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Ep. 7: Hope In The Mercy of Allah | Guidebook to God
To hope in Allah’s mercy is something you earn. Learn about two kinds of hope and how one is far more powerful than the other in increasing faith.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Hope is a powerful thing. To hope for the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala isn't just something you wish for, it's something you earn. And therefore there's a difference between amal and raja'a. What we're speaking about today is raja'a. It's hope that is demonstrable through action. It's not amal where it's a hope where I'm just waiting for something to happen. A raja'a is an act of ibadah, an act of worship. And it is a part of the definition of taqwa, of God consciousness and of hoping for Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's greater reward on account of the strictness that I adhere to his laws and his rules and his regulations. On account of the strictness and the severity I hold on to the path and the footsteps and the tradition and the sunnah of his Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Narju rahmata rabbina. We have this great hope in the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy. And that hope is something that we ask for through a mechanism of behavior, through mitigation of our hearts, of removing doubts from them, through a sincerity of the words that we say in our remembrance and adhkar that remind us of the grandeur and the mercifulness of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then finally the third step of hope through demonstratable behavior of the deeds and the worships and the behaviors that we perform that we seek to endear us to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I wish today to speak honestly about the hopes that I have in my heart and the hope that you have in your heart as being a way to leverage it that becomes something that we say and do, not just something that we believe. Know that there is a difference between having hope in your heart for Allah's forgiveness and seeking to earn Allah's forgiveness.
In the authentic hadith, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, kamarawil imam muslim, the imam Muslim quotes the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as saying, kullu ummati yadkhuluna aljannah, all of my people, all of my nation, all of those who accepted faithfulness in God shall definitely enter paradise illa man aba, except the one who refuses to go in, the one who says I'm not going in. qalu man ya'ba ya rasool Allah, who, O messenger of Allah, would say I'm not going to go. That they have an opportunity to enter paradise, to enter the eternality of God's forgiveness and mercy and pleasure that is destined for us as human beings and says, no, I don't want to go in. qalu man ata'ani dakhalal jannah, the one who takes their path of life, obedience to me, not just obedience to God, but obedience to me, which is the obedience of Allah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, man yuta' al rasool faqad ata' Allah, the one who obeys and demonstrated an obedience to the messenger of God has shown their obedience to Allah. man ata'ani dakhalal jannah, wa man asani faqad aba, the one who obeys me, follows this path, enters paradise, and the one who willfully, intentionally, disregards my path of life, my tradition, the theology and the creed that I brought, the way of belief in Allah, the practice of prayer and fasting and charity and honesty, the one who takes a path other than my path, yabtaghi ghayra sabili al mu'mineen, and walks upon a path other than that of faith, faqad aba, has said I don't want to enter jannah. I don't want to be from the people of paradise and has refused them self-access. That becomes the standard definition of raja'. The standard definition of raja' is that in your heart you hope to be from those who have followed the nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam as well as possible, with as much sincerity as possible, with as much conviction as possible, that you become from the fortunate to receive Allah's mercy.
In the authentic hadith also narrated by the imam Muslim, the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, la yadkhulil jannah ahadun bi amali, no one will be allowed admission into paradise on account of them doing good enough deeds. You will never pray enough, fast enough, give enough charity that you will be able to demand and knock on the door of paradise and say, give me my keys, let me in, I have earned this. Qalu wala anta ya rasool Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They said not even you, O messenger of Allah, have earned your place in jannah on account of your night prayers and the sacrifices and your jihad and all that you have done have earned paradise. Qala wala ana. He said not even I have earned that place in paradise. Illa an yata ghamadanillahu bi rahmati. I will only be allowed into paradise once Allah's mercy has enveloped me. And therefore you see that this is a way of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam having hope for the raja of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do not ever think that the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam felt entitled, that he felt that in this life I've done enough to earn paradise. The prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would be asked by the sahaba or messenger of Allah, Allah has forgiven you ma taqaddama min dhanbika wa ma taakhkhar. What has been done and what would ever be done of any mistake in your life would be forgiven by Allah. Why do you stand in prayer half the night more or less as Allah says in surat al-muzzammil nusfahu, half of the night, why? Until your feet and your legs become swollen. He said salallahu alayhi wa sallam, athala akunu abdan shakura? Should I not be a thankful servant to Allah? Should I not have hope in the mercy of Allah? The prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says inni atubu ila Allah wa astaghfiruhu fil yawmi akthara min sab'ina marra. I turn to Allah asking His forgiveness, turning to Him in repentance and returning back to Him every day, more than 70 times a day.
Why, O messenger of Allah? Because that is how you prove you have hope in the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Mercy that we seek, hope that we have in Allah is not an empty belief in the heart. It's not just, oh insha'Allah, God will forgive me. Insha'Allah, God knows what's in my heart and our actions are far away from the path of Allah, far away from the path set for us by Allah for His prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to lead us upon. You can't say I have hope in the mercy of Allah and it's just empty. It's demonstratable. And every time you see Allah's great mercy shown, even amongst people who you and I might assume are wretched, they've done something to bring them towards the mercy of Allah. They've shown hope in the mercy of Allah through an act of worship, through a statement of worship, through a belief in their heart that is demonstratable, that have made them worthy of their raja' in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. اللهم اجعلنا من الراجين في رحمتك يا رب العالمين Oh Allah, make us from those who have great hope in your mercy, oh Allah. ولا يقنط من رحمة الله إلا قوم الكافرون No one loses hope in the mercy of Allah except those who internally have given up faith in Him. قل يا عبادي الذين أسرفوا على أنفسه لا تقنطوا من رحمة الله Say to them, oh my servants who have wronged your own self, notice Allah calls them His slaves. Say to them, قل يا عبادي, say to them, my beloved servants, who have transgressed against your own souls, your own lives, your own mistakes. You have done that which is vile. لا تقنطوا من رحمة الله Don't ever give up hope in the mercy of Allah. Don't ever turn away from your raja'. Don't ever turn away from doing good deeds. إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتُ يُذْهِبْنَا السَّيِّئَاتُ Your good deeds will cancel out your sinful deeds. And therefore, raja' is something that we don't just have a hope in our heart, but it's a demonstratable act of worship and service and calling others to good.
I leave you with this vivid statement of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, where he taught us on the day of Laylatul Qadr to say, as he taught his wife Aisha and others, اللهم إنك عفو تحب العفو فاعف عني Oh Allah, You are the one who pardons, wipes away sinful deeds. تحب العفو, You love to do this, فاعف عني Oh Allah, show me this pardon and this forgiveness, ya Allah. Remove from me my mistakes, remove from me my record of sinful deeds, oh Allah. Why do we do this in the night that is better than a thousand months? خير من ألف شهر Why is this short dua, three statements, why is this the dua of Laylatul Qadr? Because in it is hope that Allah will forgive us. In it is hope that if it's accepted, it can equal a life of 86 years of sinfulness. In it is the hope that if Allah will accept this short, humble dua with a sincerity of heart that I stood to Him in that night, that I have hope in His mercy, that Allah will shine His light of guidance into our heart and give us an opportunity of doing good deeds that will cancel out our mistakes. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala fill our life with hope, our life with purpose, our life with determination. Oh Allah, increase our raja and dependence and hope upon you. Wa sallillahumma wasallim wa zidwabarik ala Sayyidina wa Habibina wa Nabiyina Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wasallam Your brother Yahya Ibrahim, wasalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
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