MY LIFE PROJECT WHO IS MY RABB? The MY LIFE PROJECT encompasses five things we need to reach Allah!! 1. Al Insaan Who am I? 2. Man Rabuuka? Who is my Rabb? 3. Who are my enemies? 4. What is my goal? 5. What must I do? Insaan is imperfect... Man Rabbuka is one of the questions in the grave, which we need to know the answer in this life. Man rabbuka who is the one reforming us? To know Rabbuka we need to know ourselves and our faults. No one in this duniya is perfect; perfection is only in the akhirat. Perfection is when we rely on our Rabb to reform us!!! We cannot rely on ourselves to reform ourselves, nor can we rely on anyone else to reform us, reformation is from Allah. After knowing ourselves and our faults, we need to know who our Rabb for our reformation. Reforming is knowing there are some faults, that Allah is the One who knows about these and to rely on Him subhana wa ta ala,to make tawakul on Him to help us, because our Rabb is the Reformer, the Nurturer, the Creator and He knows how to reform us.
Man Rabbuka Surah Baqarah Ayat Number 37... Last week, we talked about Ar Rabb from the story of the malaika and the creation of Adam AS. Where Allah talked to the angels and we learnt that because Hua Rabb - he is Rabb, He will create whatever He wills. And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth." They said: "Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, - while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You." He (Allah) said: "I know that which you do not know." From the ayat we know Ar Rabb knows whatever nobody knows. At the end of the story, Allah created Adam AS, taught him the knowledge about everything & then Allah commanded all the angels including Iblis to prostate to Adam AS. All the angels except Iblis for prostrated. Then for a time Adam AS and Hawa AS were living in paradise, Iblis whispered and tempted them to eat from the forbidden tree by beautifying the sin of eating from it, and then Adam AS was taken out from that beautiful place and was sent to dwell on the earth. Adam AS committed a sin by disobeying Allah. Always the first evil thought is from Shaitaan and later on is from the nafs. Why did Adam AS disobey Allah? Because he slipped!!! Shaitaan beautified the sin. Everybody has this imperfection, we will keep making mistakes, we are very weak, and sometimes our weaknesses overcome us and we slip. This is not a mistake, It is not wrong to make mistakes unintentionally and slip as every human being makes mistakes. But what is wrong is when a slave doesn't return back to Allah, to Ar Rabb to perfect him; when he doesn't
repent to Him after falling into a sin. Indeed, the best of those are who when they sin, they repent to Allah. A sin weakens the human more. Shaitaan is trying to make the human being have more imperfections and this causes the insaan to go lower, it will have an effect, that s why we need our Rabb to perfect us, reform us. How did Allah deal with him? Then Adam received from his Lord Words. And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance). Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful Prophet Adam AS committed a sin, he knew he was imperfect but he knew he has a Rabb who is the only one who can reform and nurture him. He knew that he had his Rabb, Who forgives and expiates the sin. Adam AS really regretted and he confessed this sin. He slipped by falling into the trap of Shaitaan, but he was truthful. Adam AS fled to Allah, when we flee to Allah, Allah runs towards us. This is what Allah wants from us, to flee to Him.
Fa ta laka Being received, he knew he had committed a sin and he turned to Allah and he received... Wa talaktana Being dictated, inspired by Allah on what to do, all we need is that our hearts should to jump to Allah!!! min rabihi - he received and was inspired from His Rabb. Ar Rabb is the reformer and Nurturer. Any imperfection, our Rabb will complete it for us; we need Ar Rabb to rectify us and make us better and better. Ar Rabb hua Muslah The Reformer Wal mudabbir- The Disposer of Affairs Wal murabii The Nurturer Adam AS was the first man, he needed divine inspiration on how to deal with this situation, i.e., when he committed a sin. Min Rabbihi the Rabb who always knows what we are going through and the Rabb(Allah) who will nurture and reform us. What did Allah inspire in him? Kalimaat Allah taught him the words, taught him how to repent. Fata laka Adamu kalimaat If we think about repentance, we will realise that the words of repentance when a person sins is a reforming in itself. A person is imperfect by himself, the sins make him more imperfect, and he
needs inspiration from Allah on what to say/do to repent. This is Rabb (Fatalaka) This was a special nurturing for Adam AS to teach him. This is how we can see the care of Allah. To go to paradise a person needs to be purified, to be reformed Allah inspired in him the kalimaat at tauba and guided him to the best of words. All goodness, guidance, types of nurturing is from our Lord. In this kalimaat we can see two things: 1) Ei tara fi bindar there is a confession to the sin, real regret and admission to the sin and 2) Suwal Allah al magfirati the proper way to ask Allah for forgiveness How did Adam respond? He accepted and took hold of this nurturing - He repented and in return, Allah accepted His Repentance. What is the proper way to ask Allah for forgiveness? 1) By confessing to Allah that we are indeed sinners, full of mistakes, and unjust to our own self. Don't blame anyone but yourself! 2) at tauba -And beg and long for His Mercy and Forgiveness.
Surah Araf ayat 23: They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers." What kalimaat did Allah inspire in Adam AS? Kala rabana dhalamna They started the repentance from Rabbana. WhyRabbana? The Rabb is very important in asking for forgiveness from Allah. The Rabb here is to reform, nurture, the One who takes care. The person making mistake needs to be reformed by repentance. Allah inspired both of them (Adam & Hawa); both of them shared the sin so both of them needed to repent. The inspiration came to Adam AS and then both of them said the words. The way of repentance is by saying Rabbana, saying Rabbana meaning Muslihna Murabina - our Reformer, our Nurturer; nobody can help us but You. We made a mistake but we have a Rabb perfecting us, so we say our Rabb, our reformer Rabanna, none can forgive us, relieve us from this sin except Ar Rabb. We need Rabanna this otherwise it would be too depressing; we need to know He is the only One we can return to. 1)Rabanna dhalamna anfusana They confessed, they said we ate from that tree which You(Allah) forbade, they didn t say the Shaitaan made us to it, they said we did it and they said we have wronged ourselves.
This is one of the keys of repentance to confess!!! We cannot blame anybody but ourselves, this is how we can be a slave to Allah, and we need to bow down and accept this otherwise the sin is that which can pull us down and harm ourselves. They didn t blame anyone but themselves and then they said: 2) Wa in lam tag fir lana wa tar hamna We made harm to ourselves. They didn t blame or accuse anyone but themselves, and they made a condition of two things: If you do not forgive us and show mercy on us, Saying if you don t forgive us and be merciful la nakulana min khasireen we will be among the losers!!! They needed two things very badly, and they were asking like a condition. They were really showing their poverty to Allah!!! This is Ar Rabb!!! Allah subhana wa ta ala is stretching his hands all
the time towards the sinner!!! Allah wants us to go to Him when we wrong ourselves. A very importance aspect in repentance is magfirah. We need to be very desperate to Allah. We need magfirah. When someone commits a sin, it is like making something dirty, the magfirah is a way of cleaning. They needed magfirah-forgiveness and rahmah mercy!!! Magfirah how? Through mahu thar masih erasing the sins. Mercy how? Through At taubah - that Allah accepts their taubah. Therefore they were very desperate for forgiveness to erase the sin and very desperate for mercy through at taubah. Both of them are needed together to attain: Al fala the success, great success, winners (opposite of al khasireen the losers). After the Kalimaat, how did Allah deal with Adam AS... Fa taba alaih Allah showed and inspired to Adam on how to repent, what he needed to say. This is the Ar Rabb. Allah inspired the kalimaat to him. Ar Rabb will guide us on what is the best you need for a situation. That inspiration on what we need to say is from Allah. Allah gave Adam AS the words to repent and then both he and Hawa said these words, they confessed. When they made this dua, Ar Rabb fa taba alaih -Allah showered them with the acceptance of the repentance. Allah is oft-forgiving. Who inspired in him the way to repent? Allah!!! That s why taba alaih meaning inspired in him two types of Taba: alahuma taubah -the kalimaat and Kaditallahu taubah - and then Allah accepted his repentance. 1) If a person is truthful & sincere, Allah will then inspire and guide them what to say, and then 2) The person needs to accept the repentance.
W can t do anything without Rabb. If a person is truthful and sincere, Allah will show them the best way. The inspiration of taubah is Ar Rabb because Allah inspires the taubah. If the slave benefits from the nurturing he will say the words with sincerity, meaning them and of course Allah will accept it. Taba Allahui alal abdi Who is the doer? We can say Taba Abdi it clearly means the slave repents but Taba Allahu means something totally different. It means rajia to return. The taba/doer here is Allah!!! It is the actions of Ar Rabb. Taba Allahu Allah actually returns to that slave with mercy, and that He accepts the repentance. Why is Allah returning to you? Fa taba allai It is Allah who teaches the slave how to repent and it is Allah who returns to him (al abd - that slave) who repented. Fata laka Adamu kalimaat - this is the tarbiyah, the nurturing, it is painful but once He went through it, he got: Innahu at tawabu rahim The acceptance and the mercy!!! The Acceptance... At Tawabu - Of course Allah will accept the repentance, because Hua Rabb. Your Rabb is the One who keeps returning to the sinner who repents, the One who is oft-forgiving. He is the One who inspires in that sinner to repent. Then it depends on the person, if he takes the nurturing and accepts it, Allah will accept his repentance. Allah ya tuub Li man taba illalah Allah will accept the repentance of the one who repents to Allah. Sometimes when we sin or make a mistake, that little feeling we have of wanting to repent/feeling bad is inspired from Allah s name At-Tawwab. Taaba in Arabic means to return and at- Tawwab is the One who accepts all those who return to Him. If we accept the
repentance, do the actions, Allah will return to us and then there is the mercy!!! The Mercy... Ar Rahim Out of his mercy, He guides the sinners to accept the repentance and out of his mercy He accepts the at-taubah. Allah s mercy here is associated with at taubah Allah is the most merciful to those who return to Allah, Allah will pardon them overlook their mistakes and forgive them. this is Rahmatullilah!!! Think about Ar Rabb, if we make a mistake, He will reform us. Adam AS was the first man and Allah inspired him what words to use in the life. We have faults and Allah will inspire the repentance in us, if we will accept the nurturing and reforming and repent we will be nurtured and upgraded, if we don t accept, we will not be upgraded. If a person knows this is tarbiyah, I need to accept, He will be ungraded and nurtured. So always Alhamdulilahi Rabbi Al ameen. Nobody can deserve to live in paradise without Allah s reforming.
Allah wants to elevate us Allah wants us to be elevated and enter Paradise. Only the ones pure and reformed can enter it. So when you sin, use this as a bridge to return to Allah. Don't ignore the pain and regret in the heart. This will only take you behind. Accept it, and take action. Repent to Allah sincerely, and Allah - the All Pardoning, the Most Merciful will accept your repentance. We need His Forgiveness to cover our sins, and we need His Mercy to guide us to repent, and accept the repentance.