Yasmin Mogahed – Mending Our Past

			Santa Monica
		

			with a relay him in a shaitana regime smilla rahmanir rahim salatu salam ala rasulillah Juana and he
was off the edge mine may yet he left family law or manual little fella had the Ala Wai shadow and
in law law, the hula sharika was shadow and Mohammed and Abu humara Sulu, Arab Israeli Saudi Arabia
Siddeley Amerigo Nakata, Minh disseny, of Hong Kong calling.
		

			The man knew he was nearing his death
		

			because he had committed innumerable since he was terrified to meet his Lord.
		

			upon his death, the man said to his children,
		

			if my lord takes possession of me, He will punish me in a manner in which he has punished no one
else.
		

			In his fear, the man asked his children to burn his body after his death and scatter his remains.
And so after his death, the man was cremated. But then God said to the earth,
		

			produce what you have taken. When the man came before Allah. Allah said to him, what induced you to
do what you did, the man replied, It was out of fear of you, oh, my Lord, and because of that, he
was forgiven. And this is taken from Hadith klutzy number 32. What are wahoo Bukhari and Muslim?
		

			In this man's overwhelming fear of Allah, he had forgotten something essential. He had forgotten
Allah's mercy. Consider a person so sinful, that he might receive the greatest punishment ever
given. But imagine such a sinner being forgiven still, by no merit of his own, but only by the mercy
of his creator, that creator when describing himself in the head, the footsie says, My Mercy
prevails over my wrath.
		

			And yet, in teaching Islam, I think there's a point where we went wrong. I think somewhere along the
line, we turned Islam into a list of do's and don'ts her arms and hands. We teach our children about
Hellfire before they can even say R Rahman r Rahim, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Sunday
school has become a place to teach you all the things that are hard to do. And then all the
punishments that you'll be dealt if you do them.
		

			Allah's mercy, which is infinite, defines one of the most emphasized attributes of Allah. And every
moment is a priceless opportunity to come back to Allah. And to start over. This process of Toba,
turning back to Allah subhanaw taala and seeking His forgiveness is one of the most vital acts of
worship.
		

			Think for a moment about the story of Adam alayhis salaam, and at least what really did at least do
wrong?
		

			He was arrogant. Yes. And because of his arrogance, he disobeyed Allah when he was told to bow to
Adam alayhis salam, but we all disobeyed Allah.
		

			And yet all of us are not banished to Hellfire forever.
		

			What really did it please do wrong?
		

			It was not that he sinned. It was what he did after he sent he refused to repent. In fact, not only
did he refuse to make Toba, it leaves even blames a law for his own mistake. it bleeds said, oh my
lord, because you have put me in the wrong. I will make wrong fair seeming to them on the earth, and
I will put them in the wrong and this is chapter 15 verse 39 of the end, what is translated us
rather than humbling himself and admitting his mistake, it at least put the blame on others. Now
compare this to what Adam alayhis salaam and how were alayhis salaam did
		

			When they slipped and ate from the forbidden tree, they said Robin of alumna and fusina were in lamb
takfiri Lana, what are hamona Lana? coonan you know HostIn they said, Our Lord, we have wronged our
own selves. And if you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be indeed among the losers.
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has told us that every descendant of Adam is off to
make a mistake to air and the best of those who err are those who repent.
		

			And so at least his mistake wasn't that he disobeyed Allah. It believes his mistake was that he
disobeyed Allah and then refused to repent.
		

			In fact, Allah in His infinite mercy does not just accept our repentance, he loves to forgive. The
Prophet sallallahu Sallam said,
		

			if you were not to commit sins, Allah would remove you and replace you with a people who would
commit sins and then seek Allah's forgiveness. So Allah could forgive them. And this is Sahih
Muslim.
		

			And when we do repent to Allah subhanaw taala he does not just erase our evil deeds, he even
transforms them into good deeds. Allah subhanaw taala says what's translated as except those who
repent and believe and work righteous deeds, for them, Allah will change their evil deeds into good
deeds, and Allah is oft forgiving, Most Merciful. That's chapter 25, verse 70. Even more, the
forgiveness of Allah has no limits and no bounds. Allah says in the Hadith, quote, see, all son 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.
		

			Allah has told us this. Allah has told us that not only will he forgive, but that he loves to
forgive. And yet we live our lives so far away from him. A lie never turns his back on us. It is we
who turn our backs on Allah.
		

			We may claim to love Allah subhanaw taala. But what is the evidence of love? What is the direct
consequence of this powerful emotion?
		

			Think for a moment about human love. What happens when someone is in love with another person,
		

			that person will desire nothing more than to serve, please and be close to the one they love. And
this service is not motivated by begrudging obligation, but rather a deep inner drive, born directly
out of that love.
		

			Love speaks for itself. When you love someone, you do what pleases them.
		

			And your greatest joy is in pleasing and serving the one that you love. It is an honor to serve the
one you love. Imagine if you were in the presence of a famous person.
		

			Suppose you were to meet Wayne Gretzky. How would you act?
		

			Most people would act in this way. They would say Can I get you something? Maybe a glass of water?
Can I tie your shoe?
		

			Imagine getting to tie Gretzky's shoe.
		

			And then you'd go back to your friends and your family and you'd say I tied Wayne Gretzky's shoe.
		

			Now, you may not care about Gretzky, but you understand the sentiment here. There is an honor in
serving the one you love. There's tissue leaf. And it's only when that love is gone. Or weakened,
that serving the person goes from being an honor to just being a burden. It goes from tissue leaf,
to only tech leaf. Sadly, our worship of Allah subhanaw taala is like this, just a burden.
		

			We don't pray to seek refuge from the storm of our lives. If we pray at all. We do it just to get it
out of the way. Or maybe because our parents keep nagging. If we don't,
		

			somehow we forgotten that if we don't pray, we harm no one. Not a law, not our mothers, not our
fathers.
		

			We harm only our own selves. You see, on the day of judgment, every man and every woman will stand
alone in front of Allah. And there is nothing anyone can do for you, except by the permission of
Allah soprano Donna. On that day, a mother will be willing to throw away her own child, just to save
herself.
		

			Please understand the reality that we have forsaken. Because we're so caught up with our phones. And
our apps, our friends are parties are highs. We're so caught up with the cute guys and the pretty
girls, please understand that ignoring our reality doesn't make it any less real.
		

			It's still going to happen. Being unprepared for something does not stop it from happening. If you
choose, for example, to stay up all night, partying, instead of studying for your final, it doesn't
mean that the final won't happen. It still will. And you only end up failing. If we spend this life,
just partying, pretending that the final isn't coming. It won't stop it from happening. Nothing will
stop death.
		

			Nothing will delay the Day of Judgment. Like that final. The question is only are we prepared? Or
are we too busy playing?
		

			Imagine that a news reporter tells you that a huge storm is coming. Imagine that you were told that
unless you seek shelter.
		

			You and your family would be destroyed. What would we do? If we really believe that a storm is
coming? We would run to shelter right?
		

			Only a person who didn't believe the forecast would continue playing and ignore the countless
warnings only if you thought it was a lie.
		

			Only if you didn't really believe.
		

			But how could someone know really know that a storm is about to hit and do absolutely nothing to
protect themselves and those they loved?
		

			Would anyone really say I'm actually too busy hanging out? I'm too busy on my phone or on Facebook
to run to shelter.
		

			I'd rather check this guy's Facebook page, then protect myself from the storm. No one would say
that. And yet, every single time that we put off our prayers, we put off wearing hijab, we put off
giving up dating put off giving up are poisonous Bad Company put off abandoning alcohol or drugs.
This is exactly what we're saying.
		

			The fact that we cannot leave these out on things, the fact that we insist I will never give up
alcoholic drinks. I will never give up illegal sexual *. I will never giving up smoking
hookah or pot or *. I will never give up dating and all the so called pleasures associated
with it. The fact that our worship has become only a burden is a sign that there's a problem
internally.
		

			There is a problem with our site. We don't really see the storm coming.
		

			We don't really see the Day of Judgment.
		

			We haven't purified and rectified the lump of flesh that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
spoke about and as a result, the rest of our bodies, the rest of our actions, the rest of our lives
have become corrupted. We don't really see a law with our hearts. And we haven't built our love for
him. We haven't really used our hearts for the very purpose for which it was created, to know to
serve and to love Allah subhanaw taala. Remember that the first verses revealed were not about Fatah
and Helen. They were not about dating or drinking or smoking or pot. They were about the fact that
as a matter of certainty, just as certain as I am standing in front of you today that you and I will
		

			meet our maker. You and I will stand in front of Allah and we will be asked
		

			what did you love most in this world?
		

			What did you spend your life doing? What did you run after? will it last? The things that you chase?
Will they last? Will they help you? Or will they hurt you when the illusion of this life has passed,
		

			and yet sometimes, the illusion of this life seeps into our hearts. And if you allow dunya to own
your heart, like the ocean that owns the boat, it will take over, you will sink down to the depths
of the sea, you will touch the ocean floor. And you will feel as though you are at the lowest point
in trapped by your sins and the love of this life, you will feel broken, surrounded by darkness.
That's the amazing thing about the floor of the ocean. No light reaches it.
		

			But this dark place is not the end. Remember that the darkness of night precedes the dawn. And as
long as your heart still beats, this is not the death of it. You don't have to die here. Sometimes
the ocean floor is only a stop on your journey. And it's when you're at your lowest point that you
are faced with a choice. You can stay there at the bottom until you drown. Or you can gather pearls
and rise back up stronger from the swim and richer from the jewels. If you seek Him, Allah can raise
you up and replace the darkness of the ocean with the light of his son.
		

			He can transform what was once your greatest weakness into your greatest strength and a means of
growth, purification and redemption. Know that transformation sometimes begins with a fall.
		

			So never curse the fall. The ground is where humility lives. Take it, learn it, breathe it in and
then come back stronger humbler and more aware of your need for him. Come back having seen your own
nothingness and his greatness. Know that if you have seen that reality, you have seen much for the
one who is truly deceived, is the one who sees his own self, but not Allah.
		

			Deprived is the one who has never witnessed his own desperate need for Allah subhana wa Tada.
reliance on his own means he forgets that the means his own soul and everything else in existence
are a law's creation. So seek Allah to bring you back. For when he does, he will rebuild your ship.
The heart that you thought was forever damaged, will be mended. What was shattered can be whole
again. Know that only he can do this. So seek Him.
		

			And when he saves you beg forgiveness for the fall. feel remorse over it but do not despair. As if
no Chi em Rahim Allah said shaytaan rejoice when Adam alayhis salam came out of paradise. But he did
not know that when a diver sinks into the sea. He collects pearls and then rises again.
		

			There is a powerful and amazing thing about Toba repentance and turning back to Allah subhanaw taala
we are told that it's a Polish for the heart. What's amazing about a Polish is that it doesn't just
clean it makes the object that is polished, even shinier than it was before it got dirty. If you
come back to Allah subhanaw taala seek His forgiveness and refocus your life and your heart on him.
You have the potential to be even richer than if you had never fallen at all.
		

			Sometimes falling and coming back up gives you wisdom and humility that you may never otherwise have
had. If known km Rahim Allah writes, one of the seller said, indeed a servant commits a sin by which
he enters paradise, and another does a good deed by which he enters the fire. It was asked How is
that? So he replied, the one who committed the sin constantly thinks about it, which causes him to
fear it. weep over it, regret it and feel ashamed in front of his Lord due to it
		

			He stands before Allah brokenhearted, and with his head lowered in humility. So this sin is more
beneficial to him than doing many acts of obedience since it caused him to have humility and
humbleness, which leads to the servants happiness and success. To the extent that this sin becomes
the cause for him entering paradise, as for the door of good, then he does not consider this good a
favor from his Lord upon him. Rather, he becomes arrogant and amazed with himself saying, I have
achieved such and such and such and such. So this further increases him in self adulation, pride and
arrogance, such that he this becomes the cause of his destruction.
		

			Allah subhanaw taala reminds us in the end to never lose hope.
		

			And so this is a call to all those who have become enslaved by the tyranny of the self, imprisoned
in the dungeon of the neffs and desires. It's a call to all those who have entered the ocean of
dunya who have sunk into its depths and become trapped by it's crushing waves. Rise up, rise up to
the air to the real world, above the prison of the ocean, rise up to your freedom, rise up and come
back to life. Leave the depths of your soul behind, your heart can still live and be stronger and
pure than it ever was. Does not the Polish of Toba make the heart even more beautiful than it was?
Remove the veil you have sown with your sins, remove the veil between you and Allah.
		

			Remove the veil and rise up, come back to yourself, come back to where you began. Come back home.
Know that when all other doors have shut in your face. There is one that is always open. Always seek
it, seek Him and He will guide you through the waves of the cruel ocean into the mercy of the sun.
		

			Realize that this world cannot break you unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless
you handed the keys unless you give it your heart.
		

			And so if you have handed those keys to dunya for a while, take it back. This isn't the end. You
don't have to die here. reclaim your heart and place it with its rightful owner. Place it with Allah
subhanaw taala
		

			brothers and sisters we need to come back to Allah before it's too late. Don't let shaitan deceive
you into believing that your sins are too great for Him to forgive. Allah says cool Yeah, a baddie
and levena Ashraf, who eila unfussy him lair talkin octoman Rahmatullah inala Hayato phyllodes the
new batch amihan in the whole photo, Rahim say all my servants who have transgressed against
themselves by sending do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed,
it is he who is the Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
		

			What any boo ihlara become Wesley mula Min khopoli, a Tia qumola daboo, from Latin Salam.
		

			And return in repentance to your Lord, and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you. And
then you will not be helped. Brothers and sisters, the storm is coming. Seek refuge in the only
place that refuge exists, seek refuge in Allah. You and I only know the day we were born, but none
of us know the day we will die.
		

			And so many of us think that we can live our lives however we want. And then at the time of death,
just c'est la ilaha illAllah. But at the time of death, the tongue cannot speak except with the
heart commands, whatever is in the heart will come out. If we don't remember Allah during our life,
how will we remember him during our death?
		

			If our heart was full of love of this life, love of status, love of wealth, love of the creation
over the Creator. It is that which will speak if the heart was full of grudges, jealousy, hatred,
that will speak but if it was full of the love of Allah, that will
		

			Speak. If in your life, your heart carried only La ilaha illa Allah, that truly there is no refuge,
no shelter, no deity worthy of worship but him. Then and only then will the tongue be given
permission to say, let ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasulullah Allahumma dynamin home or settimane comme
Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh