The Lasting Legacy of Righteous Deeds and Sincere Repentance

The Impact of Our Actions — In This Life and the Next

When we say that a person commits a sin, what does that sin entail? Or a person does a good deed, what does that good deed mean? Their true implications — their complete implications — we'll see in the hereafter. But they also have certain implications in the dunya as well. A person who does righteous, good deeds — the result of his good deeds sometimes are manifested in the dunya. And it's not necessary that they're manifested in front of him. Sometimes his good deeds — the effect of them — carries out even after him.

The Story of Musa and Khadir in Surah al-Kahf

We find in the story in Surah al-Kahf, Allah mentions the story of Musa alayhis salam and Khadir alayhis salam. In one of the instances, when they're going to a village, they ask the people of that village if they could host them. The people refuse. They show bad character, they demonstrate bad character. And after a little while, there's a wall there, and Khadir alayhis salam says to Musa alayhis salam that let's fix it up. So Musa alayhis salam suggests: why should we not take some sort of payment for this? These people are so horrible — they chose not to host us, and now for free we're going to reconstruct this wall for them.

One of the conditions that Khadir alayhis salam had laid was that if you're going to travel with me, if you're going to be with me, you can't ask any questions. This was the last of them. But in the explanation of it, what did Khadir alayhis salam say? He said: under this wall, in this city, there are two orphan boys, and their inheritance — their treasure that belongs to them — is buried underneath. But they're young, they haven't reached the age of maturity and puberty, so it's kept safe and hidden there. Had this wall fallen and collapsed, and that treasure or that inheritance of theirs been exposed — you saw how these people are, they would have taken it. You saw the character of the people of this town, of this village — they would have taken it.

And in response, Khadir alayhis salam also said:

They're orphans — their father had passed away. Allah took measures to take care of the children in the absence of the father. Why? كَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا — because their father was righteous. Their father was a good person, he was obedient to Allah, he was pious. So even though he's not here today, his children survived. His children are there after him — they're young, no one to take care of them — but the inheritance that he left behind for them, for their well-being, Allah took measures to protect it, preserve it, until they become older, more mature. Why? وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا.

Our actions do play a role. Maybe sometimes we see it, maybe sometimes we don't. And it's also possible that the effects of that in this life are seen after we pass away. Our kids, or the generation that comes after — perhaps because of one person's piety, one individual's sincerity, Allah protects the whole lineage of that individual: his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren — just because of one person's sincerity.

Tawbah: A Source of Upliftment, Not Pessimism

In life, yes, there are times we commit sins. We have sins, we're human beings. The key though is tawbah. And often we look at tawbah as an idea that's supposed to bring about pessimism — "I committed a sin, I'm horrible, I'm the worst person." But actually, tawbah is there to uplift you. Allah says what? The Prophet says what?

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4250)

"The one who repents from sin is like the one who has no sin." It's supposed to encourage you — I made a mistake, it happened, let me make tawbah. Let me clean it out, let me clean my slate once again. That Rahman, Allah — Whom we disobey — we should have this much haya, we should have this much sense: Ya Allah, I disobeyed Your command. Ya Allah, let me make it up. Ya Allah, please forgive me.

Ibrahim alayhis salam and the Attribute of Al-Rahman

That's why it's interesting in the Quran — when Ibrahim alayhis salam speaks to his father, one of the things he says is:

In these ayat, he mentions the word Rahman: "O my father, don't follow Shaitan — he is disobedient to Rahman. O my father, I fear that if you continue in the path that you're continuing in, that you will have some 'adhab that will afflict you from Rahman."

Why is the sifah of Rahman being brought here? Often we think of it this way: Allah is Rahman, Allah is Ghafoorur Raheem — He will forgive us. So let me do what I'm doing, it's okay, Rahman will forgive us. No, that's not the outlook that Allah is telling you. The outlook is: Allah is so Rahman — how could I disobey Allah? That's the outlook. You are a creation of Rahman — how could you disobey Allah? How could you go against Rahman? That's the perspective we should be looking at.

Tawbah Nasuha: The Sincere, Pure Repentance

Anytime that sin that we commit — we commit a sin, immediately we make tawbah. And tawbah — although scholars do mention: what's a sign of a true tawbah? Allah says:

Meaning: a tawbah that is sincerely for the sake of Allah — a tawbah that is purely and sincerely for the sake of Allah. What are the signs of that? The scholars say, for example, one should take himself away from that sin; one should have remorse and regret for what he did; and one should make the resolution — the resolve — that he will never commit it again. Those are signs of it. But it's not like a checklist. We're sitting, we're making tawbah: "Okay, do I have regret? Check. Have I removed myself from the sin? Check." It's not supposed to be a checklist. They're just signs for you to recognize whether the tawbah that you're doing is actually tawbah or not. Am I actually feeling remorse about the fact that I disobeyed Allah? Do I feel sad about it? Have I removed myself?

If I hadn't removed myself, what type of tawbah is that? I'm just doing it again and again. Although it is true — it comes in the hadith — that a person makes sincere tawbah, and at the time he makes the resolution: "I'm not going to commit this sin again, ever in my life." But after some time he ends up doing it again, and then again, and then again. He sins, then again he makes this tawbah: "Ya Allah, I'm not going to do this again, Ya Allah please forgive me." Allah says to the angels: "Does he not know that he has a Rabb that can forgive?" Yes, he knows that he has a Rabb that can forgive.

Allah forgives him. He commits it again. Allah forgives him again. But the idea is that when he does the tawbah, he feels from the bottom of his heart that he's not going to commit that sin again, and he does whatever he can to remove himself from that environment or from that situation.

Removing Yourself from the Environment of Sin

We have sometimes — may Allah protect — young men who come and say, subhanAllah, they're involved in watching things that are inappropriate, watching pornography, and they make tawbah. They're regretful, they're remorseful. But subhanAllah — it happens again, and happens again, one thing leads to another. So what's said to them: you have to figure out what's leading you to it. If someone's saying, "Yeah, you know, I find myself in my room alone with my laptop" — what do you think is going to happen? You've put yourself in an environment, you've made yourself vulnerable to the attacks of Shaitan. What do you think is going to happen?

You can't stand in front of a train on a train track, looking at the train coming, and say, "You know what, at the last moment I'm going to jump out of it." What's going to happen? That train is going to come. So we're constantly putting ourselves in an environment that's going to lead us to sin. Some say, "I keep on doing drugs, alcohol" — well, what's leading you to it? "Yeah, I'm with these friends of mine and they tell me, let's go here, let's go there, we go, we party, and the next thing you know in my right hand is drugs, my left hand is a can of beer." What do you expect? You're putting yourself — you're making yourself vulnerable by putting yourself in that situation. What do you think is going to happen? What can you expect?

So you have to completely remove yourself from that. Then you have to recognize: okay, anytime I'm alone, anytime I'm with these devices and alone — this is what's happening. Okay, what's the solution? Remove yourself from it. Next time you have to use a computer, next time you have to use a laptop — you're going to do it where? At the dinner table, in the living room, where your family's around.

And I tell parents too: you have to be mindful of this. You have to be mindful of it. Us giving access to these devices — that we're giving access to our kids — subhanAllah, do we know what we're doing? Do you recognize the repercussions of it? You don't give a loaded gun to a kid. You don't give a loaded gun to a person who doesn't know what they're doing with it. You have to observe, you have to see, you have to watch.

And for us who are young men — or women, unfortunately, as well — if we're in those situations, finding ourselves in those situations, we have to remove ourselves from that environment. Just making a resolution, doing tawbah, feeling remorseful may not be enough to remove you from that. If that's your goal, if that's your objective, you have to physically take yourself out of it. You have to have a plan: how am I going to get from point A to point B? If you're going to put yourself constantly in the same situation, same circumstance — it's not going to happen.

So tawbah nasuha — part of that sincere tawbah — is that a person not only has the resolve to not commit that sin again, but he finds practical solutions that will help him stay away from that.

The Blessings of Sincere Tawbah and Sincere Actions

The barakah of tawbah nasuha — that sincere tawbah — can help in life where one may not expect it. In the hadith there is a story that the Prophet mentions about three men from the people of the past who were once traveling, and when night fell they needed to take shelter. They found a cave where they rested. But when they went inside the cave, a boulder came and blocked their entrance. So they decided among themselves: what do we do, how are we going to get out of here?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2272; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2743)

They made mashwarah and decided: look, each one of us — why don't we recount something that we did sincerely for the sake of Allah, and we use that as a wasila, as a medium, to ask for Allah's help.

So for example, one of them said: "Ya Allah, there was one day where I bring milk to my parents, but one night it so happened that I was late in bringing that milk. By the time I brought the milk, my parents had fallen asleep. But I didn't want to give it to my children or my family before I gave it to my parents. So I waited the whole night until the next morning when they woke up, then I gave them the milk first. Ya Allah, I did this only for Your sake. Ya Allah, please save us." That boulder moved a little bit.

Another individual said: "Ya Allah, I had a worker — he worked for me — and when he left, there was some payment of his that I wasn't able to give him. But because it was his haqq, I kept it and invested it. So after years, when he came back and said, 'I want my right back, I want my payment for the work that I did,' I said: 'Look, this is your wealth — I invested it in goats and cattle and whatnot, it grew. I'm not making fun of you, I'm not mocking you. I'm serious — this is the wealth that was yours, which I invested. Because the basis of that was the payment that was supposed to be given to you, all of this is yours. Take it.' Ya Allah, I did it only for Your sake."

And another individual said: "Ya Allah, there was a woman in my family — a relative, a distant relative or so — who I was in love with. Any time I would advance, she would refuse. But one time a situation came where they were in dire need, and she herself came asking for money, and she was ready to do whatever. I gave her the money with the intent that I would commit the sin of zina. But right at that moment when I was about to do it, the fear of Allah overtook me and I said: 'Keep the money — I can't do this.' Ya Allah, if I did this truly for Your sake, Ya Allah save us." And when all three of them made this du'a, the boulder removed and they were able to leave.

Sometimes because of our actions — our tawbah, our actions that have sincerity within them — don't think that they go unnoticed by Allah. Actions are weighed by intention. Your intention, your feeling, what you come to the action with — that is very precious. A small action: you give a dollar in sadaqah, but you say, "Ya Allah, I give it for Your sake" — that one dollar could be your entry into Jannah. That one dollar, when it was given with sincerity — who knows — could be your way and entry into Jannah.

May Allah grant us tawbah nasuha. May Allah grant us the ability to make tawbah that is beloved by Allah. And may Allah allow us to enter into Jannah without any hisab, or after 'afwa. Ameen, ya Rabbil 'alameen.