24th January 2014 Muslim Aid: Revive Your Soul Sheikh Abdur Raheem McCarthy Sheikh Riad Ouarzazi

As humans, we take care of our bodies by going to the gym, eating healthy etc., but we tend to forget that we have a ruh (which linguistically translates back from the Arabic language into soul) o Allah (swt) has created us to be both body AND soul, neither takes precedence over the other We must nourish our souls much like we do our bodies, by following the commands of Allah from within the Quran: O Believers! Make tawbah unto Allah, a pure tawbah. o Tawbah (which roughly translates into repentance) is the regret and sadness which arise in the heart when remembering a sin. For the validity of the tawbah, shunning the sin, firmly resolving to abstain from it in future and controlling the nafs (the ego) when it urges for the sin, are necessary As part of His rahma (roughly translated into mercy and compassion), our Creator has told us exactly what we need to do to purify and revive our souls. He has also told us: Perhaps your Lord will forgive you. The act of tawbah is not an empty one; it is one which is returned. Our Creator who is indeed the most merciful and most kind, promises that all of your bad deeds will be eradicated and moved onto the list of good Allah will love you if you make tawbah o Tawab: constantly repenting o Tawabin: repented o We want to be of the tawab, because we are human, Allah has made it so that we will sin, but the best of us are those who repent Both the Quran and Sunnah have all the answers we ever seek to live life in the best possible way We should strive to be of the mustaqeen (successful) and not the munafiqeen (hypocrites) because it is those whom Allah loves. In the Quran, we are told: The hypocrites think they're deceiving Allah and the believers, in reality, Allah is making them deceive themselves, both the dunya and akhirah. There are three characteristics which Allah loves in the mustaqeen: o Dhikr (remembrance) of Allah o Tawbah: And then they seek repentance and do not persist. o A change in behaviour as a result of repentance and dhikhr Allah finds joy and happiness in our tawbah: o Anas bin Malik Al-Ansari (May Allah be pleased with him) the servant of the Messenger of Allah narrated: Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: Verily, Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than a person who has his camel in a waterless desert carrying his provision of food and drink and it is lost. He, having lost all hopes (to get that back), lies down in shade and is disappointed about his camel; when all of a sudden he finds that camel standing before him. He takes hold of its reins and then out of boundless joy blurts out: 'O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Rubb'.He commits this mistake out of extreme joy. If tawbah is so great, why are we afraid to make it? o Guilt o Desire

Ayesha Khanom

Ego Selfishness Weakness of imaan as the Shaytaan has taken over the hearts and minds of people Fear of the people: we are afraid of what people will have to say if we suddenly decide to turn our life around in the direction of Allah and Islam It is said: Whoever strives to purify his soul has been successful. So, in that case, whos going to Jahannam (Hell)? o And We created for Jahannam many of the Jinn and many of the human being. o These people have hearts that they do not reflect with, eyes that they do not see with. o We humans have become much like the cow: Those who have become worse that the animal. o Tell my servant, verily I am all forgiving, and my punishment is the severe punishment. o Allah is calling to us to repent; He doesnt want any of us to be: Those who follow desires will be led astray from the straight path. Constantly remember death and be prepared at any given moment to be accountable for your deeds, as there will be no intercession at that moment: Give, before the day comes. What may look like a small deed in your hands, becomes the biggest in the eyes of Allah When we die, we will: o Look to the right, and see our good deeds o Look to the left, and see the sins we have committed o Look ahead, and see nothing but the burning pits of Jahannam o Sadaqah can be the reason why everything changes for us: So fear the hell-fire even if it is with the help of half a date. We need to remember hakeekat al-mughrah (which is roughly translated into the bitter truth of death) because it is an inevitable fact of life: an Arabic proverb which tells us to remember goes as following, If something is repeated, it will sink in. Through tawbah, we need to return to Allah, we need to come back to our Creator and Lord o Its almost as though were driving towards Allah, but without even realising, were ending up going backwards, so we need to brake as fast as we can and make that U turn Tawbah is not meant for the sinners, it for us all those who make tawba are considered most beloved by Allah o O you who believe, repent to Allah. it is not just sinners, but also the believers because everyone will and has committed sins throughout the course of their lives The Prophet (SAW) reported: O people, repent to Allah for I repent to Allah one hundred times a day. If a person who is so perfect repents, what can be said for us? Do we not need to repent? o He would spent night after night praying on his knees in repentance and Aishah would ask him why hed put himself through so much, and hed answer saying it is the least he can do for his Lord, it is the least he can do to show his love o The entire deen is embedded in one term: tawbah. Our Lord is so merciful, He waits before having our sins written down, He gives us the time to repent and see our wrongdoings for ourselves: o Abu Musa (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (SAW) said, "Allah, the Exalted, stretches His Hand during the night so that those who commit sins by day may repent, and He stretches His Hand in the day so that those who commit sins by night may repent. He keeps doing so until the sun rises from the West".

o o o o

Ayesha Khanom

Allah says: If you have repented, come to Me. He comes down in the skiesto listen to us, to listen to our prayers and repentance, this gives Him the greatest joy o When the sinner repents, Allah says: Yes my servant, yes my servant, yes my servant, tell me what you need. Your lack of repentance, your sin alone, could be the reason why Allah refuses to show his mercy on our brothers and sisters in Syria, here is an example from the life of the Prophet Musa (AS): o At the time of Musa (AS), a terrible famine occurred. People came to Musa (AS) asked him to pray for rain. Musa (AS) took thousands and thousands of people with him and asked Allah. He sought the Help of Allah for the sake of infants, old pious men, and four footed animals. However, no rain came! It was hot all around. Then Musa (AS) again started praying. He now sought the Support of Allah by saying: If for any reason my level had been alleviated, for the sake of the Final Messenger Muhammad (SAW), you may provide shower on us! Allah informed Musa (AS): O Musa! It is not that your levels had gone down! The reason for no rain is that amongst your people there is one person who is disobeying my commands for forty consecutive years. Tell him to get out from your gathering; it is for him I have terminated rainfall. It was a very large gathering. Musa (AS) asked Allah: I have a very low voice. How is it possible that in this large gathering my voice would reach him? Allah contended him that He would reach His Prophets voice to all people. Musa (AS) announced: O the sinner, who had been committing sin for 40 consecutive years! Get out from our gathering! It is for you the rain is not coming! Listening to this announcement, the sinner looked around and saw that none got out of the gathering! He thought, it is to me whom this is being said. He further thought that when I would get out of this gathering people will see me. Alas! What a humiliation would that be! On the other hand, if I do not get out from here, for me the rain wouldnt come! Suddenly while pondering on these thoughts, he covered his face with a cloth and started weeping. With great repentance he prayed: O Rahman Raheem! I had been disobeying you since 40 years! You gave me the opportunity for come back, but I hadnt utilized the chances. Now I (sincerely) turn to You! Do accept me! Even his prayer had not completed, rain started pouring heavily! Musa (AS) was quite astonished! Being astound he said to Allah: O Lord! Not a single person had gone out of this gathering. What is the reason for rainfall then? Allahs reply was: O Musa! It is for that person now I descended the rain, for whom I stopped it. Musa (AS) asked Allah: O Allah! Do expose that person to me! Reply from Allah came: I did not humiliate him at the time he disobeyed me; why would I now humiliate him when he had come under My Shelter? Just take a moment to think, if your sins had an odour, would you be able to sit amongst others today? The danger does not lie in the committing of a sin, but in being unable to leave it o Ask yourself: How do my previous sins make me feel? How do I feel when I commit a sin? Hold on to that feeling so you can always remember it Sins dont just affect us, but everyone around us, our friends, families, and even our brothers and sisters across the globe o Shame on you O believer, fear Allah. In our insignificance, lies a significance beyond measure, it could be our single sin that we have not yet made true repentance for that holds the entire ummah (community) back o Be persistent. it is important that we are persistent in making repentance for all those sins we have committed both intentionally and unintentionally

Ayesha Khanom

The best of us are: Those who call upon their Lord, those who evoke their Lord in the morning and in the evening; they ask in the morning to remain steadfast in their faith, and in the evening, they ask to be forgiven for their shortcomings. Despite any flaws or shortcomings, there is a door in Jannah with the name of tawbah which is wide open for us all: The width of the door of tawbah is the distance of 70 years, the distance between the Heavens and the Earth. There is no deed greater than serving your mother which is higher up on the rank in front of Allah, it is the best way aside from prayer, to make repentance: o 'Ata' ibn Yasar said: A man came to Ibn 'Abbas and said, I asked a woman to marry me and she refused to marry me. Another man asked her and she agreed to marry him. I became jealous and killed her. Is there any way for me to repent? He asked, Is your mother alive? No, he replied. He said, repent to Allah Almighty and try to draw near Him as much as you can. 'Ata' said, I went to Ibn 'Abbas and asked him, 'Why did you ask him whether his mother was alive?' He replied, 'I do not know of any action better for bringing a person near to Allah than dutifulness to his mother.' Door of tawbah is wide open, Do not despair from the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins except for the following: o Doing shirk (making associations with the status of Allah) o Killing innocent lives o Committing adultery Those who commit these grave sins will go to Jahannam, but, Allah is most merciful, He places those three against another three: o Those who repent o Those who believe in the oneness of Allah o Those who live with righteousness Allah will not just forgive sinners, but He will convert every single bad deed into one of good nature You will know that your repentance has been accepted if you think back to the sin and feel shame

Ayesha Khanom