Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 23
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The history of Islam is discussed, including the infamous "naive al-Folod's death and "naive al-Folod's actions." The "naive al-Folod's actions include infamous "naive al-Folod's actions," "naive al-Folod's actions," and "naive al-Folod's actions." The "naive al-Folod's actions include the infamous "naive al-Folod's actions" and "naive al-Folod's actions," which is the possession of "ib inform" meaning the person who is the servant of the king. The "naive al-Folod's actions" are the possession of "nawarches meaning the person who is the servant of the king, and the "naive al-Folod's actions" are the possession of "nawarches meaning the person who is the servant of the king. The speakers emphasize the
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Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulullah.
Last night we completed the 24th Juz, which
comprised of Surat al-Zumar, Surat al-Mu'min,
also known as Surat al-Ghafir, and Surat
al-Fusilat.
Today, inshallah, I'm just going to be talking
about a few verses from Surat al-Zumar,
which talk about the huge mercy of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and how He likes
to forgive.
Ramadan is a time in which we turn
in repentance to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and ask Him to forgive us our sins
with the intention of making and changing our
lives for the better after Ramadan and not
just being pious in Ramadan and then forgetting
about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala afterwards.
So this is an ideal time to make
tawbah and repent.
It is mentioned that Wahshi ibn Harb, he
came to the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam
and asked him whether Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala was going to forgive him or not.
Wahshi ibn Harb was the person who was
sent by Hind ibn Utbah to kill the
uncle of the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam,
Hamza radiyallahu ta'ala.
And he did so in the battle of
Uhud.
And not only did he kill him, but
he also took out his entrails, his liver,
and his insides and he brought them back
to Hind to prove that he had been
killed.
So ultimately he wanted to make tawbah, he
wanted to become Muslim, but he was afraid
that the sin that he had committed, it
would not be forgiven.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals some
very special verses in which he addresses his
slaves, all his slaves.
And he says, Qul ya ibadi, tell them
oh Prophet of Allah, oh my slaves.
So this, first of all, the concept of
slavery in this country, it has been tainted
with the history of slavery.
Because of the bad way that slavery was
conducted and how slaves were brought into this
country.
So there is kind of a negative connotation
related to that.
But the concept of the slave in Islam,
and when we say the slave of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is because you
are full time in the obedience and submission
and subservience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's why a person is called a slave.
When we say ibadah in Arabic, this word
ibadah is derived from the word abd.
And many people just assume that ibadah is
a ritual thing that you do, which is
of course an obedience to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
But ibadah is much more than that.
Ibadah is making yourself a slave of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and subservient to him
24 hours a day.
That's what ibadah is and that's why it's
derived from the word abd, the same root
letters.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala calls us
slaves.
The other thing is that when the ibadah
is done towards something great, ibadah meaning to
show possession towards something great, then the one
who is the mubaf becomes great because of
that.
So say for example you say the word
servant or a worker.
So a servant, okay he's a servant, he's
a worker, employee.
But if you say that he's an employee
of the king, automatically this ibadah, this possession,
it changes the employee, the servant into being
a very important and noble servant.
Not just a regular servant but the servant
of the king.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here, he
has made ibadah to himself and he said
my slaves.
You're not anybody else's slaves, you're my slaves.
So honoring the slave and the servant and
elevating his status by making this ibadah to
himself.
Oh my slaves, tell them oh my slaves.
Those that have transgressed against themselves.
Just because you committed a sin, it doesn't
mean that I've forgotten about you, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is saying.
And it doesn't mean that you cannot come
back to me.
This is again the height of the mercy
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That the person for whom this verse is
revealed, he's being arrested.
Who's committed such a huge sin as the
murder of the uncle of the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
So those slaves, those are my slaves that
have transgressed against themselves.
Do not despair from the mercy of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So a person should never lose hope.
Once he has committed a sin, he should
always turn in repentance to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
A person should never become despondent, a person
should never think that Allah is never going
to forgive me.
There are many sins that people commit and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive them
if the repentance, if the tawbah is sincere.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says indeed Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive the sins.
And to stress what kind of sins, he
doesn't limit them and he says jamee'an.
Jamee'an, this is a word of ta
'keed, emphasis.
Which means everything, everything that a person wants
to make tawbah from and take repentance from
and ask forgiveness from.
Allah will forgive those sins.
Indeed he is forgiving and merciful.
Turn to your Lord.
Inaba, it is part of tawbah, to return
back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's from the word nawbah, to make a
turn after turn.
Turn back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Submit yourself to him.
Submit yourself, become a complete Muslim.
Submit yourself to the command of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Before a punishment comes.
So there is a time for the tawbah
to take place.
And the tawbah for a person is before
ma lam yugharghar.
yugbalu tawbatul abd, ma lam yugharghar.
That the tawbah of a person is accepted
as long as his soul is not being
removed from his body.
So before that a person has to make
tawbah.
If he sees malakul mawt, he sees the
angel of death coming to him.
And he says, now I am making tawbah,
it's too late.
The tawbah is not for the person who
sees the angel of death and says, I
made tawbah now.
The tawbah, the repentance has to be made
much earlier than that.
So before a punishment comes to you from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you will
not be helped.
wattabi'u ahsana ma unzila ilaykum min rabbikum
min qabli an ya'tiakumul a'tabu baghta wa antum
la tash'uroon.
So in the previous ayah, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says, there are three steps.
Anibu, make tawbah to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, go back to him.
Aslimu lahu, submit yourself to him.
And the third thing here Allah says, that
follow the good that was revealed to you
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which was
the Quran.
Follow the Quran to the letter, before a
punishment suddenly comes to you, wa antum la
tash'uroon, and you don't even realise it.
And then Allah goes into describing the different
things that a person, the different feelings and
the psychologies that a person has, or the
excuses that a person has, when he is
faced with this punishment, if he has not
made tawbah.
So one is, an taqoola nafsun ya hasrata,
ala ma farrattu fee janbi Allah, wa in
kuntu la minassakhireen.
The first thing a person will say is,
ya hasrata, woe unto me.
Ala ma farrattu, because of the deficiency I
displayed, fee janbi Allah, in the sight of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Meaning, I didn't try to get close to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Wa in kuntu la minassakhireen.
And I remained a person who continued joking
and ridiculing the religion.
So this is the first thing that a
person will say.
I wish that I had not wasted my
time in ridiculing and making fun of the
religion.
Aw taqoola law anna Allaha hadani, la kuntu
minal muttaqeen.
Or a person is going to say, if
Allah had guided me, then I would have
been from the people of taqwa.
So again, even at that time, instead of
blaming himself, he blames Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
That Allah didn't guide me, what am I
supposed to do?
So this is again a level of arrogance
that people have.
That they blame everything on Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and don't take self-responsibility for
their actions.
So Allah guides people for those people who
want guidance and seek guidance.
If people don't want guidance and they are
insisting upon committing disobedience and staying in kufr
and shirk, Allah will not give guidance to
them.
And this is the concept of tawfiq.
When we say, we ask Allah to give
us tawfiq to do something, what that means
is, we will embark upon doing that thing.
We will start, we will take the first
steps.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
make the way easy for the person.
فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَاتَّقَىٰ وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَةِ فَسَنُ يَسِّرُهُ
لِلْيُسْرَةِ The person who gives, has taqwa and
he believes in the truth, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says, we will make the way
towards yusra, jannah, easy for him.
But the main thing is, stepping up to
the plate and doing what you are supposed
to be doing.
And not waiting for guidance to come.
A person needs to seek guidance and he
needs to be active in finding it.
اَوْ تَقُولَ حِينَ تَرَىٰ الْعَذَابَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِي
كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ The third type of
person is going to say, when he sees
the punishment, لو أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً If only
I had another chance.
It is mentioned in many places in the
Quran, that when the angel of death comes
to people, they are going to ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, oh Allah give me
some more time.
Give me a little bit more, a few
more days, a few more months, so that
I can turn to you, I can make
tawbah to you, I can give sadaqa, I
can do good deeds, and I can prepare
myself for the hereafter.
But obviously, now, it is too late.
اِفَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةُهُمْ وَلَا يَسْتَقْتِمُونَ
So, the third person will say, when he
sees the punishment, لو أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ
مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ If I had another chance, then
I would be the ones who perfect their
religion completely.
I'll be a perfect person if I get
this chance.
So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds to
that and said, بَلَا فَجَاءَتْكَ آيَاتِي فَكَذَّبْتَ بِهَا
وَاسْتَكْبَرْتَ وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ There were three things
that you did.
Indeed, my signs came to you.
My signs, they came to you.
The Prophet came to you.
The Messenger came to you.
The people in the masjid, the imam, the
good people, the pious people, your parents, they
reminded you again and again.
فَكَذَّبْتَ بِهَا You denounced them, denied them, rejected
them.
وَاسْتَكْبَرْتَ And you continued to be arrogant.
وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ And you became from the
kafirin.
Kafirin can mean either disbelievers or the ungrateful
ones.
So, basically Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He
has, first of all, opened up the door
of tawbah and said that repentance is accepted
from everybody and anybody if their repentance is
sincere.
And that tawbah will be accepted as long
as the time of death does not come
and after which people will start making excuses
and at that time it will be too
late.
So now is the time for tawbah.
Now is the time for repentance.
This month of Ramadan is going on.
And we need to think about so many
people.
We just announced today somebody's death.
So many people that I've heard of in
this month.
At least three or four people that were
in their forties.
In the prime of their youth you would
say.
Very young age that have passed away in
this month alone.
They go and they leave a lesson for
us.
So, we need to make sure that the
few days that we have left we are
utilizing them to the best of our ability.
Making sure we are turning to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and making life-changing decisions
about where we want to go and how
we want to lead our life.
And this is basically what tawbah is.
This is what turning to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is.
The word tawbah, it means to return.
Return back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Returning back to Him where we should be
in the first place.
So, this is something that we need to
be considering and thinking about in these last
few days of Ramadan.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives us tawfiq to understand and practice what
has been said and heard.
Ameen.
Assalamu alaikum.