Overview:
An admonishment that every son of Aadam should heed. How many of us are overcome by our smaller sins that we do not give importance to? Indeed, there is a way to rectify the problem, listen to the lecture and benefit yourself O sinful son or daughter of Aadam!
TRANSCRIPTION:
Khutbatul Haajah ….
“Say, O My Servant, those who have been excessive, those who have been extreme on their own soul, do not despair of the mercy of Allah subhana wa ta’ala for surely Allah forgives all sins. And surely Allah, He is Al-Ghaffoor and Ar-Raheem. He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Merciful. He is extremely forgiving and extremely merciful.”
In this above Ayah, respected brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah among other things explains to us that He forgives our sins. He forgives all sins, whether they are Major or Minor. No matter what color the sin may be, no matter what size the sin may be, how old or new it is, Allah subhana is Al-Ghaffoor Ar-Raheem. And if the Muslim, the Abd (the Slave of Allah subhana wa ta’ala) fulfills the conditions, Allah will forgive. This type of forgiveness is a unique forgiveness. Allah subhana wa ta’ala is unique as He says: “Qul Huw-Allaahu Ahad” – Say, He Alaah is unique.
For His forgiveness is not like any type of forgiveness and His Mercy is not like any type of Mercy.
“Wa laisa kamislihi shaiun wa huwas Sameeul Baseer” – There is nothing like Him and He is As-Sameeh and Al-Baseer – He is the Hearer and He is the Seer.
We would like to talk about the methodology or the road that we can use the way and the method that we can utilize in gaining the atonement and forgiveness of our sins. How we can gain the atonement, the expiation, the effacing, the erasing of our sins. What is the methodology of erasing these sins? What can we do to remove these sins? Because all of us are sinners as Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said in an authentic Hadith: “All of the children of Aadam are sinners and the best of sinners are those who repent.”
So we need to learn brothers and sisters in Islam how we can efface, how we can remove, how we can make atonement for az-zunoob; How we can get rid of these sins. When we talk about the erasing and the atonement of sins according to the ahlul Ilm, according to the people of knowledge, there are two types (two ways to remove the sins):
One as Allah subhana wa ta’ala mentions: “Follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will wipe it out. It will erase it. This is the first type of removing (the erasing) of sins.”
The second is the exchange of one thing for another. As Allah subhana wa ta’ala says: “For them, those individuals who do these sins, Allah will exchange for their bad deeds, good deeds. He will replace their bad deeds with good deeds and Allah subhana wa ta’ala is Ghaffoorur Raheema. He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.”
There are many ways brothers and sisters and we can have many Khutba’as on this subject. But we would just like to cite just a few of these ways that we can atone for and erase our sins. The first and foremost and Allah subhana ‘alam, Allah the Majestic, the Most High above all creation knows best to accept Islam. Alhamdulillah, which we have all done. If a Kaafir from among the Kuffaar (no matter how good they may seem or how righteous they may seem in the eyes of the people), if they want to have their sins erased, (their tawbah is different from our tawbah) their tawbah is to accept Islam. And there is no tawbah for them except this.
Allah subhana wa ta’ala says: “Surely the Deen with Allah is not Christianity, it is not Judaism, it is not Hinduism, it is Islam.”
And again Allah subhana wa ta’ala says: “Whoever seeks a Deen other than Islam, it will never ever be accepted from him. And in the Last Day, they will be the losers.”
So those individuals who are among the Kuffar of this life, for their actions to be accepted and for them to be forgiven, they have to accept Islam. And Allah subhana wa ta’ala says: “Say to the Kuffar if they seize (stop) what they did in the past, they will be forgiven.”
What does that mean? It means that if they leave off their kufr, if they stop disbelieving, then Allah will forgive them.
So, the person who wants to have the forgiveness of Allah, who is still among the groups of the Ahlul Kitaab and the Mushrikoon, has to accept Islam. And Allah subhana wa ta’ala will remove their sins and He will forgive them.
Those individuals whom Allah subhana wa ta’ala had raised among the Sahaba to accept Islam when the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was alive, there is a clear, clear record of this.