I will never forget this phone call that I received. It was a brother who wanted me to know that he was going to end his life. He said the reason was because he had committed zina, and he felt so horrible about himself. He felt like he was deserving of so much punishment, and that there was no way for him to have a fresh start.
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My dearest brothers and sisters in Islam, this is exactly one of the most destructive tricks of shaytan. Before we commit the sin, he makes us have hope that no one will ever know, and that everything will be fine because Allah always offers His Forgiveness. But after we commit the sin, he turns 180 degrees and makes us feel completely hopeless.
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But Allah subhana wa ta’ala says in the Qur’an:
“Say: O My servants who have done so much wrong (crossed every limit and broke every rule) and transgressed against themselves, do not give up on the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins (no matter how big and no matter how many). Indeed, Allah is and will always be The Most Forgiving, The Most Merciful.” [Surah Az-Zumar 39 : 53]
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My respected brothers and sisters in Islam, in every hole we dig ourselves in due to our sins, know that we will always find a rope from Allah to get us out – and that rope is the Mercy of Allah. Please don’t you ever tell me that your hole is so deep, that the Mercy and Help of Allah would not reach you. If Allah gave a chance and hope to even the ones who tried to kill Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, will He not thus give you a chance?
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O you who have done so much wrong,
O you who have crossed every limit and broke every rule,
Do not give up.
Do not lose hope in Allah and in His Mercy.
Allah can clear all those records. He can forgive all the mistakes, no matter how big and no matter how many they are.
He is, and will always be, The Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.
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Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said that Shaytan said to Allah: “By Your Might and Majesty, I will continue to misguide the children of Adam, as long as their souls are in their bodies”
(And) Allah said: “By My Might and Majesty, I will continue to forgive them, as long as they seek My forgiveness.” [Musnad Ahmad]
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We all make mistakes, but the best of us are those who repent to Allah, seek His Forgiveness, and make up for it. May Allah forgive all of our sins and shortcomings, make it easy for us to abandon all of our bad habits and sins, and help us become better Muslims.
(You may wonder what happened to the brother. Alhamdulillah, he grabbed on to the rope of Islam and hope in Allah, and climbed out of the hole.)
