Sins to the Sky

Sins to the Sky

Speaker: Mufti Menk

Opening Khutbah

"All praise is due to Allah who guided us to this and we would not have been guided if Allah had not guided us. I seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whoever Allah misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant, His messenger, His chosen one, His friend, and His best of creation. May the prayers and peace of his Lord be upon him and upon his family and his noble companions. To proceed: Fear Allah, O servants of Allah, and fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah. Then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged."

Reference: Opening Khutbah al-Haajah and Quran 2:281

Main Khutbah

My beloved brothers and sisters, the first and the most important piece of advice that we always share with one another to remind one another is to continue in the development of our relationship with our maker in a way that when we meet him we will be happy about the striving that we had engaged in throughout our lives and he will be happy upon the fact that we kept trying to be better people and to develop our relationship with him.

It is termed taqwallah which is referred to as the consciousness of the almighty. Some say the fear of Allah but in fact it is to create a barrier between yourself and the wrath of the almighty by fulfilling the obligations upon you and abstaining from the prohibitions knowing that anything that is prohibited is actually detrimental for you and I, both in this world and the next.

So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make easy for us the path in this beautiful world and we ask the almighty to grant us salvation on the day of judgment and we ask him to grant us the most beautiful garden from the gardens of paradise, jannatul firdaus, ameen.

The Reality of Human Imperfection

My brothers and sisters, as we see what is going on around us all the time we face so many challenges as human beings in a world that is not perfect. We are in fact not perfect. Perfection belongs only and solely

to Allah. Allah is the perfect. This is why those who want to be perfect or want others to be perfect completely at times they trample on the toes of others and make their lives a misery.

So understand you are not perfect, nor am I. Nothing besides Allah is absolutely perfect. The closest example to perfection is that of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). As a prophet of Allah he was granted that level of perfection that no other was granted because he was chosen to be the greatest of all the most noble of all prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we send blessings and salutations upon him and all the other prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So you will notice across the globe a lot happening that will sadden you. It saddens all of us. We see negativity in fact it comes so close that we see negativity in our own homes. We have situations whereby we have disagreements with our children with our parents with our siblings, with our spouses yet we love them so much. We have these disagreements whereby life sometimes becomes a misery and at times the person causing this could be a loved one doing it with a good intention not knowing the amount of damage and harm he or she may be causing to the other.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never make us from those who lose the consciousness of what impact our words and statements have on those we interact with.

The Nature of Sin and Forgiveness

My brothers and sisters that having been said you and I know that part of not being perfect is that we will falter and sin now and again. None of us can claim that he or she has no sin because again we are not perfect.

The prophet peace be upon him says:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi)

"All humankind will make mistakes, they will sin, they will err and the best of those who err and who make mistakes are those who constantly seek forgiveness."

So all of us to know our value we need to ask ourselves how much do I seek forgiveness of the almighty? How often do I seek the forgiveness of the almighty? The answer of that will determine your closeness or distance from the almighty.

Never look at another and think that you are holier than them or more pious because you never know what the next step in your life is holding for you and what the next step for them is holding. Yours could drop you into a pit and theirs could be a staircase leading them to heaven. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness and forgiveness.

The Hadith Qudsi of Infinite Mercy

I want to share with you today on this beautiful day at such a beautiful time with such a lovely house of

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we're in with so much of tranquility and peace with the love that we have for one another irrespective of our races irrespective of our financial standing irrespective of so many other factors. Look at us seated here let's listen to something beautiful.

The prophet Muhammad peace be upon him has told us and this is a narration narrated by one of his companions who was with him for a long time known as Anas ibn Malik may Allah be pleased with him. He says the prophet peace be upon him said that Allah almighty has said.

Now this is something powerful because usually you would hear verses of the Quran yes indeed that's the most powerful that's the word of Allah you can recite that in your prayer. When it comes to the hadith or the statement of the prophet, the prophet peace be upon him if we were told the prophet peace be upon him said it is a powerful statement indeed but for him to say Allah has said it raises it one level higher one notch higher and it's now termed hadith Qudsi which means listen up everyone this is what Allah is telling you.

So a lot of people look at Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and think that he is merciless they think that he is only punishing people he is only interested in casting people in hell fire he is only interested in making people's lives difficult etc etc but in actual fact that is totally wrong that is the trap of the devil who wants you to think that Allah is void of mercy yet the whole religion is based on mercy such mercy that nobody can compete with.

If I were to do something bad to you perhaps you might forgive me if I were to repeat it a second time and say I'm sorry you will forgive me a second. The minute you see me do the same thing three times in a short space of time and I say I'm sorry the third time even if I'm your son it will change in your attitude a little bit.

With the almighty the more you seek forgiveness the more he loves you subhanallah the more he loves you. In fact at the third time that you seek forgiveness he tells his angels oh my angels do you see this person each time he sins he is asking me for forgiveness confirming that he firmly believes that I am the owner of forgiveness. I want you all my beloved angels to bear witness that I've forgiven him totally. Subhanallah.

So why do we lose hope in the mercy of Allah? Why do we look at others and think that they do not deserve the mercy of Allah when Allah created you and created them in the same way? If Allah did not want to be merciful upon them he would not have created them in the first place.

So understand one is to lose hope in the mercy of Allah the other is to think that others don't deserve the mercy of Allah both of those are wrong and the third is to discourage people making them feel that they are unwanted by Allah.

No matter what you've done my brothers and sisters let's listen to this hadith let me start it off. Allah says:

"O son of Adam, for as long as you call out to me, for as long as you are calling out to me, continue calling out to me and for as long as you have hope in me I will forgive all the sins you've committed and I won't even bother."

Subhanallah this hadith is found in Sunan At-Tirmidhi. Powerful narration we need to know it.

"O son of Adam, O mankind, for as long as you calling out to me, me alone and for as long as you have hope in my mercy and you have hope in me I will forgive you whatever is coming from you I'm going to forgive it وَلَا أَبَالِي and I don't mind I'm not bothered I'm not going to lose anything I'm not going to gain anything it's you who's going to gain I'm going to give you from my mercy."

Subhanallah as though that was not merciful enough to move us Allah continues to reassure us in a different way because many of you may have a question right now what if I've done the worst possible thing what if I've sinned for so many years what if I've committed major, major, major, major sin what will happen to me? So Allah says:

"O son of Adam if your sins have reached the skies in amount, if your sins have reached the skies and you have come to me seeking forgiveness from me I will wipe them out and I don't bother. I will forgive them and it's okay no problem."

Sometimes when you do something bad you say, can you forgive me please I was wrong? Your buddy, your friend, your family member might say okay, I forgive you but deep down they're holding something. Allah says, no way with me, it's okay, it's fine you committed the sin, you sought forgiveness from me your sins were reaching the skies but because you sought that forgiveness I will forgive you completely وَلا أُبَالِي and I'm not even worried I'm not even bothered it's not even going to destroy our relationship in fact, it's going to build it.

As though that was not enough do you want to see what else the same hadith says when Allah continues and He's telling that to me and to you and to everyone else so don't think there is someone on earth who is far from the mercy of Allah. If you and I would like all you need to do is seek that mercy from Allah seek the mercy from Allah.

May Allah forgive all of us may Allah forgive our sins and grant us steadfastness make us strong. If that sin happens to be repeated due to human weakness and nature seek forgiveness again and again and your sin is your secret between you and Allah you never have to confess it to anyone besides your maker alone.

You tell your maker what you've done you admit your sin you regret it you seek forgiveness and you promise him you're not going to do it again with those four conditions no matter what you've done is totally wiped out, gone. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us from His mercy Ameen.

The Final Promise of Mercy

So the hadith, the last part of it he says:

"O son of Adam, if you come to me on the Day of Judgment with an equivalent amount of the entire earth filled with sin, but you have come not associating partners with me, I will reach out to you with a similar amount of forgiveness."

Reference: Sunan at-Tirmidhi

Now this is not talking about seeking forgiveness. This is about something unique beyond that.

Say someone has died, right? And they did not seek forgiveness at the end of their lives. They did something maybe that we were taught not to do. Does that mean it's the end for them? The answer is no.

No, not really. It depends. It's the mercy of Allah.

And this is why we say don't judge people. Don't decide who is in heaven and who is in hell. Because you haven't been there.

It is the ownership of the most compassionate, the most merciful, the most beneficent, the most forgiving, the most kind. So stop dooming people and cursing them into hellfire. Indeed, their Lord is the owner of heaven and hell.

And so is our Lord. But it's not you and I. If Jannah and Jahannam, meaning if heaven and hell was the ownership of you and I, perhaps it would be empty. We are so selfish, we don't even like people to visit us in our own homes because we feel lazy to make them a cup of tea.

It's a fact. So imagine if heaven was in your hands, your bodies wouldn't be allowed in. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us understanding.

But Allah says, no way, it's in my hands. I will give it to whom I want. And you know what? The more, the merrier.

Subhanallah, you will be surprised when we sit and we hear people say, this person is going to hell, that one's going to hell, that one's going to hell. I scratch my head and I think to myself, it seems like heaven is going to be empty, completely empty. Who's going to be in hell? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a deep understanding.

You and I will be surprised in a beautiful way to see even those you may have disliked in jannah, in paradise, subhanallah, because it belongs to the most compassionate, the most merciful.

So this hadith says, if you come on the day of judgment with the equivalent of the whole earth filled with sins, if you have not associated partnership with me, I will reach out to you with a similar amount of forgiveness, and that's it. Subhanallah, subhanallah.