Gardens of the Righteous Class 4 20 th April 2014 20 Jamadi Al Thani 1435 A.H.
The Gardens of Repentance CONDITIONS OF REPENTANCE (CONTD.) The first two conditions were covered in the class last week. Today we will continue the study of the conditions of Repentance. Third condition of Repentance: quit the sin immediately When we feel the regret we should quit the sin immediately. There are two categories of sins, there are sins that are concern Allah and us and there are others types of sins that are related to people PAGE 1
Sins related to Allah and us: Gardens of the Righteous: Class 4 When a person sins related to Allah then one can easily repent e.g. when one don t pray or fast then these sins are between Allah and him. He can repent easily by quitting the Haram and by performing the obligatory deeds. If one is not praying they can repent by starting to pray and Allah will accept his or her repentance. Another example is that of the disbeliever who insults Allah for many years by associating sons to Allah and the moment he repents to Allah by admitting and believing that Allah is the only self sufficient Master then that very moment Allah accepts his repentance and forgives him for all the years he was insulting Allah There is a hadith of the Prophet SAW that there is nobody more patience than Allah. Allah is so kind and merciful that when a person sins related to Allah then He deals with such sinners with mercy and He is forbearing. This means Allah does not take away the provision of the sinners and does not punish them immediately. This does not mean that Allah accepts the wrong the sinners are doing but that He is forbearing, as He will not seize the sinners and punish them straightaway. There is a Hadith of the Prophet SAW that Allah s mercy precedes His anger. Sins related to People: When we backbite, insult other people, oppress people etc., we are disobeying Allah but these sins are related to people. When we commit a sin and there are people involved then it is very difficult to repent. When we quit such a sin that involves people then Allah accepts our repentance and forgive but we still need to settle the score with people. Example 1 When someone steals form a person then it is not enough to feel regret and quit the sin but he needs to return what was stolen. PAGE 2
Example 2 It is a sin when someone hits another person. When we repent for this sin we need to also settle with the other person, we need to go to the other person and ask them to beat us in return. There is an incident that Abu Dar and Bilal were arguing and Abu Dar said to Bilal you are son of the black lady. This was an insult, as we cannot talk to someone like this. The Prophet SAW said to Abu Dar that you are a person who is ignorant. Abu Dar then put his face on the ground and asked Bilal to step on it. There is an Ayah 40 in in Surah Ash- Shuraa in the Quran. Sahih International And the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation - his reward is [due] from Allah. Indeed, He does not like wrongdoers. Example 3 Third example is when one verbal insults, humiliates or by backbites someone. Backbiting is when someone talks about someone behind their back that the person will not like to hear in their presence. When we repent for insulting a person (when the person knows we insulted him) it is not enough to ask forgiveness from Allah but we need to go to the person and apologize to them. Whether the person accepts our apology or not Allah will forgive us because we made an effort and came to the person. When we repent for backbiting (the person does not know we spoke ill about them) the best is make dua for the person and asking Allah to grant them Paradise. PAGE 3
If someone is oppressing us we need to go to someone having authority to discuss our problem as such a person can advise and help solve the problem. There is an incident when a lady came to the Prophet SAW that her husband is not giving her money. Prophet SAW said to take from her husband s money without him knowing. May Allah never make us owe anything to anyone as on the Day of Judgment before entering paradise there is a special bridge called Qantra where we have to settle the rights of people by giving our good deeds. When our good deeds finish then we will have to take the bad deeds of the person we have spoken ill of. When we backbite we must understand we are giving them our good deeds. The Prophet SAW said the real bankrupt on the Day of Judgment is the one who is doing so many good deeds in the Duniya but he backbites, insults others etc. and he will have to give all his good deeds. When people insult families, tribes and nations then imagine they will have to settle the score with all of them. This life is not a jungle, we are not here to take what we think is our right. Islam teaches that we are responsible. If someone is bad then they will face the consequence of their deed. If someone is bad to us then our strength lies in controlling ourselves and being patience rather than to be bad in return. Allah describes backbiting in the Quran as if we are eating the flesh of our dead brother or sister (the person whom we are backbiting). How to deal when we are listening to Backbiting? When someone is backbiting in front of us we need to do the following: 1. Change the topic 2. Try to advise 3. Defend the person When we defend a person in his absence, Allah will push the hellfire from the face of such a person. We are in the life to worship Allah, to be within our boundaries. If people are bad to us we don t need to take our rights, we need to overcome our problems. On the Day of Judgment Allah will give us all our rights. PAGE 4
There is one Taba een scholar to whom one person came to him and told him that so and so talked bad about him. The scholar asked about the house of the person and went to his house and gave him a gift and told him he gave him the most beautiful thing i.e. his good deeds. Another solution for backbiting is that every gathering we attend we need to praise the person we were backbiting about earlier. The Prophet said before you speak measure your words. Fourth condition of Repentance: Not to go back to the sin A complete repentance is when we quit the sin we do not go back to the sin. PAGE 5
Fifth condition of Repentance: Repent before the Deadline First Deadline: We need to repent before the death. The angels of death take the soul starting from the feet when the soul reaches the throat there is no time. Imagine the story of Firoun, who was a tyrant and a disbeliever. The Firoun repented at the time his soul reached the throat, which is why his repentance was not accepted. Allah is stretching his hand, as He wants us to repent. Allah wants us to come to him and be within the border. He does not want us to be outside the border so we have any moment to repent. We need to account ourselves every night. PAGE 6
We will find evidence for this deadline in Surah An Nisa Ayah 18 Allah tells us that He will accept the repentance of those who sin in ignorance and repent soon afterwards. We need to hasty to repent and to return to Allah. Then in the next Ayah it is said the repentance is not for those who keep on sinning in life and when the time of death approaches they say they will now repent. PAGE 7
Second Deadline: When the sun rises from the west, it is major sign of the Day of Judgment, At that time everyone will believe but at that time the repentance will not be accepted. The evidence for this is in Surah Inaam Ayah 158 Here Allah is asking us what are waiting for? What makes us to not believe? Why we are postponing the repentance? Are we waiting for the angels to come? Or we are waiting for Allah to come? Or we are waiting for the signs of the Allah to come? This refers to the arising of the sun from the west. When the signs of Allah will come then belief will not benefit. PAGE 8
There is hadith of the Prophet SAW that anyone who repents for any kinds of sins before the sun rises from the west; his repentance will be accepted. Another evidence is another Hadith of The Prophet SAW that there is a gate on the west whose width is 40 or 70 years. This gate is Bab of Tauba i.e. Gate of Repentance. This gate is very wide and is on the west. This gate is always open. Allah created that gate of repentance before the creation of the heaven and the earth and before the creation of the human being. This is telling us Allah loves the repentance. This Gate of Repentance will be closed when the sun rises from it. We are full of shortcomings and we make mistakes. We need to have a firm belief that the moment we fulfill the conditions of Repentance, Allah will never disappoint us and will accept our repentance. We need to be hasty in our repentance and fulfill all the conditions of repentance then Allah will accept the repentance, forgive our signs and will replace our sins with good deeds. PAGE 9
There is a hadith of the Prophet that Allah will call a person on the Day of Judgment and will screen him and then Allah will speak to that person that he did such and such sins. The person will admit and confess that he did the sins. The person will feel very sad at his sins. Then Allah will day he forgives all his sins and in each place of the sin he will put good deeds, then the person will say he did other sins that Allah did not mention. This is because he wants more rewards; he will see from his eyes how Allah is merciful. Allah loves us to be in Paradise. PAGE 10