Adam's Repentance: The Universal Path To Allah's Forgiveness

The Story of Adam and the Path of Repentance

Allah forgave him. Allah mentions the story of our father Adam عليه السلام in the Qur'an:

That we had commanded Adam عليه السلام, we had given him a prohibition, but he forgot, he made a mistake.

However, he did not rationalize his mistake, he did not try to justify it, rather he accepted it, he made tawbah to Allah. Iblis also made a mistake, but that is where the resemblance ends. Iblis tried to rationalize it, tried to come up with excuses.

When Allah asked him, why did you not fulfill my command? He said:

You have created me from fire, and you have created Adam عليه السلام from dirt. He started rationalizing his disobedience. On the other hand, Adam عليه السلام continued to cry for years and years, and then Allah says that He taught him special kalimat, special words, how to make du'a.

Adam عليه السلام learned — Allah says, I inspired him with some unique kalimat, some words, and he invoked me, he prayed to me by using those words. Then Allah accepted his tawbah. This is in Surah Al-Baqarah.

And what are those words? They are identified for us in Surah Al-A'raf. In Surah Al-A'raf, Allah tells us what those words were:

Adam and Hawa عليهما السلام — both of them made du'a together. They said, Rabbana — O Lord, ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا — we have wronged ourselves, we have done a great wrong to ourselves. When a person commits a sin in disobedience, he's not hurting Allah, he's only hurting himself or herself.

ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا — we have wronged ourselves. If we did not pray Fajr today, then we have not decreased the power of Allah in the least. We have done a great zulm — an oppression, injustice, and wrong — to whom? To ourselves.

رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا — O our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا — If you do not forgive us, O Allah, if you don't show your mercy upon us, لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ — we'll be amongst the losers.

So this is what sets the Nabi of Allah or the beloved of Allah apart from those who disbelieve. There is a path of the Nabi of Allah and there is a path of Shaytan al-Rajim, the cursed Shaytan, Iblis al-La'een, the cursed one.

Every Son of Adam is a Sinner

This is a fact: all human beings are going to commit sins. Are committing, have committed in the past, are committing now, will be committing in the future. Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said it very plainly and simply:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2499; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4251)

Every son of Adam is a sinner. And he could have said every human being — كُلُّ إِنسَانٍ — or كُلُّ أُمَّتِي — everyone in my ummah. But he said كُلُّ بَنِي آدَمَ — every son of Adam. And the reason he used these words is to remind us that look, you are the son of Adam عليه السلام. Adam عليه السلام made a mistake too, so naturally you may or you will.

كُلُّ بَنِي آدَمَ — every son of Adam, every daughter of Hawa is a sinner. وَخَيْرُ الْخَطَّائِينَ التَّوَّابُونَ — and the best of the sinners are those who repent from their sins. So we are all sinners, but the best sinner is the one who repents from the sin. No one can say he is not a sinner.

And likewise, the ayah that was recited in the beginning — Allah says:

That when they commit a sin — fahisha is specifically with respect to sins that are obscene in nature — أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ — or they wrong themselves. Again, when we commit a sin, we are hurting our own self. ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ — then they remember Allah.

The Continual Blessings and Forgiveness of Allah

They reflect, they think — who is my Allah? And who am I, the slave of Allah? And how am I immersed in the blessings of Allah? Every single moment of my life, Allah is forgiving me. Every single second, every single instant, every millisecond, nanosecond, or the shortest unit of time that we have for measuring time — there are three things that are happening.

Many things are happening, but three things are mentioned together in one particular line of thought that are related to one another. The first is that there is a continual blessing from Allah coming towards us. Not one blessing, but blessings — innumerable blessings. Every single second, we are enjoying the blessings of Allah. Untold numbers, innumerable. So there is not a single second in which we can say, oh, there is no favor of Allah upon me in this second — from the beating of the heart, to the inhaling and exhaling, to the eyes, to the physical blessings, to the spiritual blessings, whether it's Iman and Islam, whether it's family, whether it's wealth or health.

And every single millisecond, nanosecond, we are being ungrateful for those blessings. That meter is running as well, non-stop. The blessing that is being given by Allah is being used for what? Disobeying that same Allah who gave the blessing. This is happening continually, non-stop.

And then the third thing that is happening is — instead of depriving us, snatching it away from us and punishing us for the persistent, continual ingratitude for the blessing, in fact for using the blessing to disobey Allah — there is a continual third thing happening every millisecond, nanosecond: forgiveness from Allah of our ingratitude, and continually allowing us to have that blessing.

You give your son, in the hot summer day, a toy — a water gun — and then he takes it and destroys the work you are doing, he shoots it. Maybe if he shoots it in your face, you can say, okay, he's playing with you because you're hot too. But if you are working, you have a project, and he shoots up your laptop — that's not funny anymore. What are you going to do? You're going to take it away. I gave you this for you to play with, and you are disobeying me with the gift I gave you.

Allah has given us these eyes, and we are using them to disobey Him. When Allah talks about the fact that He is aware of the sins we are committing, He specifically speaks about the eye at one juncture. He says:

He is fully aware of the khiyanah that you are making with your eyes. The khiyanah of the eyes is of course of many types. Amongst them is to look at that which is impermissible to look at, or to look somewhere without permission. Even something that is halal and permissible — if you are looking at someone's private property without permission, it is haram. For example, if you're outside the house of somebody and you're looking through the window without permission, it is haram. You should be lowering your gaze, even if you are not looking at a non-mahram.

If somebody says, I'm just looking inside, how is that a big deal? I just saw furniture, a sofa, just random furniture in the home — nothing haram I looked at. At the end of the day, it is not permissible to enter the house without permission. That is for sure. Allah says:

O those who believe, never enter into a home that is other than your own home until you take permission, and you say assalamu alaykum to the residents, and you get permission to enter. So you can't enter without permission. And if you would have entered with permission, what would you have done in the family room? You would have seen. That's all you would have done when you entered anyway. So now, if you're looking inside from outside, then you are violating the privacy, subhanAllah, and you are accomplishing that for which you are supposed to take permission, without taking permission.

So anyway, there are many different types of the khiyanah of the eyes. The most prominent of which is looking at that which is haram, violating the order of Allah:

Command the believing men. And in the other ayah:

Command the believing women to lower the gaze from that which is haram. So we are using the blessing of Allah. Every single second our eye is functioning is a blessing of Allah. Every single second that we are not being grateful for this blessing is a zulm that we are doing. And every single second that Allah is continuing to grant us this blessing and forgiving our sin of ingratitude is also continuing, because He could snatch it at any moment. Allahu Akbar.

So these sins are continuing. Allah says — وَإِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ — when they commit a sin, or they wrong themselves, then they remember Allah. They ponder, they reflect — SubhanAllah — who is my Allah and who am I? He is the Malikul Mulk, and I am His mamluk, His slave. He is the Raziq, the one who is providing rizq, and I am the marzooq. He is the Rabb, and I am the marboob, He is the provider, the nurturer.

ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ — then they seek forgiveness from Allah. And Allah asks a question: وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — who else is there who is going to forgive the sins besides Allah? No one else. Allah is the one who erases it from the book of deeds, erases it from the memory of the witnesses, of the Kiraman Katibin. So there is no one to testify against a person on the Day of Judgment about the sin, even from the body parts that committed the sin — it is erased from their memory. No one else can do that besides Allah.

So this is the beautiful effect of tawbah.

The One Whose Repentance Will Not Be Accepted

However, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said there is one individual whose tawbah will never be accepted, and who will be deprived of the tawfiq to make tawbah. Who is that individual? Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6069; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2990)

Except for the Mujahir — not Mujahid, but Mujahir. Who is the Mujahir? From Jahr, which means to be loud. Jahr is the opposite of Sirr. Just as when you have the five daily prayers, we have the jahri prayer and the sirri prayer. The jahri prayers are Fajr, Maghrib, and Isha, where the Imam recites loudly. The sirri prayer is Dhuhr and Asr. Jumu'ah today will also be jahri, insha'Allah. So jahar is loud.

The Sahabah asked: وَمَا الْمُجَاهِرُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ؟ O Rasulullah, who is the Mujahir? Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: he is the one who may have committed a sin in the dead of the night, and Allah covered his sin — no one knew about it. But he has this restlessness, and he is not happy until he goes the next day and exposes himself and announces it. He comes out and is proud about the sin. He said, this is my identity, and he expresses pride that this is his lifestyle. He exposed himself, he is very open about it. He celebrates his sin. He posts on social media, takes pictures of it. He is happy to inform the world — this is how I disobeyed Allah. This person is so despised by Allah, so deprived of the mercy of Allah, that Allah will never forgive this person.

A Contemporary Fitna: Pride in Sin

So this is the day and age we are living in. All of mankind are sinners and committing sins. But this is the time and age, and this is the month that we are passing through, where this alternative lifestyle, this moral crime, this sin — we all know what I am referring to — I do not want to necessarily identify it further in this sacred space, in this sanctuary, by soiling this environment with the explicit details of the nature of that sin. But people are not only committing this sin, they are expressing the fact that they are proud about it. So this is something that is very, very dangerous.

When it comes to this sin, this is such a sin in which there are no two opinions amongst the scholars, amongst the interpretations of the ulama, the fuqaha, and the muhaddithun. There are many different issues in which there could be some ikhtilaf somewhere, some isolated opinion which is a naya qawlun shadh. But here, even if you search all the books throughout the centuries, you cannot find any explanation, any interpretation, that will permit the illicit fulfillment of one's physical desires and passions in this manner, outside the bonds of marriage between a male and a female. We will find no such evidence.

On the contrary, there are so many different ayat in the Qur'an. Repeatedly, Allah mentions the story of Lut عليه السلام and his nation. And Allah uses very, very explicit terms. Allah says, He asked His people: why are you committing such a fahisha, evil act?

No one has preceded you. No one has committed such a fahisha before. Allah has provided you the opposite gender for your spouses.

As a father of the ummah, Lut عليه السلام was saying: these are my daughters — meaning the women of the ummah. He was not giving his own daughters in marriage to them. He was saying: هَٰؤُلَاءِ بَنَاتِي — these are my daughters in Sadum, in the town that he was living in. هُنَّ أَطْهَرُ لَكُمْ — Allah has made them pure for you, has made them for you to be spouses. They said no, and they rejected it.

Allah swore by the life of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. He said:

I swear by your life, O my Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم, that they were intoxicated with their lust and passions, and they became blinded — when they were breaking down the door of Lut عليه السلام to assault and attack his guests, who had come in the form of handsome young men, but of course they were the angels of Allah.

So there are so many clear ayat about this. This is something that is Islamically absolutely incorrect. There is no room for it — morally, scientifically, biologically, historically. Every way you look at it, this is something which does not make sense. This is not something through which procreation can occur, and reproduction can occur, and the human race can continue. It is absolutely illogical any way you look at it.

However, we are living in a time where the governments of the world and the different agencies are spending billions and billions of dollars in promoting this alternative lifestyle. So we have to be aware of this, warn our children, speak about this at home, and review these basic concepts. Because astaghfirullah al-'Azim — in our era when we were growing up, this was not something that needed to be talked about from the pulpit. This was not something that we had to have a discussion with our children at home. But in this day and age, this is our faridah, this is our obligation. We cannot shy away from talking about these topics.

Addressing the Objection: Are We Preaching Hate?

Additionally, there is one objection that comes about: if people are just doing this act consensually, without hurting anyone, and they just love one another, why do you have an objection? Why are you preaching against that? You're preaching hate. Look at all the injustices that are happening to these people. They are marginalized. Some of them are tortured. Some of them are facing so much hate. Some of them are pushed all the way to suicide because of the way they are being mistreated.

Na'udhu billahi min dhalik — this is absolutely not what we are promoting. One thing is to say that the action is immoral. We believe that this is unethical. This is against our principles. This is against our deen. We have the right to believe that. And it doesn't mean that we are promoting hatred against these people. In fact, we would have pity for them, and we make du'a for them that Allah guides them.

In fact, if a person just has that inclination within themselves and they do not even act upon it — they fight against it — then they have not even committed a sin. In fact, they may be rewarded. For example, if a person has a strong desire to commit a sin outside the bonds of marriage — premarital or extramarital — and they fight that, they control themselves, they say astaghfirullah, I have not married yet, or I am married but this is not my spouse, this is haram; they make tawbah, they feel bad that they had that desire to begin with, and they do not fulfill that passion and desire — are they sinful in the eyes of Allah? No. In fact, they will be rewarded.

If someone has a desire — it is easy for him to steal something. He sees that someone has left their stall, come to pray this Jumu'ah Salah, no one is watching, there is no surveillance, there are beautiful watches or jewelry or other items. He thinks, oh, I could take this. He has that desire, but he does not act upon it. So there is no sin in that. So likewise, if somebody has this desire or this sickness and they are combating it, they are fighting against it — they will be, insha'Allah, rewarded by Allah.

Responding to the Objection: "This Is How God Made Me"

This last point in discussion has two benefits. First is, the objection that people make: why are you cursing people, why are you looking down upon people if that is the way Allah made them? This is a common objection. Sometimes our youth may ask: oh, this is the way God made them, or this is the way God made me — somebody may say. Why are you hating on me? This is the way God made me, this is the way He wired my brain.

So what is the response to that? The response will be: subhanAllah, if somebody says God made them desiring to steal, or murder, or abuse young children, or any illicit, haram action — and then if you speak out against that crime, are they going to say that you are hating on them because this is the way God made them? No. We'll say that this is a challenge you have, you have to fight it, and insha'Allah you will be rewarded for fighting against that desire. The same thing applies here.

Keeping the Sin in Its Proper Place

The second benefit is: if somebody has this inclination, what is our response to that? There may be people who cross the bounds and say that these people are out of the fold of Islam. We have to remind ourselves that this is a sin like other sins. If somebody rejects the ayat of the Qur'an, that could potentially be kufr. But if a person commits this act — just as zina is haram, saraqa (stealing) is haram, drinking wine is haram, gambling is haram — this is also a haram action. So we cannot necessarily expel someone from the fold of Islam and say, you are a kafir, and we cannot perform your janazah salah, or your nikah is broken, or if you make zabiha of an animal it is haram, or you cannot be buried in a Muslim graveyard. No — they are murtakib of a kabira. They are committing a major sin. We do not want to fall into the way the Khawarij were, where they used to expel people from the fold of Islam for committing sins. So we have to keep it in its proper place.

And if the non-Muslims say that you are guilty of the crime of homophobia, of hating them, then we can ask them: do you believe in Allah as God, and Muhammad as the Prophet of God, and the Qur'an as the Book of Allah? They will say no. So then is it fair for me to say that since you do not believe in the teachings of Islam, you are an Islamophobe? They'll say, no — how can you make this allegation, I'm not an Islamophobe, I'm not a hater of Islam, I just don't believe in that. So likewise, if we do not believe that your lifestyle is a legitimate, ethical way of living, if we do not believe in this type of marriage, if we believe marriage is between men and women only — then why are you considering us to be homophobes?

At this time and age, we should adopt the policy of:

You have your way, we have our way. When it comes to our youth and our Muslim families, for us we have to very openly preach the truth. But the times are so difficult — like in the Meccan era — we should of course not bend our deen, change it, and start adopting their lifestyle, promoting it, or saying it's okay, as unfortunately Muslim politicians and Muslim personalities in sport and entertainment are doing. But we can make it clear that we are not homophobes, we are not hating on you, we are not inciting violence against you, we do not want to push you towards suicide, nor are we calling for anyone's murder. Rather, we believe — and we have the right to believe — that this is an immoral lifestyle.

May Allah protect us, protect our progeny from this fitna, grant us the correct understanding of the deen, grant us istiqama on that so that we die with iman. Wa akhiru da'wana anil hamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin.

Announcements

Please pass your donation boxes and donate generously. Sadaqa in times of calamities draws the mercy of Allah.

We will have our Team Fajr on Saturday, with Fajr iqama at 4:45 with Mufti Azimuddin. Tafsir of Surah al-Hajj is continuing on Tuesday nights after Maghrib. Our Deen Intensive classes in the summer are starting June 20th.

The Boys' Summer Dor program for huffaz to revise their Qur'an in the summer begins June 20th, Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. There are many other summer programs — please visit our website.

Most importantly, this weekend — Saturday and Sunday — we have completions and graduations. On Saturday from 11 o'clock, there is a Hifz graduation and a high school graduation. After Dhuhr, we have the Arabic and Islamic Studies Intensive one-year program graduation. On Sunday, we have the Qira'at Sab'a and Qira'at 'Ashara graduation and ijazah program, the Tarteel program, and the seven-year 'Alimiyyah program.

Alhamdulillah, we have 10 sisters and 14 brothers who have finished the full 'Alimah program. They will have their final dars of Sahih al-Bukhari — the Khatm al-Bukhari Sharif — on Sunday after Dhuhr. A very mubarak, blessed gathering. Everyone is invited to participate. Saturday and Sunday, both days, lunch will also be served.

We request all members of the community to come and attend this program and bring your children, so they will be insha'Allah inspired to see the Khatm al-Bukhari and the Khatm of the one-year program, and one day they will also be graduating. Insha'Allah.