A Companion Did Everything Except Zina... And Allah Sent Down A Verse

A Companion Did Everything Except Zinā — And Allah Sent Down a Verse

A young man comes to the Prophet ﷺ — Ka'b al-Ansari رضي الله عنه. This young man was walking in the marketplace and he saw one day, as he walked in the marketplace, he saw a pretty lady. And this lady happened to be selling dates.

And he thought to himself, what if I told this lady that the lady herself is more beautiful than the dates. And he started talking to her and they both disappeared. And in his own words, we did everything except zinā, except intercourse.

Wa lā yadhubillah. This is a companion of the Prophet ﷺ. In the life of the Prophet ﷺ, he realizes his mistake and he runs. He runs straight to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.

He says, "Ya Abu Bakr, I fell for this lady and I have done everything with her except zinā. What do I do? Is there any hope?" Abu Bakr says, "Go away and keep it to yourself. You don't have to tell other people about this. And seek Allah's forgiveness."

He goes to Umar — same story. "Go away, keep it to yourself."

He eventually comes to the Prophet ﷺ. "O Prophet of Allah, I committed this mistake with this woman. I fell for this woman. I gave in to my desires. Where do I go from here?" The Prophet ﷺ turns away and he walks away from him. And then Allah reveals Qur'an. And the Prophet ﷺ calls this young man.

He says, "Come back. Do you know that Allah revealed Qur'an just for your question?" He said, "For me?" He said, "For you and for the whole ummah."

The Verse Allah Revealed

What did Allah reveal? Allah says: Pray, Salah. Establish your connection with Allah in day and night. Your good deeds will just wipe away all the bad stuff you did.

"And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds." "Dhālika dhikrā lil-dhākirīn" — that's a reminder for those who remember.

For the Entire Ummah

The Prophet ﷺ turns to this man and he says to him, "Allah said: everything you did with that lady — if you just keep up with your Salah, it will be forgotten."

He said, "Is that just for me? Like a special offer, exclusive?" No. It's not just for you, Ka'b. It's for the entire ummah.

We all have skeletons in our closet. We all have crimes we've committed. We all have mistakes. We're all held back by our laziness, by our desires, by our family, by our relatives, by our communities, by our environments. We're all held back.

But — you may be a million steps from Allah, it only takes one step and one word to return back to Him. And the secret, just as you are not talking to a relative and you pick up the phone to call them after so many years — all it takes is to lift your hands and say:

— and your merciful Lord will welcome you back. Come back. It doesn't matter how far you went.