Friday Khutbah (23/5/2003) delivered by Shaykh Muhammad Taher
DISCLAIMER: This reminder was originally delivered in Arabic. Any meanings lost in translation are not to be attributed to the speaker as reminders are translated by volunteers. The mosque has no official translater and volunteers often have no formal qualifications to translate on the day. Please forgive any errors as they are from our human weakness and any right guidance is from Allah.Indeed all praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His aid and ask His
forgiveness. We seek shelter in Allah from the evil of our own souls and the
evil of our own actions. Whoever Allah has guided then no one can misguide him
and whoever Allah has caused to be misguided then no one can guide him.
I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone and
I bear witness that Muhammad is his slave and messenger, may the peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him, his family and all of the righteous. Amin.
To proceed, …
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
To find perfection in the human being is impossible and infallibility is for Prophets and Messengers, with regard to what they inform us from the Lord of the Worlds, as Allah, the Exalted says in the Quran,
“And the human being was created weak” (4:28)
No matter how strong his body becomes, he is weak as when he faces the desires and appetites of his own soul, we see him crumble with no strength nor ability to resist. As such, our Lord, the Most Compassionate, is most knowledgeable regarding His creation; He is fully aware of their inability, weakness, deficiencies and their short comings. Consequently, He warns them of His disobedience and His punishment but despite all of this, they still sin and transgress. He knows their weakness as He is the Most Knowledgeable regarding them. As a result, He has opened to them the door of hope for His pardon, mercy, pleasure and forgiveness and invited them to the spaciousness of His generosity and compassion, saying,
“Allah invites to Paradise and forgiveness with His permission.” (2:221)
And He has addressed them in a hadith saying, “O my slaves indeed you commit sins by day and by night but I forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness from Me and I will forgive you.” (Related by Muslim)
Thus deficiency and heedlessness is part of our nature and we commit sins and strive towards disobedience and all the while Satan is on our right and on our left, in front of us and behind us, enticing us and inviting us to commit sins. Therefore we become weak, answer his call and succumb to his invitation and thus become disobedient. After which the ‘accursed one’ says to us,
“I had no power over you except to entice you and you succumbed to me, so do not blame me and blame no one but yourselves.” (14:22)
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is from the greatest gifts of Allah and from His good grace that He invites His slaves to His pardon and forgiveness; not only this but He also follows it with another great bounty: He grants them respite to critically examine their own souls, make amends for their mistakes and correct their state. As He, the Exalted says in the Quran,
“He invites you so that He may forgive you your transgressions and He delays [your death] until an appointed time.” (14:10)
Thus, give glad tidings to those who know that they have a merciful Lord, Who is generous, Who pardons, Who accepts the repentance of those who are regretful, Who overlooks the mistakes of those who stumble when they turn to Him truthfully and sincerely and without losing hope. Indeed, this is what He has ordered His Prophet and those with him when He the Exalted says in the Quran,
“And know [O Muhammad] that there is no deity except Allah so seek forgiveness for your sins and for those of the believers.” (47:19)
And our Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said to us, “If you did not transgress, Allah would remove you and bring a people who do sin and seek forgiveness from Allah the Exalted and he would forgive them.” (Related by Muslim)
So whoever’s hand committed sins, and whoever spoke that which enrages his
Lord and Master by swearing and slander, and whoever walked the path of
disobedience, and whoever spent the night worried, anxious, in discomfort,
miserable, in despair, the world seemingly constricting him despite its
spaciousness, his eyes not enjoying sleep and his mouth not enjoying the taste
of food and drink, as if darkness surrounds him because he has disobeyed his
Lord and committed a prohibited act, then let his heart be opened, his burden
lightened, his worry and anxiety removed and his happiness returned to him by
the statement of his Lord the Most High,
“Say [O Muhammad]: O my slaves who have sinned against their own souls, do not despair from the mercy of Allah - indeed Allah forgives all sins and indeed it is He who is the All Forgiving, the All Merciful.” (39:53)
And are you not overjoyed by the statement of Allah the Most High,
“They are those who if they commit an immorality or transgress against their own souls they remember Allah and ask His forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? [In addition] they do not persist in doing (evil) whilst they are aware of it.” (3:135)
And by His statement,
“And whoever commits an evil act or transgresses against his own soul but then seeks Allah’s forgiveness he will find Allah the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (3:110)
And by His statement,
“And indeed I am the Forgiver of he who repents and believes and performs righteous actions and then was guided.” (20:82)
And by His statement,
“Would you not like it that Allah would forgive you.” (24:22)
And by His statement in a hadith qudsi,
“O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you
for what you have done and I will 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, if you were to come to me with sins as great
as the volume of the earth and were you then to face Me, associating no
partners with Me, I would bring you forgiveness of an equal amount to it.”
(Related by al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal)
Therefore shouldn’t those who have committed sins repent? And shouldn’t those who were saddened by their disobedience be happy? Don’t they see the extent of Allah’s mercy and His forgiveness? So raise your hands in supplication and raise your voice in remembrance of your Lord, open your heart and allow your tongue to say, “O my Lord I have repented to You so accept it from me and have mercy upon me.” And say, “I seek the forgiveness of Allah the Exalted and I have repented unto Him.”
Say it with a truthful tongue and with a sincere and pure heart and make a firm intention to leave all sins and to return to Allah absolutely, as the person who sought forgiveness but did not correct his repentance, then he is a liar and the person who seeks forgiveness for sins while he is still committing them, is as if he is ridiculing his Lord. So be vary of being such a person and be of those whom Allah describes as follows,
“O you who believe, fear Allah and be with those who are truthful.” (9:119)
“O you who believe, repent to Allah with a true and sincere repentance.” (66:8)
And know my dear Brothers and Sisters,
That seeking forgiveness and repentance and being consistent in them is not just the task of sinners and the disobedient but indeed, the people of faith, remembrance and sincerity, also seek forgiveness from Allah a great deal, even after performing the greatest acts of worship. For example, our Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “By Allah, I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him more than 100 times a day.” (Related by al-Bukhari) And on the authority of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said, “We would count the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, saying, ‘O my Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance, indeed you are the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful’ one hundred times in our gatherings.” (Related by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi) And on the authority of al-Agharr al-Muzani, may Allah be pleased with him, who related that the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “Indeed I find heedlessness prevail upon my heart and indeed, I seek Allah’s forgiveness a 100 times a day.” (Related by Muslim)
So remain firm upon this and follow the practice of the best of mankind, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and repent and seek Allah’s forgiveness much, so that your sins may be forgiven and your repentance be accepted.
Our beloved Prophet, the prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has taught us the best way in which to seek Allah’s forgiveness by informing us of a supplication to make, as we find on the authority of Shaddad b. Aws may Allah be pleased with him, who related that the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “The superior prayer for forgiveness is that the slave should say, ‘O Allah, You are my Lord; there is no deity except you. You created me and I am Your slave. I am keeping my pledge and promise to you as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from the evil I have done. I acknowledge the blessings You have bestowed upon me and I confess my sins to you, so forgive me as indeed, no one can forgive sins except You.’ Whoever said this during the day, with surety of faith in it and died before they reached the evening then they will be of the people of Paradise. And whoever said this during the night, with surety of faith in it and died before they reached the morning then they will be of the people of Paradise.”(Related by al-Bukhari)
So seize this great opportunity, learn it and teach it, say it with a truthful heart and mindful tongue.
O Allah, teach us that which benefits us, and benefit us with that which You have taught us and accept it from us, Ya rabb al-Alimin!
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