https://www.khutbah.info/allah-want-to-accept-your-repentance/ Allah Almighty said: An Nisa (4) 26-28: (26) Allāh wants to make clear to you [the lawful from the unlawful] and guide you to the [good] practices of those before you and to accept your repentance. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise. (27) Allāh wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation. (28) And Allāh wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak. These verses along with three other verses were recited to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and he said: these verses are better for this community than all that which upon the sun rises and sets. Therefore, the believer should pause to reflect upon these verses.
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ ,نَحْمَدُهُ ,وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ , وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ,مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ , وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ , وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
Verily, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Him from the evils of our selves. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide. Whoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.
يَا أَيُّهَا الّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ – آل عمران:102
Al Imran 102 : O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.
Oh people:
Allah Almighty said:
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ سُنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ * وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا * يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا-النساء 26 – 28
An Nisa (4) 26-28: (26) Allāh wants to make clear to you [the lawful from the unlawful] and guide you to the [good] practices of those before you and to accept your repentance. And Allāh is Knowing and Wise. (27) Allāh wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation. (28) And Allāh wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.
These verses along with three other verses were recited to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and he said: these verses are better for this community than all that which upon the sun rises and sets. The believer should pause to reflect upon these verses. Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance
Why does Allah Almighty want to accept our repentance?
Our Lord, glory be to Him, blessed be His name, is more merciful to us than our fathers and mothers and more than all the people. And He does not like to punish His servants even though necessitated by His Wisdom and Will. Therefore, He approves iman (faith) and gratitude for them. And detests unbelief and disobedience for them. Allah Almighty said:
إِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنْكُمْ وَلَا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ وَإِنْ تَشْكُرُوا يَرْضَهُ لَكُمْ-الزمر 7
Az Zumar (39) 7: If you disbelieve – indeed, Allāh is Free from need of you. And He does not approve for His servants disbelief. And if you are grateful, He approves [i.e., likes] it for you
And Allah does not torment the grateful believers, because tormenting His servants does not benefit Him at all. Allah Almighty said:
مَا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا-النساء 147
An Nisa (4) 147: What would Allāh do with [i.e., gain from] your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And ever is Allāh Appreciative and Knowing.
Therefore, Allah Almighty rejoices in the repentance of His servants and calls and encourages them to it, and wants and loves it for them. The Messenger ﷺ used to repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness one hundred times each day, due to his knowledge that Allah Almighty loves to accept His servants’ repentance and reward them for it. Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance
Allah wants repentance for us to give us the greatest reward for repenting and to raise us to the highest stations and levels. He wants to accept our repentance even though our repentance does not benefit Him at all. And not repenting does not harm Him at all. Rather all of the benefits or harms return to us. In spite of that, the Glorified wants to accept our repentance.
Allah Almighty wants repentance from us for our salvation, our happiness, and our triumphing. Our Lord invites us to something that He wants from us and that benefits us. So how can we not carry out His command and submit to what He wants while He is our Lord and we are His servants, and in His Hands is our sustenance, life and death, and to Him is our return and destiny, and He is the one who controls our benefit and our harm and our happiness and our misery. So we are either happy and blessed through our repentance, or tormented through our stubbornness and arrogance.
Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance
And His wanting, Glory be to Him, to accept or repentance includes teaching us repentance, guiding us to its path, instilling it in our nature, motivating us towards it, opening its doors, and accepting it from us. Therefore, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the start of repentance is from Allah Almighty.
All of these bestowals from the Accepter of Repentance, the Especially Merciful, were bestowed upon us because He wants to accept our repentance. For if it were not for His revelation, we would not have known what repentance is or its method. And we would have been too arrogant to repent had Allah not instilled in us the innate dispositions of exalting Him and having servitude to Him. And had He not opened the doors of repentance and encouraged us to the point of softening our hearts, we would not have repented. Then Allah Almighty crowns that by accepting repentance from us, no matter how great our transgressions and no matter how many our sins.
And in this worldly life, how many people refuse to pardon or accept an apology, while our Lord, Glory be to Him, accepts repentance from us, and He is in no need for us. In addition, Allah rejoices in our repentance and loves that from us. So what generosity He, the exalted in His glory, has bestowed upon us. Allah Almighty said:
وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ-الشورى 25
Ash Shuraa (42) 25: And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.
Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance
And in Allah’s wanting to accept repentance from His servants is protecting them from the punishments brought from sins and misdeeds, and the effects of sins such as the lack of good things, and the deprivation of blessings, and from the onset of fear, hunger, anxiety, distress and other consequences. It is a call from Him, Glory be to Him, to preserve people’s security and provisions through repentance. Because if the evil desist from their evil, the causes for torment will disappear.
Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance
And in His wanting, Glory be to Him, to accept our repentance is protecting societies from evil. For disbelief and transgressions are the greatest evil, just as iman (faith) and obedience are the greatest good. For if the sinners repent, the evil that they cause will stop.
But the satan and his troops want something else. Allah Almighty said:
وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: But those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.
Yes, what they want is turning away from the path of repentance and persistence upon sin, and arrogance in not accepting the truth. They want to turn us away. But to where do they want to direct us?
They want to turn us away from Allah Almighty and His religion, and away from His straight path to lusts and forbidden desires that storm within the hearts, and destroy individuals and societies and bring destruction in this world, and torment in the Hereafter.
The people of lusts have a path other than the path of Allah Almighty, a method other than His, and a religion other than His. It is the religion of passions and forbidden desires. The religion of disarray and animalistic freedom. The religion of decadence and loss. Allah Almighty said:
وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: But those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.
And they are not satisfied with a small deviation, for that does not satisfy them. Rather they want a great deviation in which understandings are turned upside down, innate dispositions are broken, norms are rejected and societies are deteriorated.
وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا-النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: But those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.
They want to change the structure of society and turn it upside down, such that if someone who left it for a short time, returns, they will hardly recognize it because of the great deviation that occurred within it.
In the next verse, Allah Almighty said:
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا-النساء 28
An Nisa (4) 28: And Allāh wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and man was created weak.
It is well known that humans have unbridled desires that bring them to every source of destruction unless they are checked through religion. Allah Almighty has made it easier for mankind to face the flood of desires which deviate them greatly, especially since they are completely weak in the face of lusts. Allah Almighty said:
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا-النساء 28
An Nisa (4) 28: And Allāh wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.
This is another blessing from Allah Almighty, that He only ordained the Shariah to make it easier for mankind so that they do not transgress, and so that their desires do not deviate and corrupt them. And this facilitation is through two great aspects.
The first is through permitting what removes the need for forbidden desires. An example of this is marriage which removes the need for forbidden relations. The second facilitation is closing every path to forbidden desires such as, prohibiting vulgarity, improper dress, mingling of the two genders, and non-mahrem men and women being alone, and the like. If these paths were permitted, then it would certainly be a great hardship. It would be like placing food in front of someone hungry and telling them not to eat. For Allah Almighty knows the weakness of men and women in front of one another, so He Almighty closed every pathway that would gather them so that they would not be frustrated and so that they do not fall into the great deviation that the satan wants.
أَقُولُ مَا تَسْمَعُونَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
I say what you have heard and I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and you from every sin. So seek forgives from Him, Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Second Khutbah
الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ , وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَاْ إِلَهَ إِلَّاْ اَللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَاْشَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُوْلُهُ
All praise is to Allah, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Mohammad is His slave and messenger.
Oh Muslims:
Allah Almighty said:
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا -النساء 27
An Nisa (4) 27: Allāh wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.
This great verse indicates that Allah Almighty wants repentance from His servants, and that those following their desires do not want people to repent. Rather, they want people to deviate greatly. The believer should reflect upon this verse often, and remind themselves, their households and other believers. This verse describes the reality in which we live with utmost accuracy and clearly reveals what the people following their lusts want for us.
So do we realize what our Lord Almighty wants from us? That He may forgive us, accept our repentance, and be pleased with us. Do we realize the great deviation that those following their desires want for us and our families?
So will we obey our Creator, our Provider, and our Bestower? Or will we obey those who have strayed from the path of guidance, deviated and were not able to repent and attain Allah consciousness. Those wanting all people to fail in repenting just as they have failed and want all people to take their path leading to the Fire.
So beware of obeying the people of desires and following them in what they want. For they do not benefit their followers except in confusion, loss, and displeasure of Allah Almighty, and they bring them nothing but the sources of destruction and loss.
So let us be with what Allah Almighty wants for us and sincerely repent from sins, and let us steer clear from what the people of desires want.
We ask Allah Almighty to guide us to the path of repentance and accept it from us. Indeed Allah is All Hearing, Answering.
هَذَا وَصَلُّوا وَسَلِّمُوا عَلَى نَبِيِّكُم كَمَا أَمَرَكُمْ بِذلِكَ رَبُّكُمْ , فَقَالَ
I conclude with this and send prayers of blessings and peace upon your Prophet as your Lord commanded:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Al Ahzaab (33) 56: Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِنا فِيمَنْ هَدَيْتَ وَعَافِنا فِيمَنْ عَافَيْتَ وَتَوَلَّنا فِيمَنْ تَوَلَّيْتَ وَبَارِكْ لنا فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ وَقِنا شَرَّ مَا قَضَيْتَ إِنَّكَ تَقْضِي وَلاَ يُقْضَى عَلَيْكَ وَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَذِلُّ مَنْ وَالَيْتَ تَبَارَكْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَيْتَ
O Allah, guide us with those whom You have guided, grant us well-being among those You have granted well-being, be an ally to us along with those whom You are an ally to, and bless what You have bestowed upon us, and save us from the evil of what You have decreed. For verily You decree and none can decree over You. He whom You support can never be humiliated. Glory is to You, our Lord, You are Blessed and Exalted.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ كُلِّهِ عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ مَا عَلِمْنا مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ نَعْلَمْ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الشَّرِّ كُلِّهِ عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ مَا عَلِمْنا مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ نَعْلَمْ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ خَيْرِ مَا سَأَلَكَ عَبْدُكَ وَنَبِيُّكَ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا عَاذَ بِهِ عَبْدُكَ وَنَبِيُّكَ اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَا قَرَّبَ إِلَيْهَا مِنْ قَوْلٍ أَوْ عَمَلٍ وَنَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ النَّارِ وَمَا قَرَّبَ إِلَيْهَا مِنْ قَوْلٍ أَوْ عَمَلٍ وَنَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ كُلَّ قَضَاءٍ قَضَيْتَهُ لَنا خَيْرًا
O Allah, We ask You for all that is good, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know. O Allah, we seek refuge with You from all evil, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know. O Allah, we ask You for the good that Your servant and Prophet has asked You for, and we seek refuge with You from the evil from which Your servant and Prophet sought refuge. O Allah, we ask You for Paradise and for that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed, and we seek refuge in You from Hell and from that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed. And we ask You to make every decree that You decree concerning us good
عِبَادَ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Servants of Allah. Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.
اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ واشْكُرُوهُ يَزِدْكُمْ واسْتَغْفِرُوهُ يَغْفِرْ لكُمْ واتّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَجًا وَأَقِمِ الصّلَاة
Remember Allah, the Great – He will remember you. Thank Him for His favors – He will increase you therein. And seek forgiveness from Him – He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him – He will provide you a way out of difficult matters. And, establish the prayer.
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