Monday, November 10, 2014

Strongest Hope for Sinners

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

No one should lose hope in the mercy of Allah. Allah is extremely Forgiving and always Merciful. His mercy is that He leaves the door of forgiveness open for you. He may be angry with you for your transgressions and disobedience but that doesn't mean His compassion is closed.

Well before death arrives, the repentance made from sins, no matter how serious, even from kufr (disbelief) and shirk (ascribing of partners to Allah), gets to be accepted. And by virtue of a genuine tawbah (repentance), all sins will be forgiven. However, if someone were to think of making his tawbah after death on the Day of Judgment, or is simply filled with remorse over what awful things he had done to himself, then, that will bring him no benefit.

Allah Almighty says,
قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّـهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّـهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ﴿٥٣﴾ وَأَنِيبُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَسْلِمُوا۟ لَهُۥ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَكُمُ ٱلْعَذَابُ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ ﴿٥٤﴾ وَٱتَّبِعُوٓا۟ أَحْسَنَ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَكُمُ ٱلْعَذَابُ بَغْتَةً وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ ﴿٥٥﴾ أَن تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَـٰحَسْرَتَىٰ عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطتُ فِى جَنۢبِ ٱللَّـهِ وَإِن كُنتُ لَمِنَ ٱلسَّـٰخِرِينَ ﴿٥٦

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." (53) And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped. (54) And follow the best of what was revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment comes upon you suddenly while you do not perceive, (55) Lest a soul should say, "Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in regard to Allah and that I was among the mockers." (56)
[Qur'an, Az-Zumar 39:53-59]
وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَذُو مَغْفِرَةٍ لِّلنَّاسِ عَلَىٰ ظُلْمِهِمْ ۖ وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَشَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ ﴿٦ ...

...And indeed, your Lord is full of forgiveness for the people despite their wrongdoing, and indeed, your Lord is severe in penalty. (6)
[Qur'an, Ar-Ra'd 13:6]

Allah says in a hadith qudsi:
O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O 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. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.
[Tirmidhi]

Now you have heard you shouldn't lose hope. You are not a goner until you are a goner. Even if your sins are like mountains, Allah is ready to forgive your sins. Turn to Him. What does it mean? Repent and follow the best of what have been revealed to you, the Qur'an. Take from the revelation that can cause you excellence. You learn about du'a, put that in your life. You learn something from the Prophets, put that in your life.

The very act of returning to Allah, after we have committed a wrong, is itself an act of worship that Allah loves.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, taught ‘Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): “Verily tawba (repentance) from sin is regret[ing the action] and seeking forgiveness.” [Bayhaqi]

The internal component is to regret what we have done – whether it is a small lie, a glance at something we shouldn’t be looking at, being heedless or even something greater. The external component is to ask Allah for forgiveness.

‏اللهم إني أعوذ بك من شر ما عملت ومن شر ما لم أعمل‏

Allahumma inni audhu bika min sharri ma 'amiltu, wa min sharri ma lam a'mal

O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the evil of that which I have done and the evil of that which I have not done. [Muslim].

May Allah shower us with His mercy and forgive all our shortcomings and help us worship Him with excellence. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Related Archive
Let's Repent
Weapon of Believers and Power of Istighfar

No comments:

Post a Comment