other.
Things are escalating.
Things are getting worse.
Someone has to intervene.
So what happens?
Imam Ahmed was an example of this.
Somebody told him once, he said, I didn't
argue with my wife, may Allah have mercy
on her, in his old age when she
had passed away for many decades.
I think in one report, they said like
30 or 40 years, which like we don't
hear people saying, I never argued with my
husband, never argued with my wife for 40
years.
Who would say something like this?
They said to him, how is that possible?
How did you not argue?
Argue, by the way, doesn't mean like a
back and forth.
It means like an argument, a heated argument.
We didn't fight for 40 years.
He said when she was extremely angry, I
would remain silent.
When I was extremely angry, she would remain
silent.
Two angry people don't solve problems.
Silence is one of many things you're allowed
to do.
The sunnah emphasizes istiAAadah because shaitan will come
to an angry person and try to fuel
the anger.
You know what I'm talking about.
Make them and feel like they have to
say something they don't usually say.
They'll insult, they'll hurt.
And then later on they say, I'm so
sorry, I didn't mean it.
Well, it would have been better if you
didn't say it.
Would have been better if you thought.
Stay silent and say, you know what, I
actually, I want to stay calm.
I don't want to say the wrong thing
right now.
So let me process what just happened and
come back to it later.
Let's talk about it in a minute.
Let's talk about it in an hour.
Let's talk about it in the right environment,
in the right place and time.
Second thing to keep in mind is for
us generally to forgive other people is to
keep an open mind.
To look at other people's perspectives really, really
sincerely.
Put yourself in their shoes as best as
you can.
Be more compassionate.
Have some emotional intelligence.
Learn from the Prophet ﷺ.
Look for areas of agreement.
Start with what you agree on.
Start with trying to understand validly.
You know what, I understand what you're saying.
I agree with what you're saying.
However, I also this, this and this and
that.
So you don't have to escalate the matter.
The other thing to keep in mind is
that there is nothing embarrassing in Islam about
saying, I'm sorry, I was wrong.
In fact, it's more shameful for someone to
go a year or two or three and
never admit that they were wrong.
For their family, the ones who are closest
to you, for you to never say I
was wrong.
And of course, this requires at times people
to be very compassionate, to have empathy as
well for one another.
May Allah ﷻ forgive us.
Just think about this, the famous example.
Aisha radiAllahu anha was slandered.
I want you to imagine the house of
Rasulullah ﷺ.
Imagine everyone in Medina is talking about it.
The slander of Aisha.
She came back late from, she had lost
her necklace, went back to look for it.
One of the companions, Safwan radiAllahu anha was
there.
He helped her find her way back to
the caravan that had left without her.
So some of the munafiqeen, the hypocrites, look
how evil they are.
They started a rumor about her and about
Safwan.
And it spread in Medina.
And it took some time until the ayat
of Surah An-Nur were revealed.
So people are gossiping about Aisha radiAllahu anha.
Imagine her family.
Imagine her father Abu Bakr.
Imagine the Prophet ﷺ, the husband.
Imagine how they all felt.
Imagine Aisha radiAllahu anha.
When the ayat came down and Allah from
above the heavens declared her innocence and condemned
those who gossiped, condemned those who passed on
a rumor without verifying things.
We're just talking.
We didn't verify, we're just talking.
At the end of the finale, at the
end of this revelation is what?
وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا Let them pardon and forgive.
Do you not wish for Allah to forgive
you?
Abu Bakr, at this time, he used to
give an allowance to one of his relatives,
his cousin.
He used to pay his allowance meaning the
man didn't have enough money.
Imagine you're taking care of someone, a relative.
You're helping them.
You're literally helping them survive.
You find out they were one of the
people in the city who passed on the
rumor about your wife, your daughter, your family
member.
So what did Abu Bakr do?
He cut him off.
Of course, I'm not gonna give you any
more money.
I'm not gonna support you.
So what happens?
When Allah says, let them pardon and forgive.
Don't you wish for Allah to forgive you?
Abu Bakr radiAllahu anha, he heard this and
he said, yes, yes, I wish for Allah
to forgive me.
And he forgave his cousin.
In fact, look at his wara, his piety.
He increased the amount of allowance, the charity
that he was giving him.
But is that something we are even remotely
capable of doing?
We hold on to grudges for a lot
less.
May Allah forgive us.
We hold on to grudges for a lot
less than that.
Show forgiveness.
Enjoying what is good.
Turn away from the people who are ignorant.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us so
that we restrain ourselves.
Those who give in charity, times of ease
and hardship.
And then, وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظِ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللَّهُ
يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ The scholars say, why does Allah
talk about two different types of people with
regards to anger?
كاظمين الغيظ are not people who don't have
anger.
They are people who hold back their anger.
لا تغضب means hold back your anger.
Be careful.
Because some people inclined to غضب more than
others.
So if that's your personality, that's something you
have to work on.
That's your jihad.
That you hold yourself back, especially with your
family.
And then, وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ Why are they
distinguished here?
The scholars say, you might hold your anger
back from someone, but you hold on to
a grudge.
So if you're holding back with regards to
your anger from your friend, your family, take
the next step.
What's better than that?
One of the hardest acts of worship is
to forgive other people.
Knowing that, remember this, if what they did
to you, if you had to put a
number on it, let's say it's worth one
million as a value, put any number you
want.
Remind yourself of this.
The act of pardoning someone else sincerely is
worth so much more than if you were
to hold on to the right that they
took from you.
Meaning what?
If somebody hurt you in this world, you
are allowed to technically say, I want to
hold on to my right.
And on the day of judgment, I'm going
to get back the one million.
I'm going to get back the 10.
I'm going to get back the 100.
But the 100, if you had forgiven that
person for the sake of Allah, and so
that you are more forgiven, perhaps you'll get
back a billion on the day of judgment.
So when you're dealing with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, the one who forgives, the one
who pardons, you remember, we make so many
mistakes with Allah, we don't hold grudges against
ourselves, our nafs, we move on very fast
like nothing happened.
Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.
We just spoke about tawbah.
But the one who pardons thinks, I want
Allah to pardon me.
I want Allah to forgive me.
وَلَمَن صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
The one who is patient, they endure and
they forgive.
This is one of the greatest things to
aspire to have in terms of resolutions, in
terms of resilience.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us
because we are always in need of these
reminders as human beings.
We interact often, we make mistakes often, we
hurt other people often, we expect people to
forgive when we make mistakes, but sometimes we
hold on.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he
said, وَمَا زَادَ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا بِعَفْوٍ إِلَّا عِزَّةً
وَمَا تَوَضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلَّا رَفَعُوا اللَّهُ Charity
does not decrease wealth.
No one forgives someone else except that Allah
increases his or her honor.
Allah will increase your honor when you forgive
because it's not easy.
It's not easy.
You have to have humility.
And no one humbles himself for the sake
of Allah except that Allah will raise your
status.
This is a status you cannot reach without
forgiving other people.
One of the things that we need to
help revive the ummah is to be people
of tawbah, where we turn back to Allah,
asking for forgiveness.
And we hope optimistically we are forgiven, we
try harder.
But also when other people hurt us that
we are more forgiving.
This doesn't justify ongoing abuse.
This doesn't justify situations that are rare, that
are exceptional.
These are situations that need to be dealt
with.
But still remember, by definition, anything that has
a great reward on the Day of Judgment
is because it required great sabr and discipline
in this world.
And it is worth it to stand on
the Day of Judgment and say, I emptied
out my heart, I forgave and I hope
that Allah has given me so much more
than what I lost in a dunya.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us
and bring our hearts together and allow our
community and our ummah at the global level
to continuously grow and get closer to Him.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bring down
His pardon, His forgiveness, His mercy, His relief,
His justice to our brothers and sisters in
every land, in every place.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala utilize us
to facilitate goodness wherever we are in the
world, whenever it is.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
forgive us for all of our sins, the
major and the minor, the past, present and
future.
The sins we remember, the sins that we
forgot.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to leave this world with a
clean slate, dying upon la ilaha illa Allah.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to resurrect us in a good state as
well.
We do not have next week a session
for just a winter break.
Some people are traveling, family, things like that.
We will resume in 2024 inshaAllah ta'ala
on Tuesdays.
We will resume in 2024 on Tuesdays and
the announcement will go out when we resume
inshaAllah.
But until then, may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala protect you all and bless you and
elevate your ranks.
Keep doing the amazing work that you're doing.