Yusuf Estes – Repentance

			Bismillah Al Hamdulillah you're watching way of the Muslim defining the Muslim character. I'm your
host, Yusuf estus. And during the upcoming episodes, we want to talk in detail about the teachings
of Islam, particularly with regard to the character of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be
upon him, and what's called a de, or his sayings and teachings.
		

			While we're doing this, we're going to be covering a morass of various different aspects of the
human personality, bringing out the qualities, the various facets that will help us to be a better
person here in this life. And of course, to gain a better position in the next life. Let's begin by
mentioning a few of the topics and some of the Hadeeth. And then in other programs, we'll go into
more detail on all of these inshallah.
		

			First of all, we'll begin by mentioning in the Quran, the status of Muhammad sallallaahu salam, and
what Allah tells us about him, and how he is our role model. Let's listen. Allah says, surely there
is for you. The best example, in the Messenger of Allah is talking about Muhammad sites now, for
whoever seeks the pleasure of Allah in the last day, and remembers Allah often. So if I want to be
of those who want to please a law, and I would like to be with those people who are going to be in
that paradise. What do I need to do, I need to follow this verse, that he is my role model. This is
my example. The Prophet peace be upon him said, I have been sent only for the purpose of perfecting
		

			good morals.
		

			Now, here's another saying of Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, he said, there is nothing which is heavier
on the balance than good character.
		

			All of this is bringing us to the point that we know that he's the example. And we must work on our
character to develop ourselves. And how important is that today.
		

			If we look to the condition of the Muslims everywhere, we realized that there really are a lot of
problems, a lot of them could be solved simply by looking at ourselves and seeing what we're doing
or not doing, and realize what Islam is teaching us. And then make these corrections and
adjustments. It can be done on all levels by all people, I myself, an elder person in the in the
room, and then for the Muslims.
		

			I have my things that I need to work on, our youngsters, our youth, they have things they need to
work on. But all of us need to come together on this one aspect, which is that we have to follow the
way the teaching of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him developing our good character, and our
morals.
		

			One keep in mind something though, that's very important is that we do this for the sake of a law,
not for the purpose of showing off, as you will see, in some of the programs coming up, we're going
to talk in detail about what happens to the people who show off. But just for now, I want to mention
that this in Arabic is called Ria, or showing off for the purpose of other than what it's apparent.
It's called eye service, or hypocrisy. And dissimulation. From the point of view of Islamic
jurisprudence of the Sharia, it means to perform those deeds or acts that are normally pleasing to a
law. But the intention is to please other than the law.
		

			So these righteous deeds are done for worldly gain. They have been transformed into evil deeds, and
they're not going to be acceptable to a lot
		

			because this Ria is one of the most powerful of such factors and it subtleness makes it among the
most dangerous and difficult to diagnose
		

			means that when we do things for other than a lot, but they we know a lot like some what will
happen, these things are not going to be acceptable to law because that's not the intent behind.
		

			If a person prays, we know this is something a lot loves for you to pray, but if they're doing it so
that people see you pray and say oh, Mashallah, look at this man. He's praying. And that's the
reason you did it. And the lights and more than if a person didn't brave because he's not doing it
for a walk. He's just showing off and doing this.
		

			It's Omar rhodiola, who I know who gives us this insight by quoting from the Prophet Muhammad, peace
and blessings be upon him. And then this particular quotation, you're going to hear something
amazing, because it's so beautiful. It solves more than just this idea of showing off it even
		

			helps us to understand something called predestination or the clutter of a law.
		

			Omar al Fatah, even Al Khattab says, and this is the first Deacon say Bukhari innama, another Binya,
that every person's actions are going to be graded or rewarded according to the intention.
		

			And every person is going to have what they intended for.
		

			Now this is recorded in, say Buhari, and it's a Muslim, and I will download. All of these are very
trustworthy collections of teachings of Muhammad Salah life Salaam, with authentic narrations. And
from this, we learn several points. First of all, that what I'm doing, I do it for a law then allows
going to be the reward for someone or do it for other than a law, then who is going to give me a
reward for it. That's the point. It also gives us another aspect that is about predestination. Some
people will ask you in Islam, you guys believe in predestination that Allah has already written
what's going to happen? You say, Yeah, that's true. That's what we believe. They've Well, how is
		

			this? Then if everything's already written, then how would I be held accountable or responsible for
my deeds? But a law is the one who has already ordained, so to speak, what I'm going to do? How does
that become fair? Why should I get punished or rewarded for that matter, for these actions, when
it's really a law who is causing it to happen?
		

			This explains the whole thing. You're not being judged on the outcome, you're going to be judged on
what your intention was. So if good happens, but you didn't really intend it to be good, it just
happened, then how should you be rewarded for it? Likewise, if there is a bad result, but you didn't
intend that that wasn't your purpose, then why should you be punished for it? Naturally, we realize
that in human law, there are going to be things that you'll be punished for even you said, it's not
my fault, that human law, but when we talk about a laws law, what he is ordained, he's not going to
punish you for something that you didn't intend to do. And this really helps us to understand.
		

			There's more about that coming up in our successive programs, too. But I don't want to spoil all the
surprises, I just want to give you a little taste of what's coming up.
		

			It's also narrated on the short on the authority of Abu Zubaydah hoodie, he says that the Prophet
sighs, peace be upon him, said in a hood, but this was in the hood over there, which means the
fellow farewell sermon, he said that Allah will bless whoever hears these words, and whoever
understands them. For it may be that those who pass on this knowledge are not those who will
understand it the best. There are three things concerning which the heart of the believer should
feel no enmity or malice, devoting one's actions to law, giving counsel to the amounts of the
Muslims, and being loyal to the majority.
		

			Specifically, here, this is telling you that Allah is going to bless those who listen to the words
of the prophets of Islam. So we have high regard for those companions of Muhammad, peace and
blessings be upon him, who understood this. And then they endeavored to pass that knowledge on to
others exactly what we have here is from those people who heard and understood it and passed it on.
But he also is showing and expressing the hope that some of the people in future generations are
going to understand it even more. And certainly that has happened over the 1400 years since the
passing of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu ala, many scholars have come along with more understanding
		

			and developing more facets of the diamond or the gem of Islam. All of this leads us to understand
that it's not a dead religion in that it happened a long time ago, and it's just blahs a no, as a
matter of fact, today, Islam is more alive, maybe then even in some of the previous centuries, we
find the Muslims everywhere, going out and trying to get more knowledge and trying to act on it. In
fact, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. And why would it be so even with a
lot of negative propaganda going on, if there wasn't something in it that's worth this effort from
people. And certainly, I'm one of those people who has done that. And I can tell you that this is
		

			good teaching, that we work on this knowledge to develop our character. It said there are three
things concerning which the heart of a believer should have no emnity or malice, that is devoting
your actions to a law. We talked about that giving counsel to moms of the Muslims and being loyal to
the majority, and we speak about that in some of the upcoming programs. I hope you take the time to
		

			Do these programs because when we come to the subject of obedience to the leaders of the Amir's and
dealing with the problems that some of the leaders of Muslims have, you'll be amazed how the Prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him, gave us this insight. And actually the orders on what to
do when these events take place, because he clearly predicted the very situation that we would be in
today, and what would happen and how we can resolve it. So you want to be sure and catch these
episodes as they come up.
		

			Now, here's another one I want to share with you.
		

			This is discussing the subject of the Antichrist. A lot of people don't know that we as Muslims,
believe in Jesus peace be upon him as being the Messiah, and that he in fact, is going to be coming
back in the last days, and there's going to be an antichrist, the false messiah. And we want to
share a little bit about that right now. And it's on the authority of Abu Sayid, who reports that
the Prophet peace and blessing be upon him, came upon us while we were discussing the Antichrist.
And he said, should I inform you of that which I fear for you even more than the dangers of the
Antichrist? He said, it is the hidden shark. Shark means associating partners with a law, as we'll
		

			learn in episodes coming up, a law says in the Koran, he does not forgive shirk, associating
partners with him in worship, but anything less than that he can forgive it. You'll find this in
chapter four on this. This is something very important because it means I can be forgiven for a lot
of stuff out here, but not that there's some conditions of being forgiven. repentance and salvation,
Islam as well, as we're going to also notice in our upcoming programs, but specifically, he's
talking about this hidden shark, because he says, I'm going to continue, he says, a person stands to
make their Salah or pray. And he beautifies his prayer, because he sees people watching him.
		

			Want to tell you about some This is a story we have in Islam, about this very subject.
		

			There are some people watching a boy pray, and while he's praying, he's noticing they're watching.
So he begins to really amplify what he's doing. To the extent that the people are saying, Oh, look
at this guy. He's really doing this and he's doing so and so much more much Allah when he finishes
his prayer he says salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa salam aleikum wa Taala then he points to itself
and he says, and I'm fasting do
		

			there's a good lesson for us to realize not only lost the severity loses the past because usually
doing it for he's doing for other people. shaitaan comes to us and gets us to do that from time to
time. So we want to avoid that too. And we're gonna take a break, we're gonna come back, we're gonna
continue talking on this subject, insha Allah, on how to better develop our character in the way of
Muslim
		

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah we're back, you're watching where the Muslim defining the Muslim character.
For a segment of this episode, we spoke on the subject of what is going to be involved in our
program and how to develop our character to become better Muslims. We talked about what Allah has
said in the Quran, about Prophet Muhammad SAW Islam being a role model for us. We spoke about what
he said about he's been sent as an example. And there's so much emphasis on the character and the
moral situation for the Muslim talking about what our programs are going to be dealing with. We
spoke about intentions being very important in Islam, and not showing off. I want to pick up from
		

			where we left off and then and something that I want to speak about some things a lot tells us in
the plan. Give us our topic for today before we finish up, so let's get started. A lot the exalted
This is the prophet SAW Salaam telling us that a loss, the Exalted will say to those who dealt in
reality, the showing off, rather than doing something for a law, that when he is taken into account
on the
		

			Day of Judgment, people's deeds, go to those whom you used to show off for and see what kind of
reward you can get from them.
		

			Whoa, imagine on the Day of Judgment, that here I am, and I'm thinking, Oh, my God, you know, I've
got all these problems in front of me now. And here's the biggest problem all that I'm being asked
by law. You remember when you showed off for all these people go get your reward from them, because
they're the ones that you did it for.
		

			Have another one here?
		

			The sun the authority of Abu huraira, he says that whoever gains any knowledge that should be
learned for the sake of the law, but the intention, or the benefit for it is that he would do it for
other than the law, then he will not even smell the fragrance of the paradise on the day judgment.
So this is really important too, because we hope that this show this program we're doing right now
will be a source of knowledge too. So and you're watching the program. So as you're learning, you
want to be using this brain of yours to realize they take this information, not to show up for other
people, but to benefit and develop your own character, just as we're trying to do while we're making
		

			the program. So
		

			now let's come to what Allah has said,
		

			in the Quran in surah, Chapter 24, verse 31, Allah is talking here and a very specific subject. But
then here's a general term within the ayah it says, and turn you all together in repentance to a
law, all believers that you will be successful.
		

			Amazing, I'm going to repeat it, and turn you all together in repentance to a law, all believers
that will be successful.
		

			Now I want to repeat it again, and turn you all together in repentance to a lot of believers, that
you will be successful. Now, why did I repeat that I said it three times. Because we're going to
learn in some of the programs coming up. That is something that prophet SAW alive. So I'm used to do
when there was an important point, he used to repeat it three times. Now we'll come to the next
verse of the law. It says here, the translation, the meaning of law, saying surely Allah loves those
who turn to Him in repentance, and loves those who purify themselves. This is in Surah Baqarah. And
if you go by the numbers like some of us in the West do, it's chapter two, verse two to two. So you
		

			got all twos all the way across there, go look it up, take some time to read your Quran. And by the
way, that's one of the best character development sources that I know of, is to go to the Quran and
spend time with every day. Because as you read the Quran and reflect on what Allah is saying, then
when you look to these hudy, to back it up and interpret so you can understand it better, really
will help you so much.
		

			And Allah is telling us so clear, gonna repeat it again, that surely Allah loves those who turned to
him and repentance, and he loves those who purify themselves. Surely Allah loves those who turned to
him in repentance, and he loves those who purify themselves. Islam is having something amazing in
it. It's called Toba. Toba or repentance is a very critical part of Islam. It's very beautiful,
because it explains what real salvation is all about. salvation in Islam doesn't come through some
form of magic, or some little formula or a pill that you can take. It comes through something very
important. It's to do something here, do something here and do something here. The first is to
		

			recognize that I've made mistakes, then physically acknowledge that and then start cleaning the
harp. And all of that together is considered repentance or Tobin, in Islam
		

			was so important. By the way, there's chapter nine of the Quran
		

			is called sir to Toba, repenting for repentance. It's very important.
		

			Now the Prophet peace be upon him said Allah is more delighted with the repentance of one of his
servants, more than any of you would be who would suddenly find his camel laden with supplies after
losing it in a barren land.
		

			Like to amplify that one for you for just a minute let you think about this. Imagine a man who is
out in the desert. He's got his camera loaded up with all of his supplies, and he gets down for some
reason. And then when he turns he finds his candle ran away. How would he feel devastated? Because
in the desert without supplies, pretty much you're dead. Dead in the water, as they say, without any
water. And now here comes the camel back. He's the camel returns back to you. How do you feel? You
are elated? This is amazing. You're happy, right? Okay.
		

			Listen again. He said salesa Allah is more delighted with the repentance of his servant than one of
you would be who suddenly finds his camel laden with supplies after he lost it in a barren land.
		

			No, it's interesting from a linguistic point of view, the term used hear about it animal turning
back to you
		

			Because the word Toba indicates a turning back as it were repenting or turning back to a law.
		

			I think that makes it pretty clear what salvation is about in Islam. But just in case you didn't get
it all, we got a little bit more on the same topic.
		

			He The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said, If you don't commit sins, then Allah would
sweep you out of existence and replace you by another people who would commit sins, and then ask for
a law's forgiveness. And he would forgive them.
		

			This is narrated in Sahih Muslim, this is an amazing statement, I want you to think about that. If
you didn't commit any sins. First of all, you wouldn't be a human being would you, you'd be an
angel, because they don't commit sins. But when you commit sins, you're actually fulfilling
something. And this is explaining right here, allow would sweep you out of existence, and then
replace you with another people who would commit sins, and they would repent to him, and then he
would forgive them. And this is a part of our understanding of why we're here and why we go through
this life before we go on to the next life. Also, why there's punishment, and why there's reward.
		

			Here's another one, he said, Oh, people turn to a law in repentance and seek His forgiveness, for
surely I am repent to him more than 100 times a day.
		

			Now imagine if the profitable law is turning to alarm repenting asking for a loss forgiveness 100
times a day.
		

			That's, I want to do more than that. Because I'm worse, I know than any profit. How could this be?
Let's listen to it again. He said Oh, people turn to a lawn repentance and seek His forgiveness, for
surely I make repentance 100 times a day.
		

			Then he says also regarding repentance, repentance, we're gonna mention this is such an act of
worship, that doing it can totally erase our sins all together. Because the prophets Hassan said,
Whoever repents from sin is like a person without sin.
		

			Whoever repents from the sin is like a person without sin. Now, you might wonder, wait a minute,
wait a minute, this sounds a little too easy. But is it really that easy? It'd be so easy. Why don't
we do it? Why don't we stop sinning? Ask for a loss, forgiveness, and repent to him. Why don't we do
that? Because of RI R, which we mentioned earlier, the showing off. So now we see the tie in here
with this. What happens to us we start out a lot of times with good intentions. But then along the
way, we begin to show off, and then is showing off, we lose the beautiful connection here between
our good deeds and a law. So what happens they become rejected. And the only way to overcome this is
		

			through repentance, regardless of what the sin might be. Some people might say, well, this is only a
minor sin. Maybe somebody said, I just smoked cigarette, somebody might say, well, golly, I just
drink a little bit of alcohol. Or somebody else said, I just told a little small lie. And
everybody's looking at everybody else, like you're worse than me. You're worse than me, this guy did
that he did that I didn't do any of those things. So, so you don't repent, do you?
		

			Let us take another lesson from the Quran itself. When we find that when Allah speaks of how he
created Adam in the best of molds, the best form, and this was his best creation. And he ordered all
the rest of creation bow down because of my great creation here of Adam.
		

			And all creation bowed down, except the beliefs. The devil himself refused to bow down in front of a
law, because he says I'm better than him. And it's exactly the problem. The react came out of him.
This showing off of I'm better, I'm better than him. He's created from this murder dirt, and I'm
created from something called smokeless fire. I'm better than him. So he refused to bow down.
		

			And by the way, that's still his problem until this day, the devil refuses, refuses to back down to
a law because of the creation of Adam.
		

			Then what did the devil ask for? He didn't turn in repentance and say, Oh, I'm sorry, I made a
mistake. Give me another chance. No.
		

			He used his, if you will, or his supplication to allow him to ask for something else. He said Just
let me influence this atom and all of his offspring, coming to them from every possible direction,
above below and all around them so that I can get them
		

			To show you that they're not worthy of their status that you're giving them, and take them all to
* with me. And a lot of granted in that, that if somebody would like to follow the shutdown the
devil in this, then if they do that, that's their problem. So we have a choice, you're not every
day, and all the things that we do, we have a choice, and our gave us that. And that's the purpose
of our life here. That's why we're here on this earth is not to get rich, it's not to become famous.
The purpose of our life here is discover who we are and become better as human beings, being
responsive to this great moral code set forth by the prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon
		

			him. This is our duty. This is our obligation to work on our character, to learn how we can define
ourselves as better human beings. In our series, this series of the way of the Muslim we endeavor to
do exactly that to correct ourselves and at the same time, hope that everybody can benefit from it.
Until next time, is used the fastest. It can go off for all of us a guidance to the success army.
salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.