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Wash Our Hearts With Water, Snow, and Hail | Khutbah
What is the wisdom behind Prophet Muhammad ﷺ mentioning not only water when speaking about the cleansing of the heart and the deceased?
اللَّهُمَّ اغْسِلْ خَطَايَاىَ بِمَاءِ الثَّلْجِ وَالْبَرَدِ، وَنَقِّ قَلْبِي مِنَ الْخَطَايَا، كَمَا يُنَقَّى الثَّوْبُ الأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الدَّنَسِ، وَبَاعِدْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ خَطَايَاىَ كَمَا بَاعَدْتَ بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ
O Allah! Wash away my sins with the water of snow and hail, and cleanse my heart from the sins as a white garment is cleansed of filth, and let there be a far away distance between me and my sins as You have set far away the East and the West from each other.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Dear brothers and sisters, because we expect to see more snow in this week than we've seen in years in Dallas, and it's not going to feel like Dallas, I figured what better time to talk about a du'a that involves snow so that we can reflect on it inshaAllah ta'ala. And my hope is that as you see the snow over the next week or the hail or the wintry mix that you'll think about this du'a and bi'ithnillahi ta'ala you'll make it. And I was curious about it to be honest with you when someone actually asked me about this du'a as we as we supplicate it as we are putting people in the grave. And it is where the Prophet ﷺ says, wa khalsilhu bil ma'i wal thalji wal barat. Oh Allah, wash him or her with water, snow, and hail. Someone asked me and said, what does that even mean? Why did the Prophet ﷺ say water, snow, and hail? And we also find that the Prophet ﷺ used to use the supplication when speaking about the cleansing of the heart, to wash the heart, bil ma'i wal thalji wal barat. In some riwayat the Prophet ﷺ said, bi ma'i thalji wal barat, which means the water of snow and hail. And sometimes he would say, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, water, snow, and hail, separating the three of them out. And so inshaAllah ta'ala I want to mention five deep meanings that we find that the scholars elaborated on for the usage of this because we usually talk about the degrees of distance that the heart senses from Allah ﷻ. So we talk about the sick hearts, raana ala qulubihim, the stained heart, wa qalu qulubna ghulf, the closed heart. We talk about al qalb al mayyit, the dead heart. We talk about distance. But there are also different levels of purification to bring one closer to Allah ﷻ. And so one of these du'as, and it comes in different variations, the Prophet ﷺ said, Allah makhsil khatayai bi ma'i thalji wal barat, wa naqqi qalbi minal khataya
kama yunakka thawbul abyadu minal danas, wa ba'id bayni wa bayna khatayai kama ba'adta bayna al mashriqi wal maghrib. The Prophet ﷺ would say, O Allah, wash away my sins with the water of snow and hail, and cleanse my heart from sin as a white garment is cleansed of dirt. And let there be a faraway distance between me and my sins as far as you have set between the east and the west from each other. So there are five things I'll mention insha'Allah ta'ala, and I'll keep it quick so that I don't freeze the people that are outside while talking about a du'a about freezing. Number one, some of the scholars said this is mubalagha fit tathir, this is a form of over emphasis, amplification, exaggerating. It has that hyperbole to emphasize to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala how much we want to be purified when we turn towards him. And of course there is an ayah where we find a similar type of sequence. When we read in the end of surah al-Baqarah, fa'afu anna wa ghfir lana wa rahamna, pardon us and forgive us and have mercy upon us. It is a form of the longing for Allah's forgiveness. And if Allah pardons you, wa'afu anna, then what is embedded in that is that Allah has forgiven you and shown mercy to you. But as our du'as, as our supplications are meant to bring us closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and meant to express the longing of the heart for Allah's forgiveness, we amplify the request at the end when we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness. Number two, and this is a very powerful one, and one that I was actually speaking with my in-laws about in regards to this du'a, which is very profound. Some sins penetrate deeply and they penetrate differently. And because of
that they require a deeper sense of cleaning, but the source of purification is one. Now it's all water coming from the heavens, right? It's all the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But deeper stains require what? They require a colder wash. You know, if you have a blood stain in a garment or you have some certain stains where you have to make the water even colder. And those of you that are familiar with countries in the world where the homes are made of a certain type of stone, they say that the water will not wash off those deep stones in the side of the home, but snow will, right? It requires a different type of cleansing. And so it's as if to say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that some sins have penetrated deeper and require a deeper sense of cleansing. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying to wash our hearts with water and snow and hail, whatever coolness is needed, whatever is needed to remove the sin from our hearts, oh Allah, remove them from our hearts. The third reason that some of the scholars mentioned, they said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala purifies you in different ways from your sin, either through repentance, tawbah, or through revelation, through wahy, when you read the Quran and you read the revelation and you read that which is divine and you find that closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it washes away the hearts or through expiation, through tests and trials. All of it comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the reason why the believer asks Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the priority of seeking forgiveness in the hereafter, for anything that it takes to be forgiven in the hereafter, is that that puts everything else in
perspective. So when the believer faces any type of trial or hardship in this world, what do they ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for right away? Oh Allah, make it a form of expiation because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the believer is not tested with any type of hardship, any type of sadness, no type of sickness, even the prick of a thorn. And they did ihtisab, they sought the reward from Allah with patience, except that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala removes some sins as a result of that. And so our priority to be elevated in the sight of Allah, that this dunya, that this life does not become akbarahamminah, does not become our greatest concern, that our priority is to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala biqalbin saleem, with a heart that is free of impurity. And so again, there are different forms of purification that come to the heart, either through repentance, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, when a person repents to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know what happens to that dark spot on the heart? Suqilat, purifies the heart. It actually becomes a bright spot, a polished spot on the heart. Or, or a person reads the Quran, and we talked about this last week, before our hearts were hardened, the effect of the Quran on the heart, or a person faces their trials, and they say, yeah, Allah, remove our sins along with this trial, remove our sins along with this trial. They don't just ask Allah to remove the trial, but that Allah takes away the impurities with it as well. Number four, the scholars mentioned that in regards to the dead, and in regards to the heart, there is the element of heat. And when we put people in the grave, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned these three forms of cooling. Why? Itfa'i harriha, to remove the heat of a'zab al-qabr. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make our graves gardens of al-jannah,
and not allow them to be chambers of al-naar. But to purify it all together. SubhanAllah, that from the rahma, when we are putting people in the grave, we're saying, yeah, Allah, do not let that person be touched with anything of its punishment, or anything of its hardship, but remove them all together. And Ibn Hajar rahimahullah ta'ala mentioned, and sins cause a burning desire in the heart. And you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to cool off that burning desire, and instead to let that burning desire be only for his pleasure, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the fifth one, which is the most important and the most practical for us to think about as we're making this du'a. The scholars say that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned three requests. Forget about the water, snow, and hail for a moment. Three requests. He asked sallallahu alayhi wasallam first for what? Ikhsil, to wash. And the washing is for the past. And from the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, no matter what sin you have committed, when you turn to Allah and you say, astaghfirullah, I seek your forgiveness, O Allah, sincerely, sincerely, and your heart is turned towards him, Allah washes away that sin. It's wiped out. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam asked for, wa naqqi, al tanqiya, which refers to the present. That Allah remove all of the effects of sin. Because it may be that you're forgiven for a sin, but the heart still longs for it, and the effects of the sin are still there in the heart. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, ikhsil wa naqqi, to wash and to purify. Remove the effect of that sin altogether and the desire for that sin altogether. So there's past and there's present. And then finally, future. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam asked for al muba'ada, that Allah distance us from those sins. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allahumma ba'id bayni wa bayna khatayai, kama ba'ata bayna al mashriqi wa al maghrib. O Allah, place a distance
between me and my sins, the way you've placed the distance between the east and the west. That I never long for that sin again. And O Allah, do not let me long for it and do not put me in proximity to it again. Last week we talked about the importance of being in proximity to the poor and to the orphans and in proximity to the Quran and to the Sunnah. Proximity to things that give life to the heart. And the scholars say here, how can you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive you for a sin when you're already planning your next occurrence of it? Some people are saying astaghfirullah and they're already making their plans to do it again. No. Walam yusirru ala ma fa'alu wa hum ya'lamun. O Allah, I'm not going to return to that sin. And O Allah, help me, help me stay away from it. Help me not desire it and help me stay away from it while actively putting between us and those sins, the obstacles so that we don't commit them again. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala purify our hearts with water and snow and hail and distance us from our sins the way that he has placed distance between the east and the west.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala purify our hearts with water and snow and hail and distance us from our sins.
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