Catalysts for Repentance

And there's like a bevy, a group of young men. And they're just like hoodlums, you know. Hoodlums, hoodrats, if you want to call them. Hoodrats. So these hoodrats, they're just like, how do you say mousy, hoodlum? Choo or something like that? Choo-ha, something like that. It's the opposite of a sneeze. It's not a choo, it's choo-ha. That was lame. That was a hell of a lame joke. Pardon my French. All right.

So these thieves, they're like, "hey, why don't you go into that house and thieve him?" They don't even know who this house belongs to. So they're like, "okay, we'll just meet you on the other side. Blah, blah, blah, blah." So this one thief, Tasawwub, he basically jumps over the wall. And he goes in, and in the middle of the night, he's trying to steal his way. And how dumb is he that he goes and tries to steal from a scholar? And what are you going to find in a scholar's house? Books, pens, dust, pencils, notebooks. And that's it. You're not going to find anything.

So Malik ibn Dinar, he's in his salah. And he hears a thief has broken in and intruded on his house. Now, like, you know, like we do it in Texas. Right? You know, the NRA would be really happy. No, he didn't even have a gun loaded for him. All he did was he just turns around after Tasawwub, and he looks at him, right? And he says, "Don't you have any little bit of shame? You have entered into my house. You have broken into my house. And you are disrupting me. And I'm in the middle of prayer."

So the thief realizes that. He apologizes, and he tries to leave. So Malik ibn Dinar is like, "No, you're not leaving. You're not leaving. You come in. I'll tell you when you can leave." Malik ibn Dinar is like, oh. So he, like, strikes a deal with the thief. And he's like, "OK, so how can I leave?"

The Transformation Through Prayer

Malik ibn Dinar, what does he do? Now, out of all the people, I'm talking about an intruder that comes into your house that could harm your family. Right? I mean, if a mouse came into your house, that's a death sentence for the mouse. Mom's going to scream, right? And then she's going to, you know, just run and ask for help. Right? You know it's a death sentence for the mouse. You guys are not going to go to sleep until the mouse is killed. That's for a mouse. Right? So what about if a thief comes in and harms your family?

Malik ibn Dinar, what does he do? He pushes to him a bowl of water. He says, "Make wudu. Make wudu." Thieves are like, "OK, I'll make wudu." He rolls his sleeves up, makes wudu. He's like, "OK, now you're praying to Allah." And this is like in the middle of the night. Even the thieves of that time, they knew the blessings of Tahajjud. Yes, that's not, that's not being, like, smart aleck. That's true. Nowadays, you have people, they, like, do a little bit of sin. Why should I even pray? I'm already sinful enough. If I pray and go do a sin, then that just makes me a hypocrite.

So the thief, right, he goes and he prays two rakahs. And subhanAllah, this actually has a very good impact on this thief. He actually feels really, really good. So he says to Malik ibn Dinar. So Malik at this

time, after the salah is over, the two rakahs. I mean, what do you think about this? A thief standing next to you, and he just assaulted your house. And you're just, like, inviting him for prayer.

So Malik ibn Dinar, after he finishes the salah, the thief is like, Malik ibn Dinar couldn't, he just says to him, "you know, you can leave now." No, the thief actually feels good and he says, "is it OK if I pray two more rakah with you?" Now Malik ibn Dinar could be like, "uh, sorry, get out." No, he doesn't do that. What does he do? He says, "honey and maniha." He says, "good, that's fine." He says, "let's pray some more."

And so they pray some more. And they pray all the way until fajr. And there's already a change going on in this person's heart. And then Malik ibn Dinar is like, "it's time for fajr now, you should go now." And the thief is like, "no, no, can I come with you for fajr?" And Malik ibn Dinar is like, "OK, sure, let's go." So they go to fajr. They come back for fajr. Then the thief is like still hanging around Malik.

So Malik ibn Dinar is like, "OK, you know, you can really go now." So the thief is like, and by this time, the thief has already made a real tawbah. Simply through example. Simply through example, he's already made a tawbah. And he said, "I would like to fast the rest, the remainder of the day. I would like to fast for the remainder of the day."

The Ruling on Voluntary Fasting

As you know, in fasting for acts of devotion pertaining to fast, right? Siyam, pertaining to sunan fast, right? Non-obligatory fast. We all know that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) one time he woke up. And it was fajr, then he went back to sleep. Then he woke up and then he said to Aisha radiallahu anha, "is there any food in the house?" And she said, no. So Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "eat me. I have made the intention that I'm going to fast."

So the condition is as long as you don't eat or drink between fajr and tawbah, you can still make the intention to fast. This is for sunan fasting, not Ramadan. Okay, so it's not like "good or bad. I'm going to fast Ramadan now." This is for sunan fast.

So this thief announces, "I'm going to make a fast." Now I want you to, I want you to think about this. Through example that this man, Malik ibn Dinar, was able to bring about change in this person's life. Now he could have easily taken the road. He could have easily taken the road by driving and say, "tawbihullah, repent to Allah." But he chose not to do that. He chose not to do that. He decided to take the high road and say, not that I'm saying if anyone does that, that means a low road, but he took a different route, a different alternative.

Fourth Catalyst: Learning Through Tragedy

The fourth example is sometimes for change to come, there has to be some sort of unfortunate tragedy that has to happen. I'm not trying to say that that tragedy is there in order for you to change.

I'm not trying to say that. I'm saying sometimes an event will alter your life. It's meant to serve different purposes. And maybe one of those purposes could be to wake you up.

The Story of the Young Man and His Sisters

So there's a real story that I've read, and I was extremely moved when I read this story. It was a story about one young man and he had three sisters. He had three sisters. So he's sitting and driving his car in the hot desert, and there's one sister sitting here, and there's two sitting in the back. So they're driving through this hot, hot summer desert, and he turns on the music, and he starts listening to all this haram stuff.

And one of the sisters, actually, she's sitting back here, she says to him, "could you please just turn off the music? Could you please turn off the music?" Note, I did not say, please don't stop the music. So anyway, this is not pun intended. So she said, "could you please turn off the music?" Whereas Rihanna said, please don't stop the music. Maybe now you have to turn it off. See, when you tell a joke, you have to explain that it's not a joke anymore. So the second time you tell it, someone laughs, and I'm like, that doesn't count.

So what happened is, she's like, "please stop the music," right? And he's like, "oh, what's wrong with you, man? You're so uptight. Why are you so, you know, so uptight? And you can't just relax for a little bit? Just, you know, I don't know, just chill out for a little bit, right? Just chill out for a little bit." Sometimes you go to wedding halls, right? Sometimes you go to weddings, and there's all this music going on, and you don't feel too comfortable, and you're like, you know, just throw your hands up or something like that, right? I don't know, just chill out.

And so she's like, "no, no, I'm not really comfortable with this, please." And so what does he do? Instead of listening to her, instead of showing like, "okay, you know what, whatever," what does he do? Him and his other two sisters start making fun of him. "Oh, you're so dumb. You're so uptight. You're so rude. You're so stupid. You can't even chill out. What kind of person are you? Why are you like this?"

And so she continues pleading, "you know, I don't want to listen to this. Can you just please turn it off?" And then he says to her the following words. "If you don't want to listen, then you can get out of the car and go home yourself."

The Tragic Accident

So she became patient, and she became quiet, and she just simply shut her mouth, exercising her right to be patient. You have a right to remain silent. And so what happened? They were driving, driving, driving, and she's doing istighfar, she's, you know, doing tissue paper, and then suddenly one

of the tires blows up, and the car gets into this horrible mess, and it flips, and it turns, and it turns, and it turns.

And then when the ambulance comes, they pull the bodies out. Everyone survived except this girl. Everyone survived except this girl that was sitting over here, this sister. And until the day of judgment, this man is going to remember that the last words that he said to his sister were not just simply hurtful words, words to taunt, but he said, "if you don't want to, then you can go home."

Now I'm going to ask you one question here. Where is our real home? Where is our real home? That's what we aspire to. And subhanAllah, when he said, "go back to your home," Allah took her home. And because of this event, not saying that this was an amazing event, astaghfirullah, I mean someone died. But the fact of the matter is, this event caused him to change.

The Quranic Perspective on Divine Signs

Now I'm not trying to say that we, you know, we need these kind of shock treatments and this kind of scary stuff for us to do, but that's actually really, really not so great. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about how sometimes when we don't listen and we don't obey and we don't notice the signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will send another sign one after another, sort of like taking a hit. Allah says in the Quran:

"And We showed them not a sign except that it was greater than its sister, and We seized them with affliction that perhaps they might return [to faith]."

One sign at a time. And if it doesn't work, then the next sign becomes bigger and it becomes bigger and it becomes bigger until a horrible punishment comes. For what? So that we will come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Analogy of Waking Someone

And it's so sad, because if you think about the way of a person who's sleeping, if someone is sleeping, if you go up to them, you could be like, you could say their name and then hopefully they'll wake up, right? If they don't wake up, what do you do? You might poke them, tap them gently, right? And if they don't, what do you do? You might shake them or yell at them or something like that until they wake up.

So like, you know, you can wake up a person who's sleeping, no matter how deep in a sleep they are, but you can never wake up someone who's pretending to be asleep. So when we are pretending to be asleep, when the signs of Allah are coming to us, reminders are coming one after another and we still don't pay attention, you know that one day some horrible sign is going to come to you and it's going to shake things up.

How many times have you heard of people stuck with Allah, they got into a car accident and their life changed after that? Hmm? Put your hand up. Not like this, but like this. Okay? Okay. But why is it, brothers and sisters, that we need this kind of painful experience? Why is it that we need something horrible to come to our life and be like, "Ya Allah, I don't listen now."

Take a hit from the first time. He didn't take a hit from the first time when he told him to stop his music. And he continued in his arrogance. But alhamdulillah, even when she died, right? The heart changed, suddenly realized. Suddenly realized. And so what we learn from this example is that in order for you to facilitate change, sometimes it just requires patience. Sometimes it just requires a little bit of patience. And if you're not patient enough, you can't expect someone to make that change for their life. Okay? Moving on.

Fifth Catalyst: Reaching Rock Bottom

Sometimes another catalyst for change and repentance can only happen after you reach a certain level. Like, let me give you an example. A lot of parents are really overprotective of their children. Right? Oh, don't do it. Oh, oh. But the thing is, if you want your kids to grow up, then you're going to have to let them make mistakes. Sometimes they're just going to have to fall on their face. Sometimes they're just going to have to be embarrassed. Sometimes they need that. And they're going to wake up. Right?

And so the thing is, is that sometimes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not allow someone to change until they get to a certain level. Until they get to a certain level.

The Story of the Brother in Prison

I'm going to tell you a story about a brother that I know in Tennessee. He is in Riverbend maximum security jail. A real story. Awesome story. Fifteen years old. Runs around. Hood rat. Right? Venom, of course, Venom. Ex-hood rat. He's an ex-hood rat. He's running around. And he goes and takes a pistol. And he only puts one single bullet. One single bullet.

And what he would do is, he would go to the 7-Eleven, he would go to the gas station, whatever his mini-mart. And all he would do is fire one shot. Everyone get down on the floor with one shot. Nice. Perfect timing. You want to make that noise? I have no idea how to make that noise, but thank you.

So he would just do it. And he would be like, "everyone get down on the floor." Everyone's like, "down on the floor." They're like screaming. And he would just like, you know, move to the cashier register, open up and take all the cash out and just like walk off. And he would do this over and over again.

Until one day, it was the Qadr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he walks into a store. And he raises his arm. What do you think happens? I'm not going to say sh** while I laugh. It doesn't happen. It's

Finding Islam in Prison

So where do you think he goes? Right, he goes into Islam. He goes into Islam and he's there for like 17 years. And during this time, brothers and sisters, this is when Allah guides him in Islam. The question is, how many of us here have even visited your brothers and sisters in prison? They are our brothers for God's sake. When I visited that jail, by Allah, I felt that the brothers in jail, the Muslim brothers, they were freer. They were demonstrating more liberty than those that are free men and women walking around outside.

So this young man, he came to Islam finally. And what does he do? Of course he does Tawbah, everything. And then he goes ahead and this is such a coincidence. He basically tells his friend, he's like, "I really want to know who is this person that I killed because I never met this person."

So he tells his friend and then his friend goes on Facebook. He's like, "you know, my friend, barak Allah, he's in jail and his name is this and this is what happened."

And subhanAllah, out of nowhere, it just so happens that the sister of the boy who was killed, somehow, it just so happened that his friend's Facebook page was also open and public. The wall was open, you can see it. She somehow finds that page and she reads it and she's like, "that's my brother, I think, that this post is talking about. I think this is talking about my brother that was killed like 17 years ago."

So she e-messages and she writes a letter to, she messages God on Facebook. She's like, "I think you're talking about my brother here. I think you're talking about my brother." So they get the address and she corresponds. She's like, "I didn't know much about my brother. Tell me about your story."

So they start this correspondence. And this young man, this Muslim young man, he's like, "you know, I did this and this and this and this. I'm really, really sorry. This was never my intention. I have repented to Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala. I really, really want change." And then the next letter that comes, she says, "I forgive you."

Now, imagine if this event didn't happen. What do you think is going to happen to him? He's going to continue going around and shooting up 7-Elevens, going to continue shooting up at these places. But it was only after that he did this other sin that the guidance had to come from him. It's not a really, really, you know, amazing way of getting to the guidance into the road of Islam through murder, but he still came into Islam.

Our Responsibility to Ex-Convicts

I'm going to ask you one question right now, brothers and sisters. As a community here, as a community here, what kind of systems have we set up here in this Muslim, or in Chicago, that if there was a Muslim brother that walks out of jail tomorrow, that you're going to have a halfway house for them, that you're going to welcome them into your community and not judge them for what they have done before Islam. How ready is this community? Or are you going to ostracize it and be like, "no, we don't want to deal with this person because he just came out of jail."

This is, you know, it's easy to sit there and talk about, you know, five salat, wallah, alhamdulillah, okay, alhamdulillah, good. But what about those brothers that come out of jail? Who's going to help them? You know, hardly anyone visits them in jail, you know that? Hardly anyone visits them. And they're just sitting there and they don't even have someone to come and teach them about Islam. They're just teaching themselves among themselves and learning among themselves.

Sixth Catalyst: The Power of Knowledge

The next thing I want to talk about is, we just have two more points, inshallah, I promise. The next way, the next way of catalyst for repentance is through knowledge. And when you go through the month of Ramadan, you're hearing the sermons, use that knowledge to benefit yourself and benefit those around you.

I'm going to give you a real story. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful, beautiful story. It's a story of Abdullah ibn Maslamah al-Qa'nabi. I love saying his name, because he's so funny. So, Abdullah ibn Maslamah al-Qa'nabi, if you look at his seerah, if you look at his biography, you will find that Abdullah ibn Maslamah used to be a drinker.

Hey, brother, you didn't even notice yourself. You're my friend. Oh, you're my friend. I didn't know that. So, Abdullah ibn Maslamah al-Qa'nabi used to be what? A little bit of a moon? Right? He'd drink a little bit too much. He was walking around town, and he'd hustle a little bit. You know, doing this and that. Right? Like, you know, he's in the hood around here.

The Encounter with Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj

So, he's, like, drinking, and then he sees this one man on a donkey. Donkey. Yeah, okay, wait. I'm not going to give the equivalent to a car. There's something I'm going to find out. I'm going to compare

my car to a donkey. So, I'm not going to do a comparison, okay?

So, he's just riding a donkey. So, all these people are behind this person, and he's, like, you know, with his bottles, and, like, walking, and he goes up to this donkey and just, like, grabs it like this. And he didn't say to the donkey, "tubu Allah," or something like that. He grabs the donkey, and he, like, he looks at the person sitting on the donkey. He's, like, "who are you?"

And this was a big scholar. This was a big scholar, and his name was Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj. Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj. So, he said, "what do you do?" He's, like, "I work with hadith. I work with hadith." So, he's, like, "give me one hadith."

The Strategic Hadith

So, Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj is very, very strategic. He wants to bring about a change into this person's life. So, what does he say? He says, he narrates a special hadith, and he says:

"Verily, among the things that people have retained from the words of the earliest prophethood is: If you have no shame, then do whatever you wish." (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 3483)

He says that from one, there are certain hadith that used to go around even the other prophets of the past they used to have the same. They used to have the same. Sort of like, you know, you have the golden rule, right? Do unto others what you want others to do. Unto? Unto yourself. Right?

So, there's another hadith that was passed, that was there. A lot of prophets would say it. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he says from among those who would receive the prophethood, they would say this one hadith:

"If you have no shame, then do whatever you want to do."

Basically, if you have no shame, then you end up saying whatever you want to say. So, when he hears this hadith, it sort of clicks.

Now, Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj could have said something like, (الله غفور رحيم - "Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.") Now, what's going to happen if he said that? Okay, keep drinking. (الله غفور رحيم) He could have said, well, too bad. No one for me. But he chooses one hadith that's very, very special. If you have no shame, then do whatever you want.

The Transformation Begins

So, he goes back into his house, right? And he tells his mom, he's like, "I'm going to go out of town

for a bit." She's like, "you're going to go out of town?" He's like, "yeah. If my friends come, just tell them, like, you know, that I'm busy."

So, the first thing he does, he goes around, he starts asking, "Who is the most knowledgeable person in the Islamic world?" And they're like, "Imam Malik." So, he journeys all the way to Medina, and then he starts studying. And then he reforms himself, and he starts studying until he gets the entire, until he gets the entire, you know, ijazah from Imam Malik, and he narrates the Muwatta.

And then he says, "Who is the second most knowledgeable person on earth?" And guess who they say? Huh? Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj. The guy who was wearing the dog. So, he's like, "Shu'bah ibn al- Hajjaj." Off to Basra.

So, he goes into Basra. He's like, "I'm here to look for Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj. Where is Shu'bah ibn al- Hajjaj?" Any guesses? Huh? Any guesses what happened to him? He passed away. He's like, "Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj passed away?" And what happened?

This, if you look in Abu Ubaid ibn Mas'al al-Qa'di's seerah, you will find that he has only narrated one single hadith from Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj, and it is this hadith. This one single hadith that he learned from Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj in his time of ignorance, that propelled him to change.

So, technically, if you look in his biography, they will say, "who were his teachers?" They will say, "Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj." How many hadith did he narrate from him? One. Just one.

The Importance of Strategic Da'wah

So, brothers and sisters, when you, when a lot of people here are doing da'wah to other people, right? Be very careful in how you approach the da'wah. A lot of times, you know, we go and approach like Christians, or Jews, or whatever it is, or people of different faith, and the first thing you're going to talk to the Christian is like, "Trinity is wrong." Seriously? That's how you're going to open up your statement. Is that how you're going to open up your statement and bring them to Islam, that Trinity is wrong?

Seriously, like, for me, that I've studied two years of Christian theology, it's like, there's different types of Trinity out there. There's different systems of Trinity. It's not all the same, right? It's not all the same. So, we have to be very, very careful on strategic.

Seventh Catalyst: Justice and Fairness

Finally, I'm going to give you one last beautiful story, and that is, you can bring about someone to the tawbah of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, to the forgiveness, and to come to Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala through fairness and equality.

The Story of Ali and the Jewish Man

Ali ibn Abi Talib, radiallahu anhu, he appoints a judge by the name of Shuraih al-Qadi, and Shuraih al- Qadi receives a case, where one day Ali comes to him, and he's like, telling him what happened. He's like, "I'm, you know, I'm in the marketplace, the bazaar, whatever you want to call it, and he says that, I noticed that my body armor suit is being sold by this one Jewish gentleman, and I know that it's mine."

So, he brings him to the court, and he says, "this is mine, and I don't know how he got it, but I want it back." Shuraih al-Qadi, what does he do? He says, "do you have a witness? Do you have a witness to prove that this thing belongs to you?"

He says, "I do." So, he brings his son. I forgot if it was Hassan or Hussein, one of them. So, he brings one of his sons, and Shuraih al-Qadi says, "okay, so what is this?" He said, "this is my father's, I recognize that this is his."

So, Shuraih al-Qadi says, "you know what, I cannot accept this testimony, because of course, Hassan is going to testify for his father. I don't get it." He doesn't say, "how dare you? Who do you think you are? I appoint you as a judge, and you're going to diss me like this? I'm just thinking about one particular country in my mind, where they fire off all the judges." So, he doesn't say, "oh, I'm one of the ten people who can promise Jannah. How dare you?"

So, Shuraih al-Qadi says, "do you have another witness?" He brings his servant. So, his servant says, "yeah, this is his, I prepared it for him, I put it on his saddle, and then I went to battle, and it appears that he lost."

So, Shuraih al-Qadi, what does he say? "Well, a servant is definitely going to speak on behalf of his master." Ali al-Qadi doesn't have a snit. What does he do? He simply walks out. He wants the judicial process to go through, right? Even though he knows that he's on the truth, he lets it go through.

The Jewish Man's Conversion

Upon witnessing this, the Jewish man is so shocked at the fairness of Shuraih, that he's operating by principle, not by connection. So, what does he do? He's so moved by this, and he says, "you know what, you're right, I stole it from you, and just by witnessing this fairness, (أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأشهد أن محمداً رسول الله - Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasool Allah)."

Now, Ali ibn Abi Talib couldn't be like, "ha ha, I've got you now. Confession." What does he do? He's like, "I forgive you." And then the Jewish man, he says, "you know what, you can take it back, it's yours." Ali ibn Abi Talib looks at him, and he says, "because you have done tawbah, it is yours, I give it to you as a gift."

Conclusion: The Seven Catalysts

Now, brothers and sisters, all of these seven examples that we have talked about, that we have said, through du'a, through kindness, through example, through patience, resulting to a tragedy, through another sin, through knowledge, as well as through fairness. Tonight, and until you get into Ramadan, I want you to think about the way how you behave with those people that are around you, how you can affect them in a good way.

You never know that maybe by doing such and such a thing, an act of kindness with Ramadan, that when Ramadan comes, a person will actually turn to Allah and repent to Him.