Khutba on Tawba

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.

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Allah says in His Noble Book, 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.’”
Slaves of Allah, the truth of the matter is that none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes from time to time: we all transgress against ourselves. We are not angels – we have not been given immunity from wrong action. No, we are human beings, created weak and created with selves that command to wrong. Shaytan swims in our blood and does not give us a moments respite. To err is to be human – it is inbuilt into our very nature – as the Prophet indicated when he said,

كُلُّ ابْنِ ءادم خطاء

“Every son of Adam sins.” That is even true of the awliya and ‘arifin, for when Imam Junayd was asked if a man of gnosis could commit zina, he replied, 

وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللهِ قَدَراً مَقْدُوراً

“Allah’s command is a pre-ordained decree,” Their bodies are not proof against slipping into wrong action, even though the hearts of such people are with Allah in every moment. Indeed, sometimes Allah even makes wrong action be the cause for a person becoming closer to him, as Ibn Ata’illah indicates in his Hikam when he says,

وربما قضى عليك الذنب فكان سببا في الوصول

“Allah might decree a wrong action for you, and make that wrong action the means by which you arrive” For wrong actions refocus the slave and remind him of the task upon which he is in engaged. 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.”
Allah only wants the best for His slaves and so, in everything that He decrees for us, there is good. He desires to encompass us in His attributes of forgiveness and mercy, and so it is that we commit wrong. 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, if it is the human way to commit wrong action and every human being (except of course the Prophets) does it, then what sets one human being apart from another and raises him up in the eyes of Allah? The answer is tawba, for the Prophet says,

وخير الخطائين التوابون

“The best of those who do wrong action are those who make tawba.” For it is through tawba that a person becomes eligible for the Mercy of Allah, and the mercy of Allah knows no bounds – there is no wrong action that He will not forgive. Allah says,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

the translation of which is, “Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’” There is a famous hadith of the Prophet of a man who had killed 99 people and so he went to a priest and asked him if it was possible for him to make tawba. When the priest replied that it was not, he killed him, making him the hundredth man he had killed. Then he went to a man of knowledge and asked him the same thing, so the man replied, “Who is preventing you from doing so? There is a village whose people worship Allah. You should go to them and remain there until you die.” So the man set off, but died when he had only got halfway there. So the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment disputed with one another as to who should get him. So Allah revealed to them that they should measure the distance between him and the village from which he had come and the village to which he was headed, and he would be ranked among the people of whichever one he was closest to. Then Allah inspired the village to which he was headed to move closer, and the village from which he had come to move further away, so that when they made the measurements, they found the village towards which he was headed to be closer by a single inch. And so the angels of mercy took him. Such is the strength of tawba, that Allah’s mercy encompassed him, even though he never did one right action.
So never despair of the mercy of Allah, no matter how far you have fallen, even if you have committed wrong actions enough to fill the heavens and the earth. One simple act of tawba will transform them into good actions. 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.”
And never think that you are free of wrong action and therefore have no need of making istighfar. The Prophet, who was forgiven everything that he had ever done or would ever do, and never committed a wrong action, 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, during the day and night.”
And do not look down on others on account of some wrong action you have witnessed them do, for the Prophet has said,

من عيّر مومنا بفاحشة فهو كفاعلها وكان حقا على الله أن يوقعه فيها، ومن عيّر مومنا بجريمة لم يخرج من الدنيا حتى يرتكبها ويفتضح بها

“Whoever criticises another believer for an indecent act that he has done will be like the one who did it, and Allah will make him end up doing the same. And whoever criticises another believer on account of a crime that he committed will not himself leave this world until he has committed the same act and been exposed.” Do not criticise others for, regardless of what you have seen them do, they may have a higher station with Allah and may be loved by him, for the Prophet has said,

إن الله يحب كل مفتنِّ تواب

“Allah loves every oft-repentant sinner.” i.e. those who sin frequently, but whenever they do, immediately make tawba. This does not mean those who premeditate wrong action, but rather those who regularly slip up and regularly come back to their Lord. So instead, concern yourself with yourself and make tawba to Allah for any shortcomings that you find. And always keep the best opinion of your brothers, no matter what you see from them.

أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر 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. قال الله عز وجل في كتابه الكريم: يَأَيُّهَا الذِينَ ءَامَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللهِ تَوْبَةً نَصُوحاً

Allah says in His Noble Book, the translation of which is, “You who believe, make sincere repentance to Allah.” In order for our tawba to be accepted, what is required of us is tawba that is sincere – nasuh. And your tawba can only be said to be sincere when certain preconditions are met: 
The first is that you stop doing the wrong action for which you are making tawba. Asking for forgiveness while you continue to do the act is not tawba. The Prophet said,

المستغفر باللسان المصر على الذنوب كالمستهزئ بربه

“He who asks forgiveness with his tongue while continuing to do wrong action is just like someone who openly mocks his Lord.”
And you should stop doing the wrong action immediately. One makes tawba now, not at some unspecified point in the future. The Prophet said,

هلك المسوفون

“The musawwifun will be destroyed.” The musawwifun are those who say, ‘I will repent later,’ For such people, the ‘now’ never comes – they keep on postponing their tawba until they die and it is too late. 
The second is that you regret having done what you did. The Prophet said, 

الندم توبة

“Regret is tawba” Regret means realising that what you did was wrong, and disliking the fact that you did it. It means feeling heavy at heart because you disobeyed Allah, for the heart of the believer rejoices in the obedience of Allah and is saddened by the disobedience of Allah and hates to fall into it just as it hates to fall into the Fire. 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.” 
But, at the same time, you must have a good opinion of your Lord, so do not dwell on what you have done. Once you have made tawba, expel it from your mind. Guilt has no place in the deen of Allah. Indeed, when Imam al-Junayd was asked what tawba was, he said, “It is forgetting your wrong action. Do you not see that the very act of remembering something disquieting when you are in a state of serenity makes you disquieted!” So regret must only remain until you have made tawba. Then you must forget what you did and move on.
The third precondition of tawba is making the intention to never do that wrong action again. If that intention is not present, then your istighfar is false and insincere. Asking Allah’s forgiveness for drinking alcohol while intending to go out and drink the following weekend is not tawba, it is lying and hypocrisy. You may think that you deceive Allah, but the truth is, as Allah says in surat al-Baqara, that you deceive no one but yourself. 
Another precondition for tawba is to leave the company of those who lead you astray. If you know that spending time with a certain group of people will make it more likely for you to fall into wrong action again, then you must avoid them and seek out the company of others who will encourage you to good action. If you keep to their company, then that is a sign that you are not serious in your desire to return to Allah and leave that disobedience behind.
Another precondition is that you hold firm to the obligations of the deen. If you abandon the prayer or the fast of Ramadan or something similar, then no amount of tawba will benefit you. But, if you do them, then those actions themselves act as a form of tawba. Allah says,

وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ

the translation of which is, “Establish the prayer at each end of the day and in the first part of the night. Good actions eradicate bad actions.”
If any one of these preconditions is lacking, then a person’s tawba will not be valid. This is with respect to actions that are between a slave and his Lord alone. As for wrong actions that involve a third party, you must also ensure you have paid off your dues to them or obtained their pardon. So, if you stole something, you must return it, or injured someone, you must pay the blood money etc. Then and only then will your tawba be accepted. Then and only then will your slate be wiped clean, for the Prophet said,

التائب من الذنب كمن لا ذنب له

“He who makes tawba from his wrong actions will be like one who never committed a wrong action.” So we ask Allah to forgive us all our wrong actions and make us sincere in our repentance to him.

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، 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 (3) 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. 

اللَّهُمَّ لاَ تَدَعْ فِي مَقَامِنَا هَذَا ذَنْباً إِلاَّ غَفَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ عَيْباً إِلاَّ سَتَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَرِيضاً إِلاَّ شَفَيْتَهُ وَعَافَيْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَسْجُوناً إِلاَّ طَلَقْتَ سَرَاحَهُ، وَلاَ مُسَافِراً فِي بَرِّكَ وَبَحْرِكَ إِلاَّ سَلِِمْتَهُ وَغَنِمْتَهُ.

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.