Allah's Mercy: Forgiveness, Concealment, And Acceptance Of Repentance

Opening

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and the Messengers, and upon his family and all his companions.

Allah, the Exalted, has said in His decisive revelation, after we seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

He is the Forgiver of sins and the Accepter of repentance. He is severe in retribution. There is no god but Allah.

And he said, peace and blessings be upon him:

Whoever conceals a Muslim, Allah will conceal him on the Day of Resurrection. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2442; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2580)

Allah as الغَافِر and القَابِل — The Forgiver and the Accepter of Repentance

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders, young students — peace and blessings be upon you.

Allah, the Exalted, when He introduces Himself in Surah Al-Ghafir, also known as Surah Al-Mu'min, in the beginning He mentions different attributes. And amongst His attributes, He refers to Himself as Al-Ghafir Al-Dhanb and Al-Qabil Al-Tawb. Al-Ghafir Al-Dhanb — He is the one who forgives the sins. And He is the one who accepts His servant when he repents and comes back towards Him.

Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, also linked these two attributes of Allah. When he said that in this dunya, Allah is the Satir, and Allah is the Ghafir. Satir and Ghafir. Satir is the one who is hiding and concealing our faults. And Ghafir is the one who is forgiving them.

Allah's Veil Over Our Sins

Allah, in this dunya, we all know — and everyone can look into their own nafs, everyone can make muhasabah of themselves — and look deeply and see how many sins we are committing in the dead of the night, and how many sins we are committing in the broad daylight, how many major sins we are committing, how many minor sins we are committing, how many sins of omission and commission, how many sins pertaining to the rights of Allah, the rights of our fellow human beings.

And Allah is putting a veil over all of them. Allah is covering them. If Allah would expose our sins to each other, then as it comes in the narrations, we would run away from one another. We would not even want to be next to each other. We would not want to see each other. There would be such a foul stench coming out from one another.

But Allah in His sheer mercy is covering our sins in this world. And we hope that if we believe in Him, and we show our allegiance to Him, and we seek His forgiveness, He will be the same being who will forgive our sins on the Day of Judgment.

So one is to realize the sifat of Allah, to be aware of it, to thank Him, to appreciate Him. And the fact that people are continuing to respect each other, the fact that people continue to hold good opinions of each other, despite the fact that we are committing such sins — it would be the height of ingratitude to Allah that instead of reflecting on the fact how He has hidden our faults, we end up beginning to become oblivious to our own faults. And we begin to start believing what others' opinions about us are. So this would be the height of jahala and ignorance.

So people, they are commanded to have good opinions about us, and we are also commanded to have good opinions about others. But when it comes to the reality, we know where we stand.

The Wisdom of Ibn Ata'allah Al-Askandari

This is the very profound statement of Ibn Ata'allah Al-Askandari, rahmatullahi alayh, who tells us:

(Ibn Ata'allah Al-Askandari, Al-Hikam Al-Ata'iyyah)

That the most jahil — he says ajhal, the most ignorant person — is the one who leaves the yaqeen and certitude he has about a matter, because of the dhan, the conjecture, the opinion others have.

Yaqeen vs. Dhan — Certainty vs. Conjecture

So there are two things: one is called yaqeen, one is called dhan. Yaqeen means to have conviction and strong belief. And dhan means to have an expectation, an opinion, an idea, an estimation about something. So between the two, it is very obvious that yaqeen is something stronger, because it is based on certain knowledge. And dhan is a conjecture.

So our yaqeen — our deen for example, our aqaid — they are all based on yaqeen. We have yaqeen that this is the truth. Whereas the Christian aqeedah — like we just passed through this entire Christmas season — Allah speaks about their aqeedah and says that it is not based on yaqeen, it is based on dhan, conjecture. They are confused.

They did not kill Isa, peace be upon him, they did not crucify him, but they fell into doubts. They were confused about him — that he is born without a father, who is his father, was it a miracle, or — na'udhu billah — is Allah the father? So there are different opinions about him. Is he God? Is he one third God? Is he son of God?

They do not have knowledge in yaqeen and conviction. They are following dhan, conjectures. But the yaqeen-based matter — you see the juxtaposition, the comparison of dhan and yaqeen — the yaqeen is that they did not kill him, Allah says.

Allah uplifted him, took him back up. So in any case, when we have a matter which is yaqeen, and we have a matter which is dhan, we leave the dhan, we leave the conjecture, we go with the yaqeen.

The Fiqh Principle: الْيَقِينُ لَا يَزُولُ بِالشَّكِّ

In fact, if you take from aqeedah and move into fiqh, you'll find the same matter. In fiqh there is a mas'ala, there is a principle:

If there are two matters — one is yaqeen and one is dhan — you always go with the yaqeen, that which is confirmed. And that which is established through certainty, 100%, cannot be repealed, cannot be refuted, cannot be removed, unless something else comes that is also 100%.

So this is a famous mas'ala — this is a frequently asked question — that if you have a doubt whether your wudu remains or not, are you going to just go ahead and consider you have wudu, or do you have to go back and repeat your wudu?

There are many people who may not have the knowledge about the issue. And there are others who may have heard something about it, but it is not the complete picture. This is also something that I've heard many people say: "Oh, I heard, if you are ever in a situation where you don't remember — do I have wudu or not — then you're supposed to just consider you have wudu and forget about that whispering of shaytan, and just go ahead and have conviction you have wudu." So that is the truth in certain cases, but not all the time — it depends.

So there are two scenarios. One is if a person has yaqeen 100% in his memory — he remembers for sure that before he left his house, he definitely made wudu, because he can recall his face was wet, his arms were wet, he remembers drying his arms. But the doubt is: did he break his wudu in the car, or when he was walking in the parking lot, did he pass gas or not — he's confused about that one. So the fact that he made wudu is yaqeen; the fact that he broke his wudu is zanni. So this is where the principle applies — al-yaqeen la yazulu illa bil-yaqeen — that which is proven through conviction 100% will not be removed. The status of wudu will remain, unless you have 100% conviction you broke your wudu. If you clearly remember you broke your wudu, then you go with that, otherwise you go with yaqeen. And whatever this conjecture is, this idea is — just ignore it, as long as it remains an idea, unless that is also 100% foolproof.

And then the opposite scenario could also apply: where if a person knows for a fact he used the restroom — he remembers he used the bathroom, he flushed the toilet, he definitely used the bathroom — but when he came out after that, did he also make wudu and come out, or did he not make wudu? He doesn't remember that. So in this circumstance, what will he do? He'll say his wudu is definitely not there, he must make wudu. Because what is confirmed is breaking wudu; what is not confirmed is whether he made wudu afterwards or not.

So in all matters — whether it's aqeedah, whether it's fiqh, whether it's daily life — we go with the yaqeen and we leave the dhan.

Do Not Let Others' Good Opinions Deceive You

So why is it here, that when it comes to the judgment of our character, and when it comes to how holy and sanctified we are, and how sincere we potentially are — when it comes to judging ourselves — then Ibn Ata'allah Al-Askandari, rahmatullahi alayh, says: why is it that you abandon this accepted, well-known, indisputable principle?

And what do you do? People have husn adhan about you — they say subhanAllah, you're such a good person, they say that you're the best father, you're the best husband, you're the best musalli, you're the best ummati of Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, you're such a great guy, and you are so God-fearing, you fear Allah, etc. So this is the husn adhan they have about you. But you have the true knowledge about yourself, and you know exactly what you are. So you have yaqeen, and they have dhan. They are having conjecture, they are having a good opinion and expectation about you, and this is exactly what they have been commanded to do.

Allah says in Surah Al-Hujurat:

O those who believe, avoid having negative, suspicious thoughts about your brother — ijteniboo katheeran minal-dhann — because inna ba'dha al-dhanni ithm, this is a sin. So this is what people do: they have bad thoughts about others, and Allah is saying, no, do not have bad thoughts. And Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Have good thoughts and good opinions about others. (Referenced in works of Islamic ethics; see also Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6066 on the prohibition of ill-assumption)

So people are commanded to have good opinions about us. We are nowhere commanded to have good opinions about ourselves. We are supposed to make muhasabah of ourselves. We are supposed to contemplate over our condition, and ponder and reflect over all of our sins — of omission and commission. And then realize where we are, and then make tawbah in front of Allah.

So this is what he says, subhanAllah. He says — ajhal al-nas — in my opinion, the greatest jahil, the most ignorant person, is the one — man taraka yaqeena ma 'indahu — who leaves that certain knowledge that he has about his own condition. And why does he leave that? Li dhanni ma 'inda al-nas — because of the conjecture and the good opinion other people have.

So when other people say, "Oh wow, you're so awesome, and you're so great," we end up starting to believe that. Whereas whatever we're supposed to realize — we should say, subhanAllah, Ya Allah, this is Your sifah of sattariyyah. You are the Sattar al-'Uyub and Ghaffar al-Dhunub. You are the greatest concealer of our faults — and You will, inshallah, forgive our sins on the Day of Judgment as well.

Du'a for Allah's Concealment

And we make du'a to Allah:

Oh Allah, continue to conceal our faults on top of this earth. And oh Allah, continue to conceal our faults when we are underneath the earth, in the grave, when Munkar and Nakir come. And oh Allah, continue to conceal our faults on the day when we will be presented in Your court.

Allah will ask us to be presented in His court. Nothing will be hidden. But we ask Allah — conceal our faults from Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him. Because we do not want to be a source of discomfort for Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him — a source of anger for him, a source of sadness for him. And continue to conceal our faults in front of our loved ones, in front of our parents, spouses, our children.

And we should never, ever, ever fall into this trap that we begin to feel that we are invincible. The moment a person feels that he is invincible, that he is above and beyond the reach of Allah:

That is the beginning of the path of destruction.

We Too Must Conceal the Faults of Others

And last, when we're talking about the sifat of sattariyyah — that Allah is the one who is concealing our faults — we also have to remember that we are mandated to ensure that we conceal the faults of others. If we come across the fault of anyone, Rasulullah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699; Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2442)

This is a very beautiful hadith, which shows that the way we treat others may lead to how we can expect treatment from Allah Himself on the Day of Judgment. Whoever will hide the faults and conceal the faults of a Muslim brother, Allah will conceal his faults on the Day of Judgment — when it will matter the most. And whoever helps his Muslim brother, Allah will help him on the Day of Judgment — not only on the Day of Judgment, Allah will help him in this world. And Allah will continue to help His servant as long as that servant is helping his Muslim brother.

Conclusion

May Allah allow us to realize that there are so many things at play here. We are commanded to continue to have good thoughts about others. If we see any faults, we conceal them. But at the same time, when people have good thoughts about us, we do not let that get to our heads and to our hearts, nor start believing that. Rather, we always focus on the fact that it is Allah and Allah alone who is concealing our faults, and we turn to Him in repentance. And we ask Allah to forgive us for our major and minor sins and to become pleased with all of us.

Wa akhiru da'wana alhamdulillahi rabb al-'alamin.

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