The path to repentence
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-08T19:11:39.499017+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Path to Repentance - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan
Opening Praise and Declaration of Faith
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِي نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِيْنُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ وَنَعُوْذُ بِاللّٰهِ مِنْ شُرُوْرِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَّهْدِهِ اللّٰهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُّضْلِلْهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَّا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللّٰهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ وَرَسُوْلُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى بِالْهُدٰى وَدِيْنِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّيْنِ كُلِّهِ وَكَفٰى بِاللّٰهِ شَهِيْدًا وَصَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيْمًا كَثِيْرًا كَثِيْرًا
أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيْثِ كِتَابُ اللّٰهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَإِنَّ شَرَّ الْأُمُوْرِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ
Primary Verses of Focus
: قَالَ اللّٰهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِيْ كِتَابِهِ الْكَرِيْمِ بَعْدَ أَنْ أَعُوْذُ بِاللّٰهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيْمِ
"Repentance is only accepted by Allah from those who commit evil out of ignorance and then repent soon after. It is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness, and Allah is ever Knowing and Wise. But repentance is not accepted from those who [continue to] do evil deeds up until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "Indeed, I have repented now," or from those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment."
اللّٰهُمَّ لَا تَجْعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِيْ صَدْرِيْ وَيَسِّرْ لِيْ أَمْرِيْ وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّنْ لِّسَانِيْ يَفْقَهُوْا قَوْلِيْ وَاللّٰهُمَّ تَوَفَّنَا عِنْدَ الْمَوْتِ بِلَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللّٰهُ وَاللّٰهُمَّ اجْعَلْنَا مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ آمِيْنَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِيْنَ
Context of Surah An-Nisa
Surah An-Nisa is a surah I've given khutbahs from before. Today inshallah ta'ala I'd like to highlight three ayaat from this surah and just a little bit of context. This surah was revealed early on in the life that the Prophet established, peace be upon him, in the city of Medina. These are Muslims that are now starting to form a community. Many of the people that have now accepted Islam are new Muslims, so it's a large population of new Muslims, and there are people that have been Muslim for many years from the Prophet's early career in Mecca. But even then, many of the laws of Islam have not yet been revealed, so the halal and the haram - very limited amount of that has been revealed. And so they didn't really know what the code of Islam is and what Allah allows and what He doesn't allow.
Early Medina Society
Actually, you'd be surprised if you do a deep study of Medina, especially early Medina - you'd be shocked to know that it was actually a pretty liberal society. It was a very open society and people didn't know right from wrong in many occasions. And one such thing was the relationship between men and women. Nowadays you have a non-Muslim culture of dating and of certain relations and consensual relations and
all of that, cohabitation outside of marriage and all these kinds of things are commonplace in what we think is Western society now. But actually much of that was already in place in Medina when the time of the Prophet when he moved there - this was actually happening there and the Qur'an came to address that society.
The Challenge for Young People
This was particularly a problem especially for young people. Young people were - they liked each other, they ended up in relationships together and it was no big deal. It was just what they did all along and nobody batted an eye. And now all of a sudden Islam came and there were restrictions and guidelines on the interaction between men and women and what kind of relationship they could have, and this was actually a challenge. It was not an easy thing.
Allah's Gradual Approach
So Allah addressed the issue of men and women ending up in relationships together outside the fold of marriage. How are you supposed to deal with that? And early on Allah revealed (وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا - wala taqrabu zina) (Quran 17:32) - don't go near zina, don't approach it. And even though those ayahs were Makki and they had already been revealed, Medina was a new society. These people had not been given a lot of time to really internalize the teachings of the deen. So Allah took a gradual approach in teaching them and even a gradual approach from the Muslim community on how to discipline when that sort of thing happens.
So Allah gave them (وَاللَّذَانِ يَأْتِيَانِهَا مِنكُمْ فَآذُوهُمَا - walladhani ya'tiyaniha minkum fa'adhuhuma) (Quran 4:16) - when two of them, meaning a boy and a girl, end up in some kind of a relationship and they do something shameless, even all the way if that happens, then what should you do? This is not the later law, the final version. This is the early law because they're not ready yet.
Understanding the Punishment
So Allah says (آذوهُمَا - adhuhuma) - cause them both pain, hurt both of them. What in the world is "hurt both of them" mean? When you ask the sahaba, the tabi'een what this meant - Imam al-Qurtubi's is a pretty exhaustive study of this ayah - what does it mean when Allah says hurt both of them? And you would think that means torture them and beat them and all of that. Actually the vast majority of the companions and the early commentary on this ayah is actually (تَعْيِيرًا صَبًّا - ta'yiran sabba) - scold them, yell at them, hurt them by saying "how could you? You should be ashamed of yourself" and it was actually lecture them and you know admonish them - words actually (كَلِمَةً - kalimatan) no physical stuff. And actually the furthest narration you find on this is by Ibn Abbas who says first of all scold them and then you can take a stick and hit their feet. And this was the punishment for this great crime.
The Seriousness of Zina
And zina is not a small crime. ZINA is actually from the كبائر - is from the major, major sins that Allah warns us about. He puts قتل and زنا on the same platform. He says:
- so those two things are haram. This was already known, and that's with Allah - with Allah they are mighty crimes.
The Path to Forgiveness
But when a society doesn't know much about their religion and they're just coming into their religion and these kinds of mistakes happen, then even though with Allah this is a massive crime, you have to take a gradual approach so they appreciate the seriousness of it. They can't see the seriousness of it just because you immediately say this is the worst thing you could ever do. There needs to be some تربية - some kind of development, some kind of - it needs to dawn on these young people that this is a very serious thing.
And so Allah reveals that first (عَذُوهُمَا - adhuhuma) and then He adds (فَإِن تَابَا وَأَصْلَحَا فَأَعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمَا - fa in taba wa aslah fa a'ridu anhuma) (Quran 4:16) - and if both of them repent and they fix themselves, they no longer fool around, they're better now, or they right the wrong - they get married if they do something like that - then (فَأَعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمَا - fa a'ridu anhuma) - leave them alone, don't bother them anymore. Meaning this is not a label you put on them forever and ever.
Allah's Mercy and Acceptance
And then Allah adds (إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا - inna Allaha kana tawwaban raheema) (Quran 4:16) - Allah has always been someone who accepts tawbah, Allah has always been someone who's been merciful and loving and caring. In other words, Allah's doors have not been closed for someone who committed a sin.
The Purpose of This Month
This is the month of seeking Allah's forgiveness. This is the month of us turning back to Allah and actually seeking His help and making changes in our life. You know what sins you commit, I know what sins I commit. We have to take an introspective look at ourselves and really deeply take a look in the mirror - an honest look in the mirror - and be able to talk to Allah this month and really truly apologize to Him, really truly mend our ways. That's the purpose of this month.
The Entire Purpose of the Quran
The entire purpose of the revelation of the Quran is that the human being returns back to Allah. That's the entire point. And if we're not turning back to Allah, we're not asking Him for forgiveness, we're missing the entire point. All of the worship that we do, all of the duas that we make, all of the prayers that we make, all of the fasting that we're doing - all of that is just there to put us in a better position to ask Allah's forgiveness. That's all. All of this so that we are in a better place so we can apologize to Allah, so we can make promises to Allah that we're going to do better. That's what the point of all of this is.
Allah's Exclusive Role in Accepting Repentance
So what does Allah say? He says (إِنَّمَا التَّوْبَةُ عَلَى اللهِ - innama at-tawba 'ala Allahi) (Quran 4:17) - repentance and accepting repentance is only something Allah takes responsibility for. No one else. You cannot seek forgiveness from anyone else. You cannot turn back in that way to anyone. The إِنَّمَا in the beginning - for اختصاص - for اختصار - only and only Allah can accept repentance the way that He does. And He has made it mandatory on Himself (إِنَّمَا التَّوْبَةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ - innama at-tawba 'ala Allahi) - it's something that He's taken, He's promised you, He's guaranteed it. He will accept repentance.
Who Qualifies for Accepted Repentance
For who? I would like to be a part of that guarantee. You would like to be a part of that guarantee. He qualifies it in this ayah - who are the people that will turn back to Allah and apologize to Him and repent to Him and go back to Him in humility and Allah will actually accept their apology? (لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ - lilladhina ya'maluna as-su'a bijahalatin) (Quran 4:17) - and they do so ignorantly and they do it out of emotion.
Understanding Repeated Sin
This is the part that we really truly have to unpack and understand. First of all (يَعْمَلُونَ - ya'maluna) is used - the مضارع is used - المضارع يدل على الاستمرار . المضارع means something that happens over and over again. In other words, somebody's been in a habit of sin. They've been doing sins for a while and they've been doing it and doing it and doing it and they're still at it. They're still at it. But all this time what happens is their emotions get the best of them, their temptation gets the best of them at the time, their excitement gets the best of them and they keep falling into the same trap one after the other.
Sin as Addiction
And for some people their sin has become an addiction and they keep falling into it. And when something is an addiction, your brain stops working. Your rational mind says "this is not a good idea, I shouldn't be doing this" but that part of you shuts off and you just do it. "I'll think about it later" you know.
Understanding the Word "Su'"
And this is where the word (شوء - su') will be important to understand. The word (شوء - su') is one of the several words in the Qur'an used to describe sin. And the word (شوء - su') actually comes from (سَوْء - saw') or the word (سَاءَ - saa'a). (سَاءَ - saa'a) or (سَوْء - saw') means a corpse, something ugly and hideous that people get away from. (السَّيِّئ - as-sayyi') is an ugly, evil sin.
Shaytan's Deception
And what does Shaytan do? Shaytan's job is to take something hideous and ugly and make it look beautiful.
- the ugliest things they do were made to look beautiful. This is Shaytan's job - make good deeds look ugly and make bad deeds look really good, make them really attractive. "How can I stay away?"
The Ugliness of Sin
So Shaytan will use every tactic: "If you just do this you'll feel better man, don't you want to be happy?" Well happiness is not an ugly idea, it's a pretty good idea. "This is going to feel better, just follow your whim, your temptation. If you have this you won't want anything else, or once you have this you'll become a better person. I just need to do this one time and after that I'll be good because I'm just restless. I just need to get this out of my system you know and then I'll be fine." All these beautiful justifications for sin he teaches.
And Allah says cut through all of that and be able to see that actually sin is at the core of it something ugly and it will only bring ugliness in your life.
Death of the Heart Through Sin
Now Hasan al-Basri said long ago الذنوب تميت القلوب - sins bring death to the heart. Sins bring death to the heart. Every time we sin there's more ugliness on our hearts, there's a black patch on our hearts and the inner part of ourselves is getting uglier. We think it's bringing beauty into our life, we're enjoying our life when we're falling into sin, but we're actually making our own lives uglier. We're making the insides of ourselves uglier. We're turning into a corpse from within.
The Quran's Warning to the Living
The Qur'an describes itself (وَيُنذِرَ مَن كَانَ حَيًّا - wa yundhira man kana hayya) (Quran 36:70) - it came to warn people that are truly alive. What that means is obviously everybody's alive, we're all breathing, but there's a life inside - there's a spiritual life inside. That warning of Allah's book, the guidance of Allah's book, is only going to resonate with people who still have something left alive inside of themselves, deep inside themselves. And that's the part of yourself and myself that keeps getting killed off more and more and more and more by sin.
The Nature of Lost Abilities
And the nature of sin is serious. And I've often given you this analogy before but it's important to reinforce some of these ideas. Allah gave us all kinds of abilities - muscles, you know, limbs, eyes for example. If I don't use my eyes for six months - so I just put a band-aid over my eyes or I put a fold over my eyes for six months and then somebody removes the blindfold six months, a year - guess what? I can't see, my eyes won't work. If you lie down in bed and you didn't walk around for a whole year, you're going to be able to stand up after that year? No.
When Allah gives you an ability and you don't use that ability, you lose that ability. That's the nature by which Allah made things. The same way we sin - Allah has given us the ability to repent. He's given us the ability to feel bad and that bad feeling should turn into repentance. It should turn into you apologizing to Allah, shedding a tear, really truly feeling something in yourself. But if you allow yourself to sin, the ability to feel, to even feel bad, goes away. The ability to even turn that off - that nafs, the nafs al-lawwama that Allah describes, the self inside of us that blames ourselves, that feels guilty - that's gone.
Signs of Hope and Danger
Those of you that are in sin - Allah knows who you are, that's between you and Allah - if you're in sin and you don't even feel bad anymore, that's a dangerous sign. But if those of you that are in sin, you realize you're doing something wrong and at least something inside you is still poking at you - "this isn't right, I shouldn't be doing this, I know I'm doing it but I shouldn't be doing it, I shouldn't let my emotions get a hold over me and take over me and allow myself to fall into this time and time again" - if that is still there, hope is still alive. Hope is still alive.
Understanding Jahalah
And for people like that that let their emotions - and this is really what jahalah means. It doesn't just mean ignorance, so there are people who commit sins because they don't know any better - that's part of the meaning jahalah - but the other meaning of jahalah is actually (مَن لَا يُسَيْطِرْ عَلَى مَشاعِره - man la yusaitiru 'ala mashaa'irihi) - the one who can't control his feelings, the one who can't control his urges and he keeps falling into sin.
A person like that - Allah is also considering you got overwhelmed, you got overexcited, in the heat of the moment you committed the mistake, you did this. And then after, you realize "I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have allowed the animal part of myself to take over, I shouldn't have allowed shaitan to beautify this for me and get hypnotized at the moment and turn everything off - every sense of consequence, what's going to happen, how I'm going to stand in front of Allah" - all of that's turned off.
The Prophet's Description of the Sinning Moment
This is why the Prophet ﷺ describes
(Bukhari 2475)
- when the one committing adultery commits adultery, they're not a believer at the time. Somebody's stealing, they're not a believer at the time. Somebody's drinking alcohol, at that moment they're not a believer.
That doesn't mean they left Islam. That means everything that reminds them of Allah, everything that puts a stop to what they're doing, everything that was going to prevent them from disobeying Allah in such open fashion - all of that was turned off. There was no iman left in the heart. The only thing in the
heart was now the beautification of the sin. They were just hypnotized by this. That was all that was left inside the heart.
The Return of Iman
And then when that wore off, maybe the iman came back and then they felt bad. "What have I just done? What did I just let take over my heart?" There's nothing more valuable you own than this heart. There's nothing more valuable. And in this heart, when guidance is removed, when you allow and I allow sin to take over, when that happens then we have violated the most valuable treasure that we have.
The Importance of Quick Repentance
So when you realize that violation has happened, what does Allah say?
- then after the sin has been committed and this sin didn't happen one time, maybe it's been happening lots of times يَعْمَلُونَ then they repent but they repent soon after, soon after.
This is an important piece of the puzzle because shaitan comes to you and shaitan tells you "how are you going to face Allah after what you just did? You're going to pray? Really? You're going to walk into the masjid? With what face? You should be ashamed of yourself." And you tell yourself "man I even feel guilty reciting Qur'an, I even feel guilty making du'a. Who am I to make du'a? Look at what I just did, look at what I just committed."
Shaytan's Tactics
You understand? You start telling yourself that Allah has shut you out, Allah has closed his doors on you because you violated his faith, you violated so much of what he commanded and you did such a big sin, you let shaitan win.
Now you know this happens in every one of our relationships. If you really disappointed your father, if you really disappointed your mother, if you really disappointed your boss, if you failed the exam, you're not going to show up to class the next day and you're like "I don't know if I can face my professor, I don't know how I'm going to walk in." Or if you know it's the day you're late, you don't just walk in the front door of the classroom and say salam to your teacher "hey how's it going professor" and sit down. You come in from the back door, try to sneak in, avoid eye contact because when you disappoint someone you want to avoid. That's what we want to do.
Shaitan uses that and says "why don't you do that with Allah? Avoid Allah now. You messed up with Allah, you messed up. Why would you talk to Allah? Why would Allah talk to you? You should just keep a distance. You don't deserve to talk to Allah now. What good is your Ramadan? You did this all of this even in Ramadan. What is wrong with you? You can't even blame shaitan now, it's all you bro, that's just all you. So you have no business talking to Allah."
Allah's Guarantee
Allah says "I have made it mandatory on myself
then they make tawba soon after, then they make tawba soon after" - meaning don't wait.
Yeah there's a period of shame, you're embarrassed, "how can I speak before Allah?" But that embarrassment that you feel - that is actually a sign your iman is still there. That is actually a sign you're still a believer. That is actually a sign that your tears before Allah will be accepted. Don't waste those tears, don't delay that.
Allah's Love for the Repentant
And he says
- those are the people whose tawba Allah will accept
- and Allah had always known, Allah was always full of wisdom.
Allah - if He wanted He would have never fallen into sin. If Allah wanted - and Allah loves those who commit sin and then come back to Him. Allah loves those people, doesn't hate those people. He loves those people. Shaitaan convinces you "Allah hates me." That thought that you get in your head, you know, "after everything I've done I bet Allah hates me, Allah is just going to burn me" - those are thoughts from shaitaan, from nowhere else.
But Allah - He's just waiting for you to turn back. And you and I have to just turn back in humility. The best, the most important dua, the most important conversation you are going to have and I'm going to have with Allah in this month is asking genuinely for His forgiveness. And to do that you have to openly admit and I have to openly admit in our conversations with Him our sins to Him, our weaknesses to Him, our failures to Him, and then do that openly and do it immediately.
The Second Group: Those Whose Repentance is Rejected
- notice there's no بجهالة anymore, it's just سَيِّئَات . Why? It's not just out of you got overwhelmed or you had a weak moment and you did it. In your head it's now a part of you. "It's just what I do, what can I do? I can't help myself. Make du'a for me, I don't have tawbah, just make du'a. One day Allah will guide me because you know as I am I just know what I am, I'm just - I'm just a sinner, can't even help myself." This unacceptable before Allah.
Deathbed Repentance
Allah says about people like that
- this kind of a person at the very last moments of their life when death presents itself to them, then they're saying tawbah. "Ya Allah I'm so sorry I messed up, I know I'm not ready to meet you and I apologize for everything that I've done, I feel really bad for everything that I did." These kinds of people
- and by the way these people, no good, their tawbah is no good, nor is it of people who were never Muslim to begin with who died disbelievers.
Meaning Allah put these people in the same category as non-Muslims, non-believers who died denying Allah. They're in the same category. Why? Because Allah does not want at the very last moments "okay I'm ready to go, fine, time me up" because we know that if you're alive and your tawbah - if you make tawbah while you're alive and Allah accepts it, all previous sins are forgiven.
Example of Sincere Conversion
Now I'm reminded of someone I knew in New York, a very old fellow used to live across the street from there's a big masjid in 96th street in New York City in uptown and there's a fellow who lived in an apartment complex across from it, a Hindu fellow, old guy, he was 70-80 years old. And actually at the age of 82 he walked into the masjid and took shahada at the age of 82, and a week later he died, a week later. Right. And his entire life he's lived and he was a devout Hindu, he lived in shirk his entire life, his entire life, and that one tawbah and all of that is wiped clean.
Pharaoh's False Repentance
We're not talking about that. We're talking about the kind of tawbah Fir'aun did. أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَق - the water reached over here, his army's gone, they're all drowned already, the old guy, his water's over here, he's about to drown and he says "fine fine
- I'm ready to believe, I believe in the - there's no god except the one that the Israelites believe in, ok ok ok tawbah fine fine" like last minute insurance policy. No? No good.
True Meaning of Tawbah
If you and I keep pushing our tawbah - and tawbah actually literally means I feel bad for what I did and I'm promising Allah and making changes. Tawbah doesn't mean "I feel bad ya Allah, astaghfiruka, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah ya Allah" and then you go do it again and then you come back again "ya Allahastaghfirullah ya Allah I feel really bad again but I'm gonna go back." Now this is not what tawbah is. This is
then they say "no no I mean it for real this time."
- those are the people that we have prepared painful punishment for. They play with this glorious gift that Allah gave. What is that glorious gift? Tawbah.
The Incredible Gift of Accepted Tawbah
Last thing I share with you about tawbah - it's not something small. You're not just asking Allah to forgive. When Allah accepts your tawbah, what happens if Allah accepts your tawbah? When it's genuine and you truly repent before Allah and your heart - your heart will know if you truly repented or not, that's how you know if it worked or not - when that happens, the moment that that happens, what does Allah say?
- Allah says when Allah accepts somebody's repentance, then let's imagine that your sins were this giant mountain, and you would think if Allah forgave it that means that this giant mountain of sins disappeared. Nope. When Allah accepts your repentance, He turns that giant mountain of sins into a giant mountain of good deeds. He doesn't just remove your sins, He converts them into a good deed in your favor. That's the value of tawbah.
Tawbah is not just getting your sins forgiven, it's actually - this is the love Allah has for someone who makes tawbah. I didn't do a mountain of good deeds, I may have done a mountain of sins, and because Allah accepts my tawbah, He converts it
- this is the gift of Allah. Why would anybody want to miss out on that gift?
The Key: Min Qareeb (Soon After)
There's no - the key words here that I want to leave you with is (من قريب - min qareeb) - Allah accepts the tawbah of people, the repentance of people who do it immediately, very soon after. So don't delay this, don't sit there and think about it.
Practical Steps for Tawbah
And what does it mean for you and this is the last thing - I know I'm taking over my time, 60 seconds and I'm done inshallah - what does it mean that you're making tawbah practically? Practically it means there's some things that you and I have to change in our life. There are some people that you have to cut off from your life. There are some behaviors that you have to discontinue. There are some things that are going to be emotionally painful, maybe financially painful, maybe physically painful, but you gotta do it. That's part of your tawbah.
You know what that is, I don't know what that is. That's between you and Allah, that's your life. But you have to make that call, you have to be honest with yourself and you have to do it soon. It's a test of whether or not you want that - this thing that you've desired so much that has found a place in your heart - or you want that something ugly that's been beautified, you want that removed and you want that replaced with the actual thing that's beautiful, which is the guidance of Allah, the iman of Allah, the true love of Allah.
Final Du'a
May Allah give us the emotional strength, the willpower to be able to genuinely make tawbah and to make the change that we need to make that we know about, that only Allah knows about and we know about. May Allah give us the strength to do that especially in this month that the shayateen are chained, that the only battle we have to fight is the one with ourselves. May Allah give us the ability to conquer ourselves and submit ourselves wholly before Him.
Closing
"Establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do."
"Indeed, prayer, for the believers, is a prescribed duty."
- and tawbah, repentance is no good. The next group - the first group, these are the people whose tawbah is guaranteed. "I'll give it to them, I've made it mandatory on myself" Allah says. But there's a group whose tawbah is no good. Even if they repent it doesn't mean anything. I don't want to be from that bunch so I better know who they are and I get disqualified.
- for people who keep on doing sins over and over and over and over again and they really in their head they have "well I know I'm messed up but it's not the last 10 days of Ramadan yet. I mean I still got some time before I make tawbah."
Scheduled Sinning and Repentance
In other words, there's the (قَرِيبٌ مِّن - qaribun min) - you messed up and you went back to Allah immediately. And the other group - "I messed up but there's a time table. I mean when the time comes I'm hoping I hit one of the odd nights and I get my entire record cleared, I'll be good. Or I didn't make my booking for hajj this year so might as well fill in the stack with as much partying as I can because I'm gonna wipe the record clean anyway when I go to hajj."
So in your head you're like "you know I mean life's short and the tawbah is around the corner, Ramadan's coming" and you know this - shaitaan will be his most active right before Ramadan starts, his most active. You're like "oh man I can't even - I won't even watch TV this month, I'm not even gonna do this or that." I was like "one more day, okay alright" and then you just tell yourself "let me get really..." and then shaitaan overdrive right before Ramadan. And shaitaan is in overdrive right after Ramadan ends, right after it ends. He's like "oh it's over" you know, "freshly out of chains and so are you" you know. That's not a match made in heaven, that's a match made in hell. And then we fall right into sin right after "oh my god I can't believe I'm free."
The Dangerous Mindset
This is the idea that "I got time, I'll repent later, I'll make up for it" or that "my good deeds somehow should be able to omit my bad deeds. I mean yeah I mess up but I do a lot of other good things so it should balance out, should be okay." This is not accounting with Allah. "Hey let me see your good deeds, let me see your bad deeds. Okay you know what, you're doing these good deeds so it's okay, you can do some haram on the side, no problem." It doesn't work like that. That's not how it works.
Accepting Sin as Part of Life
Allah describes someone who justifies - justifying a sin is different than doing a sin. When in your head you're okay with this sin, you're okay with it because you say "well yeah I know this is a weakness and I do it but at least I do this other good stuff."
- this is not (سَيِّئَة فِعْل سَيِّئَة اِرْتَكَب - sayyia fi'l sayyia irtakab) meaning they've accepted it, they engage in it openly. Even if it's one sin but you've accepted it as a part of your life and you're okay with it, then that one sin can take over, that one mistake can take over everything you do.
- those are the people of fire.
Allah's Concern with the Heart
Allah is not concerned about the quantity of your sins. Allah is concerned about what goes on in your heart and your mind when you engage in sin. And if you engage in sin, are you even feeling bad that that sin happened?
Human beings - Allah says, the Prophet describes (كُلُّ بَنِي آدَمَ خَطَّاءُ - kullu bani adama khattaa')
(Tirmidhi 2499)
- all children of Adam are children that make mistakes over and over and over and over and over again. It's not like once you make tawbah you're never gonna feel temptation again. It's not like once you make tawbah you're never gonna miss a prayer again. Yeah you mess up again, it'll happen. But you're not planning on it, you're not scheduling it. Just like you're not scheduling your tawbah, you're not scheduling your sins either.
Submitting to Sin
"Well you know I mean last weekend I messed up and I'm not gonna mess up inshallah until not at least until next weekend" and then you've got it planned out already. Nope. Or you tell yourself "you know I messed up but I know myself, probably chances are even though I feel really bad, chances are next week I'll be doing this again." You tell yourself in your head you've accepted it, you've acknowledged it, you've submitted before something other than Allah, someone other than Allah. You've submitted before your own Hawa, you've submitted before your own sin as though it has control over you and it dictates your future. This is unacceptable to Allah.
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِ**