Engaging in Al-Istighfar (with British Sign Language) - Shaykh Wasim Kempson
By Shaykh Wasim Kempson | 2026-07-06T18:59:08.068416+00:00 | Topic: Remembrance
Khutbah al-Ula — First Sermon
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we ask for His guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds.
Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His 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 Allah and say the right words. He will correct your deeds and forgive your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.
Indeed, all praise and thanks is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah alone. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His final Messenger.
The People of Paradise and the Remembrance of Allah
The people of Jannah, the people of Paradise, when they are entered into a place where they will have anything that they wish — Allah at this time will have removed from them any responsibility in terms of taklif. They will not be commanded like they were commanded in this worldly life. At certain times you are commanded to make salah. At certain times of the year to fast and to give zakah. In Jannah you will not have that.
But in the Paradise, you will be required to make the dhikr and the remembrance of Allah. And imagine that the people of Jannah — the one thing that they will remind themselves of in this worldly life, if you like some form of regret or something to think over, is the amount of times that they did not remember Allah. That if only we could have remembered Allah more frequently.
But that time has not come yet for us. We are of course now living our lives with a specific ajal which is being decreed to us by Allah. But as a reminder — the importance of reminding ourselves about what it is to remember Allah. How great it is to remember Allah. That only through and by the remembrance of Allah will our hearts find any tranquility. If you try to find that tranquility somewhere else, you will be looking for a lifetime and more.
It is only through the remembrance of Allah. And when I say the remembrance of Allah, it is not just something that your tongue is moving without any attention paid to what you are saying. But rather when you say and mention Allah frequently, it keeps you in line. And it brings about a happiness, a tranquility, and a sakinah within your life.
The Hadith of the Angels Seeking the People of Dhikr
In the sound hadith that the Prophet ﷺ said: Allah has angels, and these angels — what are they commanded to do? They are commanded to go out in caravans, in groups, out into the roads and streets, looking for the people of remembrance. Some angels are muwakkil — they are given the responsibility to bring the rain. The malaik al-jibal. The angel of death. These angels, they are looking for the people of remembrance.
So as you leave this masjid today, and you may be in the continued remembrance of Allah, you are mentioned in this hadith — not by name, but by description.
فَإِذَا وَجَدُوا قَوْمًا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ — If these malaik find the people who are remembering Allah, تَنَادَوْا هَلُمُّوا إِلَى حَاجَتِكُمْ — come to that which you are asking for. And then these angels, they place their wings upon these people of dhikr, and raise their wings up into السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا.
فَيَسْأَلُهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ — And Allah, their Lord, asks them — and He already knows — مَا يَقُولُ عِبَادِي: What are my servants saying? And they respond: يُسَبِّحُونَكَ وَيُكَبِّرُونَكَ وَيَحْمَدُونَكَ وَيُمَجِّدُونَكَ — They glorify you, they praise you, they exalt you. Have they ever seen Me? وَهَلْ رَأَوْنِي? The malaik reply: لَا وَاللَّهِ مَا رَأَوْكَ — They have never seen you, O my Lord. وَكَيْفَ لَوْ رَأَوْنِي — And how would it be if they ever saw Me? The malaik reply: كَانُوا أَشَدَّ لَكَ عِبَادَةً وَأَشَدَّ لَكَ تَمْجِيدًا وَتَحْمِيدًا وَأَكْثَرَ لَكَ تَسْبِيحًا — They would be more intense in their worship and would glorify and praise you even more.
And what are they asking for? These people of dhikr — what are they asking for? Allah asks the angels, and He already knows. The malaik say: يَسْأَلُونَكَ الْجَنَّةَ — They are asking for the paradise. وَهَلْ رَأَوْهَا? Have they seen it? لَا وَاللَّهِ يَا رَبِّ مَا رَأَوْهَا — They have never seen this paradise. وَكَيْفَ لَوْ رَأَوْهَا — And how would it be if these people of remembrance had ever seen the paradise? The malaik reply: Their desire of the paradise would be even more. أَشَدَّ لَكَ طَلَبًا.
بِمَ يَتَعَوَّذُونَ? And what do they seek refuge from? Allah says. And then the malaik say: مِنَ النَّارِ — they seek refuge and protection from the hellfire. And have they ever seen this? لَا وَاللَّهِ يَا رَبِّ مَا رَأَوْهَا — They have never seen the hellfire. وَكَيْفَ لَوْ رَأَوْهَا — And how would it be if they had ever seen the hellfire? كَانُوا أَشَدَّ مِنْهَا فِرَارًا وَأَشَدَّ لَهَا مَخَافَةً — That they would be even more intense in their fleeing from the hellfire, and their fear would be even more.
فَأُشْهِدُكُمْ أَنِّي قَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَهُمْ — Allah says: I testify, I bear witness, that I have forgiven these people.
These people — we have never seen Allah. We have never seen the hellfire. We have never seen the paradise. But we ask for it. We seek protection from the hellfire and we have never seen it. And how would it be in each situation if we had — subhanAllah. We have never seen al-Nabi ﷺ. But we give everything to be like him. So Allah tells us that these people who ask for these things — they are forgiven.
And then the malaika, with an inquisitive question, say: Ya Rabbi, إِنَّ فُلَانًا — there is an individual among them, لَيْسَ مِنْهُمْ — who wasn't actually from the people of dhikr, but he happens to be there with them. So what is his situation? It is a good question. So Allah says: I will also grant pardon to that person who happens to be with the people of dhikr. That whoever sits and is in the company of these people of dhikr, they will never suffer misery.
So a person who is in the constant remembrance of Allah will never suffer misery. And dhikr is of course of many types. So many types of dhikr. Praising and glorifying Allah.
So we ask Allah to make us those who frequently remember Allah. Even when Allah commanded al-Nabi ﷺ:
And know that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah, and seek forgiveness of your sins. We take great benefit from this. That from the greatest of dhikr, from the greatest of remembrance, is to seek Allah's forgiveness.
The Weight and Meaning of Astaghfirullah
And what does it mean to say astaghfirullah? How heavy that word, how heavy it is in the heart of the true believer. That Allah grants an abd sincerely to say أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ يَا رَبِّ, astaghfirullah — O Allah, I seek your forgiveness. An acceptance of your weakness, of your shortcomings, of your need of Allah. No arrogance, full humbleness, only to ask Allah alone to forgive you of your sins.
You may have noticed and continue to notice that if you've ever performed Hajj or seen people making Hajj, how many older people — we say this with respect, older people in age — make the Hajj. And of course the encouragement is that if you are young, you have the strength — don't delay your Hajj. But nonetheless, people for whatever reason at times have to save their money, have to save a lifetime's worth of savings, before they die, to go and perform Hajj.
And in their mind — that a person who performs Hajj, doesn't get involved in arguing and swearing and cursing, abstains from his relationship with his spouse if that's applicable — but he or she will return like the day that they were born from their own mothers, even though they had years of sins. The sins that you and I, we repeat time after time after time — the same sin, you keep committing it. Whether it's delaying your salah, or delaying your zakah, or bad language, or a particular habit that you have, you keep doing it.
But yet subhanAllah, if a person turns back to Allah sincerely:
They will find that Allah is the oft-receiving of one's repentance, the Most Merciful. How great Allah is — that every night, in the last third of the night, the One that you are transgressing against, the One that you have shortcomings against, He is calling you, He is calling me:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1145; Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 758)
Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness that I can forgive him, forgive her — every single night? But yet — sleep, sleep, sleep past Fajr. What excuses do we have?
And this may go on for years, the person being neglectful of their prayers for example. But yet when the time comes, when the crunch comes, when they know that they need to turn back to Allah, they have no other choice — but they turn back in humility, lowering their heads sincerely to Allah:
O Allah, forgive me. I am one who has many shortcomings. Even after all of that transgression, Allah still forgives them. Allah will still forgive you if you turn back to Him in repentance sincerely.
We ask Allah to make us مِنَ الْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ.
Khutbah al-Thaniyah — Second Sermon
The topic of al-Istighfar — that special type of remembrance — is and will never be sufficient for us to talk about in just a few minutes on this minbar. But if it serves as a reminder for all of us to engage in al-Istighfar, just as our beloved Nabi ﷺ taught us to do.
The Prophet's ﷺ Practice of Istighfar
Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما — in one sitting throughout the day — would see the Prophet ﷺ engaging in istighfar 70 times, 100 times. They would go away and come back, and they would see him. They would go away in their business and each time they would see him — between the salah, at the time of salah — they would find him ﷺ يَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ, seeking Allah's forgiveness.
And when Aisha رضي الله عنها saw the Prophet ﷺ standing in prayer with swollen feet, she said should you not rest? He ﷺ said: Should I not be a thankful servant — educating us to be grateful, to be humble, to be sincere to Allah.
It is very easy for us to be busy with our lives in this dunya. I can assure you — not because it's me, anyone can assure you — your time here in this dunya is very short. You have an ajal, you have a time. It will not be delayed, it will not be brought forward. There is a particular time Malak al-Mawt will come to us, take our souls, and we will have to face Allah for what we've done in this dunya.
Don't waste your time in this dunya with things which will take you away from Allah. And from the best things which can bring you close to Allah is seeking Allah's forgiveness — after your salah, during your salah, between salah. You ask Allah to forgive you.
Al-Hasan al-Basri and the Virtues of Istighfar
And if I may refer you — when al-Hasan al-Basri رحمه الله was asked about things that people were missing in their lives, he mentioned the ayat from Surah Nuh, when Nuh عليه السلام told his people simply to seek forgiveness from Allah:
That Allah would grant you the bounties that they were looking for. That Allah will protect you from punishment as long as you are seeking forgiveness from Allah. That whoever adheres to istighfar, Allah will open a way for you — any stress and anxiety you have, there will be a way out for that. That Allah will provide for you from where you never thought, just because of your istighfar.