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The Greatest Way to Seek Allah's Forgiveness | Daily Reminders
Istighfar, or seeking forgiveness, both prevents hardship and is a means of relieving hardship. Sh. Omar Suleiman describes one of the best du'as to make for seeking Allah's forgiveness.
اللهم أنت ربي لا إله إلا أنت، خلقتني وأنا عبدك، وأنا على عهدك ووعدك ما استطعت، أعوذ بك من شر ما صنعت، أبوء لك بنعمتك علي، وأبوء بذنبي فاغفر لي فإنه لا يغفر الذنوب إلا أنت
Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa anta, khalaqtani wa ana abduka, wa ana 'ala ahdika wa wa'dika mastata'tu, A'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu, abu'u Laka bini'matika 'alaiya, wa Abu'u bidhanbi faghfirli fa-innahu la yaghfiru adhdhunuba illa anta.
O Allah! You are my Lord! None has the right to be worshiped but You. You created me and I am Your slave, and I am faithful to my covenant and my promise as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from all the evil I have done. I acknowledge before You all the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and I confess to You all my sins. So I entreat You to forgive my sins, for nobody can forgive sins except You.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim Bismillahir rahmanir raheem Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen Wa la'adhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim Wa la'aqeebatu lilmatakeen Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka al abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa la'anihi wa sahbihi wa sallim taseeman kathira InshaAllah just as you all are logging on I wanted to first and foremost acknowledge the loss of a beautiful brother to COVID-19 Brother Rayan Ahmed, may Allah have mercy on him Rayan Ahmed was a person who overcame great difficulties and disabilities to be you know, to give constantly to the community He was someone who was always volunteering He was a beautiful young man that gave a lot to this community and SubhanAllah he just passed away due to COVID-19 We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make him a martyr to grant him the full reward and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala comfort his family as well SubhanAllah I spoke to his family today and I thought about when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said la naqulu illa ma yughdillah We don't say except that which is pleasing to our Lord even in the midst of our tears, even in the midst of our heartbreak and it was a beautiful patience that his family displayed from his mother to his brother No one said anything except that alhamdulillah We expect nothing but Allah's reward and we will be patient and even though they're heartbroken they also are connected to their Lord and do believe in His mercy and do believe in the night time that their son and brother has been accepted as a shaheed and that Allah will certainly gather them again So please keep him in your dua today and his family is actually running a fundraiser on his behalf for Muhsin for Muslims understanding and helping with special education needs
which I'll share in the comments inshallah ta'ala which is just very beautiful because he himself overcame disabilities to do so many great things and so for his family to be fundraising for an organization dedicated to special needs dedicated to special needs in this time is very beautiful So please keep him in your dua inshallah Okay Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Once again Audhu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa la'udhu wa ni'illahi wa rabbil alameen wa ala aqibatu lil mutaqeem Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barakal abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallim wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathiran So typically when we find ourselves in hard times there's a debate about whether this is God's punishment or God's reward or God's mercy What is happening to us right now? How do we contextualize everything that's happening? And of course we've spoken about how when things of this sort happen it's a punishment for some, it's a reward for others it's a relief for others And all of that ultimately comes down to how you respond And one of the things that we cannot lose sight of is that istighfar, seeking Allah's forgiveness is a means of two things Number one, it's a means of preventing hardship in the first place because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that they would not be punished while the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam is amongst them and they would not be punished while they're in a state of seeking forgiveness So seeking forgiveness is a means of preventing hardship from coming on a people The second thing is that seeking forgiveness is also a means of relieving hardship Because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that man laziman istighfar that whoever is frequent whoever is consistent with their seeking forgiveness then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make a way out for them from every hardship that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will lift every anxiety
and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will grant them whatever they ask And so istighfar, seeking Allah's forgiveness is both a means of preventing harm from coming in the first place and it's also a means of lifting harm once we are in it either in the collective sense or in the individual sense So it has a bearing on us both as individuals and as communities for us to constantly be in the state of seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's forgiveness Now the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the best way to seek Allah's forgiveness is to recite this prayer of Sayyid al-istighfar the master of seeking forgiveness the chief of seeking forgiveness And I want to talk about this dua, this supplication and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that if a person says it in the morning and then they pass away that day then they're from the people of paradise and if a person says it was evening and they passed away that night then they're from the people of paradise That will automatically make you to make you pay very close attention to how amazing the supplication is that if a person says it in the daytime or in the morning and then they pass away then they will be from the people of paradise and if a person says it in the evening and they pass away then they will be from the people of paradise and I want to break down this dua point to something very particular in it. Allahumma anta rabbi, Oh Allah, You are my Lord. La ilaha illa anta. There is no God but You. Remember we talked about the dua of Yunus alayhis salam, the dua of the Prophet Jonah, the supplication of Jonah, La ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-dhalimeen. That there is no God but You, how perfect are You, verily I was from the wrongdoers. And that la ilaha illa Allah is the best form of remembrance. So here, the testimony of la ilaha illa Allah comes in the very beginning. Allahumma anta rabbi, Oh Allah, You are my Lord. La ilaha illa anta. There is no God but You. Khalaqtani wa ana abduk.
You have created me. And I am Your slave. I am Your servant. I am Your worshiper. Of course, abduk contains all of those meanings that I just mentioned. Okay. Wa ana ala ahdika wa wa'dika masta ta'tu. And I am in accordance with Your covenant and Your promise to the best of my ability. I will live up to it as much as I can. I will do the best that I possibly can to live up to the covenant that You have taken from me. Wa ana ala ahdika wa wa'dika masta ta'tu. A'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu. I seek refuge in You from that which I have committed. Now, by the way, this is an interesting sentence because you're not supposed to associate or attribute evil to Allah. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Al khayru kullu biyadayku sharru laysa ilayk. That good is all from you and evil is not to be attributed to you. Meaning when we commit acts of evil, then it's us, right? It's our wrongdoing and it's a part of our own accountability that we own our own sins. Okay, but here, a'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu. I seek refuge in You from the evil of that which I have committed. A'udhu bika. I seek refuge in You. And that's something that's very important because even when we own our sins, we should not, we should not think that we own our forgiveness as well. Forgiveness is all in His hands. Forgiveness is up to Him and we can hope for it and we can ask for it. We have a Lord that is merciful and forgiving, but that belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we seek refuge in His mercy, not in our ability to get it right because you know what? We might be very sincere in our seeking forgiveness at the moment and then we fall back into the same sin again. Not that we intend to, but that it might happen if we get caught
in that same weak moment that we fall right back into that sin again. So a'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu. I seek refuge in You from the evil that of which I have committed. Also notice here we say a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. We say I seek refuge in You from the accursed devil. Here I seek refuge in You for myself. I seek refuge in You from what I have committed. Because there is, you can't properly own the sin if you blame the devil for it. You can't blame the shaitan for it. No, the sin has been committed. I own it. a'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu. I seek refuge in You, O Allah, from the evil that I have done. Not that the shaitan has done. If he tempted me to it, it's my fault for not resisting the temptation. I own it and I put my trust not in my ability to get it right from now on, but in Your mercy to forgive me. a'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu. aboo'u laka bin'amatika alayya wa aboo'u bidhanbi. This is my favorite part of the dua by far. I admit to You, Your blessings upon me, and I admit to You, my sins. Here's something that's extremely important and I want you to remember this. You cannot, you cannot appreciate the severity of your sins if you don't appreciate the greatness of Allah's blessings upon you. You cannot appreciate the greatness of your sins unless you appreciate the greatness of Allah's blessings upon you. Why is this so important? Because what has Allah given to you for you to respond with disobedience? How many blessings has Allah showered you with for you to then turn around and to respond with disobedience? And I cannot appreciate the severity of my sins
if I have not taken the time to appreciate the multitude of His blessings upon me. By knowing His blessings upon me, I should become too shy to disobey Him. Right? And that's what I want to get out of this, is not just a dua, not just a supplication, but a shyness and a modesty and a shamefulness from disobeying Him and sitting against Him with everything that He's provided to me. And that's why a man came to Ibrahim ibn Adham, rahim Allah, and he asked him, he said, give me permission to sin. Give me permission to sin. And he said, well, if you're going to sin, the first three of the five things he told him, he said, if you're going to sin, then sin in a place that doesn't belong to Allah. Okay, he said, well, everywhere belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said, okay, well, if you're going to sin, then sin in a place where Allah can't see you. He said, but Allah sees everything. He said, okay, well, if you're going to sin, then don't eat or drink from the sustenance of your Lord. He said, but everything's from the sustenance of my Lord. Right? So it's, it starts off with those three things. Then how could you then sin? Right? How could you then not feel shy from doing so? Right? So, so pull back a little bit and be like, wait a minute. I can't, I can't appreciate how bad these sins are if I can't appreciate how great His blessings are. And of course, what is greater than the blessings that He has bestowed upon us is His greatness Himself subhanahu wa ta'ala. Is His greatness Himself. And that's why Imam Shafi'i rahimahullah said, don't look at the smallness of your sin. Look at the greatness of the one that you have sinned against. Okay. Don't look at the smallness of the sin. Look at the greatness of the one that you've sinned against. So you cannot appreciate your sins or how severe your sins are until you appreciate His blessings upon you. And so before you, you know, as you admit your sins, abu'u laka bini'matika alayya wa abu'u bidhambi.
Before you even admit your sins, I admit your blessings upon me. I admit your blessings upon me. I affirm and acknowledge all the blessings that you've showered me with. Wa abu'u bidhambi. And I admit my shortcomings. I admit my sins. Faghfir li fa innahu la yaghfiru dhunuba illa ant. Forgive me because verily no one forgives sins except for you. SubhanAllah, this is such a beautiful, a beautiful way to actually end this dua. It started off with Allahumma anta rabbi. Oh Allah, you are my Lord and you are the only one who is my Lord. It ends off with, oh Allah, you are the only one who can forgive me. You are my only Redeemer. Why is this so important? There are numerous gems that we can extract from this last part of the dua. I'll give you two. The first one is this. That often when we commit sins, we don't feel bad about them until we suffer some worldly repercussions. Someone gets mad at us or we get exposed and embarrassed. And then we feel bad. And so if the shame is gone and the worldly repercussions are gone, then we become complacent with that sin once again. Here, it's like saying, oh Allah, if you don't forgive me, I'm not satisfied. If you don't forgive me, I'm not satisfied. I need your forgiveness. I need your forgiveness. And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He says in the Quran, وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَاعِلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهُ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُوا الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَلَمْ يُسِرُّوا عَلَى مَا فَاعِلُوهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ Those who when they wrong themselves or when they commit an act of shame or they wrong themselves, ذكروا الله, they remember their Lord. فَاسْتَغْفِرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ And so they seek forgiveness for their sins. It's not that they got caught. No, they remember their Lord. That's the first thing. They think of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when they commit a sin. They remember their Lord. فَاسْتَغْفِرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ
And so they seek forgiveness for it. وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُوا الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ And who forgives sins except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Oh Allah, I need you to forgive me. Right? I need you to forgive me. And the last thing that I want to say about this, so the second gem of this. The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah is shy when His servant raises his hands in dua and supplication to let them come down empty without being answered. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, inna Allah hayiyun, kareemun. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is shy and generous. So that when a servant raises his hands to the sky, there's no way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would let those hands come down from the heavens empty and rejected. And when you're calling upon a Lord who is shy of you, even though you should be shy of your sins, right? He has nothing to be shy from us because of anything we've done for Him. But it's Allah generous, merciful, loving that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is too shy that when someone raises their hands to the sky and says, Oh Allah, to let those hands come down empty. So how is it then when you're calling upon your Lord, Al Hayyi, your Lord who is shy and saying, forgive me because no one can forgive except for you. You think Allah is going to let your hands come down without you being forgiven if you're sincere when you make that supplication? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be sincere when we make that supplication. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us and have mercy on us. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continue to shower us with His generosity despite our shortcomings. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us His forgiveness despite our sins. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us His complete mercy despite our inherently deficient good deeds. Allahuma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran.
I'll see you all tomorrow inshaAllah ta'ala. Same time as I've said we move this now to 9.15pm Eastern. And then on Wednesday night inshaAllah ta'ala we will have Ramadan prep webinar inshaAllah ta'ala with 10 tips for a successful Ramadan to make this one the best of your life inshaAllah at the same time at 9.15pm Eastern inshaAllah. And then on Thursday night we will move in inshaAllah ta'ala to our Quran 30 for 30 summarizing and extracting the gems from each chapter of the Quran over 30 days and that's going to be at 10pm Eastern every night of Ramadan starting this Thursday night whether it's Ramadan or not. So JazakumAllahu khayran to all of you. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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