Repentance from sins - Shaykh Talha Qasmi Naqshbandi

[Bint e Aisha]

 

[Bint e Aisha]

Repentance from Sins – Shaykh Talha Qasmi Naqshbandi

 

Tranlation

May Allah ta'ala grant us all the concern for our own rectification. Just like how only food and medicine are not enough, prevention is important; similarly only dhikr and muraqabah are not sufficient, abstinence from all sins is required. And if one is unable to leave a particular sin even after making intention and after struggling and trying hard, the sin gets commited time and again, then he should repent to Allah ta'ala frequently and repeatedly and also inform his Shaikh and Murshid that he is involved in this sin and he want to leave the sin and also he does not find any benefit in the sin, then the Shaikh will show him the right path and will also make du'a and invoke Allah. And Allah ta'ala will also descend His mercy because Allah ta'ala sees that His servant wants to become righteous and pious. If Allah ta'ala would not want to make His servants pious then why would He send Prophets علیهم الصلاة والسلام. These Prophets علیهم الصلاة والسلام faced many hardships and difficulties and that's only because Allah ta'ala wants His servants to become pious, though without any compulsion. If He wanted to make His servants righteous under constraint then there was no need for these Prophets to go through hardships and troubles.

Allah ta'ala would have sent two angels having sticks alongside each Prophet and would have commanded to listen to these angels otherwise be ready to get beaten up, then everyone would have become upright. Imagine if today two angels show up, on the one hand Hazrat Jibrael and on the other hand Hazrat Mikael with the sticks of heaven in their hands which on movement display lightning and they ask the crowd to tell them if anyone will look at haraam then everyone will make true tauba and will beseech that Hazrat don't hit us, we have lowered our gaze. Further if they ask if anyone will indulge in backbiting or lying then everyone will repent from these vices as well. No one will dare to commit any sin again. And then they say ok fine now we are appointing one angel with each of you and you will be able to see him and if you ever try to look at haram, the angel will slap so hard on your face that your eye will fall out. Will anyone dare gazing? If you ever try to backbite the angel will slap you so hard that your tongue will lose its ability to speak. Will anyone courage to sin? But then what will be our accomplishment? If Allah ta'ala had desired this compulsion then He would have made the world follow the right path and then everyone would have attained Jannah. However Allah ta'ala does not want to force or pressurize His servants, He wants them to follow His commands through their own free will and desire. Therefore Allah ta'ala has given us free hand, if anyone wants to sin no one will come to stop him however he will face the consequences.

If you want to leave the sins then Allah ta'ala will help you, Shaitan will exert all his efforts to deviate you from the right path and Allah ta'ala will also appoint angels who will stop Shaitan to approach you. However everyone has to show his willpower that he wants to lead the life of taqwa then Allah ta'ala will definitely help his servants. When Shaitan haughtily challenged Allah that since you have banished me from heaven, I will not allow the children of Adam to enter it either. I will misguide them from their front, from their behind, from their right, from their left, from above them and from beneath them. I will mislead some of them by frightening and some by tempting. He makes them scared by the thought that if you become pious, you will become destitute and you won't be able to earn enough and that there is no worth of taqwa these days. And he also entice some people by making them watch haram stuff and persuade that they won't be able to see these beautiful things again. He makes them anticipate that you have been promised about hoors in Jannah, however you have hoors in front of you in this world and you have been restricted from looking, what a shame! Just eat and drink and have fun. Where would you get this pleasure again? We are not even sure whether Jannah actually exists or it is only a figment of imagination. In this way Shaitan scares and allures people and using both ways he leads mankind along with him to hell. Because Shaitan had challenged Allah that he would divert people away from His path and Allah ta'ala had also granted him respite and warned:

 

 لَأَمۡلَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنكَ وَمِمَّن تَبِعَكَ مِنۡہُمۡ أَجۡمَعِينَ

 

"That I will fill Hell with you [Iblees (Satan)] and those of them (mankind) that follow you, together." [38:85]

 

Nevertheless Allah ta'ala told Shaitan that those of my servants who are determined to worship me, although I have not given them as much strength as I have granted you, however if you forcibly try to make them commit wrong then I will protect them myself and I will clip your wings, I will break your arms and I will assign angels who will not let you approach them. 

 

إِنَّ عِبَادِي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَانٌ

 

"Surely as regards My servants, you have no authority over them."

 

Hence Allah ta'ala will protect us but we must make a firm resolve and intention to become righteous and we must strive hard. We should repent to Allah today that we shall refrain from looking at haram and if we happen to do that we will do taubah again. We will never backbite and if we ever do by mistake we will repent to Allah and also ask forgiveness from that person. However if there is a chance that by disclosing to that person that we said this regarding you behind your back, it will create fitnah then instead of telling him directly one can say that brother since we all are human beings and we all make mistakes, therefore if I have ever wronged you in anyway I seek your forgiveness. However it is not permissible to do gheebah because one can seek pardon in this way. This type of deceiving is not permissible. If a person is not in a position to attain forgiveness even in this way then he should repent to Allah ta'ala sincerely and also give sadaqah on behalf of that person. After Salah make dua for that person that Allah ta'ala grant him abundance in blessings, in children, grant him happiness and implore Allah that He raise his ranks and absolve me of my sins, grant me forgiveness and whatever I have said regarding that person behind his back, make that a means of mercy for him and pardon me. 

 

In this way we should beseech Allah for forgiveness. Seek pardon for whatever lies we have spoken uptill now and make a firm conviction that from now on we will speak after great diligence and careful deliberation. Make tauba from speaking lies and if we make some commitment about doing something in haste without much reflection, we should try our best to accomplish that task. If one is really unable to fulfill that job then inform the other person that I had promised to fulfill this task today but due to some constraint I'm not capable of doing that today and inshaAllah I'll finish it by tomorrow. However do not make this your habit. Your first priority should be to fulfill your commitments and promises and if you cannot do that then atleast you should notify that person so that he does not get offended or upset. This happens daily in business dealings and then we suffer the consequences in the form of decline in blessings. This is what is called as "la'anah" in the Qur'an and Sunnah. This term has now become like a swear word in Urdu and its usage is considered inappropriate, however in Arabic language the word "la'anah" means decrease in barakah. We suffer this decline in barakah due to our own lack of truthfulness and because of breaking promises. May Allah ta'ala protect us from such negative consequences. Ameen