Servants of the Most Merciful
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Episode 7: The Sins They Are Capable Of
Dr. Omar Suleiman dives into the sixth quality of the servants of the Most Merciful.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. So, Alhamdulillah, Rabbul Ameen, it's the 27th night and I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts this beautiful night of ibadah from each and every single one of us. And subhanAllah, I was just reflecting before I start on how amazing it is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed us to see this night, to see these last two nights, to see this Ramadan, but just to remind everyone, a lot of people wanted to make it this far and did not make it to see this night. There are a lot of blessed people that passed away before this night. And just seeing the pictures of the sunrise in different parts of the world, and knowing the fadl, knowing the virtue of the 27th night in particular, without getting into details on the ikhtilaf, on the difference of the two, it's such a blessing to be here and I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepts this from us all. That if this is the night, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept it from us all. And if it is not the night, may Allah accept it from us regardless on another one of these nights. So just a reminder to myself and you, do not waste time tonight. And I hope you don't find the lecture a waste of time, but don't waste time tonight. Please try your best to really exert yourself in sadaqah, in salah, in du'a, all of these beautiful attributes insha'Allah ta'ala, without wasting time. So make sure that when you're not saying something beneficial, you're listening to something beneficial, alternate between your du'a and your reading, but just stay engaged as much as you can this night insha'Allah ta'ala, all of the nights that come to follow. So the lecture that we will, or the portion of the surah that we will get to tonight,
is where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا آخَرٌ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّذِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَى أَثَامًا يُضَعَفْ لَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَ Or we'll get to that later actually, we'll stick to 68, verse 68 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, And those who do not invoke a god along with Allah, nor do they take a life which Allah has forbidden except injustice, nor do they commit zina, adultery, and whoever does so shall meet its penalty. Now this might seem like from a tazkiyah perspective, one of those ayat that you just kind of look over because you say, Oh well that's not me, you know, I've never, I don't call upon anyone beside Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I don't commit murder, I don't commit zina, so I'm good right, I can escape this. As I said, you know, in one of the episodes on Quran 30 for 30, Allah would not put anything in the Quran except that it's a benefit to everyone that is reading it. And so if there is something that you are guilty of, you are attentive to it. If there is something that you are not guilty of, then you are also attentive to it because you ask Allah for protection and you seek refuge in Him. And you pay attention to the lessons learned on how people fell into those places. So don't just gloss over this and then go to the other parts of the surah. There's actually something very profound about this being included in Ibadur Rahman because when you're talking about Ibadur Rahman, you're talking about a bunch of do's. What is it that Ibadur Rahman do? They do, you know, they walk with humility. They have incredible impeccable character with people that have no character with them whatsoever. They pray qiyam late into the night. They spend with moderation. They're not stingy nor are they extravagant, but they spend wisely. And so it's a lot of what they actually do and not much of what they avoid.
But that's actually a very profound point when you think about the way that Allah puts this smack in the center of the description of Ibadur Rahman. And some of the scholars say that just the fact that there's a portion that's inserted in the middle right here about what Ibadur Rahman don't do is to indicate that these are people that do not live a life of contradiction. These are people that do not live a life of contradiction. Sometimes you find very, you know, seemingly very righteous people. And because you have these seemingly righteous people that pray, that carry themselves with such grace and such, you know, such beauty in the public space, sometimes they're deceived and sometimes they're deceiving. And the Prophet ﷺ talked about the hypocrites and he said that one of the things about the hypocrites is that they pray, they fast, they do all of these actions that allow them to be looked at in a certain way. But when they are alone with the forbidden things, with the prohibited things of Allah ﷻ, then they consume those things. So they look to, you know, they consume these things in a very blatant way, as if there's no shame with these things. And the Prophet ﷺ said, إذا لم تستحي فصنع ما شئت If you have no shame, then do as you will. I'm getting messages that my mic is a bit off, so I'm going to adjust the sound a bit. Hopefully it will help. Okay. Bismillah. Inshallah this is a little bit better. I'll try it at this level. I just lowered it. As long as it's not Darth Vader, then I'm good. But inshallah it's better now. I hope so. Okay, it's not better.
Let me try this again. Okay. I'm going to try this again. I hope it's not an echo. And if it is, then I might just switch mics. Is the voice clear now? Okay. If you all give me a moment, I'm going to switch my mic very quick to the laptop mic. And inshallah it will be better. Okay. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again. I'm going to try this again.
In the name of Allah. You guys can hear me now. Alhamdulillah. Alright. Can you hear me now? Is it good? I see green bars on my end. Okay. Alhamdulillah. Alright. Inshallah I'm going to just try it this way. So, in any case, as I was saying, the summary of all of this, that the ulema say that the powerful intervention of this is to say that these are people that do not live a life of contradiction because the hypocrites in the hadith of Thoban radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu where the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was talking about the munafiqun, he was talking about the hypocrites, and Thoban said, Sifhum lana ya Rasulullah, tell us about them, O Messenger of Allah. And Thoban radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu narrates that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said they are a people who, when they are alone with the maharam, when they are alone with the prohibitions of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, they consume those prohibitions. So anyway, I'm going to get back to this inshallah ta'ala. Let's go into the details of this. wal-nadhina la yad'uuna ma'a Allahi ilaha an'afi Those who do not call upon a lord beside Allah subhana wa ta'ala. So Allah azawajal is speaking to a very specific portion or element of tawheed, the very element of munafiqism. Why? Because this is a meccan society where they associate partners with Allah subhana wa ta'ala in different ways. So to call upon Allah subhana wa ta'ala, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam says ad-du'a huwa al-ibadah supplication is worship, du'a is ibadah.
And at the end of this surah, the very last ayah, qulna ya'ba'u bikum rabbi lawla du'aukum Say that my lord would not take note of you had it not been for your du'a. And du'a here, as Ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhumah says, du'a here means ibadah as a whole. So the word du'a covers so much more than supplication, but supplication is at the core of du'a. Allah subhana wa ta'ala also by choosing these sins in particular to say that ibadah ar-rahman are not guilty of these sins, Allah subhana wa ta'ala is pointing to something that's very important which is that the believer will fall into minor sins, but they won't insist upon them. The believer will fall into minor sins, but they won't insist upon them because kullukum khaqa'a, all of you are people who make mistakes. You're all going to have all types of sins in your life, you're all going to make these mistakes. But the best of you are those who repent. So when Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, alladheena yajtaniboona kabaira al-ithmi wal-faraahish illa al-lamam Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, those who avoid the major sins and the shameless sins, except for al-lamam, except for the slips, except for the minor sins that we commit throughout the day. So the believer, ibadah ar-rahman are capable of slip-ups, they're capable of minor sins, but they don't insist on those minor sins. They are not capable of committing major sins and living a life of contradiction with those major sins, nor do they publicize their sins, which is one of the greatest ways of insult. One of the greatest ways of insult towards Allah subhana wa ta'ala that you disobey Him and Allah covers you as you disobey Him and then you publicize that sin and then you boast about that sin. So it's not publicizing in that you're seeking help from someone, it is publicizing it as a means of pride, as a means of boastfulness,
that Allah azza wa jalla covers a person and they still go out there and they expose their sins. So the ulama comment on this and they say that the sins that are mentioned here are shirk, murder and adultery. And I know some of you might just tune out at this point and say, well alhamdulillah, I don't commit shirk, I don't commit murder, I don't commit adultery. So just hold on insha'Allah ta'ala until we get to the end of this portion. Shirk, murder and adultery are the worst of the sins in the sight of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. This is according to a hadith from Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He says that I asked the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what are the worst of sins? He says, number one, it is to set up someone as equal and rank with Allah who created you. So it's to associate a partner with Allah subhana wa ta'ala and to set them up as an equal. The worst type of shirk, to give someone else that position of being your creator when it was only God who created you. And then the second one, to kill your own child for fear of sustenance out of fear of poverty. So the worst type of murder, such a filthy type of murder, because of the implications of it, is that you kill an innocent child, you kill your own child out of fear of poverty. So subhanAllah, there's a lack of rahmah, there is a lack of connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. There's so much, there's a lack of understanding where this comes from. There's so much that comes from this. And then the third one is to commit adultery, to commit zina with the spouse of your neighbor. So these are those three sins to their worst outcome. Those three sins to their worst outcome. Allah azza wa jalla mentions shirk to its worst outcome. Allah mentions murder to its worst outcome. Allah mentions adultery to its worst outcome. To commit adultery with the spouse of your neighbor, zina is bad enough, your neighbor has rights upon you.
So to go to that extent is of the worst sins in the sight of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. The scholars also say that Allah subhana wa ta'ala is calling, is speaking to the conscience, the conscience of those people in Mecca, to the pagans, because these are all things that though they were guilty of, they knew were blameworthy. They knew were not traits that were noble. It's very important, if you read, I think a good history of this in Tafheem al-Qur'an, the history of Mecca, the history of the people of Mecca, and how they actually looked at their idols. They didn't perceive their idols as having much weight. They didn't actually care much about their idols. Their idols were products. Their idols were their inventory. When things actually went wrong, or when they were actually in genuine fear, they invoked Allah subhana wa ta'ala. They called upon Allah alone. When Abraha invaded Mecca, Quraysh did not invoke other than Allah. They didn't invoke the idols to save them from Abraha, or save the Kaaba from Abraha. They invoked Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And that's why Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, wa-idha ghashiya hum mawdun tabdula li da'a allaha mufrisina lahu d-din That these people, they are in the ocean, and they are covered by the darkness of the night, and the dark waves start to crash into the boat, into the ship. Who do they call upon? They call upon Allah subhana wa ta'ala. They know their idols have no weight. And so they would switch out their idols as they pleased. They would say, you know, I don't like the way this idol looks anymore, so let me bring a new one. They would accessorize them as they pleased. They would buy and sell and trade their gods. So Allah subhana wa ta'ala is calling attention to the fact that when you are in trouble, who do you call upon? Who do you naturally call upon? Even those pagan Arabs that were fighting the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam for his monotheism, when things were difficult, they called upon Allah. They called upon God. And they knew zina was not noble.
They knew that zina, adultery, was far from nobility, though they were guilty of it. So you have the story of the idols whose images had been placed at Safa and Marwa, which were a man and a woman that committed zina inside the Ka'aba and were turned into stone by Allah subhana wa ta'ala as punishments. And so they disgraced these two. They mocked them. They knew that zina was a lowly trait, even though they were guilty of it. They were regularly guilty of it. There were all types of zina-type agreements that the Arabs had. You talk about the early practice of exchanging spouses, exchanging wives, and a person even committing incest, and a person committing zina with their own children, their own mothers, their own – these are things that existed that were prevalent in their society, but they knew they were lowly, and they knew that they had no benefit to them as individuals or society, and they knew that murder was wrong. Even as they committed acts of murder and they killed people for petty reasons, they knew that these were not noble traits. So Allah subhana wa ta'ala calls the disbelievers by saying, Ibadur-Rahman are far from these things. They don't live lives of contradiction, and this is the impact. This is the societal impact of a people that honor God in their lives. This is what happens when you have a society of Ibadur-Rahman. There is rahma to society. There is rahma to society. There is mercy to society. People don't kill in the name of their idols. People do not commit zina. In the process, victimize either the more vulnerable of the two committing zina, and any children that might be born out of zina. People don't end up ushering in these horrible things into society. One of the things that you can point to is that these three things, shirk, murder, and zina,
literally line up as the opposites to the first three of the major maqasas of the shariah, the first three objectives of Islamic law. Number one, kifl al-deen, the preservation of religion. Then the preservation of life. Then the preservation of honor. So when people betray these three things in their lives, then the societal impact is one in which there is no rahma. There is cruelty. There is disgrace. And that disgrace is brought both upon the one who is calling and the one who is being called upon. Both upon the one who is murdering and the one who is being murdered. The one who is committing zina and those that would end up bearing the impact or the consequences of that zina. The loss of innocence in society. The loss of honor in society. The loss of a naseeb, the loss of lineage in society. The loss of protection. The loss of safety. The loss of spirituality. The loss of harmony. So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, you know, Ibadur Rahman, the goal is not to just have a few individuals that shine. The goal is to have societies that function with these noble ideals and that line up with the major maqasid, which are the preservation of religion, life and honor. The scholars also mentioned here. That these three things are all signs of the Day of Judgment from the biggest of the minor signs of the Day of Judgment. Of course, you have the major signs of the Day of Judgment, which are when the day of judgment is literally at its onset. Then you have things that are signs of the ends of time. And I'm actually going to add something to this, which is that it's not just shirk, zina and murder that are prevalent in the end of times, but it's mindless shirk and mindless zina and mindless murder. What does that mean?
The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, when he speaks about societies descending into these three things once again, the Messenger of Allah, alaihi salatu wasalam, talks about an element of normalization and an element of desensitization and an element of just mindlessness. Mindlessness. How? The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said that the hour would not come until you saw the wisdom of the Prophet. The women of Dose tribe, an early pagan tribe, literally committing their acts of shirk around the Kaaba, which was a promiscuous type of dance around the Kaaba. The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said the hour would not come until you found people committing shirk literally around the Kaaba in the same way that the Arabs at the time were committing shirk. It's mindless, right? It's mindless. And so shirk becomes a party, right? It really becomes a party. So there is a regular disregard of God, a regular disregard of anything that has to do with the divine, open mockery of Allah, open mockery of anything that has to do with the divine. Nothing is sacred anymore. And because nothing is sacred anymore, then everything just becomes part of a material pursuit and part of vanity, right? So spirituality becomes part of vanity. And so people worship not from a place of actual purpose, and finding purpose in that worship, but it's part of vanity. And so there's mindless shirk that the Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, is talking about towards the end of time, right? And then there is mindless murder. SubhanAllah, we see this everywhere now, everywhere now. The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said there would come a time where neither the Pathan nor the Maqtool, the one who is killing, nor the one who is being killed, knows why the murder is happening. The person who's killing really doesn't know why they're murdering. And the person who's being murdered
has no idea why they're being murdered. But murder becomes so mindless, right? Senseless killings. How many mass shootings do we see all the time, right? And just senseless killing, whether that's at the hand of oppressive governments, okay, and foreign policy, including our own, right? Just dirty wars, or that's the individual emptiness that just leads to mindless, senseless killing that destroys societies. The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said al-haraj, right? It's just murder everywhere, murder everywhere. And then there's mindless zina, where people commit adultery, and they don't even care anymore. And the one who witnesses it says it's not even a big deal anymore. As Allah, the Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said that it would come a time where people would not feel shame to just commit adultery in the middle of the streets. And the most righteous person at the time would simply say, would you mind moving to the corner, or could you move out of the way as you commit your zina? That's the level of mindless zina that the people committing adultery have no care whatsoever as to who's watching them. And those that are witnessing it regularly become desensitized to it. And so how I really, really want you to think about this, and I keep telling myself I'm gonna write something about this, but it's just been a little hectic in these last few days. But some of you are already planning to get back to your favorite HBO series and your favorite Netflix series and your favorite Hulu series and your favorite whatever series and watch this, this, and that after Ramadan. And I'm not saying that to dismiss you, because I know that the way that we rationalize it is I'll turn away when certain things come up, or I just won't watch that part. But think about the corruption of the soul and the heart in the process of that, that you just become okay with this stuff. It's like, oh yeah, it's just another thing. It's just zina again. So mindless zina becomes a feature of society where people just become desensitized to all sorts of things. And it's okay to watch these things
and okay to consume these things. And that's not good for the heart. It's not good for the soul. And it can have devastating consequences on us. So what are those devastating consequences that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la talks to us about? And as I said, you're thinking maybe at this point, alhamdulillah I've never killed anybody. Alhamdulillah I've never committed zina. Alhamdulillah I've never committed shirk. Alhamdulillah these things don't happen anymore. But here's the thing. No one says as a child that I'm gonna grow up and be a murderer one day, that I'm gonna kill someone one day. How many people that have taken the life of someone else unjustly never thought, in fact most people never thought that they would ever be in that situation? But the fitna increased and people found themselves in that situation. How many people thought I will never commit zina? I will never commit adultery. That's crazy. That's for those people, those other people. This is beneath me. Then what ended up happening? You got a little too close with your coworkers. And the process of infidelity unfolded where you developed an emotional attachment to one of your colleagues. And then the late night conversations and then the messages got a little bit more flirtatious. And then you rationalize it in your head and say, hey, let's figure out, let's do the secret niqab on the phone, just me and you. No one else has to know. And you just took it into this weird path. You rationalized it, right? And no one ever thought, no one thinks that I'm gonna do something this dumb before they get into it. But you get caught and then it's a process. It pulls you in and you end up there. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that when it comes to faith, there's a reason why we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to maintain faith in us, to maintain faith in us. Like to not let our musiba, to not let our tragedy in life be in our faith,
that our faith is not disrupted by a world that's becoming less and less predictable and more and more crazy. All of the hadith from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam about holding onto iman, ya muqallibal quroob, tabdil qalbi AAala deen, O turner of hearts, keep my heart firm on your path. What did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam say would happen at the end of times? Ma'in lish shirk, what does ma'in lish shirk look like? The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, a person goes to sleep a believer, goes to sleep a believer, a mu'min, wa yusbikhu kafiran, and wakes up a complete disbeliever. And then something happens during the day, they read something, they watch something, whatever it is, and you know what, I'm a believer again. And then, no, well, actually, no, not now, right? So they jump between faith and disbelief, and that's a dangerous place for a person to actually be. But it happens to people, and it catches people by surprise. So asking Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la not to let you lose faith, that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la settle faith in your heart, that Allah keep your heart firm, that Allah keep your steps that fast, that Allah keep your thoughts pure, that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la keep you on the straight path. Masikni biha, O Allah, hold me to it, cling me to it, hatta alqaafa AAalai, until I meet you with this faith of Allah. Keep me clung to this Islam, keep me clung to this faith, until I meet you with it. Make the best of my deeds the last of them, asking Allah for hisnul kitab, asking Allah for a good ending. Because people don't know how they get pulled into these things. They don't know how they get pulled into these things, but it happens, and it becomes a process. And so, you know, the scholars of suruq, they say that each one of these three sins has a pathway. And while that pathway might differ from person to person, it has a pathway. And so the pathway to shirk is emptiness. Emptiness, a person losing the sweetness of faith, losing the sweetness of faith. And when they lose the sweetness of faith, then it becomes, feejaw fee ahadikum kama yakhlaqa thawba,
it becomes like a worn out garment. And so it becomes old, and it's not doing anything for you anymore. So you're not renewing your faith regularly. And so a person has emptiness, and then they seek to fill that emptiness with other than Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And then a contradiction happens where, you know, whether it's an unhealthy dependence, or it's just outright blatant shirk, with something other than Allah subhana wa ta'ala, I have to expel one of those two things from my heart, and I choose to expel Allah subhana wa ta'ala. May Allah protect us all, right? So the point is, is that it's emptiness. Emptiness is the pathway there. When it comes to murder, many of the ulama say it's anger. How many people commit murder in the heat of a moment? Right, domestic violence crimes, subhanAllah. May Allah protect us and protect our marriages, and protect our families, and protect our communities. How many people in the spur of a moment, in the heat of an argument, kill the most beloved person in the world to them, right? Or are violent with them, and then that violence unlocks the potential of a greater violence? Or, you know, in the midst of the moment, do something crazy, and actually kill someone, hurt someone, and then what happens? I've gotta hide that, and then they become murderers. Because shaitan has unlocked that sin. But if a person doesn't learn to control their temper, they could find themselves in a situation where they become abusive, right? Let's put murder to the side. How many people think that one day I might be someone that would lay my hand on my spouse? You know, or hit my children violently? You know, like actually inflict pain on my loved ones? No one thinks that when they're young. And most people, when things are good, think that could never happen to me. But subhanAllah, they snap. And so, the mechanisms of ibadah wal-hamad, of keeping ourselves guarded, of keeping ourselves guarded, protect us from going down that dark pathway. And then when it comes to zina, lust, lust, emptiness, seeking validation, right?
It starts off with just flirting, and you don't even recognize it until it's too late, right? And it just, you're letting these sparks fly, and the fire, it just catches on fire at some point. Right, and Allah says, you know, wa laa takrabu zina, don't even come close to it. Right, don't even come close to it. Put a barrier between you and it. When you start to see some of those signs, back off. Don't put yourself in a compromising situation, because you're going to end up falling, right? And so, there are pathways to these major sins that ibadah wal-hamad actively seek protection from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from. They don't belittle these things. Remember, Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu said, naa amina nifaq illa munafiq. That no one fears, no one feels safe from hypocrisy except for a hypocrite. wa maa khafahu illa mu'min. And when only a believer fears hypocrisy. And so, when you start fearing the potential of sins, even major sins, you can find yourself in a bad place, right, where you start to belittle them and you say, that could never be me. Insha'Allah, it never will be you. Insha'Allah, it never will be me. But put protection, put barriers between you and those sins and develop the measures of contemplation and reflection and systems of accountability external as well that can catch you if you start going down a dark path. If you start going down a dark path that can pull you back, whether that's internal, again, or external, that can say, wait, hold on. And at some point, the external will fail and the internal has to pull, right? The internal has to pull because you can get around the external usually, but the internal has to pull and say, wait a minute, I don't like the person I'm becoming. I don't like the lack of quality in my du'a. I don't like the lack of quality in my faith. I don't like this disconnect that I feel from God. I don't like the emptiness that I feel. I don't like the anger issues that I have. I don't like the way I snap at people.
I don't like the way that I somehow feel the need that I always feel like I've got to flirt with, you know, everyone from a grocery store clerk to a coworker to whatever it is, some random person on the internet. I don't like what I'm becoming. I don't like that I'm seeking validation from these places. By the way, please forgive me if any of this is hitting too close. The last thing I want is for someone to make du'a against me on the 27th night of Ramadan or to feel like I'm hitting at you. This is a lie reminder to me first. A person has to be willing to remake themselves into Ibadur Rahman. And in order to do that, you've got to have deep, honest conversations with yourself. Be like, I think this is going down the wrong path. And who were the people that feared major sins most? The Salaf, the pious predecessors, the people that were least likely to commit them. And so you find a narration of Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu ta'ala alhum. Abu Hurayrah, the person who narrated the most of the hadith from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he is seeking refuge in Allah from as-sariqa wa-zina, from becoming a thief or becoming an adulterer. It's like, why you? Why would Abu Hurayrah be asking Allah in his du'a to protect him from ever becoming a thief or an adulterer? How could that ever happen to Abu Hurayrah anywhere? But Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu ta'ala alhum, what did he remind his students of? He said, look, Iblis thought he had it made too. Shaytan thought he peaked. Iblis thought he peaked with his faith and with his position. Look what happened to him. And that's why when the Salaf would see someone fall, they wouldn't mock the person that fell. The first thing they would say is, nasaAllahu ala'afiyah, may Allah protect us. May Allah protect us from falling in a similar way. They wouldn't mock their brother or their sister when they saw them fall. They would say, may Allah protect us because I might fall the way my brother fell. I might fall the way my sister fell. So I need to take lesson and heed from the way that they fell and protect myself.
The Salaf also had a different understanding of what major sins were. Anas radiAllahu ta'ala alhum, as he was passing away. So this is a discussion between someone, two generations of the Salaf because the Salaf are the pious predecessors, the first three generations of the Salaf. And this is a discussion between Anas, who's radiAllahu ala'anhu, a companion of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Tabi'een, which are the second generation of Muslims, a distinguished generation with their good deeds. The Tabi'een distinguished themselves with their good deeds. They took it to the next level with their good deeds. And Anas radiAllahu ta'ala alhum, he said to them, innakum lata'maluna a'malan, hiya, subhanAllah, adhaqo fee a'yumikum, that you do these things that are smaller in your sight minash sha'ar, than hair. And he says that we, the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, kunna na'udhuha minal kabair. We used to consider these things from al-kabair, bal kunna na'udhuhu minal mubiqat. We used to consider them from the destructive flaws, the most destructive of the major sins. That you, O Tabi'een, you might excel in doing more good deeds. You might read more Quran than the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. You might pray more than the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. You might be distinguishing yourselves with your charity. You might be taking it to the next level when it comes to your good deeds. But we, the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, we used to see these sins that you see as more insignificant than a hair, kunna na'udhuha ala ahdi rasoolillahi, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, minal mubiqat. We consider these from the major sins. There was taqwa, there was greater reverence. And so the way that they define major sins was different because everything is relative, right? You know, we talked about zina
and what's considered zina now. Now, obviously there's the technical, the major zina, but the way that our eyes and our hearts have just become so used to consuming certain things. What's become foul language? What's become la'ud, right? What are these things that we've normalized in our lives to consume and to witness without really feeling any disturbance anymore in the soul, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. So what's the practical takeaway from this? The more a person becomes from ibadah rahman, the more yabituna li rabbihim sujjadan wa qiyamah, the more they develop a connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala privately, the more they become obsessed with gaining the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And in the process, holding themselves to higher standards that other people do not necessarily hold themselves to. And they don't belittle sins. They don't belittle sins. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, iyakum muhaqqalatu dhunum, beware of belittling sins because it's like a person that keeps on, you know, it's like a bunch of people gather around a fire and each one of them adds a small branch. And then eventually the fire becomes so big that it consumes you. Imam al-Ghazali rahimahu wa ta'ala talked about the belittling of sins, the effect of belittling the sins on the heart. And he said, you know, it's like taking a stone and dropping a drip of water on the same part of the stone over and over and over and over again until it destroys it altogether, it completely ruins it. So be careful, don't belittle sins. And the greatest way that we belittle sins is that we accept them as normal parts of our lives, whether those are the sins of the tongue or the sins of our actions, the sins of the eyes, the sins of the body, the sins of the feet, the sins of the ears, the sins of, you know, all of these different things, the sins in regards to our deficiencies in our Ibadah,
we just accept them as parts of our lives. This is just me, all right? So I just commit the sin and I do the sin and it's not that big of a deal. And Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala narrated, laa sagheerata ma'al israa wala kabeerata ma'al istighfar that there is no such thing as a small sin when you insist upon it, when you insist upon it. And there is no such thing as a major sin when you seek forgiveness from it. There is no such thing as a small sin when you insist upon it. And there is no such thing as a major sin when you seek forgiveness from it. Why? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, qul yaa ibadi allatheena asrafoo alaa anfusihim laa takhnatuhum wa mahmatillah Say, oh my servants, asrafoo, asrafoo, remember we talked about israf? Israf means you went beyond the limits. You went beyond the limits. asrafoo alaa anfusihim Say, oh my servants, who went beyond the limits with themselves, whether that was major, as major as killing a hundred people, or as minor as backbiting one person. As major as killing a hundred people or as minor as backbiting one person. laa takhnatuhum wa mahmatillah Do not despair from the mercy of Allah because inna allaha yaqqiloo al-gunooba jameeAAa Allah forgives all sins. Allah forgives all sins. The companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam were made up of some people that were adulterers, murderers, murderers, alcoholics before Islam. And some of them struggled even within Islam to reach the position that they reached. This is not a deen of perfect people. This is a deen of imperfect people that strive for perfection and believe that they have a merciful Lord that will forgive them so long as they make their best effort. So it doesn't matter how bad what you've done in the past is, you can put it behind you because you have a Lord that will forgive all of it.
And Allah tells you, don't look back, focus on now your new life. You turn the page, don't look back. But if you have that nasty dot on every day of your life, you know that same dot on your page every day, you just turn the next day of your life, today is the 27th, next day is the 28th, and that same nasty dot is obnoxiously there on your record, right? Then that speaks to a lack of commitment on your part. And that's major, that's major. So Allah can expound the whole book. Quickly, and remove all of the past sins. Don't even think about it anymore, don't worry about it. Seek forgiveness from Allah, sincerely. InnaAllaha yakhfiru dhunuba jami'a. Allah forgives all of it. Inna huwa ghafoorur raheem. Not because you deserve to be forgiven, but because Allah is forgiving and merciful. But when you keep on insisting on that same dot over and over and over again, that in and of itself is major, and it has the potential to open up far worse doors, far worse doors. SubhanAllah, one of my teachers, Sheikh Hamra Shishani, Habibullah Ta'ala, he said that what minor sins do to the heart, what minor sins do to the heart, is so detrimental that it could literally lead to a complete loss of faith and a person's not paying attention. Why? Because to insist upon minor sins, you don't feel a sense of urgency to come back to Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala. You know, a major sin, when a person's in the midst of committing a major sin, like they have the potential to have a major aha moment, wake up call moment. But when it comes to the minor sins, and they keep on committing the minor sins over and over and over again, the heart is hardening. The heart is, it's not just the sin, but the degree of the sin and what that becomes in the sight of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala. The heart is hardening. And then, you know, a person doesn't realize, like, wait a minute, what's left in here? What's left in here?
What have I tarnished in here? So be careful. Be careful with those minor sins because they can really, really destroy the heart. They can eat away. And they can become major sins just by virtue of how often they are performed without conscience anymore. So think about those minor sins and what they become a gateway to. But Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala says, you know, inna Allah yaqtiru dhunuba jamee'a Allah says He forgives all sins, all sins. And so to that brother or sister that has felt unworthy of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala, that feels like you've done way too much, you have not done way too much because Allah's mercy is more than whatever it is that you have done. Allah's mercy is more than what you have done. I'm gonna read a hadith. And wallahi, no matter how much, wallahi, no matter how much I read this hadith, every time I read it, something else, just one word, pokes out to me. So I want you to pay close attention to this hadith. It's narrated by Abu Huraira radiAllahu ta'ala. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, inna Allaha khalaqa ar-rahma yawma khalaqa haa mi'ata rahma I'm gonna read it really slow, in English and in Arabic. Verily, Allah created mercy. inna Allaha khalaqa ar-rahma Rahma comes from ar-rahma. Allah created mercy. And the day Allah created it, the day Allah created this quality of mercy that is so necessary, that is so beautiful, that is so overwhelming, the day Allah created this mercy, He immediately turned it into a hundred parts. He immediately turned it into a hundred parts. Allah created mercy. There was no such thing as rahma before. Allah created rahma. The originator of all things, even the qualities that we have amongst ourselves. He created rahma, and then Allah azza wa jal put it into a hundred buckets, a hundred categories. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says,
fa amsaka AAindahu tisa'an wa tisa'een rahma And then Allah azza wa jal saved for Himself, or He pulled back 99 of those 100 forms of rahma, of 100 forms of mercy. fa arsala fee khalqihi kullihim rahmatan wahida And then Allah subhana wa ta'ala sent to all of His creation, one part of mercy, one part of His mercy. khalqihi kullihim rahmatan wahida So all of the mercy that Ibadur Rahman are able to express, all of the mercy between animals, all of the mercy between the believers, all of the mercy between human beings, all of the mercy that is shown, the mercy of a mother to her child, the mercy of a Prophet to his people, all of that mercy comes from that one bucket of mercy, that one category of mercy that Allah subhana wa ta'ala revealed and sent down to us. And then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, because this is the effect of this, so what does it mean that Allah has saved 99 mercies for the Day of Judgment, for the hereafter? Allahu akbar. What does it mean that Allah saved them? The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, falau ya'lamu alkaafiru bi kulli allathee AAindahu allahi min alrahma lam yayasmin min aljannah SubhanAllah. So if the disbeliever was to know of all of the mercy which is in the hands of Allah subhana wa ta'ala, he would never lose hope of entering Paradise. He would never lose hope of entering Paradise. If the disbeliever was to know what those 99 forms of mercy are like, what Allah has withheld, what does two times the mercy that we know of look like? What does three times mercy look like? What does a hundred times that mercy look like with Allah subhana wa ta'ala? So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, even if the disbeliever were to know
what those 99 parts of that mercy was, he would not lose hope in Paradise. But then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, falau ya'lamu almu'min bi kulli allathee AAindahu allahi min alAAadhaab lam ya'man min allah But if the believer was to know of all of the punishment which is present with Allah subhana wa ta'ala, he would not consider himself safe from the punishment. This is the balance of hope and fear. Allah has, His mercy has overcome His wrath. His mercy has overcome His wrath. We have only experienced one bit of His mercy. Every act of mercy that takes place either through Ibadur Rahman or otherwise in this world is all from one part of the mercy of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And if we were to know of that mercy from Allah subhana wa ta'ala, we would not take advantage of it, nor would we allow ourselves, nor would we allow ourselves to ever despair of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Even the most wicked person would not despair of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And so the next ayah, and just I'll close with this, Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, yuwaAAaf laahu alAAadhaabu yaum alqiyamati wa yaqlut feehi muhaana Allah subhana wa ta'ala says that His torment, the person who insists on these major sins, will be doubled on the day of resurrection and he will abide in it in humiliation. Allah does not multiply or compound punishment for people beyond what they deserve. When Allah azza wa jalla talks about the punishment on the day of judgment, Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, jazaAAan wifaqa that it's an exact punishment. You will never be punished for a sin beyond what it deserves. But when it comes to good deeds, Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, jazaAAan min rabbika AAataa anhisaaba that Allah subhana wa ta'ala awards it or compensates that good deed, AAataa anhisaaba in ways that we don't deserve.
So Allah multiplies the acceptance of those good deeds. So what does it mean, yuwaAAaf laahu alAAadhaabu that His torment shall be doubled for him on the day of resurrection? The ulama say it means two things. Number one, the sins that are between you and Allah and the sins that are between you and the people. The sins that are between you and Allah and the sins that are between you and the people. fa-tooba li maa maata wa maa tatmaAAahu dhanuba as the Salaf used to say, glad tidings to the one who dies and their sins die with them. You don't leave behind something harmful that hurts people after you die. You don't take with you to the grave a sin or produce a sin or inspire a harm that continues after your death. You don't do things to people that cause them to make du'a against you after you die. You don't cause harm that outlives you, okay? So glad tidings to the one who dies and their sins die with them. They're just between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You don't commit zulm, don't commit wrongdoing or oppression towards anyone else. Why? Because when it comes to forgiveness, there are two things required for forgiveness from the people and one thing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. With Allah it's maa khfira, it's forgiveness. inna Allah yaqfiru dhanuba jameeAAa With the people it's al-ada wa al-musamaha. It is that you return the rights to the best of your ability and that they forgive you, you seek their forgiveness. And you know sometimes by the way you try to right a wrong that you've done with someone and they don't wanna forgive you but you do your best. That's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy comes in, right, that you did your best. You tried to do al-ada wa al-musamaha and it didn't work out but you tried your best. You gave it your absolute best shot. There's only one thing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. astaghfiru Allah wa atubu ilayh astaghfiru Allah wa atubu ilayh wallahum innaka afoo wa infareem wa intuhibbu al-afoo wa faafoo aneeb wallah you are forgiving, you love to forgive, so forgive me. So with the sins between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it's easy in that Allah azza wa jal
is so merciful and he loves to show you mercy. You just have to ask for it. You just have to ask for it. Whereas the sins with people, it's a lot more difficult and we often let those things go. And so the person that's being described here, a person who commits major sins is someone who has sins that are both in the category of the sins between them and Allah alone and the sins that are between them and the people. Some of the scholars also say yulaAAaf lahulAAadhaab just refers to the intensifying of the punishment because innaAAadhaabaha kaana gharaba inna haasa'af mustaqarran wa muqama So what we talked about in the previous lecture that hell is ever present and it's ever consuming. It's a horrible place and so it's intense. And yaqluth feehi muhana that a person would abide therein in humiliation. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect us. And so this is the opposite of a person who is honored in the sight of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. This is a person who humiliates themselves. Who humiliates themselves. And dear brothers and sisters, I want to really emphasize this point inshaAllah ta'ala. Whatever your sin is between you and Allah, don't just put it on Allah to forgive you. Put it on yourself to actually put barriers between you and that sin. It is not right that you turn to Allah subhana wa ta'ala in these nights and say, Allahumma khfir li, Allahumma alhamni and you're not willing to do anything for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta'ala or make any meaningful change in your life. It's not right that you call upon Allah with these things without showing a desire to be forgiven and showing a desire to have mercy shown to you by doing the absolute best that you can. And so I'm gonna, you know, I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're going down that path of infidelity, cut it off, cut off that relationship. Even if it's not quite there yet, cut it off from now. Put a complete barrier, erase that person from your contact and walk away from it, right?
And get back to your marriage. If you're getting to a point where your anger, where your grudge is building to where, you know, things are getting violent between you and someone else, need to handle that now. Don't let it get to the point that it's gonna boil over. You're getting to a point where you're experiencing a loss of faith. Take the time that is necessary to anchor that faith now. Don't let it just, don't let faith just be this pastime for you. That's Ramadan right now, so I'm gonna listen to some lectures, I'm gonna do some things here and there. You know, like the most important thing in the world to me is my deen, and if I feel like that's withering away from me, I need to do whatever I can to maintain it. And so, you know, some time a few years ago in Ramadan, I did a series called The Faith Revival. And, you know, it's buried on the YouTube channel, but please do go back and watch that, inshallah ta'ala, if you're someone whose faith is withering away, or you feel that loss of faith, please go back and watch that series, inshallah ta'ala, and make the most of it. And I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us and show mercy on us. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept us this Laylatul Qadr. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to not just plead for his forgiveness, but to work for his forgiveness. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala completely expunge all of our sins prior to this night, prior to these nights, and gives us the strength and the steadfastness that's necessary to completely change our trajectory with him subhanahu wa ta'ala. I pray that Allah azza wa jalla replace those sins with good deeds, those bad habits with good habits. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us mercy in this life and mercy in the hereafter. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from the punishment of the grave, protect us from the punishment of the fire, and grant us all Jannah to Firdaus. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to help us resolve the grudges that we have. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide all of us to the proper path of recourse, both in regards to our transgressions that are between us and our creator,
and in regards to our transgressions that are between us and the creator, the creation. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept this maradhan from us despite its imperfections and shortcomings. Allahumma ameen, Allahumma ameen, Allahumma ameen. Requesting your dua once again for myself and my family, insha'Allah ta'ala, and the entire Yaqeen team, those that are taking the time out to do this right now to make sure that this goes, please pray for all of us, insha'Allah ta'ala, and our families. May Allah azza wa jalla allow an angel to say Allahumma ameen for you, wa lakad li mithbihi. And insha'Allah ta'ala tomorrow we'll talk about what it looks like to turn the page. So the next ayah is probably the most hopeful ayah in this entire sequence of ayahs, which is when Allah actually replaces your sins with good deeds and what the implications of that are. Jazakum Allah khairan, I apologize for the technical lapse in the middle. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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