By Hafizah.

They replied,

“Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers.”

Tawbah of Adam (a.s): Quran (7:23), Doa to seek repentence

Learning point: FIRST, admit and proclaim your remorse. The One who accepted repentance is also the One who taught Adam a.s. How to seek repentance.

Who took the first step? Allah.

فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِۦ كَلِمَـٰتٍۢ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

Then Adam was inspired with words ˹of prayer˺ by his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Surely He is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful.
Quran 2:37

Heartbeat Reflection

Our heart beats ~60 – 100 beats per minute. The rhythm of our heartbeat syncs up to nothing except “Allah, Allah, Allah”. Our hearts has been programmed and designed to echo His Name. To sync our minds, hearts and souls to choose to sing that same tune is the very reason why we are granted another day. To return to Him with a conscious choice and a heart filled with Him and to clear the clutter that has wrongfully entered this domain. He has never skipped a beat for us, yet do we always get tired or bored remembering Him 🙁 Do we even know how to beat our own hearts? Let us then stir our hearts to pursue Him at every beat He Helps us with.

With His Power, He causes our:

Life to Live Everyday
Intelligence to Know Everyday
Will to Choose Everyday
Power to Move Everyday
Hearing to Hear Everyday
Sight to See Everday
Speech to Converse Everyday
Our Senses to Sense everyday

He has never forgotten to even beat our own hearts for us. But how many times have we forgotten Him? All He is Asking from us servants is to remember Him, declare our neediness and dependence on Him. He has ever been attentive to us even though He is The King while we have been heedless of our servitude even though we are His Slaves.

Our Biggest Battle

The biggest battle for us is to sacrifice time. To sacrifice it consistently, over a long period – to seek Him through knowledge. Imam Ghazali reminds us the importance and the virtue of utilizing our real capital carefully in his book “The Beginning of Guidance” which serves as a stark reminder to us all:

“Your time should not be without any structure, such that you occupy yourself arbitrarily with whatever comes along. Rather, you must take account of yourself and order your worship during the day and the night, assigning to each period of time an activity that must not be neglected nor replaced by another activity. By this ordering of time, the blessing in time will show itself. A person who leaves himself without a plan as animals do, not knowing what he is to do at any given moment, will spend most of his time fruitlessly. Your time is your life, and your life is your capital: by it you make your trade, and by it you will reach the eternal bounties in the proximity of Allah. Every single breath of yours is a priceless jewel, because it is irreplaceable; once it is gone, there is no return for it. So do not be like fools who rejoice each day as their wealth increases while their lives decrease. What good is there in wealth that increases while one’s lifespan decreases? Do not rejoice except in an increase of knowledge or an increase of good works. Truly they are your two friends who will accompany you in your grave, when your spouse, your wealth, your children, and your friends will remain behind.””

X: Avoid being calculative over how long or how much you have studied Islamic knowledge.
O: Watch the Barakah in your time, money and studies when you prioritise seeking Allah

Time spent outside Solah will influence the time you spend in Solah. Your body could be physically facing the Qiblah but is your mind elsewhere?

Say: I’m Sorry Allah

To return and repent to Him for our shortcomings in truly being able to repay Him for His favors to us becomes necessary daily once we realise the constrast of His Assistance and our service. To truly be sincere in our repentance and Istighfar is to mention the words of repentence with the lips and to feel it deeply within the heart. And to realise along the way that even the act and the honor to saying Istighfar is inspired to you by Allah Himself.

Thauban reported:

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer. He begged forgiveness three times and said: O Allah! Thou art Peace, and peace comes from Thee; Blessed art Thou, O Possessor of Glory and Honour. Walid reported: I said to Auza’i: How is the seeking of forgiveness? He replied: You should say: I beg forgiveness from Allah, I beg forgiveness from Allah.”
Muslim

Importance of seeking knowledge

Allah will not take away knowledge of Deen from people at once, but will withdraw knowledge by the death of ‘Ulama until no ‘Alim will be left, people will take ignorant men as their leaders. They will be asked questions relating to Deen and they will give verdicts without knowledge. They being astray will lead others astray.

Hadith

The best of your friends or teachers are those who expose our faults to us, with the intention of wanting us to grow as better Muslims together. Embrace these well wishers who intend growth and positive transformation for us but beware of the pretentious individuals who boost our ego without real cause.

True Companions:

O: Nurture us
O: Admonish us
O: Tough love

Harmful Companions:

X Sugarcoat things
X Feel-good preaching

4 Wheels to tread the path towards Allah

There are at least 4 realities within us and each one of them needs to turn towards Allah to seek His Proximity to pursue and attain Him. Compare the 4 dimensions to a coconut:

Outer Coconut
- Shariah – Path of the Mind/Body (Jism)
Husk
- Tariqah – Path of the Heart (Qalb)
Flesh
- Haqiqah – Path of the Soul (Ruh)
Juice
- Ma’rifah – Path of the Essence/Secret (Sirr)

The 4 realities within us needs to pursue and submit to Allah by purifying it from other than Allah.

What do we need on this path?

A Guide – very important. Treading this path alone can be dangerous!
Taqwa – shameful fear
On guard regarding dangers to be faced – many tests to come

Tawhid – Fiqh – Tasawwuf

All three must function together for Tazkiyatul Nafs (Soul cleansing)

Pleasure of obedience will come
Disgust of obedience will emerge

At work:

O: Know your Rizq has been Decreed/Apportioned by Allah
X: Do not Limit Allah’s Power to a small company as a source of your rizq
O: Work hard and honestly, the rest will follow, put religion (Allah and Prophet saw) first!
X: Avoid praising/complimenting higher-ups unnecessarily. Allah is angered when a wrongdoer is praised. Don’t lower yourself for a human who is not responsible for your heartbeat, breath, sustenance!
O: Lower yourself to Allah, not humans! The people deserving of praise are Wali of Allah (Friends of Allah who are supported by Allah) – These are people who don’t give up on their Iman even in the toughest tests.