As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah
When Ibrahim and his son built the Ka’bah, their du’a included this:
“…Our Lord, and make us Muslims (submitting) to You and from our descendants a Muslim nation (in submission) to You. And show us our rites and turn unto us (in Mercy). Indeed, You are the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.” [al-Baqarah: 128]
The last bit is very interesting because it says ‘tub `alayna’ which means ‘turn to us’ but the term used is the same derivative as tawbah itself (which is what they’re requesting). Subhan’Allah, Ibrahim (as), the close friend of Allah, understood something that most of us don’t understand… There is a step before repentance; a process happens before any of us can repent and that is: Allah first turns to us in Mercy.
This is why in the story of Ka’b ibn Malik (who didn’t go on the Tabuk expedition along with 2 others), Allah says:
“And (He also turned to) the three who were left behind (and regretted their error) to the point that the earth closed in on them in spite of its vastness and their souls confined them and they were certain that there is no refuge from Allah except in Him. Then He turned to them (taaba `alayhim) so they could repent (li-yatubu). Indeed, Allah is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.” [al-Tawbah: 118]
…He first turned to them, so that they could turn to Him in repentance. Subhan’Allah, how merciful is Allah, and how arrogant we can be if we think that our repenting was from our own accord – no, it’s all from Allah `azza wa jall. So let’s learn a lesson from Ibrahim, the khalil (close friend) of Allah, and beg Allah to always turn to us, so that we can keep turning to Him.
Walaykumusalaam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh JazaakAllahu khair
-Sima Sent from iPhone
Amazing reminder.
Jazak’Allah! 🙂
SubhãnAllãh, beautiful reminder. Man’s nature is such he falls into sins, over and over and over. Even if he knows what his errors are and how to stop them.
Had it not been for this immeasurable rahma that Allãh has given you the tawfiq to share with us, we would never have any measure of success and would be drowning in our sins and their effects
Indeed repentance has a very significant place in our lives…for eg. Allah turned in mercy to the man who had killed 100 human beings and even changed the dimensions of the Earth to enter him into Jannah, only because the man was still seeking for repentance (i’m referring to the hadith in Bukhari), on the other hand the man named Abdullah ibn Judan who was always doing righteous deeds, when questioned by Aisha RadiAllahu Anha about his fate, RasoolAllah SalAllahuAlayhiwassallam replied that he would not enter Paradise because he had never asked for Allah’s forgiveness even once. The turning in repentance to Allah, is also one of the many blessings of Allah by which He draws us closer to Him.
Also, in the story of Ka’b ibn Malik RadiAllahu Anhu, Allah was only concerned with the repentance of the true believers and He was not concerned with the hypocrites, nor was RasoolAllah SalAllahuAlayhiwassallam concerned with the hypocrites, which again shows that turning in repentance to Allah is indeed a blessing from Allah. Similarly Surah al-Masad, revealed in the lifetime of Abu Lahab, one of the staunchest opponents of Islam and RasoolAllah SalAllahuAlayhiwassallam, also states that Abu Lahab and his wife are in hellfire…..this is one of the many miracles of the Quran, because if Abu Lahab wanted he could have proved Quran wrong by repenting and accepting Islam in his lifetime, but Allah did not want that, so he showed him no mercy and he never turned to Islam or repentance.
how could any human being write that one person, who they perceived sinned, did not have the mercy of God, because they had never asked or repented for their sin..no human being has a right and IMO furthermore..a muslim, of true faith, who understanding the words written by the beloved prophet Muhammed (pbuh) would never write or utter words such, that another has sinned and has not received the mercy of Allah….because it is not written or in the mind set of a child to repeat that as an adult unless told…. each person is a human,different and all receive the mercy of God…noone knows what is asked in silence of the moment.. What is written is tuned in akin to that of Roman Catholic opinion, who are ordered to go to confession and while lining up for same, judgements can be formed, in front of a confessional where all can be seen which gives the unfortunate perception that a person would not be forgiven, because they were never seen at confession and further within a church…..yet those who in their complete ignorance line up for society to see them, would have to understand, only…Allah knows all…..
Reblogged this on You can tell em I wrote it.
Wassalaam, nice subtle point and beneficial reminder.
Another situation where Allah ‘swt “turned to” (Adam) appears in the following verse:
Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord Turned towards him (fa taaba ‘alaihi ); for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. (Al Baqarah :37) as translated by Allama Yusuf Ali.
Jazaaka Allah khairan, sister!
Great masha’Allah.