If This Come To You Know Allah Is Not Forgetting What You’re Doing

Many of us sitting here have become numb to sin. We do it morning, night, day after day, and we feel nothing. We have reached the same point as somebody smoking 60 cigarettes a day, and they feel nothing. No guilt, no shame, no pain, nothing. We have become desensitized. It's the same feeling many people feel as you doomscroll, and you see video after video of children being killed in Gaza. Maybe two years ago when the whole thing started, maybe you were crying, you were upset, you were feeling, but after two years, now you're looking at it, you're thinking, swipe, scroll, what's the next thing? I'm tired of seeing this. It doesn't move me anymore. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam informs us in Hadith of Sahih Muslim narrated by Anas, Allah is happy, pleased by someone who makes a mistake, does something wrong, and returns to Him more happy than if you were perfect. He wants you to mistake and return. Make a mistake and come back. Make a mistake and come back. Why would that please Allah? Why wouldn't perfection please Allah? This is actually the question that the angels asked Allah when He decided to create human beings. Allah says, I'm going to create a successor on this earth. Why would you create somebody who's going to spill blood and do so many wrong things? We are perfect. We praise you. Whatever you tell us to do, we do. Why would you create someone rebellious, someone with the capacity to sin, someone with the capacity to make mistakes? Why would you do that, oh Allah? It doesn't make any sense. Of course, it doesn't make sense to them. So, Allah responds to them. You be quiet. I know what you don't know. Just watch. Watch what I'm about to do. He taught Adam Alaihis Salaam all the names. Does anybody know what names I'm referring to? Many scholars debated what does this verse mean? Allah says I'm going to create this being who has the capacity to They make decisions This This human being has choices. They can decide to betray me or they can decide to obey me. The angels said that doesn't make any sense. Just keep creating us. We'll just keep obeying you all the time. But Allah said, "No, I want you to watch what I'm about to do." And He teaches him all the names and then He says, "See? I told you it was worth creating him." But what are these names? Allah just said al-asma kullaha, all the names. He didn't say what names, which names, the names of which things. And so scholars have always debated what are these names referring to. But I'm going to here say that the opinion of the scholars that I mostly lean towards is that the names Allah taught Adam are His names, the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As though to say to the angels, "Yes, this weak human being may have the ability to murder somebody and make mistakes and do all sorts of wrong things. But if he or she understands who I am, they can beat you in their worship, angels. They can be ahead of you in their worship, in tawbah, in returning to Allah. This is the first step. The first step is being aware of the gravity, of the weight, of the seriousness of your sin. So this is the first phase in returning to Allah is coming out of this numbness, this desensitivity, where you don't actually feel the effect of a sin. You don't feel it at all. The challenge with sins is that many of us have become so desensitized that we don't even realize we're piling them on every day. We have become completely numb to them. And this is the first This is the first step that any drug coach or rehab psychologist is trying to get a drug addict to realize something is patently wrong with me and I need to address it. And it's the same thing with you and me. How do you get to the point where you realize something is seriously wrong and if I don't address these sins, they're going to consume me, is we have to realize that sins, they have an effect on us, a real effect on us. The prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam says, he says Every time somebody makes a mistake or has a sin, a black dot is placed on their heart. This continues until the heart is completely covered. It's rusted. I want you to think about a bicycle that you've left out in the rain, and the gears are completely rusted. Can you ride the bicycle? It doesn't operate. It doesn't move. It's out of operation. It's It's not It's past maintenance. You need a new bicycle. It's gone. This is the same thing with the heart. When you continue to sin, you don't feel the pain of the sin anymore, and it accumulates and accumulates. You get to a point Allah describes in the Quran as the sealing of the heart. The heart is so rusted, it is so covered, that it is now lifeless. Meaning, you don't feel salah. You don't feel reminders. You skip your salahs. You hurt others, insult others, attack others. You cross boundaries, and you feel nothing. Congratulations, you've reached a point of no return, which is the point in which the heart has been sealed, and it needs some serious action. It needs CPR. It needs to be jolted back to life. It needs serious action, because this is not something small. The death of the heart is the real death. The soul is the real essence of the human being, and if the soul dies, if the soul the heart dies, that's it. It's game over for you and me. Everything then goes away with it. You become so numb to whatever you're involved in, that you just continue going day in and day out. Once you realize there's something wrong, the things I've been doing, whether it's with my tongue or with my eyes or with my ears or with my hands, or the way I've treated others, there has to be a feeling of guilt in your heart for your heart to be alive. You know when somebody is dying or somebody is unconscious, the doctor comes and checks their pulse. They put two fingers on the wrist to check is this person still alive? If you want to check the pulse of your spiritual heart, you just have to check one thing. When I do something wrong, do I feel any guilt? If I don't feel any guilt, that means it needs some serious action, serious intervention. Not a small small thing is not going to work. I need to visit the graveyard. I need to go to the hospital. I need to go and see people who are seriously ill, people who are dying, people who are struggling. I need someone to slap me back into reality because something seriously wrong with me. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he describes this, he says, "An nadamut tawbah wat tawbatu nadam." The essence of returning to Allah is feeling that guilty sensation when something goes wrong. That's the second phase. The third phase is making an action plan. You need an action plan. You need to make a firm decision I'm never going to return to this. Once you've committed, now we can start recovering. And so same way the third step in repentance or returning to Allah is making a commitment. Making a commitment I'm never ever going back to the sin that I was that I've made. For you to commit to it, you got to realize something was wrong in the first place. And then there's another fourth step, which is if I wronged a person, I need to return their rights. If I scammed somebody, if I took their rights, I need to apologize. If I backbit somebody, I need to make dua for them in their absence. I need to go to repair what I've broken. And so if I were to summarize the steps of returning to Allah, it's four steps. The first step is regret. The second step is resolve. The third step is redeem. And the fourth step is repair. Regret, resolve, redeem, repair. Ibn Qayyim when he talks about repentance, he says, "There is a secret in returning to Allah that most people don't know. And he says this is a secret of Adam, the greatest secret. And this secret is that Allah when you commit a sin, Allah is teaching you about Himself and His names and His attributes. By you constantly committing sins and constantly returning to Him. Think how. The first thing, when you commit a sin often times nobody seen you.

pain, nothing. We have become desensitized. It's the same feeling many people feel as you doomscroll, and you see video after video of children being killed in Gaza. Maybe 2 years ago when the whole thing started, maybe you were

crying, you were upset, you were feeling, but after 2 years, now you're looking at it, you're thinking, swipe, scroll, what's the next thing? I'm tired of seeing this. It doesn't move me anymore. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam informs us in Hadith of Sahih

Muslim narrated by Anas, Allah is happy, pleased by someone who makes a mistake, does something wrong, and returns to him more happy than if you were perfect. He wants you to mistake and return. Make a mistake and come back. Make a mistake

and come back. Why would that please Allah? Why wouldn't perfection please Allah? This is actually the question that the angels asked Allah when he decided to create human beings. Allah says, I'm going to create a successor on this

earth. Why would you create somebody who's going to spill blood and do so many wrong things?

We are perfect. We praise you. Whatever you tell us to do, we do. Why would you create someone rebellious, someone with the capacity to sin, someone with the capacity to make mistakes? Why would you do that, oh Allah? It doesn't make any

sense. Of course, it doesn't make sense to them. So, Allah responds to them. You be quiet. I know what you don't know. Just watch. Watch what I'm about to do.

He taught Adam Alaihis Salaam all the names. Does anybody know what names I'm referring to? Many scholars debated what does this verse mean?

Allah says I'm going to create this being who has the capacity to They make decisions This This human being has choices. They can decide to betray me or they can decide to obey me. The angels said that doesn't make any sense. Just

keep creating us. We'll just keep obeying you all the time. But Allah said, "No, I want you to watch what I'm about to do." And he teaches him all the names and then he says, "See? I told you

it was worth creating him." But what are these names? Allah just said al-asma kullaha, all the names. He didn't say what names, which names, the names of which things. And so scholars have always debated what are these names referring to. But I'm going

to here say that the opinion of the scholars that I mostly lean towards is that the names Allah taught Adam are His names, the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

As though to say to the angels, "Yes, this weak human being may have the ability to murder somebody and make mistakes and do all sorts of wrong things. But if he or she understands who I am, they can beat you in their worship,

angels. They can be ahead of you in their worship, in tawbah, in returning to Allah. This is the first step. The first step is being aware of the gravity, of the weight, of the seriousness of your sin. So this is the

first phase in returning to Allah is coming out of this numbness, this desensitivity, where you don't actually feel the effect of a sin. You don't feel it at all.

The challenge with sins is that many of us have become so desensitized that we don't even realize we're piling them on every day. We have become completely numb to them.

And this is the first This is the first step that any uh drug coach or rehab psychologist is trying to get a drug addict to realize something is patently wrong with me and I need to address it. And it's the same

thing with you and me. How do you get to the point where you realize something is seriously wrong and if I don't address these sins, they're going to consume me, is we have to realize that sins, they have an effect on us, a

real effect on us. The prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam says, he says Every time somebody makes a mistake or has a sin, a black dot is placed on their heart.

This continues until the heart is completely covered. It's rusted. I want you to think about a bicycle that you've left out in the rain, and the gears are completely rusted. Can you ride the bicycle? It doesn't operate. It doesn't

move. It's out of operation. It's It's not It's past maintenance. You need a new bicycle. It's gone. This is the same thing with the heart. When you continue to sin, you don't feel the pain of the sin anymore, and it

accumulates and accumulates. You get to a point Allah describes in the Quran as the sealing of the heart. The heart is so rusted, it is so covered, that it is now lifeless. Meaning, you don't feel salah. You don't feel

reminders. You skip your salahs. You uh hurt others, insult others, attack others. You cross boundaries, and you feel nothing. Congratulations, you've reached a point of no return, which is the point in which the heart has been sealed, and it needs some serious

action. It needs CPR. It needs to be jolted back to life. It needs serious action, because this is not something small. The death of the heart is the real death. The soul is the real essence of the human being, and if the soul

dies, if the soul the heart dies, that's it. It's game over for you and me.

Everything then goes away with it. You become so numb to what to whatever you're involved in, that you just continue going day in and day out. Once you realize there's something wrong, the things I've been doing, whether it's

with my tongue or with my eyes or with my ears or with my hands, or the way I've treated others, there has to be a feeling of guilt in your heart for your heart to be alive.

You know when somebody is dying or somebody is unconscious, the doctor comes and checks their pulse.

They put two fingers on the wrist to check is the is this person still alive?

If you want to check the pulse of your spiritual heart, you just have to check one thing. When I do something wrong, do I feel any guilt?

If I don't feel any guilt, that means it needs some serious action, serious intervention. Not a small small thing is not going to work.

I need to visit the graveyard. I need to go to the hospital. I need to go and see people who are seriously ill, people who are dying, people who are struggling. I need someone to slap me in back into reality

because something seriously wrong with me. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he describes this, he says, "An nadamut tawbah wat tawbatu nadam." The essence of returning to Allah is feeling that guilty sensation when something goes wrong. That's the second

phase. The third phase is making an action plan. You need an action plan. You need to make a firm decision I'm never going to return to this.

Once you've committed, now we can start recovering. And so same way the third step in repentance or returning to Allah is making a commitment.

Making a commitment I'm never ever going back to the sin that I was that I've made.

For you to commit to it, you got to realize something was wrong in the first place. And then there's another fourth step, which is if I wronged a person, I need to return their rights. If I scammed somebody, if I took their rights, I need

to apologize. If I backbit somebody, I need to make dua for them in their absence. I need to go to repair what I've broken. And so if I were to summarize the steps of returning to Allah, it's four steps. The first step is

regret. The second step is resolve. The third step is redeem. And the fourth step is repair.

Regret, resolve, redeem, repair. Ibn Qayyim when he talks about repentance, he says, "There is a secret in returning to Allah that most people don't know.

And he says this is a secret of Adam, the greatest secret. And this secret is that Allah when you commit a sin, Allah is teaching you about himself and his names and his attributes. By you constantly committing sins and

constantly returning to him. Think how. The first thing, when you commit a sin often times nobody seen you except you.

And Allah has covered you. So you remember Allah's name, Al Sattar. Allah is the one who doesn't expose you, he covers you.

Number two, when you commit a sin, Allah could send a lightning bolt from the sky and finish you off straight away. He has all the right, but he delays your punishment until the day of judgement. This is Allah's tolerance, Al Haleem.

When you commit a sin, one of the greatest benefits of sinning is that it reminds you that you are fallible and you are human and you're not perfect and it humbles you down and it brings you to the point of sujud. And this is one of

the greatest gifts from Allah that Allah guides you to him by causing you to sin. By pushing you into sin, it makes you come right back to him. And this is Allah Al Hadi, the great guide. When you sin, when you make

a mistake, you ask Allah's forgiveness and he forgives you. And imagine how amazing it is and how generous Allah is.

Not just that he tolerates you on a day-to-day basis, but even when you turn against him, he still tolerates and he forgives you and he has mercy on you and he wipes it clean. What is this except Ar Raheem, Al Ghafoor, Al Jawwad, Al

Kareem? How many names of Allah can come into this interaction? Repentance is the engine of your train that's going towards Allah. It is an engine that's constantly whirring.

You fall and you get back up. You fall and you get better. You fall and you get better until one day you realize you have grown so strong because you have so many wounds and you have torn so many

muscles and you have fought off so many diseases, you are invincible now. And this is really where repentance is taking you to. Repentance, making mistakes, committing crimes is not taking you far from Allah. If you bounce back, it is the greatest way to the

closest of Allah and knowing him and understanding him. And this is the secret about returning to Allah that most people don't know. You see, many of us when we when we make mistakes, we think very lowly of ourselves. We feel broken

to the extent that we continue sinning and continue this negative cycle. But the most important thing you should realize this, sinning and returning to Allah is the greatest growth engine of closest to him.

It is the secret of the Auliya. The Auliya are not close to Allah because they're perfect. They are the closest people to Allah because they are the quickest to bounce back to him.

And this is why the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, "Loula annakum tudhnibun, if you did not sin, ladhahaba Allahu bikum, Allah would have gotten ridden of you, gotten rid of you.

And he would have brought new people who sin and return to him because closest to Allah is not from perfection, but it is from bouncing back every time you make a mistake."