Abdul Rahman Chao

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help and we ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our actions. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him.

Whom He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, about whom you ask, and about the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say a firm word that will make your deeds right, and will forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great triumph. Indeed, the truth of the hadith is the word of Allah, and the best guide is Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

All praise is due to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We praise Him, we seek His assistance, and we seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the evil that is within ourselves, and the evil that results from our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides, none shall misguide them. And whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows to be guided, none shall be led astray, none shall guide them back to the straight path. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is His servant and messenger.

Verily the best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and the worst of affairs is that which is of religious innovation, for all of that is misguidance, and all misguidance leads to hell.

A Story of Fear and Divine Mercy

Abu Hurairah radiallahu ta'ala tells us of a story of a man who had sinned a great deal during his life, and towards the end of his life he realized that when he meets Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he would face a terrible punishment and consequence.

And in his extreme fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the accountability that was coming, he said to his children, after I die, you shall cremate me, and you shall scatter my ashes everywhere. Scatter them in the wind, in the sea. And he said, mistakenly, if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gets a hold of me, then He will surely punish me in a way that He has never punished anyone else.

But brothers and sisters, remember that even if your bones and your body and all of what it is are pulverized, and they completely disintegrate, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is more than able, more than capable, of bringing people back. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings them back together and asks them, why is it that you did this? And he said, oh Allah, I was afraid that you would punish me for what I have done. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgave this person.

The Essence of Repentance

Brothers and sisters, I want you to think a little bit about this person and this scenario right here, from this hadith. This individual clearly knew that he was living a life that was not pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And yes, he did have some theological problems where he thought that perhaps if he was cremated, then his problems would be gone.

But despite that, he came to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with a quivering heart, trembling with fear, understanding and taking accountability and responsibility for the things that they have done. Having this quality and this trait of admitting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what you have done wrong, this is the essence of repentance. And it is the condition for one to be forgiven.

(Hadith - source to be verified)

As the Prophet ﷺ says, النَّدَمُ التَّوْبَةُ - to have regret is repentance.

Understanding Allah's Names: Al-Afu and Al-Ghafoor

Sometimes we live in a way where we don't understand the meaning and greatness of Allah's forgiveness because we don't understand the names and attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Al-Afu.

And one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Al-Ghafoor. And despite both names of Allah being very similar, nevertheless they carry a different meaning. So for the name of Allah of Al-Afu, it means to pardon and يتجاوز عن, to pardon someone, concealing the crime, erasing it.

So the person is not accountable anymore for what they have done. But there is no reward. As for Al-Ghafoor, it takes it much further than that.

It is not only to forgive, not only to conceal, excuse me, to waive, but also that reward is imminent. It is part of the human condition to feel bad for what they have done. No matter how much denial one affords oneself.

Allah's Constant Invitation to Repentance

(Sahih Muslim)

The Prophet ﷺ tells us in this hadith, as narrated in Muslim, that Allah ﷻ extends His hand out at night, ready to forgive those who have sinned during the day. And He extends His hand out during the day to forgive those who have sinned at night. And this is what Allah ﷻ is opening the doors of mercy and forgiveness, and it will be like this until the end of time.

Say to My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not give up in the mercy of Allah ﷻ. Verily, Allah forgives all sins. يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا - Allah forgives all sins. And this verse refers to any sin that is done when the person is alive, even shirk, even disbelief, before the person passes, Allah forgives.

The Cycle of Sin and Repentance

Brothers and sisters, sometimes it can be difficult for us to understand how is it possible that a person makes a sin repeatedly, makes repentance, and then does it again, over and over again. Doesn't that make them a hypocrite? I'm going to tell you right now that that is what shaitan tells you. Just like how shaitan told Adam ﷺ that if you were to eat from the tree, that either you would turn into angels, meaning perfect beings, or you would be living eternally.

أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ And shaitan loves putting people in this dichotomy. Either you have to be a perfect Muslim, or you're a hypocrite because you're not good enough. Look at this hadith qudsi, brothers and sisters.

(Hadith Qudsi - source to be verified)

Allah ﷻ says, and I'll summarize it quickly. My servant commits a sin. أَذْنَبَ عَبْدِي ذَنْبًا فَعَلِمَ أَنَّ لَهُ رَبًّا - My servant commits a sin, and he knows that he has a Lord.

يَغْفِرُ الذَّنْبَ وَيَأْخُذُ بِهِ He knows that he has a Lord that will forgive him, but also will hold him accountable and punish him. And then he would say, Oh Allah, forgive me. اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي ذَنْبِي And then Allah will forgive him.

And then he will do it again. And then he will ask Allah for forgiveness. And Allah will say, My servant has sinned. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives and can also punish him. And he does it again. So much so to the point that this person will be forgiven by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So, on the surface level, when you read this hadith, you will think, wow, so this person is sinning, asking for forgiveness. Sinning, asking for forgiveness. So that means he wasn't really sincere when he was asking for forgiveness, right? No.

The human condition is very interesting. And that is, it is very possible for a person to completely forget themselves when they are entrapped by their own desires and their whims. That when they come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, every time, repeatedly, that they are truly sincere to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Even if they have done it over and over and over again. That is possible. And that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgives.

No Sin Is Too Great for Allah's Mercy

No sin that you have done is too great, too offensive, too nasty, too rude for Allah's mercy. Allah's mercy encompasses everything. And so when some people say, oh well, you know what, I'm going to hell anyways.

Brothers and sisters, you cannot handle hell. Easily said on the top, well, I'm just going to hell anyways. You cannot handle it. None of us can handle it. Not even for a second. So, don't try to posture yourself in front of Allah, as if you're not in need of His forgiveness by saying, well, too bad. I've already done so much anyways. You need Allah's forgiveness more than anything else.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله

Second Khutbah

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على رسول الكريم نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين أما بعد

Brothers and sisters, we are living in a time now. We are living in a very special time where certain sins and certain behaviors and certain ways of life are openly promoted shamelessly, proudly, without any sort of hesitation. And that is, well, this is what it is. I should be true to myself. I should be genuine with myself. Therefore, why should I have to change?

Allah wants to forgive you. And those people who want to follow their desires, what do they want you to do? They want you to also to digress with them into a great deviation.

It's not just enough that they indulge themselves in their own sins, but they need everyone else to indulge in it or affirm it so they don't feel less guilty about it.

A Beautiful Hadith About Divine Privacy

Brothers and sisters, in Musnad Imam Ahmed, there is a beautiful hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, and I want to end off with this hadith.

On the Day of Judgment, there will be a servant at the very forefront of the creation, and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى will shield them from all the other creation. The other creation can see that there is a person up in the front, but they cannot hear. And Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى will have this conversation with this servant.

Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى will tell this servant, open up, read from your book of good deeds. And the servant will look at his book of good deeds, and he will see a good deed that he has done. And I want you to imagine this, right now, picture this. And when he reads this good deed, his face lights up, he smiles, he's excited.

Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى says, I have accepted your good deed. I want you to think about that. If Allah was to tell you, I accept your good deed, that's worth more than the whole universe. And then he will prostrate to Allah in thanks.

Then Allah will say, now read from your book of bad deeds. And his face will turn sad and sullen and dark from the fear of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى, knowing. And Allah will ask him, did you do this? He said, yes. Yes, I have. Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى will say, indeed, I have forgiven you for this sin.

Then this process will repeat over and over and over again. And the people from far, they don't know what is going on. All they see is a person prostrating, getting up, prostrating and going back, just like that. One for acknowledging the sin, one for thanking Allah for accepting the good deed.

And these people will say, this person has never committed a sin in their life. But they don't know that conversation between them, between that person and Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى. And this secrecy, this privacy that Allah grants to this person is because of this person who used to hide their own sins, brothers and sisters. And they used to indulge in many good deeds.

We ask Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى to forgive us. We ask Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى to soften our hearts. We ask Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى to protect us from all sins. We ask Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى to give us the best in this world and to give us the best in the next life and to protect us.

وَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ