Late Night Talks (2024)
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The Deeper Effects of Our Sins | Late Night Talks
In the last 10 nights of Ramadan, Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas reflect on the book “The Disease and Its Cure” by Imam Ibn al-Qayyim.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. And the shorter season is going to get faster and faster for us because you break your fast around 5.30. So you realize that Ramadan is going too fast, subhanAllah. And I think, Shaykh Naa, that is a very interesting observation right now with what we discussed last night. So last night we were talking about the delusion of safety. You know, how people, they have excuses to keep procrastinating for tawbah and keep extending their life with sins and mistakes and faults and errors and justifying it to themselves. They're justifying this to themselves with, of course, saying astaghfirullah would be okay, make an wudu and just do tawbah or two rak'ah would be fine, and saying, you know, Allah is the most merciful. Many, many excuses. So there's that delusion of safety. And now we're almost done with the month of Ramadan. And we still think, I still have time. I mean, Layatul Qadr, maybe it's still on the 27th, right? So I still have time. That's also a delusion of safety. So remind us of what happened last night. So alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi man wala. You know, last night we spoke in detail sort of about this idea of not having a false hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What the scholars mention of the difference between husn al-dhan in Allah and ghurur, right? So a good expectation of Allah versus, you know, delusion, the delusion of the self. And Ibn al-Qayyim rahimallah is going to go into the disease. And for the next few nights, we're spending time with the disease. And of course, we'll allude to the cure along the way. But the believer, if they have more fear than hope in terms of their own deeds, they should be more interested in the sections that talk about the disease than the sections that talk about the hope. Because I want to really get the diagnosis right. So this is one section, Sheikh, from yesterday. If you don't mind, can I read it before we go into today? Because I feel like it bridges, subhanAllah, everything from last night to this one. He said, rahimallah ta'ala, يَتْبَعُ الذَّمْبَ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّمْبِ إِذَا عَمِلْتَهُ
That what follows the sin is something greater than the sin when you do it. So he says, قِلَّةُ حَيَائِكَ مِمَّنْ عَلَى الْيَمِينِ وَعَلَى الشِّمَالِ So he says that the shamelessness that you have with those that are to your right and to your left وَأَنتَ عَلَى الذَّمْبِ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّمْبِ Greater than the sin is your shamelessness of committing that sin in front of the person that's to your right and to your left or the angel on your right or your left. وَضَحِهُكَ وَأَنْتَ لَا تَدْرِي مَا اللَّهُ صَانِعُ بِكِ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّمْبِ And when you laugh carelessly and you don't know what Allah is going to do with you, that's greater than the sin itself. When you see the Prophet ﷺ, he's described as smiling and laughing. But there is a laughter that's condemnable in Islam. By the way Shaykh, I'm going to say this. SubhanAllah, when Shaykh taught Prophet's smile. How many of you took Prophet's smile? Oh man, you can teach it again Shaykh. The shamaal of the Prophet ﷺ are majestic. Because to learn the attributes of the Prophet ﷺ is to give you a standard in the finer details of your life. And I used to always say that Shaykh Yasir mashaAllah, he smiles and laughs the way that the shamaal described. Because Shaykh Yasir doesn't make... I'm serious. I wanted to do that on purpose. You know why? Have you ever heard Shaykh Yasir have a hearty laugh? Like really laugh out loud? Maybe at home. But there's a type of laughter that's actually... And may Allah protect you Shaykh. And make you sincere and make us sincere. And all of us. But there's a laughter that you'll find the Prophet ﷺ upset about people laughing. But he also used to laugh. There's a laughter of carelessness and recklessness. Like as if nothing matters. And as if you don't really take anything seriously. Like a boastful laugh. That's condemnable by the Prophet ﷺ. As if they have crossed over the bridge of devil Jahannam. Yeah, yeah. Like LOLing. Literally laughing out loud. In real life. Is something that the Prophet ﷺ would not have liked. When he saw someone doing that.
So he says here, for you to laugh like that. And you don't know where Allah is going to put you. Is worse than the sin itself. And he continues. وَفَرَحُكَ بِالذَّنْبِ إِذَا ضَفِرْتَ بِهِ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّنْبِ The happiness that you get out of committing the sin. Is worse than the sin itself. وَحُزْنُكَ عَلَى الذَّنْبِ إِذَا ثَاتَكَ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّنْبِ And your sadness over the sin. If you fail to commit it. Is worse than the sin itself. Meaning if you wanted to commit a sin. And you had the intention. But just circumstantially you weren't able to commit the sin. And then you were sad that you missed out on it. Is worse than committing the sin itself. And finally he says. وَخَوْفُكَ مِنَ الْرِيحِ إِذَا حَرَّكَتْ سِطْرَ بَابِكْ وَأَنْتَ عَلَى الذَّنْبِ وَلَا يَطْطَرِبُ فُؤَادُكَ مِن نَظَرِ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكَ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الذَّنْبِ And he said that your fear. If the wind starts to blow on your door. And you feel like you're about to be exposed committing the sin. While you were not afraid. Or you were not giving any due to the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon you the whole time. While you were committing that sin. Is worse than the sin itself. So it's not about the material of the sin. It's about what the sin represents. And what the sin affects. So when they say underlying causes of the disease. Right. And the broader implications of the disease. This is what the scholars would talk about. Like hey. As Imam Ahmed rahimallah would say. Or he heard the poem. إِذَا مَا قَالَ لِي رَبِّي أَمَا اسْتَحِيَيْتَ تَعْصِنِي وَتُخْفِذْ ذَنْبَ عَنْ خَلْقِي وَبِالْعُسْيَانِ تَأْتِنِي That I'm afraid my Lord will say to me. Weren't you afraid? Or you know. Weren't you shy of disobeying me? تُخْفِذْ ذَنْبَ عَنْ خَلْقِي Like you hide it from other people. وَبِالْعُسْيَانِ تَأْتِنِي But when you look around and you don't see anyone around. You have no issues. Like you don't even have a guilty conscious anymore. With the sin. And so the idea here is pay attention.
To the effects of the sin. Both on the heart. And I think this is how we phase into this chapter sheikh. How you sin. Tells you about how you see Allah. How you really feel about Allah. Like you just don't take Allah that seriously. If you only think about sin. In terms of weighing the worldly risk and worldly pleasure. Like once you know that Allah is watching you. And once you start to come into a relationship with Allah. Then even before you learn something is haram. It doesn't feel right. It tastes bad. It doesn't feel right. Something is not sitting right with me about this. And your ethics, your fitrah. Your natural disposition will start to be one that's pleasing to Allah SWT. To where you'll be guided towards good. And then you'll confirm it. When you realize that this is haram. Or this is halal. So sinning brazenly. Cannot coincide with true husn and dhan in Allah. That's what I want you to understand. You can't have hope in Allah. While you sin brazenly. Instead you should focus on the names and attributes of Allah SWT. That could strike fear and wake you up. To the reality of your Lord who is watching you. I believe this is also similar to what you said last night. When we talked about. How should you consider the sin? Is it major sin, minor sin? Because people keep really trying to find ways. Also, like we said, delusion of safety. Like how big the sin was anyway. Like even when we tell them this is wrong. They come back that statement with saying. How big of a mistake was that? How much of that sin is considered? Is it major sin, minor sin? Is it haram, haram or haram? They try to find a way to get out of it. Because they're focusing on the action itself. Not against whom the action has been committed. That's why the scholars say.
Don't you ever look how small or tiny or little that sin that you've committed was. But look at how great against that sin has already been committed. And if you do so. No sin will ever be minor in your eyes. If you think of the greatness of Allah. No sin will ever be considered minor in your eyes. But unfortunately with that delusion. That sins we learned. We have actually major and minor. So therefore, Alhamdulillah. And Allah says. Some people have that delusion as well too. Allah says if you avoid the major sins. We're going to overlook your minor sins. So for them to think it's okay to do a lot of minor sins. As long as I'm not doing the big, big haram things. That's also a problem. Because now we're focusing on the action itself. We're not really focusing on against whom the action has been committed. And SubhanAllah. A Salaf as-Sahaba used to say. The difference between a hypocrite and a believer. Is that a hypocrite. No matter how big his sins are. He thinks of it as being just like a fly. That lands on his nose. And he just shoots away with his hand. That's it. This is how simple it is to just stay away from it. Or just push it away from you. But for the believer. No matter how little their sins are. They always think of him like a boulder. Or like a mountain about to fall on top of him. No matter how little that is. But I also want to give a message of hope. So that people don't feel that. You know what. If this is the case. Then I'm doomed. Alhamdulillah. They also say. There is no sin considered too big. When you compare this to what? The mercy of Allah. So to myself. I always have. Like I always have bad assumptions about myself. But with Allah. I always have.
That's a good assumption about Allah. Sheikh. Tonight. We're going to be talking about. What are consequences of these sins. And some people. They would say. Alhamdulillah. I'm still having a good life. Yeah. Yeah. Look at me. MashaAllah. My job is good. My marriage is good. My life is good. So. That means Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He's pleased with me. But truly. What is the subtle effect of sins. That people don't pay attention to. That can be detrimental for them in the dunya. Before the akhira. So Imam Ibn Qayyim. He says. He says. He goes. Sins. They have these effects. The ills of sins. Obviously. They have these effects. That hurts the heart. The body. In this dunya. And in the akhira. Effects that only Allah knows. How dangerous they are. And he mentioned a few of them. We're going to share a few of them with you tonight. InshaAllah Ta'ala. Number one. And ironically. Sheikh Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Out of all the sins. All the effects. He chose something very proper. He said. To being deprived of knowledge. Now. He goes. Because this knowledge is light. It illuminates and shines the heart. Like Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Throws that light into the heart of the believer. As for the sin. What does it do? It goes and actually extinguishes that light. Turns it off completely. Now. Before people start wondering about what's the meaning of ilm over here. Because I know some people might think. They think of ilm as holding books and reading and so on. No. I still read books. I still come to these halaqat. I always listen to Sheikh Omar. I watch this whole series in Ramadan and so on. Like I am still. You know. Pursuing knowledge. So you can't say that I'm being deprived of knowledge.
No. There's a big difference between having the information. And having the effect of that information. That's what real knowledge is. Our scholars say. Knowledge is not what you read. It's what you memorize. But then some scholars say. No, no, no. That's not true. They say. Knowledge is what you truly understand. Now we just memorize. And then some scholars say. Wait a minute. That's not it. Still. He says. Knowledge through knowledge. Is what you act on. What you practice. Not what you understand. Because. Each and every one of us right now. If I ask you to write me. Something on the virtue of Sadaqah. The virtue of Tahajjud and Qiyamul Layl. You're going to give me a volume. But how many of us practice that to begin with? That's when it becomes no more effective or otherwise. So therefore. Ilm Shaykh. Is extremely important. Without it. That heart. Dies out. There's no light in it. I'll quote. Shaykh Tahir Wyatt. Once said something beautiful. He said. Some people know about Allah. But they don't know Allah. True. Some people know about Allah. Without actually knowing Allah. And that was a powerful way to put it. And the ulama talk about this. Someone who's ignorant of Allah. But that knows his rulings. And this is something prominent. Look. The idea here. Is that the sweetest gift. That Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la can give you. Is a constant relationship with him. And you can't make Dua'a with Jahal. You can't make Dua'a with ignorance. Because you don't know who you're calling upon. The nature of the one you're calling upon. What you're going to ask him for. You can't read Quran with ignorance. Because you don't know what you're even trying to extract. But a person who's in the pursuit of knowledge. Is like a person. So you know. The image of the person who makes Dua'a.
Is like the one who's in the water. Saying Ya Rabb Ya Rabb. Oh my Lord. Oh my Lord. The image of a true seeker of knowledge. Is someone who feels like. There is disease in everything. Until I learn of how to cure that particular thing. With what the medicine that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gives is. So there is Ilm that treats the Jahal. And there is a reason why. The era before Islam is called what? Al-Jahiliyya. The era of ignorance. Islam came with knowledge. It was the era of ignorance. Because people from their idol worship. To their personal lives. To their community lives. They weren't even thinking about. How to please Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la with this. The Sahaba. Were the opposite of the Sahaba. Were the opposite of those people in Jahiliyya. Even though they were the same human beings. The same physical beings. But when their hearts were cured. Like they're thinking about Allah. With the smallest of transactions. So when they're asking the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. About this and about that. They're asking with the intention to apply. And that is how you judge your sincerity. Do you ask with the intention to apply. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Gifts that. To the sincere believer. Even if the believer does not memorize so much. And I wanted to say this yesterday by the way. Imam Ahmed Rahimahullah. There were some people that were mocking. A person at his time. That wasn't a great scholar. But he was a true zahid. He was someone who was an ascetic. He was someone who was really just a righteous person. Simple person. Imam Ahmed Rahimahullah. He said that he already has the fruit of knowledge. Innama yakhshallaha min ibadihil ulama. Those who truly have awe of Allah. Are the learned ones. He has true awe of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. He has that. And so let me tell you. There are a lot of people in the world. That you could sit in front of. And you could quote more ahadith than them. I'll go a step further. There are people in Gaza. That are standing in front of the cameras.
Inspiring the world right now with their faith. That if they sat at lunch or dinner with you. You would know more than them. Some of them. You would know more than them. But you don't know Allah like they know Allah. So true knowledge is a light in the heart. That clarifies everything around you. And sin. It's like having that flashlight. And throwing a bunch of dirt on it. Sin doesn't allow you to see anymore. You can't see clearly. So you can't study properly. Nor can you retain properly. Nor can you act properly. The difference between our generation. Generations from the past. Today we have access to information. Like in your pocket. If you have a cell phone. And you have access to the wifi. You can use different languages. But how much of this knowledge that you have. Handy in your pocket right now. You really can retain. Or even can express. Without having to go and open that phone. And try to read from there. Back in those days. People didn't have the luxury of carrying with them. This much knowledge in their pockets. So if you're going to have to carry something with you. It's going to be parchments. Which means huge volumes. And if you're going to be traveling. For seeking knowledge. You have to be able to save that knowledge. To memorize it. That's why people were encyclopedias of knowledge. They memorized tons of books. Okay. How many books do you have to memorize? Not much really. Like some of the ulema. Only if they memorize one book of hadith. That's sufficient. They become scholars. Why? Because now they practice what they've memorized. And what they've learned. But a lot of us know tons of hadith. We've been learning knowledge for years. But if you ask about the ratio. Of how much we practice of this. There is nothing. Not much. So there is no baraka in this. And that's for people who are not even committing sins. Imagine those who are committing sins right now.
How much of that baraka will even be gone? So it becomes like completely wasted. And subhanallah. Another thing about the difference between our knowledge. And their knowledge. Is that their knowledge comes in the form of adab. Like the practice of that knowledge. Because that's the whole purpose of that knowledge. Tazkiyah. As Allah mentioned that in the Quran. The purpose of the deen is to do tazkiyah to the people. And that's why Ibn Qayyim mentioned this as. Depreviation of knowledge. Meaning the effect of it in their lives. Abdullah Mubarak says. We need just a little bit of adab. Way more than we need so much knowledge. Like that's why you mentioned sheikh. Some people they would just be probably illiterate. They don't even know how to read and write probably. But subhanallah when you sit with them. They teach you volumes. Volumes of adab, akhlaq, manners. And not just that. Even connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like I have to bring that subhanallah. A moment of truth. To see how people can be connected to Allah azza wa jal. Because they have the profound knowledge. Not the information. The profound knowledge. When I remember there was a video. It became viral at some point in the past few years. When a guy was driving his fancy SUV in the desert. And the AC was mashaAllah running and so on. And then he stops by a shepherd in the desert. A Sudanese shepherd in the desert. So he came to him. He goes salamu alaykum. And he gave him basically a bottle of water. And then he asked him afterwards. Do you need anything? Do you need anything? This is how he looked. What he was doing. Where he was staying. Complete desert. Disheveled, dusty. Dressed not so good. But when he was asked do you need anything? What did he say?
There was the first time I've ever heard that expression. He says alhamdulillah. We have like traffic jam of blessings. Like the blessings are coming down. We have traffic jam of this. Like there's so much. The blessings are coming in abundance. That we can't even hold everything. SubhanAllah. What does it really have? But that statement is a profound knowledge. Because Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala says. Truly those who fear Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala. Who are mindful of Allah as I would say. Those who are truly mindful of Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala. The most among you are those who have that profound knowledge. May Allah make us among them. The second point. From the effect of sins. Unfortunately ill effects of sins. That a person will be deprived of provision and rizq. Like something that was supposed to happen to you. Because of the sins. SubhanAllah it goes away. He says in his hadith which was reported earlier. From hadith Thawban. That the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says. Someone Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala. Could deprive a person. From a rizq that was supposed to go to them. Because of a sin that they commit. Some that they've committed. That would make them lose their rizq. Let me give an example. You were supposed to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning. Because you have a job. And you have to go to work. And you have to go to work. And you have to go to work. And you have to go to work. And you have to go to work. An important meeting that would probably maybe land you in your dream job. But you decided to waste your time at night watching something inappropriate. And then what happens? You miss that meeting. Because you're awake all night. Or maybe because, maybe you did wake up for that meeting. But guess what? You're cranky. Because you only spent two hours or three hours asleep. So now you're not focused. And when you speak you're on the edge. Because you're sleepy. And you can imagine. The consequences. The effect. Because everything has asbaab, means.
So it's not like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to cut off that rizq. No. Your sin is going to cause you to follow certain asbaab, certain means. That will make that rizq go away from you. That is how serious this matter is, jama'ah. Qala wa kama anna taqwa Allahi majlabatun lil rizq. Just like being mindful of Allah. Conscious of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To feel Allah azzawajal brings rizq to you. As Allah says in the Qur'an. Qal wa may yattaqillahi yaja'allahu makharaja wa arzuqhu min haythu la yahtasib. Whoever is mindful of Allah, whoever fears Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah will give them exit out of every difficulty. Wa arzuqhu min haythu la yahtasib. And will provide for them from sources they never even count for. Like that, rizq has come from everywhere. Subhanallah. Qal fatarkut taqwa majlabatun lil faqr. If you avoid taqwa, if you abandon taqwa and become mindless of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's going to bring you poverty. Losing a lot of opportunities for rizq. Qal famastujliba rizqullahi bimithli talqil ma'asi. He says subhanallah, no better way of seeking more provision and more rizq and increase in your prosperity than avoiding sins. Like avoid sins, your rizq is going to start coming in abundance. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among those who receive in abundance, Ya Rabb al-alameen. This is one of the most important points, I think, to elaborate on. That someone might look around and they'll say, yeah, but this person acts horribly, but the rizq is endless for them. It seems like the sustenance is endless for them. That person's sustenance is not coming as a result of their sin. That person's sustenance is coming as a result of a test, right? Whereas another person has taqwa and the doors of rizq are not opening up to them. The taqwa is not bringing about poverty for them.
The tests and tribulations that Allah is sending them is a means of elevating them. It's coming from the hubb, from the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the point here, that a person should never attribute, so this is where it can become really bad, a person should never feel like something bad happened to them because of something good they did for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's when this becomes super dangerous for you, right? I did something righteous and then I was deprived. Absolutely not. Nothing that comes to you of good comes except through your taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the absolute sense. And nothing that comes to you of bad comes to you except in the absolute sense through disobedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But sometimes, and this is the divine decree, because otherwise if it was just a matter of hey, if I go to the masjid, my bank account immediately starts, like I'm going to see it, right? So when you hear the hadith about spend in charity and then, yabna adam anfiq, anfiq alayk, spend and I'll spend on you, so you know, you immediately swipe the credit card then you go home and like you got twice as much money. It doesn't work that way. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's plan of rizq, because you know what else is like rizq? I'm sorry, I just got to do this. It's not just money. Allah sustains you from multiple pathways, for multiple reasons, for things that have been done in the past or things that might be done in the future, in ways you can't put all together. So it's not, there's no instantaneous reaction here. But the believer has full yaqeen, has full certainty that when I do good, Allah will send me good as a result of that, either in this life or the next or both. And when I do bad, it will catch up to me and it will breed poverty and punishment either in this life or the next and as Ibn al-Qayyim rahim Allah is pointing out here, at the very least the numbers might grow but there is going to be absolutely no blessing in what is given to you.
And so there will be spiritual poverty even in material wealth. There will be loneliness even in great social company. You're going to feel the effect of that sin and that's why it's important that he keeps on building up on the consequences of sin. It's not a quantity thing here. We're not a people who deal with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in quantity. Again that's the prosperity doctrine. That's not how we are as Muslims. There are rich people, wealthy people that have very little money but they are wealthy wealthy wealthy people and there are people that are flat out broke and they have a lot of money but they are so broke and on the day of judgment they'll even be more bankrupt when they show up at the mizan, when they show up at the scale. May Allah azza wa jalla not make us amongst them. Subhanallah, I want to allude to this in the Arabic language. There are two words that expresses prosperity. There is ghani and thari. So there is ghina and there is tharwa. So you said tharwa, it means abundance. So when you say someone has a lot of money, a lot of properties, we say thari. But not every thari is ghani, meaning rich. Not every thari is ghani. You might have the houses, you might have the properties, the money, the cars, everything you can dream of. But you always feel dependent on it. You always feel dependent on your manager, your accountant, your this, your that, the market, the economy, the opportunities. You're always dependent on that so you are never rich. You're only rich when you become self-sufficient. That's why the word ghina is actually being self-sufficiency, that you don't depend on anybody. This is why one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is what? Al-ghani, not al-thari. Al-ghani because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is absolutely self-sufficient, doesn't need anybody. So you might have all the money in the world, but you're not ghani. You're still not rich.
You're still poor. You have poverty in your heart. It doesn't matter how much you get. So stop trying to pursue prosperity through money and possessions and so on. That doesn't make you rich. But if you can really find that richness and that sense of being rich in your heart, it doesn't matter how little stuff you have in your hand, subhanAllah, you will feel always great. As it's in the Arabic poetry, If you have a content heart, then you and the one who possesses the whole world are equal. What matters? If you eat, I don't know, $2 maybe worth of breakfast, meal, and you're so satisfied with it. Or you eat the $100 buffet meal and you're still satisfied as well too. You're both going to have that satisfaction anyway. So that's something I wanted to bring to your attention inshaAllah ta'ala. The other thing though, I need to solve the whole problem with the romance is rizq. I have to solve this issue right now. So I want to make it very clear to you guys, look, romance is not necessarily rizq from that context. What is rizq is hub, love. Because the Prophet ﷺ says what about Khadijah radiyallahu ta'ala anha, qala inni rizqtuhubbaha. I was given that rizq of her love. That means that she loved him or that he loved her. I believe it's both. Because he loved Khadijah ﷺ and she loved him as well too. So he was given that love for her, it was like provision. And what's the purpose of provision in jama'ah? You live on it. You thrive on that rizq. So for him, his life, he was thriving with that love of Khadijah radiyallahu ta'ala anha. It's that love that was truly the rizq. That's for romance. It's a skill. Tell me more.
You should do why me part two. You can plan the best, you know, sunset scene and do all of that stuff, but like, it doesn't bring you love, man. It doesn't bring you love. If it's not written, if it's not rizq for you, you're not going to get it. So that's to solve the problem for you guys. I appreciate that. You do season two of Ramadan. Number three. Let's talk about now that serious matter. I really want to comment on this, but on a serious note. When you're doing good deeds, you're trying to think about Allah, right? When you're doing good deeds, you're trying to think about Allah. When you're sinning, you're trying not to think about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The more you think about Allah, the more happiness you will have. The less you think about Allah, the more empty you're going to feel. And so one of the things here, just because, you know, obviously the hope part, the cure comes much later in this book in regards to these diseases. One of the things here that's just super relevant is that it does tie into the notion of qadr, to the notion of divine decree. The one who knows Allah doesn't need to know his plan. They're content with knowing Allah, right? The one who doesn't know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and is trying to plan their own happiness is going to keep on falling short. And so the headaches will just keep growing. And so there's something really profound to this idea of Allah entrusting you to what you seek other than Him. وُكِّرَ إِلَيْهِ Like this is a common theme that we find in the books of tazkiyah here, that whoever seeks something other than Allah, even if Allah gives it to them, وُكِّرَ إِلَيْهِ You know what? You're entrusted to that. That's your God now. You want money? Take the money. But money is your God now. You're a slave to that money. So you know what happens? You replace the headache of debt with the headache of wealth because you worship money and so you can never have enough of it. And then you got more headaches because you have wealth.
Like I've never seen anyone, and this is maybe like the pastoral side, right? The imam, the imaming part, right? Have you ever seen anyone that got rich and said, oh, alhamdulillah, everything's good now. I've never seen anyone who said, I got rich and my headaches, my problems went away in life. No, it really did not. So you're seeking refuge in Allah from a deign from debt. But whoever said like, I got rich and like, I don't have any problems anymore. Like I'm fulfilled now, doesn't happen. It doesn't. And if someone says it, they're lying to you and they're probably scamming you on social media. All right. But it's not real. It's so not real. But the one who does good deeds, like they're thinking about Allah constantly. So they're connected to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. So when things take this turn and that turn, they're looking up to the heavens constantly. Whereas the other person is becoming enslaved to everything of this world that they have pursued religiously in place of their pursuit of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh. Adding to the point that he mentioned, point number three that he says over here. He says, qala rahimahu allahu ta'ala, also from the ill effects of the sins, qal wahshatun yajidu hal aasi fee qalbihi baynahu baynahu Allah. He says, a feeling of desolation, a feeling of estrangement that the person finds in his heart or her heart between him, between her, and Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Like no matter how much I want to be close to Allah azza wa jal, that sin deprives me from that connection because I feel guilty, I feel not clean, I feel this, I feel that. So all, this is now, if we look at it from the positive side, they're feeling remorseful and guilty. But if someone starts thinking about themselves, well, I'm too messed up. So this is, therefore, they try to avoid thinking about Allah subhana wa ta'ala because the more you think of Allah azza wa jal, the more you feel obliged that you have to do well. So therefore, what do they do? They try to keep forgetting about Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
It makes them feel better. Because I want to feel better with what I'm doing. It's bad. But I don't want to always feel guilty and feel, you know, trashy and feel this. So you always try to feel not to connect with Allah subhana wa ta'ala. The consequence of committing that sin is just it makes you start trying not to connect with Allah azza wa jal. And that's the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing. He said, rahimahu allahu ta'ala qal, that kind of feeling of estrangement and desolation from the heart, la tuwazinuha wala tuqarinuha laddatun asla. But you will find absolutely no, you can never find sweetness in anything. Sweetness in anything that will bring you or suffice you from what you missed in that moment right now. He says, qal wala wajtama'at lahu laddatu al-dunya bi-asriha lam tafi bi-tilka al-wahsha. Even if you do all the pleasure of this world just to cover that missing part in your heart, which is the connection with Allah subhana wa ta'ala, all of that stuff can never compare to that missed point in your heart. The opposite of estrangement and loneliness is Allah's presence. Inna allaha ma'as sabireen. Allah is with the patient. Inna allaha ma'al muttaqeen, ma'al muhsineen. Allah is with the God conscious, with the good doer. So the loneliness that you feel in your sin, that estrangement where you're putting barriers between you and the heavens, no matter what you fill your plate with then, that loneliness will not go away. But that ma'iyya, that ma'iyyatun khasa, like you're with Allah subhana wa ta'ala. When you know that Allah is with you, when you know Allah is with you, then no matter what the circumstances are, you know the one who controls our circumstances. So you're pleased, right? And that's one of the greatest gifts that's given to a person in sabr, in patience, right? Is that ma'iyya, that presence of Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
Like, I know Allah is with me. You know, it's like there's so many common things. Like I know if you're looking to your corner, as long as this person is there, as long as I look back and I see this person is there, as long as I've got this phone number, as long as I've got this connection, right? I'm okay. Like imagine if you were in a country and you had the phone number of the president or the head of state. And complete authoritarian regime. He says something, it happens. And you know, like if you get something as simple as a traffic ticket or you get into a major dispute, you can just call that guy up and it's done. You've got him in your corner. Right? The person who knows that Allah is with them, inna ma'iyya rabbi sayahdeen, Allah is with me, he's going to guide me anyway, always sees the power of Allah's presence over the overwhelming circumstances that could otherwise sink someone into despair. Right? So the opposite of wahshah is ma'iyya, is that presence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know what he says, rahimahullah, he actually closes this point by saying, walaysa ala alqalbi amarru min wahshat al-dhanbi ala al-dhanb, fallahul musta'an. Because there is nothing more bitter, nothing worse on the heart than the estrangement of the sin that you've committed, feeling now more estranged by trying to ease yourself by committing another sin. Like unfortunately feeling lonely, so we start realizing, well I'm lonely anyway. We start doing another one, and then another one. So we start getting deeper and deeper into that estrangement, that loneliness, and being farther away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the worst thing you could do to your heart. Instead of trying to heal it, you're making it worse to yourself. Coming to point number four, he says, another one of those ill effects of the sins,
al-wahsha, the same thing, that loneliness, that isolation from people. So the first thing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and now, this is between you and the people. walasyama ahlul khayri minhum, fa innahu yajudu wahshatan baynahu wa baynahum. You always find that kind of estrangement between them. The desolation feeling between you and the people of righteousness. They say it actually would be for multiple reasons. Number one, you don't feel qualified to be in the presence of the righteous ones. So you convince yourself, and that's what the shaitan convinces you, obviously. Look, these are pure people, righteous ones. Who are you? Look at you. You're not going to soil their gathering with your presence. Get out of here. Don't be with them. That's one way of looking at it. And the other one is that knowing that if I'm going to be around them, what's going to happen? They're going to keep reminding me with my mistakes, my fault, my flaws, my errors. So stay away from the people. Either way, you end up being alone and become lonely, and that's where the shaitan starts attacking you. As the Prophet ﷺ says, qal innama ya'kulil dhi'bu minal ghanamil qasiyah. The wolf preys only on the stray sheep. Subhanallah, Shaykh. This idea here, and there's a difference between wahsha and ghurba as well. Ghurba is to be a stranger because of your good qualities. Right? So you start, you know, either Allah filters you out or you are filtered out. Right? Either Allah filters you out or you are filtered out. So what that means is that your good qualities cause you to drift away from certain people, the friendships that have to die, right, that I was talking about yesterday, those relationships that, like, you really don't want anything to do with. And that's a good quality. That's a good loneliness to have. But notice the one who is gharib has who? Who do they have with them? They don't have wahsha with Allah. So they have a full share of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so the consequences, the bitterness of being separated from people doesn't affect them as much because they've got Allah to go back to. Whereas the person who has wahsha with Allah and then has wahsha between them and the people, they go down that path of loneliness and despair. And what ends up happening is your sins naturally start to translate to bad character. You become a nasty person. SubhanAllah, how pleasing and blessed is the company of a person who is constantly in a pursuit of the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're detail-oriented. The way they talk to you, the way they treat you. You don't sin when you're in their presence. You feel their lightness. You feel the gathering is light. You feel good when you're in their presence because they're not burdening you with their own baggage. How nasty is the presence of a person who is lost in themselves, right? And so your sins start to, they start to stink. They start to make you reek. And so people will start to drift away from you as well. And that's why I tell people, subhanAllah, when people convert to Islam, they always ask for that advice. And mashaAllah, we've had so many people convert to Islam now. So many people. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give them all fabaats. May Allah give them all firmness. To the point that it's weird when we don't have someone taking shahada, right? Like in a masjid. It's to that point. Like we kind of look around like we've got the boxes ready because it's not the boxes to put people in, the boxes to give to people there. Embrace box, right? But like it's weird, right? But there's always this advice that people ask. And the first thing I tell them, I say, listen, the people around you have to see that your Islam makes you such a better character that their skepticism will naturally diminish. They're like, man, you're such a better brother, such a better son, such a better daughter, such a better friend since you became Muslim. Your character has become so much better, right? So that's what the knowledge of Allah should do to you. It should make you start thinking about the way that you treat people
and the way that you treat your environment. Whereas a person who is zalim min nafsi will eventually become zalim min ghayrihi as well. A person who wrongs themselves with sin will eventually wrong others as well. The foulness will come out. The nastiness will come out. And there's just not going to be pleasant people to be around. And that's going to put a distance between them and especially the righteous people. Because the righteous don't want to be around you because you're going to backbite. You're going to gossip. I don't want to hang out with you. I don't want to be in your presence. You're going to start doing this. You're going to start doing that. You're going to start listening to this. You're going to start talking like this. You're going to start. I just don't need that right now. So the righteous will naturally start to make excuses to get away from you. And you don't want that to happen. That's what he was also talking about in that particular paragraph when he says, Every time this kind of feeling of estrangement right now, of feeling that wahsha, that loneliness, loneliness in the heart. He says it's become like avoiding the people, people avoiding them. And eventually you will lose now the barakah of benefiting from these gatherings, from these people. And you start becoming closer with the party of the shaitan as much as you go farther from the party of ar-Rahman. Like when you go away from the party of ar-Rahman, where are you heading anyway? There's no other way. But you're getting closer and closer to the party of the shaitan. Because we're social beings. Absolutely. We need, we're going to naturally start forming social circles that speak to our spiritual essence. He said this becomes so strong in the heart until it causes the same effect between you and your wife, your child, your relatives, and even between you and yourself. So you always see them gloomy. Like you were sitting there because, subhanAllah, you come back home, even your spouse would recognize that. What's wrong with you? Nothing. Why are you acting with an attitude? I'm not acting with an attitude. You start yelling at each other, subhanAllah, because you know you're guilty.
You've done something that if your spouse would find out, it would destroy your marriage probably. Same thing with your child. Same thing with your friend. So it's just, it's always that moment. Are they going to find out or not? And subhanAllah, the last point I want to mention here, Shaykh, is one of the effects also of the sin, qal dhulmatun yajiduha fee qalbi. The darkness that a person finds in their heart. He says, qala alal haqiqa. Like it's real darkness, he says. What does that mean? If you guys remember when we talked about the beginning of Ramadan, that the Quran is what? The Quran is light. It shines, it illuminates in your heart. That makes your heart, alhamdulillah, see by the sight of the basira. The sight of the heart, not the sight of the eyes, of course. So you see that. So when you commit these sins, this is just like a, qala barrana ala qulubihim ma kan yaksiboon. The residues, the dust of the sin starts falling on your heart slowly and gradually until that dust becomes what? Layers. And it solidifies. And then the heart becomes what? This is it. Lost access to the light. So whenever you make decisions, you're just not making the right decisions. Even at work. Like people lose their jobs because their akhlaq are bad. Their attention is not where it's supposed to be. Instead of making their attention to make their job right, you just want to make friends with people who would take them to the haram places, for example. So their focus is not where it's supposed to be. Their heart is messed up. It's not seeing the way, and therefore it makes the bad decision. And that's why it's like the darkness in the heart, just like the complete blindness in your sight. And as a result, like it starts showing on you.
People, they see that, and that the shining light of the heart is no longer there, it's missing. And always, whenever they make choices, make decisions, unfortunately, always going after their desires. So Shaykh, to give the hopeful part here, the opposite of this, right? Because there's barakah that's divinely sort of, like you can think of the blessing of Allah swt that just kind of lands from the sky. And then you can think of the barakah that's cultivated from within. You can think of the consequence of sin that kind of like lands from the sky. And then you can think of the long-term one that kind of cultivates from within. Barakah, blessing. And that you always see a lot and a little, right? So what type of behavior does that inspire in you? What type of behavior does that, when you see a little, when you always see a lot and a little, what type of behavior does that inspire in you? Gratitude, right? And one of the best ways to have a good relationship is when you see a lot and a little. So you see one good quality in your spouse and you extol it. You extol the good quality, right? Whereas a person who is, that darkness is there and darkness is settling in the heart, they see all the horrible things and they exaggerate the bad and they diminish the good. Whereas barakah, right? You're not just seeing, like when the Prophet ﷺ says, وَبَارَكْ لِي فِي مَا رَزَقْتَنِي بَلَسْمِي أَنْ وَتُّ يُحَبُّنِي أَزْرِسْخِ Romance is rizq, hubb is rizq, right? It's all rizq. But give me the blessing in what it is. Romance is a skill. All right, fine, Shaykh. We'll have to agree to disagree here. But like when the Prophet ﷺ says, Give me barakah in what I own. He's not saying increase the square footage. He's saying increase my lens towards the square footage. When the Prophet ﷺ is asking for barakah in everything that he has. So in your relationships,
I think that one of the problems that we see today, and you know, subhanAllah, it's true, like it's, by the way, husband and wife with each other, I see a lot of this, right? It's like you diminish everything in your spouse. You diminish them. Like you mention all the bad things. وَمَا رَعَيْتُ مِنْكَ خَيْرًا قَتْ I've never seen any good from you, right? No, barakah, just like gratitude to Allah ﷻ, you see something small and you extol it, and that hamd allows it to increase, that praise allows it to increase. In your relationships as well, when there's barakah, you see goodness in people, you see goodness in things. So you see the barakah in that person, and you extol the good and you praise it. So what it does is it reinforces it, and that person wants to act on that good more. Otherwise, you keep exaggerating the bad and ignoring the good, that person just shuts down and says, you know what, why be good in the first place? Why should I even try to show you a good quality? You never appreciate it anyway. And so it just darkens the whole house, right? In our friendships as well. Like no one likes a narcissist, no one likes a sociopath, no one likes a person that always sort of sees the favors that they do for you, but they don't see the favors you do for them. No one likes that type of a person. That breeds arrogance, it breeds, it becomes a very off-putting type of personality. But don't you love that friend that you give them a small gift, and they thank you for it as if you just gave them the best gift in the world? What does that breed in that relationship? Something pleasant, and it's genuine, because that person has light, and that light, it's like, you know, subhanAllah, you know, there's something small. If the lights were off right now, you wouldn't be able to see that. But with the lights on, you can see it. You see something so small. When the lights go on, the light of the heart, you start to see little good things all around you, and you constantly appreciate them. So it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and that makes you a person
that other people would want to be around. And that was the beauty of the Prophet, sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam. SubhanAllah, like, it's often hard when you think of, like, someone who's so great. How can someone who's so great see the greatness in something so small? Like, the Prophet, sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam, is a man who has perfect character, right? Those are things that can breed arrogance. If you have everything, right, that kamal, and, you know, in so many different ways, that completion, that perfection, so many different ways, but the Prophet, sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam, would appreciate the smallest things, the smallest things, right? So barakah is to see a lot and a little, and it breeds nothing but the gratitude of Allah in return, as well as the gratitude of people and goodness. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la grant that to us all. Allah Hafiz. Ameen, ya Rabbi, ameen. JazakAllah khair. We'll take a few questions, inshAllah, here. I was wondering on what your thoughts are on how men these days are unable to approach women face-to-face, but choose to approach them online. How would you recommend approaching this issue right now? You're talking about romance, man, yeah, deal with it. They're pursuing their rizq right now, according to your definition of it. Don't pursue your rizq through people's DMs, please. Stay out of people's DMs. No rizq pursuits through DMs, all right? Go through the right way, inshAllah ta'ala. Look, I will say this, and by the way, let me be very serious about this, because I actually was going to talk about this when that whole thing came out. Like, individual problems should not be a scapegoat for community failure. We failed as communities. The fact that these marriage apps are horrendous, the fact that people act so terribly, the fact that people don't have avenues to pursue marriage in a right way, in a principled way, and the fact that we haven't created that as communities
and made the way for it, and given people not just the instruction, but the structure, is a community failure, and it's something that we need to work on, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala. So that doesn't excuse the community. Like, individual bad behavior doesn't excuse the community failure, and community failure doesn't excuse your individual failure, to go about things in the haram way, because the community has failed. Try your best, honestly. And look, the internet is so fake. Everything about it's fake. It's a constant advertisement, right? Everyone gives you a version of themselves that they're advertising, all right? So, not through the pictures, not through the words. So fake. Chef, we don't even advertise the marriage material stuff. That's the problem. Like, with all due respect for the brothers and sisters, you know, when they reach each other online, I mean, what exactly attracted you to this person in the first place that made you go and send them a message? Is it because you saw that, masha'Allah, she has the amazing quality of a wife, amazing quality of a mother, amazing quality of a righteous woman? Or is it because she's beautiful? Her, you know, her posts are funny, blah, blah, blah. Same thing about the guy. What really made you just get prompted to send a message to this guy, for example? Because he's cute? That doesn't make him a good husband, by the way, just to let you know, Yani. So therefore, it's extremely important for people to understand, you will find a lot of options out there on the internet. But are they really marriage material? You need to be careful with your choices. I'll put this sort of in the absence, again, of community structure. Brothers and sisters, those of you that can actually, like, serve in your own personal circles, insha'Allah ta'ala, to help. I'm not recommending everyone get into this matchmaker game, right? But part of the community is, like,
we try to create avenues, insha'Allah ta'ala, like, hey, you know, you know you're extended, in your extended network, there's this person who might be a good match for this person. Try to facilitate that for people, when you see that, especially on the basis of deen and good character. And I hope, insha'Allah ta'ala, that as we're maturing in so many ways, institutionally, as a community, that we hopefully rise to better ways. But I'm just saying, like, be careful with the internet. Be super careful, it's... Yeah. All this is a tangent, but I think it's a very important subject. I want also to add to it one more thing. I personally believe one of the biggest problems that we have in our society, especially with the younger generation, as they approach each other directly, for the purpose of marriage, is unfortunately, unfortunately, we lack the strong skill of being decisive and making decisions. True. So we end up in a constant browsing mode. You always look at this girl and this girl and this guy and this guy and this guy. But we are not brave enough to say, I will take the risk and marry this person. Obviously, you might say, but some people did that before, and look what happened to them. Well, you're different. You're not supposed to get married and making sure that you're not gonna make failure an option. So the idea is that we unfortunately keep pushing our decision to marry so far that we end up just becoming completely I don't know, it just becomes like a Photoshop. You wanna create that vision of a person, and hopefully one day we'll find that match in your life. Sheikh, for the sake of the book, too, connecting to it, just to connect to us all, and Zaka al-Affair for the tangent, and I hope, by no means, by the way, is what we're saying comprehensive. We gotta go deeper into this subject, inshallah. And hopefully, after Ramadan, we can actually have maybe some deeper discussions on this, inshallah. Maybe we can make that a community discussion, inshallah. It's something that's been on my heart and my mind. Just know that just for the sake of the material reading, nothing good will ever come out of displeasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, period.
Just know that. No barakah. You won't have barakah. You're not gonna pursue something in haram and then make it right. The barakah won't be there. So I know a lot of people just think to themselves, I started off, yeah, we'll go down this path, but then it'll all be all right, because we'll show up in the masjid, we'll do a nikah, it'll be done, we'll move on. You can't play God like that. You just can't. So there's a difference between, even when two people, by the way, have messed up, and I wanna put this out there, because I know it's Ramadan, and I know a lot of people are actually, you got this relationship hanging in the balance, and maybe you're not texting over the last 10 nights, you're putting it on hold for the last 10 nights. Look, seriously, people will be like, all right, we wanna make this right. You wanna make it right, both of you, turn back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala separately, repent, and then after you clear your senses, clean your slate with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, come back, then pursue things in the halal way, if you still think it's a good idea at that point. But it's not like just, all right, let's just seal the deal and let's, no, you gotta do things the right way. There's no barakah in that. So I implore you to not get caught up in the deception of the devil, the deception of shaitan, talbis iblis, that makes you think that anything good will ever come out of displeasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, even if it's temporary pleasure. It'll catch up to you if it doesn't have that sincere repentance, that sincere inflection point. And I implore us as a community, right? We have to do better, inshallah ta'ala, to make things easier for people to facilitate something like this, inshallah ta'ala, in halal ways. And so I think what has to happen, Sheikh, is that you have to have community models that allow for people within communities to find, inshallah ta'ala, that match to where it's not just this disastrous, superficial world anymore. May Allah Azza wa Jalla make it easy for us. I just wanna put it out there, because actually, alhamdulillah, at BRIC, we have monthly workshops. So last year, we did it all on parenting. This year, we did actually alternating one parenting workshop, one workshop on marriage.
So we talked about premarital issues, people when they get married, difficulties, these things, and so on. So alhamdulillah, we're opening the door for people to come and learn. We just need our young men and women to really to learn and have that profound knowledge, not just having the information, about how marriage really works. Unfortunately, a lot of it, this comes because we don't even know how marriage works. We're only thinking about what? Our thinking of marriage ends with the wedding night, and that's it. What comes after that, we have no clue. So the last thing we think about when it comes to getting married is the photo shoot, that's it. What comes after that, it's still, we'll wait for it to happen, inshallah ta'ala. You got a lot of social media clippable things in this talk, man. I don't know. You're inspired tonight, mashallah. You're like dropping these little gems. Really, mashallah? Yeah, yeah. So I'm just gonna give you a little bit of social media knowledge. If someone comments and said, "'Sheikh, eight,' that doesn't mean that you broke your fast. It don't mean that you ate. It means that you were speaking words of wisdom, Sheikh. Jazakallah. Jazakallah. Well, here's the thing, though. Because you have more following, so since you're wearing the same outfit like mine right now, we can just take a clip of you speaking and my voiceover, inshallah ta'ala. Deal. A question here comes, and it's a very serious question. Does sincere repentance help negate these effects of sins? So I admit it. I've done this. I've done that. And I realize, inshallah, I'm deprived of ilm, and my life is messed up. I can make decisions because my heart is dark. Is just sincere repentance will help me overcome and recover from this? So part of sincere repentance is accepting the consequences of your sin. Okay? You know, like when you gotta get a stain out of your heart sometimes, there's a grinding there. There has to be some way of coming back to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. So it may be as a means of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
purifying you from that sin, that there are worldly consequences that remain from that sin. But, atta'ibu minad dham kaman la dhambala. The one who repents from sin is like the one who did not sin. There doesn't remain any of the afterlife consequences if your repentance was sincere. So when you sincerely turn back to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, there may be, as part of that repentance, some worldly consequences, some things that happen that bring you to the next step of your journey. Adam Alayhi As-Salaam, did Allah forgive him? Did Allah forgive him? Yes. Allah fatalaqa adam min rabbihi karimat fataba AAalayh Allah forgave him right away. But Adam still had to come to earth. He still had hundreds of years of regretting what he did. He still faced the consequence in a worldly sense, right? So it's gonna happen sometimes that, look, you got yourself in a hole. Once you looked up to the heavens and said, yeah, Allah, I wanna get out of this hole, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la welcomes you back. But the climb is gonna be a little bit difficult sometimes. So the effect in terms of the worldly effect, yeah, it will remain, but inshallah ta'ala the afterlife, you know, the akhira, this is the husn al-dhanan, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Arju Allah wa akhafatham. I hope in Allah and then I fear my sin. I believe Allah is so merciful. And I know it, like that I could say astaghfirullah after living a life of major sin, and oh Allah, I want to turn back to you. And Allah would say, I forgive you, and I don't care anymore, la ubadi, it's gone. But then I also know that there is a process of growth that has to come out of that sin. And so that's where it is. So don't doubt your repentance, but also accept the journey that comes with that repentance. Sheikh, I think there's a confusion about a statement that they heard from this conversation today. Maybe it needs to clarify. The sadness of missing out on committing a sin is worse than committing the sin itself. But I thought we don't get punished
for sins we don't commit. So what Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah is speaking about is what it represents of the heart. So it's not that Allah will punish you. By the way, there is a specific point, maybe Sheikh, you can comment on this. You know the hadith where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions that whoever wants to commit a sin, but does not actually commit the sin, then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will not write down the sin for them. That there's a difference that the ulama make between someone who repented along the way, and then a good deed will actually be recorded for them. So they were going to commit the sin, and then they stopped themselves, and someone who is stopped by circumstance. So Imam Nawawi rahimahullah comments on this actually, and other scholars, and they say that, look, the one who was stopped by circumstance, you might as well have committed the sin. That's not the same thing. Like your car broke down on the way to the concert. You didn't, that's not the same as turning around and going home. Right, and saying astaghfirullah. At that point, then you don't have to worry about the sin of going. In fact, you have a good deed for turning around. But if your car just broke down, you don't get to claim the credit for that. So the sadness of having missed out represents the emptiness of the heart, the poverty of the soul. And that's what he's saying. Diagnose the disease. It's not like the sin is necessarily recorded every time you think, oh, I wish I wasn't, I wish I could have done this. I wish it wasn't haram to do this. No, you're not gonna get, a sin is not gonna be recorded when you go, I wish it wasn't haram to do this inside of your head or in your heart. But that represents, then, that you haven't yet tasted the sweetness of faith if you're still thinking that way, right? So that's what it represents, I think, allahu ala. Someone says that, alhamdulillah, I repented from the thing that I've done before, and I'm very confident in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Hopefully, Allah will forgive me for that. But I've hurt people around me, and they're unable to forgive me. How do I deal with this? I can deal with the issue that having hope in Allah to accept my repentance, but I can't see these people willing to forgive me as much as Allah is forgiving me.
Yeah. Look, by the way, I'm gonna say this, subhanallah, that the sea of sin is not the sea of forgiveness. The series for this year, the Why Me series, right, was a lot of these questions, like, the way that I wanted to think about it when it was coming up was, like, literally, the questions you ask yourself at different points in your life, and usually, when you get a little bit older, you realize, like, man, I hurt some people, like, I wasn't always the victim, like I thought I was. There were people that I hurt as well, like, I've exceeded. That's part of maturity. Sometimes it's spiritual maturity, too, right? Like, okay, I messed up a few times. At that point, there are two paths. Number one is seeking forgiveness from the person. Number two is restoring what you took from them to the extent that you can, right? So, if you hurt them, and there are ways to restore that. It's like, it's interesting, the way the ulama think about this so wholesomely, like, backbiting. Okay, you slandered someone in a gathering, okay? Let's say that you slandered someone in a gathering, and then, two weeks later or sometime later, you realize that that slander was wrong, and you want to go to that person and apologize. Don't just go to the person and apologize. You got to go clear the slander with the people that you slandered that person with, right? And by the way, this is what makes social media so dangerous. Makes it so dangerous, because once you put it out there in the internet world, you can't take it back. It's very hard to take it back at that point. Travels too far, and Allah will hold you accountable for it. So be careful. That's why the Prophet ﷺ says, بِحَسْبِ امْرِئٍ مِنَ الْكَذِبِ أَن يَتَحَدَّثْ بِكُلِّ مَا يَسْمَعُ That it's enough of a lie for a person to simply repeat what they hear. Because there's inevitably going to be some lies that you pumped into the world of online, and you let it go, and that's your fault. That's between you and Allah.
But to the extent of restoration being possible, you should restore what you took. You took someone's honor, you should try to restore their honor. You took someone's wealth, you should try to restore the damages of taking their wealth. You hurt someone, seek their forgiveness. Seek forgiveness from Allah for hurting them. Try to restore. And I'll say, subhanAllah, in conclusion with this, this is what makes, I think, the time that we live in, which is, it's not as simple as it used to be during these times. The time of everything being magnified so quickly, this is what makes it so dangerous. You put something out there into the world, the hurt is 10x'd, or 10,000x'd, right, in ways that just weren't possible in these pre-modern societies. Like, this type of stuff didn't exist this way, that you could slander someone to 100,000 people you don't even know in a matter of minutes. You could flaunt your sin to a million people you don't even know in a matter of minutes. You could damage someone that you never actually meet in real life from miles and miles away. Like, this didn't exist in pre-modern society. And so, that should simply mean, like, ya Allah, I'm turning back to you, and I'm going to change my ways, and that's the last part of that. Change your behavior, change your behavior. And this is part of, if you hurt someone, if you hurt people in the past with a certain spiritual disease, make sure that you never treat anyone else that Allah puts in your path with that disease ever again. Make sure you never harm with that again. Learn your lesson with the other people that Allah is going to put in your life now, if you realize that you messed up with the people in the past, and there's always a path back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we ask Allah to guide us to that and to forgive us.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to increase us in ilm and knowledge that is beneficial to us, and make us benefit from the knowledge that we learn. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to continue to send his blessings upon us, and never deprive us of the rizq because of our sins, our mistakes, our shortcomings. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to illuminate and shine our heart with the light of guidance. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us among those, when they do, they do that which is most pleasing to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. We ask Allah to make it easy on our brothers and sisters. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to strengthen their iman. We ask Allah azza wa jal to confirm their iman in their hearts. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to alleviate their sufferings, protect them and shield them and provide for them from sources that no one knows. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to deliver them a victory that he promised. And the way we all gather in this place, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that one day we will all gather together in Jannat al-Firdaws al-A'la, with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Al-Firdaws al-A'la, Jannat al-Firdaws.
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