Month of Mercy & Forgiveness - Mufti Menk

Month of Mercy & Forgiveness - Mufti Menk

Opening Khutbah

My beloved brothers and sisters, seek the forgiveness of Allah during this beautiful month of forgiveness. If we would like to achieve the forgiveness of Allah, we must mend our ways and habits.

We must become regular in that which Allah has made compulsory and obligatory upon us. We must try our best to change our lives for the better. Similarly, if we would like the mercy of Allah, we must be merciful upon others, upon all the creatures of Allah.

The Principle of Mercy

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has taught us:

"Whoever doesn't show mercy will not be shown mercy." Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 7376; Sahih Muslim Hadith 2319

The first being showing mercy to the creatures of Allah and the second being achieving the mercy of Allah. Similarly, in another narration, he says:

"Have mercy upon those on earth and the one in the heavens will have mercy upon you." Jami' at-Tirmidhi Hadith 1924; Sunan Abi Dawud Hadith 4941

So to achieve the mercy during the month of mercy, we need to be merciful ourselves. Charity begins at home, my brothers and sisters. With your family members, with your siblings, with your spouse, with your parents, with your relatives, you need to make sure that you are merciful and forgiving.

The Connection Between Mercy and Forgiveness

This is the month of forgiveness. To achieve the forgiveness of Allah, we must firstly develop the correct relationship with Allah. Like I said, we must do that which we are supposed to be doing and stay away from that which we are supposed to be staying away from.

Then we achieve mercy and then we achieve forgiveness. So the mercy of Allah comes before forgiveness because part of His mercy is that He is forgiving. He forgives through the quality of mercy.

Amazing how Allah is so merciful. My brothers and sisters, if you were to look at the Quran, Allah tells us about Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu in Surah An-Nur. And Allah says to him, Would you not like

Allah to forgive you? If that is the case, then forgive those who have wronged against you.

There was a man who spread rumor about Aisha radiyallahu anha. This man's name was Mistah ibn Athatha radiyallahu anhum jami'an. Remember, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu used to spend on Mistah because he was a relative and at the same time he was needy.

And it is our duty to reach out to the needy beginning with our own family members and relatives who are needy. So when this man started spreading rumor about the daughter of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu, he was hurt and as a result he said, I'm never going to spend on this man again. And Allah revealed verses to say:

"Forgive and embrace. Would you not like Allah to forgive you? So Allah is most forgiving, most merciful."

If you would like the forgiveness of Allah, forgive others as difficult as it may be, release it and see how you achieve the forgiveness of Allah. To pause for a moment my brothers and sisters, if Allah is encouraging you to forgive others, you need to know that it will help you health wise as well.

It will be holistically beneficial when you release things. May Allah make it easy for everyone of us. The more difficult it is to forgive, the greater the reward of forgiving and the more likelihood of you achieving the forgiveness of Allah.

The Divine Quality of Forgiveness

One of the reasons again is because Allah calls himself the most merciful, the most forgiving. When you have shown that you have a quality of forgiveness where you could forgive someone who did something really bad against you, Allah does something much higher for you in order to show you and to make manifest the fact that he is the most forgiving. So your little quality of forgiveness, which was a big thing for us as human beings, compared to the great quality of Allah, ours is nothing, subhanAllah.

So Allah says, if you can forgive, I will show you I can forgive that which is far greater, subhanAllah. So Allah wants to forgive us and he wants us to forgive others. When we say Ramadan is a month of mercy, a month of forgiveness, we start off with ourselves being merciful and that is a point many people miss.

People think when we say Ramadan is a month of mercy and forgiveness, it is only to achieve the mercy and forgiveness of Allah, not realizing that to get that mercy and that forgiveness, you have to be merciful yourself and you have to forgive yourself. Meaning you have to learn to forgive others, then you will achieve the forgiveness of Allah. And I've presented evidence of that in the Quran and the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

"Allah does not have mercy upon the one who doesn't have mercy on the rest of mankind, on the people." Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 7376; Sahih Muslim Hadith 2319

So it's amazing how when we talk of the month of mercy, everyone is saying, Oh Allah, have mercy on me. Oh Allah, have mercy on me.

But you might be merciless towards those whom you live with, your spouse, your children, your in-laws, whoever else it may be, your parents, your siblings, your relatives and others, those who work for you, those who work with you, those whom you work for, those whom you interact with. You might be a merciless person who is vulgar and abusive. How would you expect the mercy of Allah when you are merciless? The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ says, Such a person will not achieve the mercy of Allah.

So this month of mercy, my brothers, my sisters, don't make a mistake. Be merciful and Allah will be even more merciful. Amazing, so beautiful, so powerful.

The Challenge of Forgiveness

My brothers and sisters, be forgiving and see the forgiveness of Allah. You might say, Well, it's very bad. This person has done something really nasty.

My brothers and sisters, forgive them for the sake of Allah. And when you've done something really nasty, in the eyes of Allah, He will forgive you as well because He is the most forgiving. One might say, Well, you know, the person who's done this bad thing to me, I don't want to have a relationship with them like I did in the past, in the future.

So we would say, Forgiveness is not connected to embracing all the time. These are two separate acts of worship, two separate qualities. One may not be deserved and the other one may be something we could do.

For example, a person who's being really nasty and you've forgiven them, but you want to stay away from them. You are allowed to stay away from them to protect yourself from harm, be it the mental strain, be it your health that is affected by it, or be it just the unnecessary stress and tension. So you may stay away from people.

That does not mean you haven't forgiven them or you don't want to forgive. I can forgive someone and still stay away from them. Ideally, if I were to forgive, I would develop a good relationship with them once again.

But what is important to note is, if they are not so sincere in seeking the forgiveness or if they have not sought forgiveness at all, what should I do? Sometimes I may want to forgive them even without them seeking forgiveness because that's what Allah does for us. He forgives our minor sins without us seeking forgiveness. And guess what? Even the major sins, if you were to die without seeking forgiveness and you were a believer, Allah says, it's up to me.

Allah's Forgiveness of All Sins Except Shirk

My brothers and sisters, besides shirk, I can forgive anything, says Allah. Allah says:

"Allah does not forgive association of partners with Him, but He forgives anything besides that for whomever He wills."

Worshipping more than one God. Allah says, I don't forgive that. But besides that, I will forgive anything and everything that I will and I wish. SubhanAllah. According to His will and wish, He will forgive anything else. People say, what if I've committed shirk in my life? What if I've associated partners with Allah in my life? Does it mean Allah will not forgive me? My brother, my sister, you have not understood that verse.

That verse is speaking about a person who passes away without seeking forgiveness. If you sought forgiveness in your lifetime, you will be forgiven for every single sin, be it shirk or any other sin, major or minor. If you're alive and you've repented and you've turned to Allah, then every single sin is wiped out completely.

But the verse that speaks about shirk not being forgiven is connected to a person who passes away without having sought the forgiveness. Allah says, I will forgive anything and everything that I want to, but I don't want to forgive shirk. This is why we say, it is extremely important to protect ourselves from all forms of shirk and seek forgiveness from Allah for the evil that we've done knowingly or unknowingly.

May Allah forgive us. But the point I was mentioning was to be able to forgive a person without them seeking forgiveness. The person didn't come to you and say, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I want you to forgive me.

But you've released that from the burden that you've been carrying on your shoulders and it's gone, subhanAllah. You may not want to associate with them much, no problem. There's nothing wrong with that.

You may want to stay away from them, no problem. But you know you have released it, you've forgiven them. But when a person is genuine, they came to you, they've showed you the remorse, they regretted what they said or did, and they asked you to forgive them, then there is a greater chance that you will not only forgive them, but you will embrace as well, subhanAllah.

So these are two different things. To associate with a person is one thing and to forgive them is another. Not every time are the two connected. May Allah grant us forgiveness.

The Personal Benefits of Forgiveness

So the most interesting factor I wanted to raise in today's khutbah is that if you want to achieve the mercy of Allah, you have to be merciful yourself. Those who are not merciful will not achieve the mercy of Allah in the holistic way.

Similarly, if you want to achieve the forgiveness of Allah, learn to forgive others, subhanAllah. It is tough, but if you were to think of it, it's very, very balanced. Allah is telling us, I want you to develop these qualities.

It will help you. It will help you grow in so many other ways. Sometimes when we're holding the burden, carrying the burden of a sin that someone else has committed against us, it prevents us from developing ourselves and from growing in our relationship with Allah and even sometimes worldly growth.

Our businesses are stunted. It affects our relationships with others. People come and vent their frustrations on those whom they love the most. You come home and you start shouting, yelling, swearing, screaming, which is unacceptable, simply because you could not do that to someone who wronged you that day. But if you had released it and forgiven them and you didn't hold that in your heart at all, you would come back home smiling, knowing that you did a good deed and Allah is so pleased with you that you will be able to feel the peace within your own home, although something very negative may have happened to you during the day.

Because this is the month of mercy and this is the month of forgiveness, we are speaking about the mercy and the forgiveness that we are supposed to be having.

My beloved brothers, my sisters, when you forgive someone, you're doing it more for the sake of Allah and for yourself, not for them, subhanAllah. It's not necessarily for them because it's for you and for the sake of Allah. Allah is watching, so He will have even more mercy upon you and He will forgive you in an even bigger way and for yourself because you will be able to lead a healthier life, a happier life, a more content life.

Think about it, consider it, and change the way you've been looking at this all along. My brothers and sisters, these are some beautiful pointers and I thank Allah for giving us the opportunity to remind ourselves, myself included, to be able to be forgiving people, easygoing people, those who beam love, goodness, not those who beam hatred, malice, jealousy, and negative qualities. This is the month of cleansing.

The Month of Spiritual Cleansing

My brothers and sisters, we actually cleanse our digestive system during this month so physically, mashaAllah, we're cleansing, detoxing, call it what you want. But spiritually too, it is a month of cleansing. Allah speaks about the sadaqa and the charities.

We know that charities are given more during the month of Ramadan. Allah tells the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:

"Take from their wealth charities that will purify them."

Look at the cleansing that happens when we spend.

What is the cleansing that happens when we spend? It is a very broad cleansing, my brothers, my sisters. Firstly, Allah does not want you to be attached to anything material. He wants you to be able to give away some of what you have.

In one of the verses of the Quran, Allah tells us:

"You will not be able to achieve true righteousness unless and until you spend from that which you love."

Many people give a charity of that which sometimes they may not even accept themselves. We give leftovers. While it's not wrong to give leftovers, the presentation of it should be done in a very respectful way. It shows that you're giving a poor person a meal or some food that may have been leftover but it is consumable. It is something that is edible.

It is presented respectfully. You don't throw bones at a human being and expect to achieve the mercy of Allah. So when you're giving people, give them that which you would accept if it were offered to you.

That's what the Quran tells us again. Allah says, there are some people who give a charity such that if it were given to them, they would not even have taken it because of what it was. May Allah make us from those who can respect those whom we're giving to even though we have more than them and they may have less from a material perspective.

But trust me, our charity and the achievement of closeness to Allah and our paradise is connected somehow to those poor people who have accepted these charities from us. Think about that. So my brothers and sisters, Allah is telling us, you cleanse yourself.

Don't be too attached to material things. I want you to spend so that the attachment is released, so that you realize this is all going to come to an end. When you pass away, you're going to take nothing.

You'd rather spend from what Allah has given you in a good way, on a good cause than to amass it and let people fight over it after you've died. May Allah have mercy on us and our offspring. Ameen.

My brothers, my sisters, remember that the month of charity, the month of goodness, the month of mercy, the month of compassion, the month of forgiveness, we will only be able to realize all of these when we develop the same qualities. Subhanallahi rabbil alameen. It's amazing.

May Allah help us be compassionate towards others. So the cleansing of the soul, the cleansing of the spirituality, we pray much more in the month of Ramadan than we do throughout the year. At times all of that collected and we have done more in the month of Ramadan.

The Quran as Healing

We read the Quran. It is the month of the Quran and we should be trying to cover the recitation from the beginning to the end of the Quran at least once in the month of Ramadan. The idea is to cleanse ourselves by repeating the verses of the Quran.

You and I know there is shifa in the verses of the Quran, which means cure. Each verse has a cure for an ailment or a disease that we may not know. Those that are spiritual, those that are physical, Allah says:

"It has cure for that which is in the bosoms, in the chests."

So there is spiritual cure, there is holistic cure. Now, what diseases I have, I may not know, but if I have read the Quran from cover to cover and I've shown an interest in it and developed such a connection that I want to know the meanings and understand it correctly, I start becoming cured one by one and I develop the correct characteristics and I become a blessed person and I can feel the peace and the blessings given by Allah.

Sending Blessings Upon the Prophet

And this is why my brothers and sisters, on a Friday, I invite you to a blessed sunnah taught by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:

(Sahih Muslim Hadith 384)

"Whoever sends blessings and salutations upon me once, Allah blesses them tenfold as a result."

So on a Friday especially and on other days, send lots of blessings and salutations upon Muhammad ﷺ:

These words have helped us, my brothers and sisters.

I pray that Allah grant us the change we need. I pray that Allah make our hearts filled with mercy and forgiveness towards others so that we can ultimately achieve the forgiveness and the mercy of Allah.

Closing

Think about it, consider it, and change the way you've been looking at this all along. My brothers and sisters, these are some beautiful pointers and I thank Allah for giving us the opportunity to remind ourselves, myself included, to be able to be forgiving people, easygoing people, those who beam love, goodness, not those