Common hindrances in the path of Taubah (repentance): To regret deeply is to live afresh. Satan often tricks us into not repenting which itself should tell us the significance of repentance! Turning to Allah (swt) in repentance represents acknowledgement of our sins. We not only acknowledge but regret our sins, that’s when we turn to Allah (swt) in repentance. Secondly, when we sincerely turn to Allah (swt) in repentance, we are blessed with a chance to reform ourselves. Allah (swt) reassures us of His (swt) forgiveness in numerous places in the Qur’an. One such ayah is as follows: So will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (Qur’an; Surah al-Ma’idah (The Table [Spread]), Ch 5, ayah/verse 74) What are the difficulties a person faces in the path of Taubah? Here are a few: 1. Hopelessness. Sometimes the conscience is so much burdened by the guilt over our misdeeds that it leaves us in despair. The impact of the fear of the outcome/consequences is so powerful that we may come close to hopelessness. Satan may play on this fear and try to make us think that Allah (swt) won’t forgive us now due to the enormity of our sins. Well, let’s read what Allah (swt) say’s in the Qur’an: Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (Qur’an; Surah az-Zumar (The Groups), Ch 39, ayah/ verse 53) Alhamdulillah, how comforting this ayah is to the heart! We should always remember that hopelessness is a trait of Satan. “Iblees”, as we know is he who “despaired of the mercy of Allah (swt)”. Many a times due to our guilt and regret over our sins we only remember Allah (swt) is AL-Qahhar, or Al-Mudhill, or Al-Muntaqim but we forget that He (swt) is also At-Tawwab, Al-Mujib (The Responder to Prayer), Al-Mu’izz (The Bestower of Honors) etc. . Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an; Surah al-Ma’idah (The Table [Spread]), Ch 5, ayah/verse 34: & know that Allah is Forgiving & Merciful. 2. Arrogance Arrogance is yet another trait of Satan. He bought a ticket to Hell through his arrogance and he wants us to do the same. That’s why it is advised that when one recognizes the truth, one should accept it immediately, without any delay. Let’s try not to be afraid to acknowledge our misdeeds. If we refuse to acknowledge a problem, we won’t care to fix it which will only cause us loss. There is no shame in acknowledging ones sins and asking for the forgiveness from Allah (swt). The Messenger of Allah (swt), may peace and blessing be upon him was not ashamed to seek forgiveness from Allah (swt). Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying. “By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.” (Sahih Bukhari; the Book of invocations, Ch. 3, Hadith 319) Muhammed (peace and blessing be upon him) was a prophet and yet sought the forgiveness of Allah (swt). Compared to him we are so ordinary then why should we hesitate in repenting to Allah (swt). Secondly, we should always try to understand what causes arrogance in us. If we know the source of our arrogance, we can squash those sources by the help of Allah (swt). a) One of the causes of arrogance is the statement “I know everything” or “I must know everything otherwise I am a loser”. We may not say it loudly but it may be still there, ready to kick our arrogance into action when we get some invaluable Islamic information from someone younger or less “educated” (or should we see someone who has not got too many academic degrees). We don’t need to be ashamed of the current limitations of our knowledge. No human being knows everything. How many of us stopped for a minute and thought about why the acclaimed scholars of Islam never liked to refer to themselves as “scholars”. Food for thought, isn’t it? Let’s remember that this thought or idea of I know everything/ I must know everything otherwise I am a loser is not correct at all. This attitude will only make us arrogant. Being a loser is more like not being willing to accept our own flaws but being imperfect in no way means that one is a loser. It needs courage to face our flaws and examine them. Facing and examining our flaws will pave way for our reformation while not wanting to face our flaws will only corrupt us further. This attitude (“I know everything” or “I must know everything otherwise I am a loser”) may rise from the fear of being looked at as “unknowledgeable”. We should do our best to gain knowledge of Islam and do our best to implement it and at the same time when someone is correcting a flaw in us we should try to reflect on it instead of turning away from the correction in arrogance. b) Thinking of oneself better than others is another reason. We are witnessing this kind of outlook in a lot of people these days. This attitude is something else that we need to avoid. We used to have a story in our English text in 9th standard. The story was titled “the mountain and the squirrel”. The moral of the story was that we have all our shortcomings but at the same time we all are blessed with different kind of qualities and we must not look down upon people but appreciate each other for the qualities we have. As goes the quote, Confidence doesn’t come from thinking you’re perfect or flawless. That’s arrogance. Confidence comes from appreciating the beauty of your texture. 3. Bid’ah/ innovation Bid’ah is a grave sin, graver still because it is a sin hidden under the cloak of righteous deed. If a person commits a sin, they may repent afterwards by the Mercy of Allah (swt) but a person who commits bid’ah is more vulnerable to keep repeating the bid’ah and never repenting for it. Bid’ah is a very dangerous sin in that sense. We can take the example of “milad un nabi” or many Muslims celebrate “urs”, which they refer to as “urs-e-mubarak”. Muslims who are involved in these “festivals” usually think that they are doing righteous deeds by celebrating these days. They are under the impression that they will be rewarded for these good deeds. While they are thinking of it as a righteous deed, they are obviously not going to repent for it; people repent for sins not for what they think is a righteous deed. So what needs to be done is that if a person realizes that they are involved in a bid’ah, they should immediately stop doing it and not let Satan catch a hold of them through their arrogance. We should always aim to give in to the Truth before satan gets a chance to lead us astray through his whispers. If we are arrogant, if we don’t accept the Truth when the proof is in front of us, it will be our loss and it’s not a trivial loss at all. Therefore, one should always pray to Allah (swt) for His (swt) Guidance. We need His (swt) Guidance at every step of life. Instead of getting angry at the person for correcting our flaw, we should thank them and we should thank Allah (swt) for it. As Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an, Surah At-Takweer (The Wrapping), Ch. 81, Ayaat/ verses 26-29: So where are you going? It is not except a reminder to the worlds For whoever wills among you to take a right course. And you do not will except that Allah wills – Lord of the worlds.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 11:18:36 +0000
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