“Allah Guides to His Light whom He Wills.” (Surah An-Nur)
Hijrah: Renewing Our Promise & Seeking Forgiveness
Bismillah-ir Rahman-ir Raheem.
As we come to the end of this Hijjri year, we beg Allah (subhanu wa tala) to strengthen our iman, forgive our sins and save us from ourselves. And indeed, no harm comes to a person more than from themselves.
RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) used to say a great dua, the Master of Istigfar. Seeking forgiveness is to know Allah (the Most High) as the most Forgiving and to know oneself as the most ungrateful. It is one of the greatest aspects of tawheed.
In a hadith narrated by Sayyinda Shadad ibn Aws (radiAllahu anhu):
RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said “O Allah, You are my Lord, no one is worthy of worship other than You. You have created me and I am Your slave.”(RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) saying here ‘I have no will other than Your will, I have no choice other than Your choice, I have no path other than Your path’)
And I will do whatever I can to keep my promises, my loyalty and oath to You(In this RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) is not only making a dua but also a direction to renew this promise and to remind us that we are an object of Allah because, indeed, dunya might make us to forget who we are. There might come a time that we are arrogant, there might come a time when we think we are self-sufficient, and it takes only a little thing to slip. So in this RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) is teaching us to renew our promise every single time)
I seek refuge in You, O Allah, from the evil I have done(Who is saying this? The most pure, the Master of Creation, the One who Allah has honoured and took an oath from all of the Prophets to love him, follow him to believe in him. He (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) seeks refuge in Allah from the evil that he has done. This is a message for all of us, not to forget who we are and who we are sinning against. When it comes to Him (subhanu wa tala), there is nothing that we can say ‘this is minor’. That is why we distance ourselves from the evil we have done)
I admit and acknowledge all the blessings you have given to me(And this is not just an admission or confirmation. Here we are speaking to ourselves – ‘I have never moved a finger without you, I have never opened my mouth with a word without you, I have never seen things without you, everything that I have is from you. And I am ever-grateful and shy from all that you are giving me’)
And I admit by all the sins I have done, so forgive me(I am shy and I am ashamed and I have no one to turn to other than you)
Indeed no one forgives other than you
He (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said whoever says this in the day, sincerely from the bottom of his or her heart and they mean every single letter of it, and that person was to die the same day before the evening, that person is from the people of Jannah. And if someone said this every evening, sincerely from the bottom of his or her heart, believing and meaning every single word, and they die before the morning then they are from the people of Jannah. Narrated by Imam Bukhari (hadith number 6306)
At the end of this very year let us renew our promise to Allah and seek His forgiveness. Allah will never forgive us unless we seek forgiveness from the people who we have hurt or oppressed. And let us beg Him to purify us and purify our intentions. Let us beg Him (subhanu wa tala) to open doors of khayr to make tomorrow better than yesterday, make our reliance on Him and Him only, strengthen our relationship in this deen and fill our hearts with the love of RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam).
And we beg Him not to take what He has given us, indeed we should not take anything for granted. And RasulAllah (salAllah alayhi wasalam) taught us this and he (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was ever the most grateful. It used to be part of his (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) dua, in authentic narration by Imam Muslim hadith number 2739:
“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the departure of Your ni’mah from me. And from the change and movement of Your protection from me. And from the sudden punishment and test. And from everything that causes Your anger”In this dua, RasulAllah (salAlllahu alayhi wasalam) teach us to rely on Allah and to work on ourselves. From the greatest nimah that Allah has given us is to be consistent in khayr, for what He has given us to remain continuous and to stay under His continuous protection. That is what is called ‘afiya’. Afiya does not just mean health but also protection. That’s why when we see someone tested we say ‘alhamdulillah Allah has save me from what this person has been tested with’. So afiya means saving. RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) says O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the departure of your blessing and to turn the way You have saved me (from every evil, from shaytan, from my nafs, from my desires). It is said that patience will make a slave a king, and desires will turn a king to a slave. So RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) teaches us, makes us conscious and directs us away from the sudden test and bala (may Allah save us), and also from doing anything that causes Allah’s anger.
May Allah (subhanu wa tala) end this year in khayr and with khayr. May Allah continue His protection and covering upon us. Indeed, it is a nimah that Allah has covered us. And it is very important for all of us to not continue to do things that will make Allah to uncover us. Indeed that doesn’t happen except when we know what we are doing is wrong and yet we insist in doing it. Then we might be uncovered, may Allah save us.
May Allah protect us and inshaAllah during this days we will keep in touch with messages and, Allah willing, some lessons.
Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said
