In
the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. Truly all praise is
due to Allah, we praise him and seek his help and forgiveness. We seek refuge
in Allah from the evils of ourselves; and our bad actions. Whomsoever Allah
guides, none can turn him astray, and whomsoever Allah turns astray, none can
guide him. I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah,
the only one without Any partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is his
servant and final messenger.
Allah
swt says in Surah al-Baqarah verse 221:
“Allah invites to Paradise and forgiveness with His permission.”
Imam
Muslim has recorded in a hadith that the messenger of Allah (pbuh) said ‘Allah
says “O my slaves indeed you commit sins by day and by night but I forgive all
sins, so seek forgiveness from Me and I will forgive you’.”
Thus
deficiency and heedlessness is part of our nature and we commit sins and
disobedience and all the while Shaitan is on our right and on our left, in
front of us and behind us, enticing us and inviting us to commit sins.
Therefore we become weak and succumb to his invitation and thus become
disobedient. After which the ‘accursed one’ (that is Shitan) says to us, “I had
no power over you except to entice you and you succumbed to me, so do not blame
me and blame no one but yourselves.” (Surah Ibrahim 14, verse 22). In other
words, Shitan sets us up to do the bad deeds, and commit sins, and taken take
himself out completely.
Allah
the Most High: “O my slaves who have sinned against their own souls, do not
despair from the mercy of Allah – indeed Allah forgives all sins and indeed it
is He who is the All Forgiving, the All Merciful.”
Let
us take a moment to compare how our father Adam behaved after he committed a
sin and how Iblis behaved.
Allah says : "And surely, We created you (your
father Adam) and then gave you shape (the noble shape of a human being), then
We told the angels, "Prostrate to Adam", and they prostrated, except
Iblis, he refused to be those who prostrate. Imagine, that there were rows upon
rows of angels as far as the eyes can see. All the angels prostrated as once,
but there was only ONE –Only one- who refused to do so, and it was Iblis. Iblis
was a Jinn. He was very knowledgeable and used worship Allah in the best of
manner. Because of his piety, he had very high status, and was allowed to be
with the angels. Ibn Abbas said that Iblis was a jinn and that they had once
been the keepers of Paradise, with Iblis the most honorable and the most
learned and the most pious of them. Yet, his arrogance was so much, that he
disobeyed Allah’s command. That alone is a great lesson for us. Let us not let
the little knowledge, or Imaan that we have cause us to be arrogant and disobey
the commands of Allah like Iblis did.
So Allah said Iblis: "What prevented you (O
Iblis) that you did not prostrate when I commanded you?" Iblis said:
"I am better than him (Adam), You created me from fire and him You created
from clay."
This again is a good lesson for us. Some scholars
believe that this was the first case of Racism, where the physical appearance
of Adam caused Iblis to reject Allah’s command. Shitan felt superior to Adam,
because he was made of fire. There is no such thing as Racism in Islam. Allah
only looks at our deeds and judge us. It
was narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Allah
created Adam from a handful of dust taken from different lands, so the children
of Adam have been created according to the composition of the land. Therefore
from mankind we have white, red, black and yellow ones; we have good and evil,
ease and sorrow, and what comes in between them." (Sahih al Bukhari).
Also, Iblis was a bit worried, that perhaps this
new creation of Allah will end up and be a better worshiper compared to him.
And then jealousy stepped in which led to arrogance on the part of Iblis.
Allah said: "O Iblis get down from this
(Paradise), it is not for you to be arrogant here. Get out for you are of those
humiliated and disgraced." Iblis said: "Allow me respite till the Day
they are raised up (Day of Resurrection)." Let us never be like Iblis, and
be among the arrogant. One way in which we sometimes become arrogant, is when
we believe that we are Muslims, so we automatically deserve Jannah. Then we
don’t worship Allah, because we feel Allah owe us Paradise. Let us not be among
those who have this form of thinking. Furthermore, pay attention to the reply
of Iblis. He did not ask Allah for forgiveness.
Allah then said: "You are of those allowed
respite."
Iblis said: "Because You have sent me astray,
surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path.
Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and
from their left and You will not find most of them as thankful ones (they will
not be dutiful to You)."
Allah said: "Get out from Paradise, disgraced
and expelled. Whoever of them (mankind) will follow you, then surely I will
fill Hell with you all."
Let us now look at what Adam did when he committed
his sin.
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Allah Said: “ O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in
Paradise, and eat thereof as you both wish, but approach not this tree
otherwise you both will be of the Zalimeen (unjust and wrongdoers)."
Shytan said
to Adam:" Your Lord did not forbid you this tree save you should become
angels or become of the immortals."
Satan swore by Allah to them both saying:
"Verily I am one of the sincere well-wishers for you both."So he
misled them with deception. Many times, we find people come towards us, and
they speak in the best of manner, yet their intentions are only to misguide us.
That is exactly what Satan was doing here. He even swore by Allah. He used the
best of speech.
Then when they (Adam and Eve) tasted of the tree,
that which was hidden from them of their shame (private parts) became manifest
to them and they began to stick together the leaves of Paradise over themselves
(in order to cover their shame). Their Lord called out to them saying "Did
I not forbid you that tree and tell you, Verily Satan is an open enemy unto
you?"
They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged
ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall
certainly be of the losers."
Remember what Satan said when he did not bow down
as he was commanded? Satan was arrogant and did not ask for forgiveness. He
only asked to do more mischief. The end result will be hell for Satan and his
followers. But here we see that as soon as Adam and Eve erred, they seek
forgiveness. This is the example that us Muslims must to follow. As soon as we
commit a sin, we need to turn to Allah, and seek his forgiveness.
Allah then said to Adam and Eve:
"Get down -one of you an enemy to the other
(i.e. Adam, Eve, and Satan etc). On earth will be a dwelling place for you and
an enjoyment, for a time." "therein you shall live, and therein you
shall die, and from it you shall be brought out (resurrected)." (Chapter
7:11-25 Qur'an).
Brothers
In Islam, The main message that we get from this Kuthbah, is that whenever we
do any wrong, or commit any sins, then we should not wait, but turn to Allah
immediately and seek his forgiveness. Allah loves to forgive us. Allah says in
the Quran “And indeed I am the Forgiver of he who repents and believes and
performs righteous actions and then was guided.” (Surah Ta-Ha 20, verse 82). Let us not ever
overlook any minor sins that we commit. We do not know if we will live to see
tomorrow, let us ask Allah to forgive us, at least five times a day after our
Salaah. Let us remember that Prophet Adam (alaihi salam) was misled by Satan
into disobeying Allah. However, he regretted it considerably and repented very
sincerely. This is the best example for us to follow.
May
Allah grant us knowledge of what is right and wrong, May He guide us towards
the path of righteousness, May He forgive us for our sins, our minor and major
sins.
