Khutba on the Mercy in Mistakes
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي تقبل التوبة عن عباده المومنين، ويعفو عن سيئات عباده المستغفرين، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.
In this age where one struggles to implement even one tenth of the deen, where our every transaction embroils us in something our Lord hates and declares war on, we would do well to remember that Allah does not take us to task for that of which we are not capable. Allah says,
لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا
the translation of which is, “Allah does not burden any self with more than it can bear.” We would do well to remember we have a merciful Lord, that His care for us is greater than that of a mother for her child. The Prophet said, upon witnessing the tremendous compassion a woman showed for infant child,
أترون هذه المرأة طارحة ولدها في النار، الله أرحم بعباده من هذه بولدها
“Do you think it would be possible for this woman to toss her child into the fire? Well, Allah is more merciful towards His slaves than she is towards her child.” And we would do well to remember that He forgives us all of our trespasses – every one – except shirk and outright rejection of Him. Allah says,
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
the translation of which is, “Say: ‘My slaves, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’” This aya addresses the believers, it is they who are described as transgressing against themselves. Being a believer does not make a person infallible, we are not angels, incapable of wrong action. We are human beings and it is part of our nature to be weak and forget. Allah says,
خُلِقَ الاِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا
the translation of which is, “Man has been created weak.” We are creatures whose selves ‘ammaratun bi-s-sou’, ‘command to wrong’, except in the rarest of beings. We are creatures in whose blood Shaytan swims and in whose ears he never ceases to whisper. We are creatures who err and make mistakes. The Prophet said,
كُلُّ ابْنِ ءادم خطاء
“Every son of Adam is a wrongdoer.” Even those closest to Allah and with most knowledge of Him are not completely immune, for when Imam Junayd was asked if an ’arif could commit zina, he replied,
وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللهِ قَدَراً مَقْدُوراً
“Allah’s command is a pre-ordained decree,” In other words, it could happen, for even while the heart is remaining true, the body can betray itself and slip up. If the avoidance of wrong action was not such a struggle, then it would not be the source of such a reward. That struggle, that internal jihad, winning some skirmishes and losing others, but ultimately by the mercy of Allah winning the war, is what shapes us and defines us. It is all part of our journey to our Lord, and we do not know which parts bring us towards Him most swiftly. For sometimes, what appears to be a defeat, such as the treaty of Hudaybiya, is actually one of the greatest triumphs. Similarly, sometimes a wrong action can you bring you closer to Allah than a right one. Ibn Ata’illah al-says in his famous Hikam,
وربما قضى عليك الذنب فكان سببا في الوصول
“Allah may well decree a wrong action for you, and make that wrong action the means by which you arrive.” How can that be? Well, sometimes a person can do good actions for good actions sake or for show. He does them in order to be seen to do them, either by others or even by himself. He looks to himself and feels pleased with his efforts. ‘Look at what a right-acting guy I am’ and forgets that it is Allah who creates both you and your actions, and that everything you are and everything you do is from Him. But then you do a wrong action and realise that you are not this image you have created in your own mind of a perfect infallible being, you are a slave of Allah and in His hands, and it is He who gives you success or otherwise. You do a wrong action and turn back to your Lord. The Prophet said,
رب ذنب أدخل صاحبه الجنة قالوا وكيف ذلك يا رسول الله. قال لا يزال تائبا فارّا منه خائفا من ربه حتى يموت فيدخله الجنة
“The wrong action a person commits may well be the cause of him entering the Garden.” “How is that, Messenger of Allah,” they asked. He replied, “He continues to be repentant, fleeing from that wrong action and being afraid of his Lord until he dies, and that will take him to the Garden.”
Now, this does not mean that wrong action is something to be aspired to – it is not. There is a reason it is called ‘wrong’. What it means is that wrong action needn’t be the means for a person to go completely astray and spiral out of control, but instead when viewed in the right way and with the correct perspective can be the means of him returning more fully to the straight path. All that is required is a high opinion of Lord. Never think for a moment that He has abandoned you or that you are lost and beyond redemption. Allah only wants the best for you, He wants for you to have access to His attributes of forgiveness and mercy. The Prophet said,
لو لم تذنبوا لذهب الله بكم وجاء بقوم آخرين يذنبون فيستغفرون فيغفر لهم وهو الغفور الرحيم
“If you had not committed wrong action, then Allah would have taken you away and brought another people who committed wrong action and asked His forgiveness, so that He could then forgive them. He is the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” So do not get weighed down by your wrong actions, do not dwell on them or let them define you, do not think of yourself as being beyond hope or beyond saving, but instead use them as a springboard to turn back to your Lord. Every human being may be a wrongdoer, but, as the Prophet said,
خير الخطائين التوابون
“The best of wrongdoers are those who make tawba.” In other words, those whenever they do wrong, immediately and unconditionally turn back to their Lord and seek His forgiveness. No matter how bad your action, your Lord is there, waiting to embrace you in His mercy and forgiveness. As we mentioned before, He forgives everything except shirk, and even that may be forgiven if a person makes tawba from it before his death. The aya we mentioned earlier where Allah says that He forgives all wrong actions was revealed about Hisham ibn al-Aasi and others like him who were persuaded by their families to not emigrate to Madina and to leave the deen. They thought they were lost and that there was no way back, but then this aya was revealed and gave them hope. Umar ibn al-Khattab copied the aya into a letter and sent it to Hisham, who read it and rejoiced, So he immediately went to his camel, leapt upon its back and set off to join the Prophet in Madina.
By making sincere tawba, your wrong actions are not just forgiven, but are transformed. Instead of weighing against you, they weigh for you in the balance, each and every one being counted as a right action. Allah says,
إِلَّا مَنْ تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ
the translation of which is, “except for those who make tawba and have belief and act rightly: Allah will transform the wrong actions of such people into good.” This is a truly remarkable gift and means that the worst of people can become one of the best of people in an instant. Sayyidina Umar went from wanting to kill the Prophet to being his most ardent and passionate defender, Khalid ibn al-Walid from being the general who defeated the Muslims at Uhud to the one who led them on many of their greatest victories. Such is the effect of tawba. So we ask Allah to place us among the ranks of the tawwabin.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم.
الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.
Tawba is not truly tawba unless certain preconditions are met. Otherwise it is just empty words. The first is that it must be made before it is too late, and by too late we mean when a person is on his deathbed or when he has witnessed with his own eyes one of the final major signs of the end of time. Allah says,
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآَنَ
the translation of which is, “There is no tawba for people who persist in doing wrong until death comes to them and who then say, ‘Now I make tawba,’” The greatest example of that is Firawn who only declared his belief when the flood waters had engulfed him and he was staring death in the face. But he was too late.
The second precondition for tawba is belief in Allah and His Messenger. No matter how remorseful a disbeliever, and no matter how many good actions he does to make up for his wrong actions, no tawba will ever be accepted from him, foe how can you turn to One whose very existence you deny?! Allah says,
وَلَا الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ
the translation of which is, “Nor is [there tawba] for those who are disbelievers.”
The third is that the tawba be nasuh. Allah says,
يَأَيُّهَا الذِينَ ءَامَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحاً
the translation of which is, “You who believe, make nasuh tawba to Allah.” Al-Kalbi said, “Nasuh tawba is [four things]: feeling regret in the heart, seeking forgiveness on the tongue, immediately ceasing to do the wrong action, and determining not to go back to it.”
The first of these, nadm – regret, is very important. Indeed the Prophet has said,
الندم توبة
“Regret is tawba.” But it is also often wildly misunderstood, and confused with guilt, something which has no place whatsoever in the deen and which is reprehensible in the extreme. Regret is thinking badly of the wrong action and wishing that wrong action had never come into being, while guilt is thinking badly of yourself and blaming and reproaching yourself on a constant basis for what you did. Guilt is holding on to one’s wrong actions, dwelling on them and making them a part of your psyche and being while true healthy regret is letting them go and keeping the heart clear of them. Imam al-Junayd said, “Nasuh tawba is to forget the wrong action and never again call it to mind, for the one whose tawba is accepted comes to love Allah. And he who truly loves Allah forgets all that is other than Him.”
The second, seeking forgiveness on the tongue, is necessary, for for forgiveness to be granted, the slave must ask for it. Tawba must be a conscious act. The tongue gives expression to what is in the heart. Indeed, the words should never be far from our tongue, for we always have need of our Lord’s forgiveness. Even the one free of wrong action, the Messenger of Allah, said,
يا أيها الناس استغفروا الله وتوبوا إليه فإني أستغفر الله وأتوب إليه في اليوم مائة مرة
“People, make tawba to Allah and seek His forgiveness, for I make tawba to Allah and seek His forgiveness one hundred times a day.”
The third is that you immediately stop doing the wrong action for which you are making tawba. It is not tawba to ask forgiveness for stealing while continuing the whole time to steal. The Prophet said,
المستغفر باللسان المصر على الذنوب كالمستهزئ بربه
“He who asks forgiveness with his tongue while continuing to do wrong action is like someone who openly mocks his Lord.”
The final one is making a firm intention to not go back. Asking Allah’s forgiveness for drinking alcohol while making a date in your diary to go out drinking the next weekend is not tawba, it is lying and hypocrisy. Part of this intention is making sure that you avoid the company of people who you know will making doing that action probable. You must change your companions otherwise you are lying to yourself and your tawba is not truly nasuh.
Tawba is a necessary part of being Muslim. The Muslim cannot blithely go through life committing wrong and thinking nothing of it and never returning to His Lord. That path will inevitably lead to kufr, and is a sign of hypocrisy since the heart of the believer has been conditioned to despise wrong action. Allah says,
وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإِيمَانَ وَزَيَّنَهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَالْفُسُوقَ وَالْعِصْيَانَ
the translation of which is, “However, Allah has given you love of belief and made it pleasing to your hearts, and has made disbelief, deviance and disobedience hateful to you.” It is only by us returning to Allah on a constant basis, that He returns to us and remains permanently by our side. It is only then that we can hope to get anything done and hope to restore this deen to the glorious position it once and will again occupy. We ask Allah to forgive us our wrong actions and forgive us our trespasses and transform them into right actions. And to make us people of tawba, people who turn to Him sincerely and keep on turning to Him throughout their lives.
إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.
رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.