Allah’s Forgiveness

Al-hamdu Lillaahi nasta’eenahu wa nastaghfiruhu, | wa na’oodhu billaahi min shuroori anfusinaa

wa sayi’aati a’maalinaa. | Man yahdih Illaahu falaa mudilla lahu wa man yudlil falaa haadiya lahu. |

Wa ashhadu a- laa ilaaha ill-Allah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhu wa rasooluhu.

            (Praise be to Allah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. | We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds.| Whomsoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allah leaves astray, no one can guide. |  I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger).

I call your attention to the part that says: “We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds.” Truly only Allah can forgive us for the evil of our souls and our bad deeds. This is the topic of my khutbah.

1)      Istighfaar: Asking for Allah’s Forgiveness.

Bukhari & Muslim; narrated by Abu Huraira: “I heard the Prophet saying, "If somebody commits a sin and then says, 'O my Lord! I have sinned, please forgive me!' and his Lord says, 'My slave knows that he has a Lord who forgives sins, and punishes for them, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sins).' Then he remains without committing any sin for a while and then again commits another sin and says, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says, 'My slave knows that he has a Lord who forgives sins, and punishes for them, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sin). Then he remains without Committing any other sin for a while and then commits another sin (for the 3rd time) and says, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says, 'My slave knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for it I therefore have forgiven My slave (his sin), he can do whatever he likes."

a.       Asking forgiveness does not necessitate a persons stopping from doing the sin, but rather it is important to ask for forgiveness from a sin even if you continue doing it.  e.g. missing prayers

2) Tobba: Repenting to Allah.

   a. Sincere repentance contains within it two parts:

            I: Feeling remorse for your action and then asking forgiveness for it

II: Repenting for the act; Repenting requires the intention of not to repeating the evil act. 

(Al-Zumar: 53) “Say; O my Slaves who have transgressed against their own souls! Despair not of the mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins. He is the Forgiving the Merciful”

(Al-Shura: 25) “He is the one who accepts repentance from his servants, and forgives sins; and He knows all that you do.”

   b. All scholars agree that sincere repentance to Allah will relieve us of most of the punishment in the hereafter.

3) Good deeds replace some of the bad deeds that we do.

(Hud: 114) “Establish regular prayer, at the two ends of the day; And at approaches of the night. For those things that are good, remove those that are evil.”

S. Muslim; Abu Huraira narrates: Messenger (pbuh) Said: “Five (daily) prayers; and from one Friday prayer to the (next) Friday prayer; and from Ramadan to the next Ramadan are an expiation for the (sins) committed in between them; provided one shuns the major sins.”

a.       Since there are many hadith that support the above hadith and verses, it is clear that good deeds do indeed wipe away minor sins. I ask Allah to increase our good deeds.

4) Undergoing hardships & tests in this world preferably with Patience.

At-Tirmidhi: “The believer does not get inflicted by a prick of a thorn or anything greater; except that Allah raises his degree due to it and removes some of his sins due to it.”

a.       Remember that for every trial that befalls a person, it can either benefit the person or hurt that person:

i.    It benefits the person if the person is patient and thankful through the calamity. Where upon Allah may forgive the person for some of his sins.

ii. It hurts the person if the person is not patient and acts disappointed or displeased towards Allah.

5) Janazah & prayers of others when we die.

a.       The supplications and prayers of others may gain forgiveness for a Muslim from some of his sins.

S. Muslim: A'isha; “If a company of Muslims numbering one hundred pray over a dead person, all of them interceding for him, their intercession for him will be accepted..”

S. Bukhari: Anas Ibn-Malik; “A funeral procession passed and the people praised the deceased. The Prophet said, "It has been affirmed to him." Then another funeral procession passed and the people spoke badly of the deceased. The Prophet said, "It has been affirmed to him". 'Umar bin Al-Khattab asked (Allah's Apostle (pbuh) ), "What has been affirmed?" He replied, "You praised this, so Paradise has been affirmed to him; and you spoke badly of this, so Hell has been affirmed to him. You people are Allah's witnesses on earth."

   b. This should prove to us the importance of good company and for being good to those around us. 

   c. Also we must invest time in learning and teaching each other the proper method of praying for the dead.

6) Torment of the Grave

a. The severe torment of the grave until the day of judgment is one reason, why Allah will forgive our sins.

Fiqh usSunnah: Ibn Mas'ud reports the Prophet (pbuh) said, "A person was ordered to be lashed a hundred times in his grave. He continuously asked Allah to decrease his punishment until only one lash remained. His grave was totally filled by fire. When the fire was removed, he regained consciousness and asked, 'Why was I lashed?' He was told, 'You offered a prayer once without proper purification, and you passed by an oppressed person but you did not help him'."       * Sayyid Saabiq’s Fiqh usSunnah (V4) Burial in Grave

7) Horrors of the Day of Judgment.

a.       The hardship and events of the Day of Judgment will be so great upon us that in Allah’s mercy He will overlook some of our sins simply because he made us go through such a harsh event.

S. Bukhari: Narrated Abu Huraira; Allah's Apostle said, "The people will sweat so profusely on the Day of Resurrection that their sweat will sink seventy cubits deep into the earth, and it will rise up till it reaches the people's mouths and ears."

8) Intercession of the prophet Muhammad, angels, and some righteous Muslims.

Reported by Ahmad “My intercession Is for those of my ummah who performed the great sins” (and in another hadith, he said “I was given the choice between having half of my ummah entering paradise or me being granted the right of intercession I chose intercession as it is more general and encompasses more people.” He was asked, “Is it just for those who fear Allah?” he answered “No it is for those who committed sins and mistakes.”

9) Temporary punishment in the Hell Fire.

   a. We are all aware that all of the true believers in Allah will enter Paradise some day to reside in it forever. However there will be some Muslims who will be punished in the Hell-Fire for some of the deeds that they have performed in this life.

S. Bukhari: Abu Huraira: “Your (worldly) fire is one of seventy parts of the Hell-Fire” “The Hell Fire has 69 parts more than the ordinary (worldly) fire, each part is as hot as this (worldly) fire.

10) Mercy of Allah

a.       This mercy is not due to anything we do, but rather simply due to the overwhelmingly merciful nature of Allah SW.

            (Al-Anam: 54) “Your lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy;”

S. Bukhari: Abu Huraira; “When Allah completed the creation, He wrote in His book which is with him on his throne, ‘My mercy has overcome my anger’.”

   b. It is from this mercy that Allah will 'inshallah' forgive our sins and shortcomings.

Closing points:-

·  It is with this mercy in mind that we Muslims should learn to invoke our Lord for his forgiveness.

·  Indeed all praise be to Allah who has provided us with so many means by which we may gain his forgiveness and refuge from his punishment.

·  Some of these ways we may perform ourselves such as the first 4. Others around us too can invoke Allah to forgive us as in the 5th point. And the last 5 points are things which will occur to us regardless of whether we try or not, (once again reflecting the mercy of Allah and His desire to forgive us).

·  Brothers & sisters think about this a while, reflect on how merciful your lord truly is, out of the ten we only have to do 4 things. 1 others do for us. This leaves 5, so who will do these 5,... Allah himself!!

·  Compare this to a professor who gives you 50% in your class and then allows your peers to give you 10% and leaves only 40% of your grade for you, to work for!!

 Truly Such a Lord, Our Lord, is most merciful. Subhan Allah.

DUA’S:-

·        I ask Allah SW to forgive our sins.

·        I ask Allah SW to teach us how to ask for the forgiveness of our sins.

·        I ask Allah SW to accept our Isthighfaar and our Tobaa.

·        I ask Allah SW to forgive all our sins by all the punishments before the Hellfire, so that we may never have to enter the Hellfire.

·        I ask Allah SW to help us steer clear of the Hell-Fire; and to be amongst the people of heaven.

·        I ask Allah SW to forgive the sins of our parents; our relatives; our friends; and our brothers & sisters in Islam;

·        O’ Allah forgive the sins of the mujahideen; the scholars & the elders of the Muslim Ummah.

·        Forgive all of us and guide us onto the sirat um’mustuqeem.

 

Wa aqeem’us salaat.