Sins, Shame and REPENTANCE

Praise be to Allah. I Humbly ask Allah to Raise the rank of Prophet MuHammad, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam, his kind Al and Companions, and to Protect his nation from that which he Fears for it. Aameen.

 

I ask Allah to teach us that which we have Forgotten, to add to our Knowledge, and to grant us the Sincere intentions. I Humbly ask Allah to facilitate for us the routes of goodness that lead to Piety and to Protect us from the routes of all Evil that lead to Hellfire. Aameen.

 

Thereafter,

 

At-Tirmidhiyy related the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said which means: Allah shall Protect one’s face from Hell-Fire in the Hereafter if he protects his Muslim brother from gossip. 

 

Allah said in Surah Saba’, verse 13, that  one would find among the slaves of Allah few that are truly thankful to Allah.  This does not mean that only a few people are Muslim.  It means that the majority of Muslims are not highly pious Muslims. Most Muslims use their endowments to do some sins, and hence they are not truly thankful.

 

If one was to leave out a small sin out of fear of Allah, it is better for him than praying 1000 rak^as from the Sunnah (recommended) rak^as.  (This isn’t referring to obligatory prayers). The person has to avoid doing this Haraam for the sake of Allah Ta^aalaa alone. If he does it because he was shy because of people around him that saw him commit the sin, than this merit doesn’t apply to him. The intention mustbe based on Fear of Allah Ta^aalaa.

 

At the time of our Master ^Umar Ibnul-Khattab, RaDiyyAllahu ^anhu, a man came to him and told him:  “In the Era of Ignorance, I buried my daughter alive, however, at the last moment I took her out. Then Islaam spread, and we became Muslims. Time passed, and then this daughter of mine fornicated and later attempted to commit suicide by slitting her wrists. Afterwards she repented a valid repentance.

Some people came and asked me for her hand in marriage. I told them her story so that I would not cheat them about my daughter.” 

 

^Umar scolded that man and told him:  “You have spread that which Allah ordered covered about your daughter. Let me warn you: If you tell anyone about this story again, I shall punish you in a manner that will make you an example for all the people.” 

 

The Prophet sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam said what means:  ”whoever shames his brother with a sin he repented from, this person will not die before he commits the same” .

 

-This means that Allah will Reveal and Expose this persons shameful (sinful) doings before he dies as well.

 

A very well known story that many may have heard:

 

 

 There was once a scholar who entered Al-Masjidul Haraam. He found a man holding on to the black clothing of the ka^ba and he was crying and appeared extremely scared. He was saying a du^aa’, asking Allah over and over to let him die as a Muslim. This was the only du^aa’ he kept repeating. The scholar went and told him that there is other du^aa’s that are good as well and he didnt’ have to keep repeating the same one, he can recite different ones. The guy told him ‘‘if you knew my story, you would understand why”. So the scholar asked about the man’s story. The guy told him that he had a brother that used to serve in the masjid for 40 years, for free, just for the sake of Allah. That’s all he did. Before he died, and while on his death bed, he asked for the Qur’aan to be brought to him. The man said ”we thought he was going to kiss it good bye and take blessings from it before he dies”. The brother grabbed the Qur’aan and said while holding it ”I don’t believe in this book”. He then turned his face away from the ka^ba and died. The man went on to say that there was another brother he had who died after this one (he was younger) and he had also served the mosque for a along time. ”He use to call the adhaan for 30 years in the Masjid, and when he was dying he did the Same Exact Thing his brother did. So here I am next to the ka^ba and all I want to do is die a Muslim”. The scholar asked him, ‘‘did u find out what he use to do?’‘ the man said ‘‘yes”. 

”He use to seek peoples imperfections and follow people and seek the bad in them” (their shameful acts)

.

 

As you can see, this is such an evil and dark act. Seeking the people’s imperfections is a major sin, not blasphemy, but before dying these men committed the blasphemy.

 

Its not always that people start with the big sins, sometimes people start with the small sins. And it may be that at first they don’t even want to do a small sin but their foot gets dragged into it. He then starts finding it easier to committing the small sins, which makes it easier to commit a bigger sin. When he does the big sin it becomes easier to do more big sins and if this happens, where it becomes easy to commit big sins, then his heart will darken and harden from these big sins.  It’s dangerous for one to feel normal about doing any small sin at all. 

 

The black stone at the corner of the ka^ba was originally a glowing and precious stone from paradise.  It darkened from the blasphemers touching it and staying close to it. It darkened because of the blasphemy and sins they had acquired. There’s a wisdom behind this and we should be wise and pick it up. Our hearts can darken and harden from sinning. If this happened to a stone then imagine with one’s heart, that’s made out of flesh. It can darken much easier than a stone.

 

The Prophet sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam said what means:  ”The heart Rusts (by sinning) and what Cleans and Freshens it again is saying astaghfirullaah repeatedly.” 

 

The Prophet, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said what means: ”Allah Will accept the Repentance of the slave as long as he doesn’t reach the state of ghar-gharah”. This means as long as the soul doesn’t reach this part. Even if cancer is all over ones body, and doctors are all around him, Even if he has over 50 diseases. Allah will still accept the repentance from a person as long as the soul didn’t reach the throat. If it did, and then after this the sinner says ”I repent, I regret”, it will NOT be accepted.

 

Also if someone sees ^Azra’eel (Angel of Death) coming to take his soul, then its too late, there’s no Tawbah (Repentance) for him. Even if the soul didn’t reach the throat because now he’s like the dead person (state of a dead people), it’s too late for him.

 

The third case is when a person reaches the state of knowing death and realizing that its death. Like Phir^awn (pharaoh of Egypt) and what happened to him (the state of ya’S) when he said ”I now believe in the Lord of Haroon and Moses”, but he said this after the state of Ya’S had befallen him so Allah didn’t accept his repentance.

 

The fourth case is if the sun rises from the WEST (major sign of the approach of the Day of Judgment).

 

The Prophet, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said what means:  In the west (where the sun sets) there is a gate Allah created for Repentance, the distance if its width takes 70 years to cover, it is not shut until the Sun Rises from it. 

 

It was said:  Take Warning! He (Allah) Has not Exposed so many of your sinful activities that it appears as if He has forgiven you—(it may be that He has given you time to Repent). 

 

When the repentance is no longer accepted, it is for both Blasphemy and Sins. (For blasphemers to become Muslim & also for Muslims to be forgiven for their sins). It is no longer guaranteed for the Muslim’s sins to be forgiven but of course what happens on the Day of Judgment for him is something else, Allah may or may not forgive him.

 

When the Day of Judgement approaches, there is the animal that will come and mark the people in order to distinguish the Kaafirs from the Muslims. They Muslims will be marked with a sign on their foreheads and the Kaafirs will be marked on their noses. The Mu’min (Believer) will say to the Kaafir (Disbeliever) ”yaa kaafir” and the kaafir will call the Mu’min ”yaa Mu’min”.

 

 

Repentance is Extremely important and an integral of that is—REGRET. 

 

When regretting sins, the regret has to be that you regret the disobedience itself, not regretting that people found out about your sin, or maybe because that sin caused you to lose money. This is not the regret mentioned in a hadeeth by the prophet, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam, that means: ”regret is an integral for a repentance”. The prophet is talking about regretting the disobedience itself;  to regret disobeying Allah .

 

A wise man once said:  What passed from your day is Gone, and whatever time left from the day is Uncertain, but your Present moment can be seized. So make use of the opportunity and Never Trust Time .

 

Shaykh ^Abdullaah Al-Harariyy, RaHimahullaah, said what means:  Do abide by working with As-Sunnah, taking the example of Al-‘A’immah (pl. of Imaam), agreeing with the Worshiping and the Obedient, sitting with the one Who Repents and has Fear, socializing with the Loyal and Submissive, and Visiting the one who makes Sujood and Rukoo^ .

 

Lastly, the state from a sin which makes you [Sad and Repentant] is more accepted by Allah than the good deed which turns you arrogant. (that is the repentance of the sin that is accepted, not the sin itself of course). Protect yourselves and ask Allah for forgiveness for all of your sins; those that you know of and those that you don’t know of. Do it now, may Allah accept your istighfaar. May Allah keep our hearts firm upon the truth and on good manners. May Allah protect us from other people’s evil and protect us from becoming evil. Aameen. 

 

And Allah Knows best.

 

-Shu’mul_Ma^aasi-

Class by Hajj Abed Hamze

Notes written and compiled by one of our sisters may Allah reward her.