Abu Hafs [rahimahullaah] said to Abu Uthmaan Al-Naysaabooriy [rahimahullaah]: When you sit with the people, then be an admonisher of your heart and soul, and do not be deceived by their gathering around you, for they [are only] aware of what they can see apparently, whilst Allaah is all aware of your inner self [i.e. your heart, soul]
[Madaarij As-Saalikeen 2/106. Slightly paraphrased]
Imaam Ibnul Qayyim [rahimahullaah] said: More than one person has said to me:
[ إذا تبت إليه–When I repent to Him (i.e. Allaah); [ وأنبت – and turn to (Him) in obedience, avoiding disobedience, depending on him and seeking refuge in Him] and performing righteous actions; my sustenance is straitened and difficulty comes upon my livelihood. However, when I return to disobeying Him and give my soul its desires, then sustenance, relief and other than it comes to me.’’ So I [i.e. Ibnul Qayyim] said to some of them: This is a test from Him [i.e. Allaah] to see whether you are truthful or untruthful in your seeking refuge with Him, responding and submitting to Him in obedience and exercising patience upon (what He has decreed of afflictions for you with absolute justice and wisdom) so that there are (good) end results for you; or whether you are untruthful so that you return to what you were upon (of evil).
[Source: Ighaathatul Lahfaan: 2/921]
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy
Whoever accuses a believer of something that is not true, Allaah will make him dwell in flowing pus on the Day of Judgement. [Saheeh Al-Jaami]
Repentance from sins committed against oneself and others
Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz (rahimahullaah) said:
Know that Allaah’s Mercy is extensive and His Kindness is tremendous, and that He is [الجواد – (The Munificent, Bountiful); الكريم (The Bountiful, The Generous One Abundant in Good)][Ref 1]. He is the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy and the best of all those who forgive [Glorified and Exalted be He]. And know that also to have (the audacity to commit acts of) disobedience is a great evil, a great corruption and a cause of (incurring) the anger of Allaah; but when a servant repents to his Lord –a truthful repentance-Allaah accepts his repentance. Indeed, the Prophet (sallal-laahu-alayhi-wasallam) was asked many times about a man who (committed) a lot of such and such faults, (acts) of disobedience and various types of kufr, and then he repents; so Messenger (sallal-laahu-alayhi-wasallam) said: ‘’Repentance wipes away what was (committed) before it (i.e. sins)’’ and ‘’Islaam (i.e. when a person abandons kufr and becomes a Muslim) wipes away what was (committed) before it (i.e. sins).’’ Therefore, you should know -with certainty- that by way of truthful sincere repentance, Allaah wipes away sins and evil deeds, even kufr. And because of this Allaah [Glorified Be He] said:
[وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ – And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful. [24:31] So He (Allaah) connected success to repentance.
Allaah (Glorified Be He) said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرَ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ
”O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise) [66:8]
Therefore, O brother! Truthful repentance is (incumbent) upon you- cling to it; be firm upon it and be sincere to Allaah in that. And (receive) glad tidings that it wipes away your sins, even if they are like a mountain.
The conditions (to be fulfilled in order for repentance to be accepted are) three: [1] To be regretful and remorseful regarding the past (acts of disobedience you committed); [2] To renounce and abandon the sins – the big and small (of them); [3] To have a firm resolve (or determination) not to return to it (i.e. not to commit them again). If you owe the people their rights- wealth or (you committed offences related to blood-shed, murder or causing injury etc) or violating their honour, then their rights must be given back to them. This is a fourth affair related to a complete repentance. It is incumbent upon you to give the people the rights they are owed. If the affair is related to retribution, then retribution is established (i.e. by the state), unless they (i.e. the people) permit that you give blood money; if related to wealth, you give them back their wealth, unless they forgive; if related to their honour and you did backbite them, you should seek their forgiveness; but if seeking their forgiveness will lead to evil, then there is no hindrance in refraining from (informing them that you did backbite them and that you seek their forgiveness); rather you should supplicate for them and seek Allaah’s forgiveness for them, and mention the good you know about them in the same place you did mention them with evil. This will be expiation for (that sin of backbiting). And it is incumbent upon you to proceed –without delay- towards repentance before death, and then exercise patience and be truthful. Allaah (Glorified and Exalted Be He) said:
وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُواْ فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُواْ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُواْ اللّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّواْ عَلَى مَا فَعَلُواْ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
”And those who, when they have committed Fahishah (illegal sexual intercourse etc.) or wronged themselves with evil, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins; – and none can forgive sins but Allah – And do not persist in what (wrong) they have done, while they know. [3:135]
(So) understand the meaning of the (statement): وَلَمْ يُصِرُّواْ – And do not persist in what (wrong)]- this means that they do not persist in sin, rather they repent, show regret and abandon the (sin) they committed; and they know [i.e. that persistence in sin is harmful, or that Allaah forgives the one who repents (Ref 2)]
Then Allaah [Glorified Be He] said:
أُوْلَئِكَ جَزَآؤُهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَجَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَنِعْمَ أَجْرُ الْعَامِلِينَ
For such, the reward is Forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing underneath (Paradise), wherein they shall abide forever. How excellent is this reward for the doers (who do righteous deeds according to Allah’s Orders). [3:136]. This is the reward for those who repent and do not persist in (sin)- for them the reward is paradise. [Ref 3]
The Best Supplication for Seeking Forgiveness
The Supplication in Arabic:
اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لا إِلَهَ إِلا أَنْتَ خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ وَأَنَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ
أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ وَأَبُوءُ لَكَ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلا أَنْتَ
O Allaah, You are my Lord! There is no one who has the right to be worshipped except you. You created me and I am your slave, and I am (sincere) to my covenant and promise (to You) as much as I am able. I seek refuge with You from the evil I have done. I acknowledge in your presence all the blessings You have granted me, and I confess to You my sins. So forgive me, for indeed none is able to forgive (a slave his) sins, except You.’’ [Ref Bukhaari Hadeeth Number:Number:6306] [Ref 4]
And Allaah knows best
[Ref 1: The translation of these two Names of Allaah was taken from the poster titled: The Beautiful Names of Allaah. (Minhaaj As-Sunnah Publications 2005) and Distributed by Salafipublications]
[Ref 2: Source: Zaadul Maseer Fee Ilm At-Tafseer’ By Imaam Ibnul Jawzi (rahimahullaah). Publisher: Daar Ibn Hazm. 1st Edition 1424AH (Year 2002)]
[Ref 3: http://www.binbaz.org.sa/fatawa/4251 abridged & slightly paraphrased]
[Ref 4: https://www.salaficentre.com/2012/03/abridged-the-best-way-to-seek-allaahs-forgiveness-with-comments-from-imaam-bin-baaz-rahimahullaah/]
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy
Allaah [The Most High] said:
مَّثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِمۡۖ أَعۡمَـٰلُهُمۡ كَرَمَادٍ ٱشۡتَدَّتۡ بِهِ ٱلرِّيحُ فِى يَوۡمٍ عَاصِفٍ۬ۖ لَّا يَقۡدِرُونَ مِمَّا ڪَسَبُواْ عَلَىٰ شَىۡءٍ۬ۚ ذَٲلِكَ هُوَ ٱلضَّلَـٰلُ ٱلۡبَعِيدُ
The parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day, they shall not be able to get aught of what they have earned. That is the straying, far away (from the Right Path). [14:18]
There is a wonderful underlying reason in likening them [i.e. those deeds] to ashes – due the similarity between their deeds and the disappearance of the ashes found in burning fire, the similarity between the original nature of the ashes and their deeds. Deeds carried out for other than the sake of Allaah are a cause of destruction and as a result of that the fire will be kindled for those who performed them. Allaah [Glorified Be He] will punish them as a result of their false deeds, just as He will bring about bliss and comfort for those people whose deeds were in conformity with His command and carried out for His Sake. Their deeds, the things they worshipped besides Allaah and themselves are fuel for the fire.
[Source: I’laam Al-Muwaqqi-een. 1/223-224. Abridged and slightly paraphrased]
“And the origin of this is – Iblīs, when he turned away from prostrating to Adam due to pride and haughtiness that he should humble himself to Adam, he then was compensated with the humiliation of being the leader of every sinful person and criminal from his (Adam’s) children.
The Jews await the coming of Jesus and assert they are waiting for the Prophet about whom they were given glad tidings. However, after having īmān (faith) in the coming of the Christ (yet rejecting him once he came) Shaytān compensated them with waiting for the False Christ!
The Christians, when they became haughty and too proud in accepting the Christ as being a slave of Allāh, they were compensated with becoming pleased with him being the laughing stock of the Jews, their crucified (one), who they mocked and ridiculed. Then they made for him a crown of thorn in exchange of a King’s crown, and dragged him with a rope to the wooden cross whilst around him they clapped and danced.
Furthermore, they haughtily rejected that their patriarchs and monks should take a wife or child, yet they made for Allāh, Lord of the Worlds, a son!
They haughtily rejected to worship Allāh alone and to obey his slave and Messenger, and (in exchange) they became pleased with worshipping the cross and carven images they place on walls, and (pleased) with obedience to every person who forbids upon them whatsoever he wills or declares permissible whatsoever he wills and legislates for them as religion whatever he wills from himself.
And similar to this compensation is the haughty rejection of the Jahmiyyah, that Allah is above His heavens, above His Throne, separate from his creation, so as to – as they claim – not confine Him to any given direction. They then said, ‘He is, in His essence, in every place!’
So as a result, they confined Him within the water wells, prisons, within all impurities and filth! So they exchanged for Allah His Glorious Throne with these places.
As such, every person who turns away from the truth is compensated with falsehood.
So let the one with intellect ponder on the playing of Shaytān with the intellects of this creation, how he laughs at them and makes mockery of them.”
[Hidāyatul-hayārā fī ajwibatil-yahūdi wan-nasāra, page152, slightly abridged and rearranged]
Shaikh Saaleh al-Fawzaan [may Allaah preserve him] said:
The khawaarij were not misguided and misguiding others with their intellects and fear of Allaah, except that they disassociated themselves from the scholars and depended on their own understanding and that of those similar to them. They took instructions from one another, and thus they caused harm to themselves and to the Ummah. This is the result of disassociating from the scholars.
Source: Tawjeehaat Muhimmah Li-Shabaab al-Ummah
http://www.salaficentre.com/2015/08/importance-guidance-for-the-youth-of-the-ummah-pdf/
The Messenger said: A strong person is not one good at wrestling, but a strong person is one who controls himself when angry.
[Bukhari and Muslim]
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan stated, “Clear distinction is not attained except when trials and tribulations occur, the true believers are then firm and steadfast while the deceptive hypocrites stumble.”
Sharh Kitaabul Kabaa’ir 554-555
Shaykh Fawzaan (Allah preserve him) explains trials and tribulations further in his explanation of the famous hadeeth of Hudhayfah ibnul Yamaan (Allah be pleased with him) read below.
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy
Indeed Allaah pre-decreed and ordained that the creation will be visited by tribulations, trails and tests, in order that the truthful one is distinguished from the hypocrite. He (The Most High) said:
الم
أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ
“Alif-Laam-Meem. Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: ‘’We believe,’’ and will not be tested. And We indeed tested those who were before them. And Allaah will certainly make (it) known (the truth of) those who are true, and will certainly make (it) known (the falsehood) of those who are liars, (although Allaah knows all that before putting them to test)’’ 29:1-3
Fitnah is a test. The human being will not be left alone because he says: I believe, I submit, I am a Muslim, I am a believer….he must be tried and tested. If he exercises patience and firmly holds onto his Eemaan at the (time) of tribulations, then indeed he is the one truthful to his Eemaan. If he deviates at the (time) of tribulations and turns away from his Religion, then this one is not truthful to his Eemaan. He is a hypocrite (i.e. he testifies to Imaan with his tongue and hides disbelief in his heart), as Allaah (The Most High) said:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ
فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ
‘’And of mankind, there are some (hypocrites) who say: “We believe in Allaah and the Last Day” while in fact they believe not. They (think to) deceive Allaah and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not! In their hearts is a disease (of doubt and hypocrisy) and Allaah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies’’. 2:8-10
This is the Sunnah (Way) of Allaah (The Mighty and Majestic). He (The Mighty and Majestic) said:
مَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَذَرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَىٰ مَا أَنْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّىٰ يَمِيزَ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُطْلِعَكُمْ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَجْتَبِي مِنْ رُسُلِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۚ وَإِنْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَلَكُمْ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
‘’Allaah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now, until He distinguishes the wicked from the good. Nor will Allaah disclose to you the secrets of the Ghaib (unseen), but Allaah chooses of His Messengers whom He pleases. So believe in Allaah and His Messengers. And if you believe and fear Allaah, then for you there is a great reward’’. 3:179
Allaah causes trials and tests to occur upon the people- upon the Muslims and the believers- in order to distinguish the truthful one from the liar, the true believer from the hypocritical liar, and the good one from the wicked one. This is from the Wisdom of Allaah (Glorified and Exalted Be He). Fitan (trials) will come to pass upon the people as a result of this Wisdom (of Allaah). If trials do not occur, then truth will be confounded with falsehood–the believer will be confused for the hypocrite, and there will not be a distinction between this one and that one.
The Shaikh also said:
A person is neither to lose hope nor despair, (and) he is not to make the people lose hope of a return to goodness. He should not make the people lose hope with regards to (the fact) that truth will prevail and falsehood will be repelled; because Allaah (Glorified and Exalted Be He) has made that promise and He does not fail to fulfill His promise. Imaam Ibnul Qayyim (rahimahullaah) said: ‘’The Religion is aided when put to the test; therefore do not be amazed for this is the way of Ar-Rahmaan (The Most Merciful).’’ Allaah said:
وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ
وَلِيُمَحِّصَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَمْحَقَ الْكَافِرِينَ
‘’And so are the days (good and not so good), We give to men by turns, that Allaah may test those who believe, and that He may take martyrs from among you. And Allaah likes not the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrong-doers). And that Allaah may test (or purify) the believers (from sins) and destroy the disbelievers’’ 3:140-141
This is the wisdom behind the occurrence of trials and tribulations–so that the believers are purified, and so that they are made to exercise patience, firm upon the truth and cautioned for their mistakes, and in order that they may repent to Allaah (The Mighty and Majestic) and (so that) the kuffaar are destroyed. Therefore, (trials and tribulations) is purification for the believers and destruction for the kuffaar and all praise be to Allaah. It is obligated on the Muslim that he looks at (the affairs) with optimism–he neither looks at history and the state of affairs with pessimism and hopelessness nor make the people lose hope. It has been reported in a hadeeth: ‘’whoever says: the people are ruined, then he himself is ruined’’(Muslim) Therefore, the person neither loses hope in Allaah’s Mercy nor does he make people lose hope of solace from Allaah. [Source: Booklet published by Daar Imaam Ahmad 1426/2005. Title: شرح حديث انا كنا في جاهلية]
Sheikh Rabee says: There is one who comes to two disputing parties and misguides them and does not give greater weight to the truth. He has a new doctrine which he considers to be balanced, but it is baatil and sophistry.
[دحر إفتراءات p191]
