Bismillahi ‘r-rahmani-r-rahim wa salatu wasalam ‘ala Rasulullah (alaihi wa ahlihi wasahabi salawatu wataslimat)

Our valuable lives are running out in committing sins, making mistakes and doing what is wrong. Therefore, it will be pleasant for us to discuss (elaborately) about repentance (Tawba), on hanging the head in shame before Allahu Subhanahu wa ta’ala our owner, creator and sustainer, Allahu ta’ala declares in the 31st ayat of surat an Nur:

O believers! You all repent and ask Allah’s pardon! You can be saved only by repenting.

Allahu ta’ala also declares in 120th ayat of surat ul Ana’m

Abstain from sins, whether they are evident open or secret.

It is compulsory for everybody to repent for his sins. Nobody can escape repentance. How can anyone escape repentance despite the fact that all prophets (alaihimu ‘s-salam)used to repent? Hadrat Muhammad (alaihi ‘salam) who is the final and greatest of all Messengers stated: A curtain (that prevents divine lights from coming get drawn across my heart. Therefore, i say istighfar seventy times each time a day (Maktubat). If the Prophet (alaihi’s-salam) and the noblest of the pious engage in tawba this is a perfect indication that we need to get ourselves completely immersed in repentance, so that our salvation may be hoped.

The exalted Prophet, Rasullullah (sallallahu alaihi waslam) said:

There will come such a time when only the name of Islam will remain on my Ummat. Believers will do only few Islamic customs, and they will not have any Iman left. Qur’an al-Karim will only be recited. They will not even know of the commandments and prohibitions. Their only thought will be about eating and drinking. They will forget about Allahu ta’ala. They will worship money only. They we become women slaves. They will not be contented with earning a little, nor will they be satisfied with earning much.

We are living at end of time and in the worst of ages with all the signs of end practically displayed before us. Zina (fornication, adultery) has become a way of life with almost everyone becoming a slave of his passion, lust and desires. Morality is thrown to the dogs with the few trying to abstain labelled as backward and uncivilized.

The noblest of servants, Rasulu-Karim Muhammad mustafa (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) once declared:

My Ummah (the Muslim) will become so lonesome (weak, forlorn) that every home will be loud with music.

This same music which breeds hypocrisy in the heart just as a shower of rain breeds green grasses is now a must in homes, offices and in every moment in life of Muslims. Music is gradually becoming a religion on its own with singers and musicians adores as objects of love and propitiation, even our Masjid (Mosques) and Tawaf (around the sacred House) is not free from this great evil.

Entertainments have replaced rigorous ibadats. Preachers who will fill the hearts with Taqwa (piety) are all gone. Empty people and idiotic pretenders who have little or nothing to do with Islam or Iman are all over the world advertising sins and outright disbelief.

Riba (interest) has enticed everyone towards temporal and eternal poverty and damnation. It now runs athwart to decorum and decency to speak against Riba, an outstanding disaster so terrible that the least of its evils is equal to that of a man who committed zina (adultery) with his own mother under the shade of Baytullah (Kaaba Sharif), Subhanallah!

Islam’s polite and lenient manners are today perceived as backwardness and cowardice. Stern looks, and flaring up at every given opportunity are now seen as symbols of Iman. Ya llahi, save us from this state of outright debauchery and mis-representation. A couplet:

The wind of hypocrisy is everywhere

How can one escape this state of Nifaq

Islamic custom in dressing is gradually becoming a stranger in all homes. Muslim women have embraced nakedness while men are becoming effeminate. Food and drinks have won the devotions of many. Muslims now live to eat instead of eating to live.

Greed for wealth of this world which was the preoccupation of people without faith is now seen everywhere among the Muslims. We say with our tongues that to them is their religion and to us is ours, yet we leave no stone unturned to acquire the wealth and pleasure of the world even at the expense of our Deen and Iman.

The worst of our follies is that we have thrown the noble, deep and perfecting teachings and deductions of the golden age of Islam perfectly exemplified in the great Fuqaha of the Ummah and their madhaib (schools) into the trash bin of history. We have suddenly discovered that our depth and understanding surpass that of our ancestors. Breaking away from our past we lost our bearing in the present and all hope of future success. A couplet:

We have regrettably arrived such an age

When Muslims look down on the great

If today Muslims take time to ponder on the state of the Ummah summarised above they will realise that we are actually walking at the brink of Allah’s anger and eternal destruction and will acknowledge the need to sincerely embrace tawba to ward off the imminent calamity hanging precariously over them. A poem:

How can your claim to be a man be true

Even if you wear the skin of man

And also carry a human face

But act and react like some living beings

Lower than animals in Allah’s sight?

************

Your valuable life is ebbing away

And sooner than expected you’ll arrive your grave

Turn to your Creator in repentance now

For Tawba is a virtue that’s never ruined

To a man with true Iman disobedience to his Owner and Creator is a cause of great concern regardless of the lapses being on menial or great issues. The true believer looks towards the majesty of the Lord and Owner of the commands, Allahu Subhanahu wa ta’ala, who is being disobeyed and not the smalliness of the errors being committed. Millions examples abound in history where a whole nation became destroyed for seemingly trivial issues. A wise sage (rahmatullahi alaihi) said:

Do not belittle minor sins, for verily from them major sins grow.

The proof of Islam, our beloved Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (rahmatullahi alaihi) mentioned that small sins become amplified in Allah’s sight when they are treated as trivial while big sins become very little when they are repented and regretted over.

A great Muhaddith of Islam (rahmatullahi alaihi) wrote that one day he took residence as a guest in a brother’s house. During the course of reading over his notes of Ahadith he discovered a mistake and a single letter needed to be erased. He opted to do it by rubbing it against the wall of his host’s room but refrained because he had not taken permission to that effect. After a while, the conviction came that it costs nothing to use the wall to erase a single letter. He eventually took the page and rubbed it against the wall to clear his mistakes. When sleeping that night, the great Muhaddith reported that he dreamt and heard some Angels saying:

Those who consider it trivial to use their host’s wall as a cleaner will see the reality on the Day of Judgement.

Someone saw the exalted Imam Muhammad bn al-Munkadir (rahimahullah) weeping at the point of his death and asked him for the reason of his sorrow and tears. He (rahimahullah) said: ‘I am crying over the sins I consider trivial (little), now I realize that they are grave (serious) with Allah.’

Man gets angry, his eyes become red and home atmosphere becomes tense when his wife or son disobeys him. Yet he in turn treats with levity and total disregard his disobedience to Allahu ta’ala, the Lord and Owner of all that is known, of all creation. Is this a state of Iman or the opposite? Those who truly realise the grandeur and majesty and compelling Absoluteness of Allahu ta’ala who is Ghaniy and Qahhar will promptly hang their heads in shame whenever they act against the commandment of Allahu ta’ala. It is written in the blessed book Tadhkiratul Auliya that a sage committed one of the menial sins. For this he gave up drinking cold water for a year, gave out his property in alms (sadaqa) and went to Hajj on foot. This is the atonement of those who are convinced of the after life (Akhirah), its endless pains and its abundant rewards.

The exalted Imam Daud at-Tai (rahmatullahi alaihi) used to say:

Be ashame of Allah`s closeness to you

And His (absolute) power over you.

It runs counter to sincere belief (Iman) and true conviction in the fact that Allahu ta’ala is closer to you than yourselves, that His power is total and that His punishment is unbearable to take sins and negligence with levity.

A desert Arab accepted Islam and then put a question to the best of creation, Muhammad Mustafa (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) “Is my Lord (Allahu Subhanahu wa ta’ala) watching me while committing sins?” The noblest of servants, Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: ‘Yes’. The man kept on repeating the same question over and over and each yes from the exalted Prophet increase his fear, agitation and excitement until he raised a loud cry and fell down dead out of fear of his Lord, Subhanallah!

On an occasion, somebody asked (the great Wali) Ibrahim ibn Ad’ham (quddisa sirruh) for advice. He said:

If you accept six things, nothing you do will harm you. These six things are:

(i) When you want to disobey Allah, do not eat the food He gives. Is it worthy of you to eat His food and then disobey Him?

(ii) When you want to rebel against Allah, go out of His domain! Is it worthy of you to be in His domain and to be in rebellious against Him?

(iii) When you want to disobey Allah, do not sin where He sees you! Sin (only) where He does not see you! It is simply unreasonable, unbecoming of you to be in His domain, to eat His food and then to sin where He sees you!

(iv) When the Angel of Death comes to take away your soul, ask him to wait till you repent! You cannot turn that Angel back! Then repent before he comes, while you have the chance at this very hour, for the Angel of Death comes unexpectedly.

(v) When the two Angels Munkar and Nakir come to question you in the grave, turn them back! Do not let them test you!

‘It is impossible’, said the person who asked for his advice.

Shaykh Ibrahim (rahimahullah) said, ‘Then prepare your answers now!”

(vi) On the Day of Resurrection, when Allahu ta’ala declares: ‘Sinners go to Hell!’ say that you will not!

The person said, ‘Nobody will listen to me’, and then repented; he remained in repentance and piety until his death. Certainly there is a Divine effect in the words of the truly pious, Allah’s true Awliya.

Man is absolutely incapable. He needs his Lord, Sustainer and Creator, Allahu Subhanahu wa ta’ala every moment and must never live forgetting the reality of his weakness and incapability. How can man who runs away at the first shower of rain, who shrinks from the fire from a candle dare to disobey Allahu ta’ala, his Sublime and Absolute without shame and sincere penitence. Life without sincere Taqwa (piety) is nothing but shame. Such life will not only bring disgrace in this world but eternally in the Akhirah too. The only way out is to humbly enter the door of repentance knowing with certainty that no one is there in existence who is independent of the might and control of Allah. The blessed Imam and Mujaddid al-ifthani, al-Imam ar-Rabbani (rahmatullahi alaihi) advises:

What a shame that a whole life time is gone by, and without me having anything useful! It has only now become clear that the world is a faithless liar. Life in it has become a mere vision. And yet its fitnas and cares still hold on. Friends and acquaintances are all dead, gone. With all these palpable facts before our eyes, we do not seem to wake up from our slumber or take any warning. Nor do we make any tawba. The state of forgetiveness continues, adding sins to our sins. Allahu ta’ala declares, as is purported in the hundred and twenty-seventh ayat of Tawba sura; “Do they not see how calamities and afflictions befall them once or twice yearly? They still will not make tawba, nor do they feel remorse.” What kind of Iman is this? Is this how a Muslim should be? They do not take advice, neither from the Book nor from the Sunnat. Nor do they learn any lessons from disasters and other events. Let them think about their friends and acquaintances with whom they lived together, went out together, ate and drank together and even slept together for many years. Do they not see what happened to those people with whom they sympathised, enjoyed themselves together and helped one another? Is there any trace left of any one of them? Are there any people to inform you about them? Their lives, like husk, have been blown away by the wind.

O you wretched world, destructive are your fortunes

The honours you confer are easily blown away by the wind!

Let us endeavour not to waste our sojourn of a few days in this world in slumber. Let us not lead a life like rabbits’ sleep! Let us not set our hearts to temporal, sequined, deceitful flavours. Let us not fall for these poisonous sweetnesses! Let us do the worships and good deeds Allahu ta’ala commands and likes! Let us not believe the lies of the nafs (the ego) and the devil and evil people! Let us think of the torment in grave and in the Hereafter and protect ourselves by now! Turning away from this short life and unreal vision, let us attain the honour of dying before death! Let us consider that our origin is a mere nothing! Everybody will laugh at an idiot who adorns himself with ornaments trusted to him and boasts about having them. No one will like a person who sells defective, deceitful goods. Everything that befits existence and anything that exists, belongs to the One who exists in reality. Maturity of someone before and behind whom there is none existence is in his realizing his non-existence.

No knowledge could equal one’s being aware of one’s imperfection!