1

TAUBAH "REPENTANCE"

حمن الذين يمشون على األرض هونا وإذا وعباد الر خاطبهم الجاهلون قالوا سالما

دا وقياماوالذين يبيتون لربهم سججهنم إن عذابها كان والذين يقولون ربنا اصرف عنا عذاب

غراماا ومقاما إنها ساءت مستقر

والذين إذا أنفقوا لم يسرفوا ولم يقتروا وكان بين ذلك قواما إلها آخر وال يقتلون النفس التي والذين ال يدعون مع هللا

إال بالحق وال يزنون ومن يفعل ذلك يلق أثاما م هللا حر يضاعف له العذاب يوم القيامة ويخلد فيه مهانا

ل هللا إال من تاب وآمن وعمل عمال صالحا فأولئك يبد غفورا رحيماسيئاتهم حسنات و كان هللا

متابا ه يتوب إلى هللا ومن تاب وعمل صالحا فإن

Dear brothers and sisters I was reciting some verses from Surrah Furqan. I have

already explained some of these verses during my last Khutba. In these verses

Allah Rabul-Alamin describing the most important characteristics of Ibad-ur-

Rehman "the true servants of Allah Rabulalamin". Those important deeds which

distinguished Ibad-ur-rehman from Ibad-us-Shitan. Those deeds and those

specific characteristics which naturally emerged in a person when he

consciously decided to convert himself from Ibad-us-Shitan to Ibad-ur-Rehman.

Those important characteristics are as that true servants of Allah walk humbly

2

on the earth and when ignorant and Jahals address them with bad words with

harsh words, they try to ignore them and say them "peace to you" and who

spend their nights in Ibadat and standing before Allah Rabul-alamin, who pray

for forgiveness and who spend their wealth in the way of Allah. The true

servants of Allah only pray in front of Allah Rabbulalamin and who never kill

anyone nor commit adultery. Actually these sins are very big in their intensity

and if anyone commits these sins then azab on the Day of Judgment will be

doubled for him.

After describing these deeds, Allah Rabul-Alamin describes another important

and distinguished characteristic of Ibad-ur-rehman. Actually this important

characteristic is beauty of our religion and only specific to our religion. Allah

loves those people the most those have this property and Allah hate those people

who are arrogant and do not have this characteristic. This important

characteristic is Taubah or Repentance.

Dear brothers and sisters, Allah has created us with some weaknesses, He has

created us with some faults which are by-default part of our Nafs or part of our

soul. Doing mistakes and making faults is characteristic of human being. It is

not possible that someone claim that I am free from weaknesses and I did not

commit any mistake in my whole life. Even those people who have high taqwa,

3

may slip and can make mistakes. No one is perfect. Even Prophets, who are

innocent by nature, did not claim that they are free from faults.

Allah says in Surra – Yussaf, verse 53

Yussef (AS) said: And I do not hold my own self or my soul to be free from

weakness; the soul is surely incites to evil, except of the one on whom my Allah

shows mercy. Indeed my Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) also said, Every son of Adam commit sins and

do mistakes but the best sinner or wrongdoer are those who go for Taubah and

ask forgiveness from Allah.

So dear brothers and sisters, it should be clear to all of us that doing wrong or

commit sins are part of our nature. Committing sins or doing wrong things is a

type of filth which is attached to our Nafs. No body is free from the filth of sin.

Allah has made us in this way that we staggered or stumbled in any pathway of

life.

4

Dear brothers and sisters that religion will not be a natural religion who tells that

every human being can commit wrong things and it is part of his nature but does

not tell us about its solution. That religion will not be a natural religion who

does not guide us that how to come out from the dwellings of sins, how to find

way in the deep and dark tunnels of sins. How one can free himself from the

consequences of the sin.

If there is specific treatment for diseases related to human body, there should be

specific treatments for the diseases which are attached to human soul.

It is very strange that no other religion has any solution for this problem except

Islam. Only Islam gives the solution if someone commits some sins or does

some wrong things in his life.

In Hinduism, if you commit some sin then you should have to face its

consequences. There is no way to be free from the punishment of your sins.

According to Hindu's belief there is no forgiveness. One cannot repent of his

sins. They have created many interesting and strange logics. Hindus believed

that every human being have many lives, have many births. If you did some

thing wrong in this life then you will be born in some evil form in the next life.

If someone is cruel in this life then in the next birth, he will be born in the form

of wolf. If someone in this life deceives anyone then he will be snake in his next

5

birth. This is the reason why they do not kill any snake or wolf or any animal,

because they think it may be there ancestors who did some wrong things in their

previous life and now they are in the shape of animal.

Christianity also gives no solution of this problem. Actually most of the

Christians are away from their religion. They have created such concepts which

facilitate them to be away from the true teachings of Christianity. According to

Christianity because of the sin of Hazrat Adam which he did in Jannah, all

humanity is sinner and wrong doer. That's why Allah sent his son "Jesus" and

then Allah hanged him and Jesus pay the cost of the sins of all humanity. Now

after "Jesus" these priests have this right to give letter of forgiveness to any

person. If you did some sin, you should tell this to priest, that priest decides how

much you have to pay for this sin. You pay and then the priest gives you a letter

that now you are free from all your previous sins.

Dear brothers and sisters, Islam is the only religion, which when claims that its

natural religion then at the same time it gives the solution of the sins and

mistakes make by the human beings according to human's nature.

If the human body can get some diseases then its soul can also get some

diseases. These diseases are some time related to its characters, some time

related to its deeds, some time related to its concepts and some times related to

6

its intentions. These all problems are in fact related to its soul. If body can be

recovered from diseases then soul can also be cleaned from the filths and

dirtiness of sins and mistakes.

Dear brothers and sisters, what you normally do when you suffer from any

disease, you definitely go to your doctor and tell him about your disease. He will

prescribe you some medicines and also advise you some thing to do. If you will

take those medicines and act on his advice then you will be recovered with the

blessing of Allah.

Likewise if your soul gets some disease then you should come back to Allah,

whom you disobeyed. If someone follows the path of SHITAN then after

TAUBAH he should now follow the path which Allah tells him. The true

meaning of "TAUBAH" is coming back towards ALLAH Rab-ul-alamin with

complete sincerity.

Allah says in Surra Al-Tahrim, verse 8

7

O who believe! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance with sincere

"Taubah". It may be that your Lord will remove the evil consequences of

your deeds and make you enter Gardens through which rivers flow

Allah also says in Surra Hud, verse 90

And seek forgiveness of your Lord; then turn to Him wholeheartedly.

Verily, my Lord is Merciful, Most Loving.

Allah also says in Surra Al-Nahal, verse 119

Nevertheless, your Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate towards those

who have repented or make "Taubah" and mended their ways after they

had committed evil in ignorance.

Dear brothers and sisters, "Taubah" is the unique characteristics of Islam. By

accepting the "Taubah" of sinners and wrongdoers which actually we all are,

Allah has made great blessing and mercy on us. Dear brothers and sisters, Allah

8

is very happy with those who make good deeds and have high Taqwa in whole

of their lives, but believe me Allah is more happy with those who come back to

Allah by doing sincere "Taubah".

The Prophet (peace be on him) fully illustrated this by one very beautiful

example narrated in Muslim. That is about a man who had a camel carrying his

food and water provisions. His camel was lost in a harsh desert. The person

continues to search for the camel until he exhausted and retires under the shade

of a tree and given up all of his hopes. The person is so disappointed that he

started to think that he will definitely die because of thirst and hunger. Then,

suddenly, he finds the camel standing right in front of him.

Prophet said his companions: What is your opinion about the delight of this

person?

When a sinner repents and turns to God, Allah is even more joyous than the

owner of this camel who suddenly finds his lost beast in a moment of total

despair. (See Muslin-, al-Tawbah, Bab fi al-Hadd 'ala al-Tawbah, traditions 1-8.)

Dear brothers and sisters, Allah is immensely pleased with a man when he

repents and turn to Him.

9

Dear brothers and sisters, in Hadith-e-Qudsi Allah Says:

" O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you

for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to

reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would

forgive you. [Hadîth Qudsi].

My dear brothers and sisters! Allah has opened the door of repentance, so why

should we not enter? In a Hadith it is narrated that "Repentance has a door

whose span is the distance between East and West,". (And in another version its

span is the distance travelled in 70 years). and "It will not be closed until the sun

rises from the West."

Listen to the call of Allah: "O My slaves! You sin morning and evening and I

forgive all your sins. So call on Me, I'll forgive you all your sins."

10

Except those who repent, and believe and do good deeds; for as to these, Allah

will change their evil deeds into good deeds; and Allah is Most Forgiving,

Merciful;

Dear brothers and sisters, the word Taubah which is rendered as repentance in

English, is not a simple term as most people believe. It is very rich in meaning

and implications, and is not simply a word of mouth after which the sinner

continues in his sins.

My dear brothers and sisters, do you know the meaning of Taubah Nasuha or

sincere repentance.

Ubayy Ibn Kaab ® asked the same question to Prophet (SAW). He replied that

sincere repentance should have following ingredients:

• Feel guilty about the sin

• Ask Allah’s forgiveness

• Have strong will not to repeat the sin.

11

Once a Bedouin was saying words of Taubah and istighfar in a hurry. Ali ® told

him this is a Taubah of liars. He then explained that the Taubah must have

following 6 components;

1- Feeling of regret and sadness about your sins and remorse what has

been committed

2- Takes up the duties which are ignored and fulfils them

3- Pay rights to those who have been treated wronged or badly.

4-Seek forgiveness who is hurt

5- Show determination not to repeat that sin again.

6- Struggle to make one obedient to Allah (SWT)

7- Making good deeds

And those who repent and do good deeds indeed turn to Allah

with true repentance;

Dear brothers and sisters The Prophet (P.B.U.H) emphasizes to us that good

deed wipe out bad ones. The prophet (P.B.U.H) said "...And follow the bad deed

with a good one that will wipe out the bad one…." In another narration, sahabi

12

asked the prophet (S.A.W.): "Give me advice", the prophet (S.A.W.) said: "If

you do a bad deed, then follow it with a good one that will wipe it out."

Also there are some authentic Ahadith where the prophet (S.A.W.) specifies

certain good deeds that wipe out bad ones. I like mention some of them which

can remove our sins

1- Repentance from the sins. Imam Muslim reported that the prophet (S.A.W.)

said, "If anyone repents before the sun rises from the west, Allah will forgive

him."

Abu Huraira ® reported that the Prophet (SAW) said, “I seek Allah’s

forgiveness and do Taubah more than 70 times a day.”

2- Praying two Rak’ahs and seeking forgiveness after doing bad deeds. An

authentic Hadith reported by Imam Abu Dawod that the prophet (S.A.W.) said:

"If a man does a bad deed, then he makes a good wudu, and pray two Rak’ahs

and seek Allah’s forgiveness, then Allah will forgive him."

3- The supplication or Dua at the end of every meeting. An authentic Hadith

reported by Imam At-Tirmidhi that the prophet (S.A.W.) said, "Whoever sits in

a gathering which indulges in useless talk and before getting up supplicates or

13

pray: "Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ash-hadu an la ilaika illa anta,

astaghfirka wa atubu ilaika. He will be forgiven for (the sins he may have

intentionally or unintentionally committed) in that assembly."

4- Performing the five daily prayers well and with humility. Imam Muslim

reported that the prophet (S.A.W.) said, " When the time for a prescribed As-

salat (the prayers) approaches and a Muslim observes its ablution and acts of

bowing and prostrating properly, this salat will be an compensation for his sins,

so long as he does not commit major sins, and this is for always."

5- Attending the Friday prayer and listening to the Khutbah without saying

a word. Imam Muslim reported that the prophet (S.A.W.) said, "If anyone

performs wudu properly, then comes to the Friday prayer, listens to the Khutbah

(Speech) attentively and keeps silent, his (minor) sins between that Friday and

the previous Friday will be forgiven, with the addition of three more days.

5- Giving charity. In Hadith reported by Imam At-Tirmithi that the prophet

(S.A.W.) said: "The charity puts out the bad deed like the water puts out the

fire."

Dear brothers and sisters Prophet (P.B.U.H) said, "Every act of kindness is a

charity.

14

In another Hadith, Abu Hurairah narrated that Allah's messenger said, “It is also

charity to utter a good word.”

We can do many small charities and wipes out our sins, Like

Spreading greeting is also a charity. A hadith is narrated in Bukhari, in which

prophet said, "I swear by whom my soul is in his hand, you will not enter

Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love each other.

Do you want me to guide you to something which if you practice, you will love

each other? Spread greeting with peace among of you."

Behaving decently with people and help the others is also a kind of charity.

Abu Hurairah narrated that Allah's Messenger said, " He who believes in Allah

and the Last Day must not harm his neighbour, and he who believes in Allah and

the Last Day must show hospitality to his guest, and he who believes in Allah

and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent.”.

9- Behaving nicely with parents especially with mother. It is reported that a

person came to the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) and submitted, "0 messenger of God

I have committed a very big sin and buried my daughter alive when I was an

unbeliever. So please show me a good deed that may result in my forgiveness by

15

God." The Prophet asked, "Is your mother alive?" He replied in the negative.

The Holy Prophet then asked, "Is your mother's sister alive?" He said, "Yes."

The Prophet said, "Go and behave nicely with your aunt. Then the Holy Prophet

added, "It would have been better had his mother been alive," because good

behaviour with mother is very effective in removing consequences of big sins.

9- Pious and religious Children can also become our source of Najat and

repentance of our sins on the day of Judgement. Abu Huraira ® reported from

the Prophet (SAW) that Allah (SWT) shall raise the position of a pious person in

Jannah. He shall ask, “ O my Rabb! Why have you done this?” He will be

replied that it is due to Istighfar from your child who they did for you.”

9- Remembring of Allah. Imams Bukhari and Muslim reported that the prophet

(S.A.W.) said, "And he who says: 'Subhan-allahi wa bihamdihi (Glory be to

Allah and his is the praise)' one hundred times a day, Allah will be given all his

sins even if they were as much as the foams of the sea.

Dear brothers and sisters, we have normal habit to be silent or think about

something during walking, driving or travelling. If we try to wet out tongue with

these small sentences, then may be Allah show mercy on us and erase our sins.

16

But there are always compulsions with the above mentioned deeds and that if we

did some thing bad with other, deceives others, grasp the wealth of others by

wrong way, forget the rights of others which were obligatory to us. Then in this

case we will never get repentance until unless that person will not forgive us

whom been deceived or treated badly. This means we should be very sensitive

about the rights of other people.

Hazrat Umar (RA) used to call Hazrat Bilal: "O my chief Bilal! One day, by

mistake, Hazrat Umar (RA) said to Hazrat Bilal (RA): "You are dark

complexioned." He immediately realized his mistake and was extremely sorry

for uttering such words. He lied down on the ground and asked Hazrat Bilal

(RA) to walk on his body so that Umar's mistake can be forgiven on the day of

Qiyamah. Hazrat Bilal (RA) refused to walk on his body, saying: "You are

beloved to Allah's Nabi Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and are also his father-in-law.

Your daughter is the wife of Nabi Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the mother of

the ummah. How can I place my feet on your sacred body? I have forgiven you

for the sake of Allah."

This was the way of sahaba that if they committed a mistake, they would

immediately ask for forgiveness and would not hesitate in resorting to istighfar

and repentance.

17

Dear brothers and sisters, Tauba and repentance from our sins are such a great

blessing that it can bring countless bounties, successes, peace and harmony in

our lives. In fact, Taubah Nasuha or sincere repentance is solution of all our

problems.

ALLAH says in Surra – Nuh, Verse 11-13

"And Nuh said, ‘Seek forgiveness of your Lord; for He (Allah) is the

Great Forgiver. He (Allah) will send down rain for you in abundance. And

He will strengthen you with wealth and with children, and He will give

you gardens and He will give you rivers"

Allah says in Surra Hud,

Hud (AS) ask to their nation, My people! Ask your Lord for forgiveness

and turn to Him in repentance. He will shower abundant rains upon you

from the heaven, and will add strength to your strength. Do not turn away

as those given to guilt.

Dear brothers and sisters just try to think about these verses and then imagine

the conditions in our countries. Our rivers are going to dry, our lands are going

to barren, other nations are overruled over us, our leaders and politicians are

corrupt, the man who is the most corrupted in our societies are our leaders. But

what are we doing? We are in search for new politicians, we are in search for

new leaders, some of our people are fighting against their own nations. But what

18

Allah is advising to us in these hours of sufferings. Allah says "Ask your Allah

for sincere forgiveness and turn to Him with Taubah Nasuha. He will shower

abundant rains upon you from the heaven, and will add strength to your strength.

How we are grabbed in different problems. If we want to get blessing of Allah

Rabbul-Alamin then we have to go for Tauba and Astaghfar. If we want to

change our situation then we have to change ourselves.

Abdullah Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet (SAW) said, “Whoever makes

Istighfar, Allah (SWT) shall remove all his sorrows and troubles and shall

provide him Rizq and sustenance from the sources he never thought of.” Ahmad,

Abu Dawood, Ibn Maja.

Dear brothers and sisters at the end of todays Khutaba I want to tell you the

story of sincere repentance and spirit of Taubah Nausha. The story of that

companion of Prophet who was one of the leading opponents of Prophet before

accepting Islam. Before accepting Islam, he tried to stop the way of Islam with

full of his strength and power. But when he accepted Islam, he had given all of

his life for the spreading of Islam. He used to weep by keeping Quran in hands

and saying Ya Kitab-ul Rabii, Ya Kitabul Rabbi, I did many wrong things with

you in my past. During one war, Abu-bakr had seen one tent with lots of Horses

and many other things of war. Abu-bakr requested that sahabi to leave some

thing for his family, but he replied when I was against Islam, I did every thing

19

with full of my strength then why not now when I accepted Islam. We all hear

the story of those three warriors of Islam, who were in War of Qadsia and were

badly injured. One sahabi brougth water to them and all three transfered it to

next sahabi by thinking may be he is more thirsty than us and then all of them

died. That Sahabi was Akrama-bin –abi jahl who when accepted Islam given

every things for the spreading and prosperity of Islam and even his own life.

Dear brothers and sisters life is running towards end. Every breath you take is a

step towards death. Anything which can be counted is finite and will come to an

end. Just think that the number of people who resided in the graveyards are more

than those number who are living on this earth.

Allah tells to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

وأنذرهم يوم اآلزفة

(O Prophet), then warn them of the Day that has drawn near

Dear brothers and sisters Allah needs our tears which dropped from our eyes

because of fear from Allah, because of acceptance of our sins, because the

acceptance of sins whose height are in-fact more than the heights of the

mountains. Allah says in Suura-Al-Imran, verse 133-136.

20

21

And hurry or hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord and to a Paradise as

vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the God-fearing people.

who spend in the way of Allah both in prosperity and hardship, who

suppress their anger, and forgive others. Allah loves such good-doers."

These are the ones who, when they commit any indecency and wrong

against themselves, instantly remember Allah and beg forgiveness for

their sins – and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and who do not

wilfully persist in the wrong they have done.

They shall be recompensed by forgiveness from their Lord and by

gardens beneath which rivers flow; there they shall abide. How good is

the reward of those who work!