Rang-o-Noor (BY SA'DI)

THE DOOR IS OPEN TO ALL

Allah loves those who repent of sins much. No, doubt, Allah likes those who repent.

How great glad tidings for the sinners! If they repent, they may become the dear ones of Allah. The Satan says, "How long will your repentance be granted because you break repentance daily. Now give up repenting. It is not in your powers to repent. You cannot forsake sins. You are the born unfortunate. So stop repenting and breaking it daily. Yield to me; consider yourself unfortunate and be steeped in sins''. This is the lesson of the Satan but our Lord tell us, "Keep ever repenting! Become the repentant! However great sin you commit, rush to Me at once and repent of that sin. None of your sin is greater than My mercy. If you have committed the sin of breaking repentance, do repent of this sin also. If you break repentance seventy times a day, repent of it every time. As much as you repent, you will become as much dearer to Me No doubt, Allah loves those who repent.

If sin is committed again and again and repentance is broken again and again, man should not go away Allah rather he should weep and prostrate to Him. He should observe ablution, find a safe corner in the Masjid and be in the company of the holy people. Going away Allah is a deprivation but rushing to Allah is a great auspiciousness "Hence, rush to Allah."

It means, we should rush to Allah as soon as a sin is committed. Cry ''O Lord, oppression has been exercised by me. I have exercised oppression to my soul. Forgive me''. The Satan will stop you. Do not pay heeds to his words but rush to Allah and prostrate before Him.

The word "Taubah" has been used in two senses in the Holy Quran. (1) A man's giving up sins.

"I am no doubt the great Forgiver to the one who repents, Believes, does righteous deeds and then remains firm to the Right Path."

(2). Allah's granting repentance of the slave with acceptance. "Except the people who repented and reformed themselves and exposed (Allah's dictates). Hence, these are the people whose repentance I grant."

When man repents truly i.e. gives up sins, Allah grants his repentance with acceptance i.e. He accepts his return to Him.

Then why delay? All of us should stand up for repentance and repent with full faith in forgiveness. Why should we close the doors of repentance to us and think that our forgiveness is impossible. , It is very bad to think so because nothing is difficult to Allah.

I say to all the Muslim brothers and sisters, "Take pity on your own selves. O yes, all of us should take pity on ourselves and repent of sins in order to save ourselves from sins. The first thing to do is to correct our prayers. We should offer congregational prayers with love, attention, devotion and yearning. O bothers, prayer is sweeter and more delicious than the celestial wives. What is it that you call yourselves Muslims but begin to ignore prayers. Do not do so for Lord's sake. Allah Himself invites us to His grand court five times a day. O yes, He invites us very stressively. A Muslim and negligence in prayer cannot gather at one place. A Muslim becomes negligent in prayer only when the Satan injects him with the germs of infidelity or gives him the poison of hypocrisy. When a Muslim man or woman writes me thus, "I become negligent in prayers," I feel a blow struck in my heart. A Muslim and negligence in prayer! How can this happen? Only a Hypocrite can show negligence in prayers. A Muslim can never do so because the position of prayer in Din is as head with the body. Can anyone remain alive without his head? I don't know, what curse is it that Muslim women show negligence in prayer whereas it is well known that Muslim ladies have love for prayers. Repent, O my sisters, repent. A Muslim lady finds peace and calm in prayer and cannot show negligence in it at all rather she gets every of her problem solved through prayers. This is the curse and portent of going to the bazaars. Are the bazaars of today worthy of a Muslim woman to go there? O my sisters, stop going to the bazaars for the sake of Allah. If you are constrained to go under some compulsion, do go with your husband only but not with your father, nor brother nor son. The Muslim husbands are requested not to take their wives to the bazaars rather bring everything themselves. Keep it in mind, if young ladies keep going to the bazaars, all will be ruined. Our Muslim sisters are very high-ranked. It is not becoming of then to go to the bazaar and purchase things from men or to waste their time on the mobile phones. The present day Muslim woman has been deprived of the enjoyment and might of prayers. Its greatest cause is going to the bazaar and illegal or useless use of the mobile phone. O my sisters, graves are waiting for us with open mouths. I happened to go to a saint. There I came to know that that saint was greatly worried and grieved a few days before. His colour had grown yellow and he kept shedding tears all the time. When the people asked him the reason of his weeping, he told them, "A woman in the village graveyard is undergoing torment. The severity of her punishment has made me so." Then that saint and all the people in the Masjid beseeched to Allah and that process of punishment cooled down. Where have gone the ladies who used to weep in prostrations? Where have gone the embodiment of modesty ladies who accepted veiling as blessing of Allah and then protected their faces, ears and eyes against every sin? O Muslim sisters, if you correct your prayers, you will develop aversion against every vice and every immodesty. Do observe purity, punctuality and respectability for the sake of prayers. There is all good for you and your children in it. You will not be able to do good to anyone tomorrow. The wives of Hazrat Nuh and that of Hazrat Loot will be being pushed to hell. Their pride, false respect, tongues and tricks ruined them. Every Muslim who recites the Holy Quran describes the bad end and infidelity of those ladies whereas they thought that they were very wise and kept the demands of the age in mind. They offended Allah in order to please their nation and people and degraded their Prophets. It is not known whether their nation and people were pleased with them or not but it is certain that both of them have been burning in torment for thousands of years and they will be pushed into hell on the Day of Judgement. O Allah forgive! I seek refuge with you against punishment in the grave as well as in the Hereafter. The Mujaahideen are specially requested to correct the matter of prayers and offer congregational lengthy devoted prayers. Then, there will be blessings in their Jihaad and the entire Ummah will get benefit from this blessing. The Mujaahideen who show negligence in prayers cannot go long with the "Sincere Jihaad Caravan." They are gripped by some trouble of worldliness or fall prey to some subversion. ,

Repentance is actually the name of spiritual purity. It removes man's internal filth and dirt. The door of repentance remains ever open. Until gargling of death starts, man's repentance is granted. Repentance has a number of benefits. For example.

i). Those who repent, are blessed with love for Allah.

ii). Sins are washed away due to repentance and their effects are removed. Sometimes, those sins are changed into good deeds even.

iii). Man is blessed with betterment and success due to repentance.

iv). There are some terms and conditions for repentance. It is not sufficient just to say repentance, repentance with the tongue. If we regard these few things in mind and repent, it will be granted with acceptance.

1. Sincerity: Repentance should be for good pleasure of Allah. Many people repent just to avoid any calamity in the world.

2. Regret: To be regretful and repentant of ones sins.

3. Iqlaa': Giving up that sin.

4. Determination: Strong determination not to commit that sin in future.

5. Time: Repenting of sins before the start of the death hours.

You should consider these five things and repent of our sins the very today. If, God forbids, you do not find courage to repent, start this supplication after every prayer, "O Allah, grant me with the Power to repent; If we pray to Allah weeping beseechingly, the peaceful door of repentance will open. When Allah grants His slave with the capacity to repent and grants his repentance with acceptance, some signs become visible which tell that that man's repentance has been granted and he becomes entitled to Allah's love.

A few of those signs are:

1). Good Company: The biggest proof of acceptance of repentance is that man is blessed with the company of the Truthful, the Mujaahideen and the pious people and he gets rid of wicked friends. Keep it in mind that good company makes it easy to do thousands of good deeds.

2). Inclination to Righteous Deeds: If repentance is granted, the heart is inclined to righteous deeds and man is scared of sins.

3). Deliverance from worldliness: When repentance is granted, man changes his direction from worldliness and is inclined to the Hereafter. It means that his actual target becomes Allah's good pleasure and preparation for the Hereafter. The world remains with him but does not percolate into his heart and become his object of life that he may live and die for it only.

O Muslims, the door of repentance is open to all. Allah Who is our Great Lord is Himself inviting everyone to repentance whether he is a robber or a thief, a drunkard or an adulterer, a liar or a cheat, a misappriator or a killer and a gambler or an addict.

Say (on My behalf), "O servants of Mine who have acted recklessly against their own selves, do not despair of Allah's mercy. Surely, Allah will forgive all sins. Surly, He is the One who is the Most-Forgiving, the Very-Merciful."

Allah be thanked, the door of repentance is not close to anyone, neither to a polytheist nor a pagan. They can also repent of their past and embrace Islam. Nor it is close to those who commit big sins. Come on all to Allah's Mercy, Lord's forgiveness and paradise of the Lord. O Allah, grant us all with the power and capacity to repent of our sins truly, grant our repentance with acceptance and make us one of those who "Repent!"  

Before breaking up today's sitting, let us study the blessed words about this verse i.e. explanation by Hazrat Shah Abdul-Qaadir. He says, "When Allah prevailed Islam, the opposing Pagans thought that (i.e. no doubt) Allah is to the other side. Thus, they reprented of their mistakes but did not embrace Islam out of false pride, saying "Will our repentance be granted now?" They nourished enmity, fought battles and shed blood of so many holy people. At this Allah said, "There is no sin whose repentance is not granted by Allah. Don't be hopeless but turn to Allah. You will be absolved. But when punishment is at hand or the time of death comes, repentance is not granted." (Derived from Tafseer-e-Usmaani)

The Soviet soldiers and rulers, defeated by the Muslims, and the Allied soldiers, defeated and injured by the Muslim's in Iraq and Afghanistan, can learn a lesson from this verse i.e. to repent of their past and embrace Islam. These people have witnessed with their own eyes that Allah is with the Muslims otherwise so horrible military forces would not have felt themselves helpless before the unarmed Mujaahideen.

Translated by: Abdullah