Sincere Repentance

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said “Whoever says: La ilaha illa Allah (there is no god but Allah) will enter Paradise”.

 

We need to understand that this is the ‘passport’ for entry into Paradise.  We need to also understand that going to paradise is one thing; but when will we actually enter paradise is another matter.  There would be some who would have to go through the Hell fire before they enter Paradise.  Because of their deeds and actions they will have to go to hell first and then through Allah’s Mercy, He will take them out and enter them into Paradise.  However they will be referred to as the Dwellers of Hell.

 

We don’t want to go to hell, no matter how short the stay.  As a result Allah tells us in many places in the Holy Qur’an that we should constantly beg Him for forgiveness.  For example Allah says in Surah Tahriim;

 

O ye who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance: In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which rivers flow, - the Day that Allah will not permit to be humiliated the Prophet and those who believe with Him. Their light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, "Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and grant us forgiveness: for Thou hast power over all things”.  (66:8)

 

Allah is addressing the believers in the ayat.  Allah also tells us in another ayat ‘if Allah were to punish men for their wrong-doing, He would not leave, on the (earth), a single living creature’.

 

No matter how much we try at the end of the day we are all humans and we may still commit mistakes knowingly or unknowingly.  And no matter how much faith we may have today we all have past records and it maynot be as we would want it to be.  As result Allah advises us to constantly repent.

 

Repentance is not just a mechanical exercise or lip service as some say.  It demands sincerity.  Sincerity means that I am truly sorry for the wrong I would have committed and for soiling my soul with black spots.  And if you repent sincerely Allah says in the ayat mentioned above; in the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which rivers flow.

 

Even if you did something wrong don’t let it hinder you from humbling yourself and begging Allah to forgive you.  It’s very easy to make a mistake and Satan has real capacity and power and knows our weak spots and how to work on them.  However one simple thing can nullify all his power and this it ‘I seek refuge in Allah’.

 

Don’t think for example that you can recite plenty Darood or give lots of charity to balance off your wrong deeds.  Try your best to stay away from evil in totality.  We can’t foster good and evil in our hearts at one and the same time.  Keep struggling and working on your nafs and Allah says that He will make our light bright and shinning. 

 

What we do here every Thursday is to firstly seek repentance for our shortcomings and to also strengthen the other dimension of our personality which is to culture our qalb to resonate Allahu.  If you have Allah in your heart, Satan cannot divert you.  It’s a barrier between you and him.  He is always looking to catch you and will use every method possible as Allah has given him permission.

 

The only thing that will pull us through is belief in our Lord.  Today sadly we are seeing that for some people life has no value.  Keep in mind however that those on the straight path, Allah will help and protect them insha Allah.

 

Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said ‘seek forgiveness and repent more than 70 times a day’.  And He is the Messenger of Allah; therefore if he did it we should try our best to do the same.  And we should always pray for those who have gone before us.  Be generous in this matter and you would have done a service to not only your beloved ones but also ourselves as Allah is Most Merciful and would bless us in the process.

 

We need to always be mindful that life is an onward journey and part of our mission is to send goodness before us.  Begin from now and remove any black sports we’ve stained our souls with by sincerely repenting to our Most Compassionate Lord.

 

May Allah enable us with the capacity to always repent to him daily and may He guide us and protect us from the ills facing society insha Allah.

 

The video presentation of this discourse can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/markazalihsaan

 

Double Blessings

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

Allah tells us in the Qur’an about the status of Prophet Muhammad (pboh) regarding his relationship with us.  He says in Surah Imran;

Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an apostle from among themselves.  (3:164)

Allah says that Prophet (pboh), especially for the believers, is a great favour.  You will understand that before his coming no Messenger taught their followers La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah.  Only with Prophet Muhammad (pboh) coming was the declaration of faith completed.

When we look at the mission he was designated to perform it was indeed something special.  On one hand he is the one whom all the previous Messengers preached of his coming.  Besides that it was only with his coming that the direct connection between the creature and The Creator was established, on the night of the Mir’aj.  So his total personality is a favour.

Because his status is special and he is highly favoured, anyone who follows his will naturally be in a higher status than those who just believe in the oneness of Allah.  Possibly because of this Allah is Surah Hadid;

O ye that believe! Fear Allah, and believe in His Messenger, and He will bestow on you a double portion of His mercy: He will provide for you a light by which ye shall walk (straight In your Path), and He will forgive you (your past): for Allah is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful.  (57:28)

Anyone of who tries their best to believe in Allah with full faith and conviction and adheres to the Sunnah of Prophet (pboh) Allah has given the assurance of a twofold amount of blessings and in addition to that Allah will provide us with a light for guidance.

And we can see this in our own lives at times.  In some situations we are saved from accidents etc.  How is this possible?  Your Lord has not left your affairs up to you alone.  Allah will not make your effort go in vain.

Understand and feel confident that we belong to the ummah of Prophet Muhammad (pboh).  The Companionship is a plus to us and in addition if we take path in good Allah will make it easy for us and bless us.

Always be thankful to your lord for joining us in the ummah of His Beloved (pboh), because Allah conferred a great favour on him and if we join in his companionship we too would benefit from that favour.

Continue the struggle to get closer to Allah and His Habeeb (pboh) and insha Allah we will get more blessings from our Lord and a brighter light to aid in guiding us.  May Allah bless us and take care of our affairs.

Success through Salaat

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

In the adhan we say Hayyaa alal falaah.  Translated, it means come to success.  What does success this imply?  And how can observing the salaat lead to success?

 

We know salaat to be an institution and one of the pillars of Islam.  Salaat is very important to a believer because Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said ‘the difference between us and them (the hypocrites) is prayer’.

 

Allah says in surah Ankabuut;

 

and establish regular prayer: for prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt.  (29:45)

 

If you pray your salaat properly, you will get that internal guidance to become a better person.  For example when the first prohibition alcohol was revealed Allah said;

 

O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say.  (4:43)

 

If a person is intoxicated it will take some time for him to get sober.  Thus at the time when this ayat was revealed if the believers wanted to pray salaat they would have had to stay away from alcohol.  And this is just one impact which salaat had in moulding and culturing the lives of believers.

 

And because the institution of salaat has this impact on us Satan would always try to take the people away from salaat.  For example in once it was brought to Prophet Muhammad’s (pboh)  attention that a man had slept the night till morning (after sunrise).  Prophet (pboh) said, “He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated”.

 

Allah says about the successful ones;

 

By the soul, and the proportion and order given to it; and its Enlightenment As to its wrong and its right; - truly he succeeds that purifies it; (91:7-9)

 

In order to attain success we must strive for Tazkiyah nafs; purification our nafs.  Culture it to the point where our thoughts and action would not bring about any black sports on our soul.  And salaat helps in keeping away black spots and at the same time polishes the soul to keep it bright and shinning.

 

The successful ones are those who strive to keep the light of the ruh shining and bright so that it can permeate throughout the entire personality.  If you stay firm on your daily salaat you will definitely see a change on your life.

 

If you want to beautify your faith make sure you have the fundamentals down.  And everyone can perform salaat.  You don’t need to be a scholar and there are no restrictions in terms of place.  The whole earth is a musala, baring the unclean place.

 

Give importance to and be steadfast in performing it.  Allah made it convenient for us.  A lot of people can’t understand why they have problems in their lives.  Salaat is an institution where we can meet out Lord and talk to Him and beg of Him.

 

And we must understand how fortunate we truly are because we are the only ummah to uphold salaat even though all the Messengers use to pray.  Make use of it and do not treat it as a burden.  You think if you set aside time during the day and night to praise and beg you Lord He would forsake you and let you down?

 

Resolve to yourself that you won’t miss any of the fard salaat.  Some people criticize other who just concentrate and pray the fard rakaats alone.  The important thing is that at least they are praying.

 

Humble yourself and do not be like Satan who refused to submit to Allah’s command. May Allah bless us and guide us and always enable us to uphold this blessed institution of salaat, insha Allah.