IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST MERCIFUL, THE MOST COMPASSIONATE
THE FIFTH SERMON FOR JUMADA AL-ULA. DATED: 30/5/1447 AH (21/11/2025 CE)
TOPIC: THE OBLIGATION OF REPENTANCE TO ALLAH AND RESTITUTION OF PEOPLE’S RIGHTS
THE FIRST SERMON
All praise is due to Allah, Who says:
﴿ وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴾ (آل عمران: 135)
“And those who, when they commit an immoral act or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins — and who can forgive sins except Allah? — and do not persist in what they did while they know.” (Āl ‘Imrān: 135)
He is the One Who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons misdeeds. Exalted is He, Who has written mercy upon Himself. I bear witness that there is no deity but Him — the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful, the Forgiver of sin and Accepter of repentance. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, the Prophet of mercy, the guide of the Ummah toward every good and toward their happiness in this world and the Hereafter, who said:
“O people! Repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness, for indeed I repent to Allah a hundred times a day.” (Muslim)
May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, his family, and his companions — those who knew Allah, so Allah elevated them; those who obeyed Allah, so He raised their rank. May Allah be pleased with them and they with Him — that is for those who fear their Lord.
As to what follows:
O servants of Allah! I advise you and myself to fear Allah, in private and in public, for it is the ultimate goal of all acts of obedience, and of all commands and prohibitions. Allah the Exalted says:
﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴾ (البقرة: 21)
“O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, so that you may become righteous.” (Al-Baqarah: 21)
Dear listeners! After health comes sickness, after life comes death, after youth comes old age, and after existence comes disappearance. And know that the illness of hearts comes from sins, and the foundation of well-being is repentance.
Repentance! And what do you know of repentance?
Repentance is the door of hope.
Repentance is an open gate.
Repentance is hot tears shed before Allah.
Allah says:
﴿ نَبِّئْ عِبَادِي أَنِّي أَنَا الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ ﴾ (الحجر: 49)
“Inform My servants that surely I am the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (Al-Ḥijr: 49)
Repentance means that the sinful servant — and all of us are sinful and negligent — stands before his Lord with a broken heart, humbled limbs, and a tongue saying:
“Lord! Who besides You accepts my repentance?
Who forgives sins if You do not forgive me?
Who will have mercy on me if You do not have mercy on me, O Lord of the worlds?”
So grant me repentance and forgive my sins, for You are the Forgiver of the great sin.
O servants of Allah! Someone may ask:
“Why should we repent? What are our sins? What are our crimes?”
I say: We repent, O servants of Allah, because Allah commanded you and every believer with you, saying:
﴿ وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴾ (النور: 31)
“And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you O believers, so that you may be successful.” (An-Nūr: 31)
And you must repent because your scale will be set before your own eyes on the Day of Judgment. Your good deeds will be placed on one side, and your bad deeds on the other. Good deeds will not outweigh unless you come with sincere repentance that erases sins.
Out of His mercy toward us, dear brothers in faith, Allah the Exalted has opened the door of hope and optimism for sinners, so that the wrongdoer may repent and the one who has strayed may return to guidance; then He forgives whatever sins or disobedience they have committed.
Allah says: ﴿ قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ ﴾ (الزمر: 53) “Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (Az-Zumar: 53)
In the sacred (Qudsi) hadith is what indicates the vastness of His pardon and forgiveness, and His acceptance of the supplication of anyone who does not associate partners with Him. Allah says: “O son of Adam! As long as you call upon Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you for what you have done, and I do not mind. O son of Adam! If your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky but you sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you, and I do not mind. O son of Adam! If you were to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, yet you meet Me without associating anything with Me, I would come to you with forgiveness nearly as great as it.”
Out of His kindness to His servants, He rejoices in their repentance more than one of them rejoices upon finding his lost camel in an empty desert after losing it, or like the joy of a person whose car suddenly starts working again after breaking down in a barren wilderness with no water and no grazing land. Sincere repentance, O Muslims, is that which fulfills its conditions. If the sin is between the servant and his Lord, it has three conditions: the first is that he abandons the sin; the second is that he regrets what he did; and the third is that he firmly resolves never to return to it again, while being sincere in all of this to Allah alone with no partner. If any of the three is missing, the repentance is not valid. But if the sin involves the right of another human being, then its conditions become four: the previous three, plus a fourth—clearing oneself of the right of the person wronged. If it is wealth or something similar, he must return it. If it is a matter of slander or insult, he must seek the person’s pardon or allow him to take his right through legal retribution, for retribution in this world is better and easier than retribution in the Hereafter. O servants of Allah! Is there not repentance then? Is there not a return? Is there not a turning back to Allah? For Allah extends His hand at night to accept the repentance of those who sinned during the day, and He extends His hand during the day to accept the repentance of those who sinned at night. Repentance is not only for those who commit major immoralities and sins; rather, it is for every believer—indeed, it is a command from Allah. He says: ﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا ﴾ (التحريم: 8) “O you who believe! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance.” (At-Tahrīm: 8)
So fear Allah, my Muslim brother, keep away from committing sins, and strive to free yourself from them if you have fallen into them—before you face death or its signs. Even if for no other reason than what Prophet Nūḥ (peace be upon him) wished for his people when he complained of their rebellion to Allah, saying:
﴿ فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا * يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِدْرَارًا * وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ أَنْهَارًا ﴾ (نوح: 10–12)
“I said: Seek forgiveness from your Lord; indeed, He is ever Forgiving. He will send rain to you in abundance, and He will strengthen you with wealth and children, and He will grant you gardens and grant you rivers.” (Nūḥ: 10–12)
We are in great need of this today, given the trials and tribulations we face in every aspect of life. And it is obligatory, servants of Allah, that you do not ignore sins or delay repenting from disobedience until the opportunity for acceptance is lost. Allah the Exalted says:
﴿ إِنَّمَا التَّوْبَةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ فَأُولَٰئِكَ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا * وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَ وَلَا الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا ﴾ (النساء: 17–18)
“Allah accepts only the repentance of those who commit evil in ignorance and then repent soon after; it is they whom Allah will forgive, and Allah is Knowing and Wise. But repentance is not for those who continue doing evil deeds until death comes to one of them and he says: ‘Now I repent,’ nor for those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment.” (An-Nisā’: 17–18)
So seek forgiveness from your Lord and repent to Him, for the one who repents from sin is like one who has no sin at all.
THE SECOND SERMON
All praises are due to Allah, Lord of all creation, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
As to what follows: There is no doubt that wrongdoing brings a terrible end; oppression is among the ugliest of sins and the most severe in punishment. Allah Almighty has forbidden oppression in His noble Book and on the tongue of His trustworthy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Whoever examines the Qur’an and Sunnah will find hundreds of verses and hadiths speaking about oppression and oppressors—threatening, warning, and cursing them. The intelligent and wise oppressor is the one who hastens to seek forgiveness and pardon from those he has wronged before it is too late, before regret becomes useless, while he is still alive in this world.
Dear servants of Allah, one day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) straightened the rows of his companions on the Day of Badr. He had a stick with which he aligned the people. He passed by Suwād ibn Ghuziyya, an ally of Banu ‘Adiyy ibn An-Najjār, who was slightly ahead of the row. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) poked him in the stomach with the stick and said: “Stand straight, O Suwād ibn Ghuziyya.” He replied: “O Messenger of Allah, you have hurt me, and Allah has sent you with truth…”
The man said: “O Messenger of Allah, you have hurt me, and Allah has sent you with the truth, so allow me to retaliate.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) then uncovered his own stomach and said: “Retaliate.” So Suwād embraced him and kissed his stomach. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: “What made you do this, O Suwād?” He replied: “O Messenger of Allah, what you see has happened, and I do not feel safe from being killed. I wanted the last thing to touch my skin in this world to be your blessed skin.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated for him and spoke to him with goodness.
My noble listeners, take heed of yourselves, for this worldly life passes quickly and disappears. The Day of Resurrection is the Day of Justice and Reckoning. Whoever does not return people’s rights in this world will return them on the Day of Resurrection. In this world, a person may repay with money, and his opponent may pardon and forgive him, but on the Day of Resurrection repayment will be from one’s good deeds. A person is supposed to safeguard his good deeds because he does not know whether his deeds will be enough for him to enter Paradise or not. Our Lord has blessed His servant with countless blessings that must be thanked. But can any servant’s deeds truly equal the gratitude due for these blessings? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “None of you will enter Paradise by his deeds alone. You will only enter by the grace and mercy of Allah, the Most High.” The blessings of our Lord descend upon His servants continuously. No matter how much a person does of good deeds, he can never fulfill the due gratitude for these blessings.
Likewise, a person may wrong others without realizing whether they will forgive him or whether that person will come on the Day of Resurrection and say: “This person wronged me, and I want my right from him!” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother in his honor or in anything else should seek his forgiveness today before a day comes when there will be no dinar or dirham.” Honor was mentioned first because most wrongs occur in matters of honor. Honor refers to a person’s reputation—praising or slandering him. Violating a person’s honor includes saying: “So-and-so is a liar,” which is a direct attack on his reputation. Also saying: “So-and-so is an oppressor… So-and-so takes bribes… So-and-so fabricates lies,” all of this is a violation of that person’s honor.
Among the forms of attacking a person’s honor is saying: “So-and-so is an adulterer… So-and-so slanders chaste believing women… So-and-so commits such-and-such.” Among the violations of honor are backbiting and gossip—transmitting statements from one person to another in order to cause corruption between them. This is a form of attacking a person’s honor by creating discord, and this is among the injustices for which a person will pay on the Day of Resurrection.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother in his honor or in anything else…” The phrase “in anything else” (من شيء) is indefinite in the context of a conditional statement, which means it includes even the smallest, most insignificant matters. It means that even if the item has no worldly value, the servant will still be held accountable for it on the Day of Resurrection. Sometimes people take the rights of others lightly in small, trivial matters. A person may say: “Give me your pen so I can write,” then after writing he puts it in his pocket and forgets to return it, saying: “I will look for the owner and give it back,” but he never returns it because no one is following up on it. These tiny matters are still injustices. How do you know whether its owner approved? Perhaps you took the item while the owner later said: “They always take my things and never return them.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Do you know who the bankrupt person is?” They said: “The bankrupt among us is the one who has no money or possessions.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The bankrupt person of my nation is the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, fasting, and zakāh, but he comes having insulted this one, slandered that one, consumed the wealth of this one, shed the blood of that one, and beaten another. So this person will be given from his good deeds, and that one will be given from his good deeds. If his good deeds run out before he repays what he owes, their sins will be taken from them and placed upon him, then he will be thrown into the Fire.” (Muslim)