Lecture/Article: Repentance in Ramadan

Assalamu Alaikum.

I think many people dream of being religious one day, or at least that’s what I understood after talking to many sisters.

The key word here is “dream”. Many of us dream. So we think that one day, it will all fall into place and we’ll be great slaves of Allah and we’ll go to Paradise.

Brothers and Sisters, we can’t sin day and night and barely remember Allah  and then expect to get that house in Paradise.

Paradise is earned. And who will earn it? The ones who strove hard for it.

[Note: We do not get into Paradise solely through our good deeds, but rather through the Mercy of Allah.]

Let’s all ask ourselves a few questions:

1) Have we changed at all in the last few years?

-Do we have more tawheed than before?

– Are we more conscious that Allah is watching us?

– Do we pray more?

– Are we more attached to the Quran? Do we apply it more?

– Do we have more knowledge of Islam?

– Do we have better manners?

– Do we give in charity more?

– Are we more modestly dressed than before? [This applies to both men and women.]

– Do we control our tongues more? Do we use them more for the remembrance of Allah or for the remembrance of this worldly life?

– Do we sin less? And if we sin, how long does it take us to ask for Allah’s Forgiveness?

We should all try to ask ourselves in which areas we have improved.

2) If we didn’t change at all or didn’t change much, then why not?

Are we really in it to please Allah? Or are we still worried about what created beings have to say?

Created beings who, like us, fall ill, need to go to the bathroom, will get old and will die (and when buried, will rot in the ground).

Are we attached to them* more than we are to Allah?

[*Them = Spouses, children, family, friends, colleagues, celebrities, you name it.]

And saying “no” doesn’t prove we aren’t. Our actions are what will prove if we are or are not attached to them.

3) When is the time for change going to come?

Allah says:

“Has not the time come for the hearts of those who believe to be affected by Allah’s Reminder (this Quran), and that which has been revealed of the truth, lest they become as those who received the Scripture before (i.e. Jews and Christians), and the term was prolonged for them and so their hearts were hardened? And many of them were Faasiqoon (rebellious, disobedient to Allah).” [Surah Al-Hadid (57) :16]

Isn’t it way past time?

Here are two resources that talk about repenting in Ramadan. Don’t we want to be different people in Shawwal than we were in Shaban?

Here’s the article: Repentance in Ramadan.

Repentance in Ramadan by Said Rageah