Maulana A.S. Desai – Evil of Sin 70 Times Worse After Tawbah
Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem,
Aur farmaya ke tauba ke baad, aik gunaah karna badtar hai, un sattar gunaahoN se, ke jo tauba se pehle kiye ho.
Hadhrat Yahya bin Mu‘aadh Raazi (rahmatullaahi ‘alayh) says, that to commit a sin after tawbah, (you have made tawbah, have repented for a specific sin), then to repeat that sin again after tawbah, it is worse than having committed 70 of those sins before tawbah.
We’ll say it again: to repeat that sin after tawbah, it is worse than 70 of those sins which one commits before tawbah. So serious it is.
Tawbah, it is a promise which one makes unto Allaah Ta‘aalaa. The validity of tawbah: it is dependent on a sincere intention, a sincere niyyat, which one promises Allaah Ta‘aalaa not to repeat the sin.
If there is Ikhlaas and sincerity in that tawbah, then in shaa’ Allaah Ta‘aalaa one will not repeat that sin. Most people who make a sincere tawbah, who repent sincerely, don’t revert back to their earlier sins. But if there is no Ikhlaas in that tawbah, obviously one will repeat the sin again.
So tawbah, it is a pledge which one makes unto Allaah Ta‘aalaa. And to violate that pledge is similar to kufr. It is similar to the effect of kufr. For example, a person accepts Islaam. And after accepting Islaam, he becomes a murtad (na‘oodhu billaah). He renounces Islaam, which is also kufr. And before having embraced Islaam, it was also kufr. But the kufr which he committed after Islaam, it is worse than the kufr committed before Islaam. So much so, that while Islaam tolerates an “asli kaafir” (a kaafir who is, by birth, he’s a kaafir, he is tolerated), but a murtad (one who commits kufr after having embraced Islaam), his kufr is not tolerated. Within three days, if he does not repent, and return back to the fold of Islaam, he will be executed.
So similarly, a tawbah which is violated is a very serious matter. And, if only a person, a person who is insincere when he makes a tawbah (his tawbah is merely a verbal profession), he does not have a firm intention of abandoning or of giving up that sin, such a person returns to the sin.
It’s not to say that a person who makes a sincere tawbah, he will [not] return to that sin. That is a rare case. Sometimes it does happen, but it happens in a moment of jahaalat. He had no intention of committing that sin again. And such circumstances where he relaxes his guard, he fell into that sin, then he renews his tawbah again. It does not mean that a person should not, if he commits a sin again, if he violated his tawbah, he should now just leave it, as it is. No! He should repeat it, the tawbah. No matter how many times one violates one’s tawbah, one should always have hope; and make tawbah, Allaah Ta‘aalaa will forgive.
But the condition is that at the time of tawbah, one has to be sincere. And the validity of the tawbah is dependent on a promise. You have to promise Allaah Ta‘aalaa at the time of the tawbah that you will not repeat that sin.
And if he merely says verbally “Astaghfirullaah, Astaghfirullaah,” and he has no firm intention, then obviously he’s going to repeat that sin again.
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Aur farmaya ke tum ko tamaam ilaajoN se tark-e-gunaah afzal hai.
Hadhrat Yahya (rahmatullaahi ‘alayh) says, that of all the remedies, the best remedy for you is to shun, to abandon, to give up sin. How many remedies (???) remedies for our physical sicknesses, but it’s said, the best remedy: it is to give up sins. There is no better remedy.
There are other remedies, they cure you of your physical diseases, but abandonment of sin, to give up sin, is a sure and the best remedy: spiritually also, as well as for your physical wellbeing, and your wellbeing in the Aakhirat, whereas the physical remedies (medicine, etc.) are beneficial only in this Dunya. Whereas the abstention from sin, it is a remedy which will save you and cure you and save you for the Aakhirat as well.
Aur farmaya ke ta‘ajjub hai mujhe, us bande se, ke jo bemari ke Dhar se, ghizaatoN nah kaawe, magar azaab ke Dhar se, gunaah se baaz nah aawe.
He says, I am very surprised at such a bandah, such a servant of Allaah, he claims to be a servant of Allaah Ta‘aalaa, and he abstains from food, from halaal food. He will abstain from halaal food for the fear of a disease, a physical disease. A Hakeem, a doctor, tells him that he has to go on a diet, and he has to abstain from certain types of food, if he does not abstain from that food, then his sickness will deteriorate. If you have sugar, a disease, and you have to abstain from sugar and other things, then you will regard that halaal food as a poison. You won’t go near to that food because you know what are the consequences. A fear is there. You understand what are the consequences of me participating in that halaal food, that food which Allaah Ta‘aalaa has made halaal, but because of my sickness, I have to abstain from it. So you will 100% keep it aside.
But he said, the same bandah, he is not concerned, he is not concerned to abstain from sin for the fear of Jahannam, for the fear of Allaah Ta‘aalaa’s punishment. For the fear of physical sickness, he will abstain from [food]. But for the fear of Allaah Ta‘aalaa’s ‘adhaab, he will not abstain from committing sin.
Thus we understand now the deficiency in our Imaan. How little Yaqeen we have! We have Yaqeen in that sickness. Because why? Because experience tells us, shows us what are the effects. We see what happens to people. If there is a (???) disease, now because we know, we understand that, we got Yaqeen, our Yaqeen is firm and total in the harms of that physical disease, that physical sickness, hence we will abstain from the food, which the doctor has prohibited us from.
But here, the Roohani doctor, Rasoolullaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam), comes and he tells you, that this is harmful for you. If you indulge in these actions, in these deeds, then you will be destroyed: in this Dunya, in the Aakhirat, in the Qabr, at time of Mawt, (???) you have to go to Jahannam.
Now our Yaqeen, we say we believe in it, but our Yaqeen is so weak and it’s so terribly weak, and our Imaan is so defected that we do not abstain from those sins. In spite of having an understanding that there is punishment for that, there’s no Yaqeen.
And Yaqeen, what is your Yaqeen? You can’t will Yaqeen into you, just making du‘aa, you’ll get Yaqeen, no! It’s a process. It’s a process! You have to struggle to get Yaqeen.
The very first step is to follow the Ahkaam of the Shari‘at. The Zaahiri Ahkaam, the first thing. All the Ahkaam, the acts of ‘Ibaadah, and acts of abstension, you have to abstain from sins, and that’s involved in ‘Ibaadah.
And then to attend to your moral reformation (Islaah of the Nafs). You have to spend your entire life in making dhikr, in du‘aa, in Nafl Salaah, and in Zakaah, and charity, and Sadaqah. But if there is spiritual contamination, there is filth in the heart, the heart has not been purified, then you can forget – never will you get Yaqeen.
Sahaabah had Yaqeen, had Yaqeen in everything what they did. That is because they were spiritually fortified. Nabi (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam) had purified them. As long as the heart, the rooh, the Nafs, these things have not become purified of all the evil, the inward sins, the sins which are inside our heart, in our Nafs, if we have not purified ourselves from these sins, then obviously the effect of ‘Ibaadah (the act of ‘Ibaadah, it has an effect, a beneficial act), but if the rooh has not been purified, the nafs has not been controlled, we have not gained control of the Nafs, then obviously the acts of ‘Ibaadah will not benefit us.
There will be Thawaab, we’ll get in the Aakhirat, but the true benefits of it, we will not gain those benefits, and in the absence of that, obviously there will be no Yaqeen. We will not gain any Yaqeen if our Nafs has not been purified.
Wa ‘aakhiru da‘waanaa anil-Hamdu lillaahi rabbil-‘aalameen.
Any questions?
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[Comments and suggestions for the transcription are appreciated.]