Part of The Story of Our Mother Hawwa (Eve) (series completed)
· Lesson 24 of 27
The story of our mother Eve | Episode (24) | O Eve, sincere repentance is followed by guidance
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The story of our mother Hawwa (Eve).
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O Hawwa.
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Sincere repentance is followed by guidance.
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O Hawwa.
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You are today in a blessed month.
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And in a blessed night.
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And in the last ten nights of Ramadan.
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And the fact that you have reached Ramadan,
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means you have attained much good.
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Just as the Prophet, peace be upon him, gave glad tidings of this.
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For it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
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There were two men from the tribe of Bali,
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which is a clan of the Quda'ah tribe.
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They embraced Islam with the Prophet, peace be upon him.
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One of them was martyred,
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and the other lived for a year longer.
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Talhah Ibn 'Ubayd Allah said:
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I saw Paradise in a dream,
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and I saw the one who lived longer
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entering before the martyr.
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I was amazed by that.
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When I woke up, I mentioned it to the Prophet, peace be upon him,
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or it was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
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"Has he not fasted Ramadan after him,
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and prayed six thousand rak'ahs,
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or such and such number of Sunnah prayer rak'ahs?"
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Narrated by Ahmad.
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The first was killed as a martyr in the cause of Allah,
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and the second died in his bed,
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but he remained for a year after him praying,
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and he reached Ramadan,
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so he surpassed him in reward,
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and his rank in Paradise was elevated.
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So you, O Hawwa, are today
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in a state of great blessing,
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which is reaching the month of Ramadan and fasting it.
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This blessing requires gratitude.
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And part of showing gratitude for this blessing
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is repenting from sins,
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and resolving to continue in righteous deeds after Ramadan,
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such as reciting the Qur'an,
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performing whatever is possible of the night prayer,
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and other righteous deeds
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that have been newly introduced into your life
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because of the arrival of the month of Ramadan.
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O Hawwa,
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many people repent during Ramadan,
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because of the means of guidance Allah has prepared for them,
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such as the chaining of the devils,
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the opening of the gates of Paradise,
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the liberation from the Fire,
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and other such causes.
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But after Ramadan,
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they return to what they were upon
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of committing forbidden acts,
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or abandoning acts of obedience,
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such as forsaking the Qur'an,
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delaying the prayers,
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or abandoning them entirely,
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or other such things.
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So this repentance, O Hawwa,
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which occurs in Ramadan,
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if it is not sincere,
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it may not be accepted.
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And the sign of sincere repentance
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is that you are, after the repentance,
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better than you were before it.
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This is what we have learned
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from the story of our mother Hawwa
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with our father Adam, peace be upon him.
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Allah the Almighty says:
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﴾Then Satan whispered to him﴿
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saying, "O Adam,
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shall I direct you to
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the tree of eternity
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and a kingdom that does not deteriorate?"
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So they both ate from it,
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and their private parts became apparent to them,
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and they began
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to fasten together
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and they began
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to fasten together
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over themselves from the leaves of Paradise.
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And Adam disobeyed
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his Lord
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and erred.
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Then his Lord chose him,
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and turned to him in forgiveness,
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and guided him.
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Abu Zahrah said,
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may Allah have mercy on him:
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The word "then" (thumma) implies
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sequence and a lapse of time,
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indicating the distance
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between the two ranks:
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the rank of disobedience and error,
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and the rank of being chosen,
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and guidance.
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Being chosen (al-ijtiba') is selection
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and purification.
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He was chosen initially
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by being made the first of His creation,
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and he was chosen a second time
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by being selected for the test.
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And He accepted his repentance from this
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disobedience that he committed.
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So Allah the Almighty returned
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to him with forgiveness,
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as he returned to Him with the feeling
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of his error.
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And Allah the Almighty returned
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to him with forgiveness,
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and then with guidance thereafter.
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This meaning points
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to the fact that error is in the nature
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of the human being, and repentance
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is the character of the guided.
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And Allah the Almighty is Forgiving,
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Merciful.
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After the sin our mother Hawwa committed,
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which was eating from the tree,
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the one who caused
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this sin
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was Satan,
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for he always strives to lead
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the human being astray.
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But this sin also
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was a cause for the repentance
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of our mother Hawwa and her guidance.
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Al-Sa'di said,
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may Allah have mercy on him:
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"He was, after the repentance, better than he was before it."
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And the plot of the enemy turned
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against him, and his deception failed.
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Thus, the blessing was completed for him
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and for his descendants,
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and it became incumbent upon them to uphold it
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and to acknowledge it,
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and to be on guard
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against this enemy who is lying in wait,
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accompanying them night and day.
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And Ibn Taymiyyah said,
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may Allah have mercy on him:
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"Adam repented and turned back to Allah,"
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and he and his wife said:
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﴾Our Lord, we have wronged
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ourselves,
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and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us,
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we will surely be among the losers.﴿
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So Allah accepted his repentance,
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chose him, and guided him,
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and sent him down to the earth
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to work therein by His obedience,
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so that Allah might raise
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his rank thereby,
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and his entry into Paradise
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after this would be more perfect
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than it was before.
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So whoever among the children of Adam commits a sin,
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and follows the example of his father Adam
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in repentance, he will be successful.
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And if he repents, believes, and does righteous deeds,
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Allah will replace
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his evil deeds with good deeds,
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and he will be, after the repentance,
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better than he was before the sin,
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like all the allies of Allah,
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the righteous.
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O Hawwa,
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your state after repentance
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reveals the extent of the sincerity
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of your repentance.
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And your state after Ramadan
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reveals the sincerity of your deeds,
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your repentance, and your supplication.
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Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"This is why you find
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the sincere repentant person
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more steadfast in obedience,
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more desirous of it,
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and more cautious of sin
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than many of those
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who have not been tested with a sin.
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Repentance may even
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result in good deeds for him
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that would not be attained by one who was not
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like him, repentant from sin.
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And we do not say
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that everyone who sins and repents
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is better than one who did not commit
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that sin;
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rather, this varies according to
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the states of people.
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For among people are those who become
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better after repentance,
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and among them are those who return to what they were,
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And among them are those who do not return
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to their former state.
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As for these three categories,
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among them is one who is superior
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to one who did not sin and repent.
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Among them is one who is equal to him,
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and among them is one who is inferior to him.
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Ibn al-Qayyim,
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may Allah have mercy on him, explains the words of his teacher,
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Ibn Taymiyyah, saying:
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"This depends on the strength
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of the repentance and its perfection,
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and what the sin has produced
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in the servant in terms of humility, submissiveness,
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turning back to Allah, caution,
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fear of Allah,
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and weeping out of fear of Allah."
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For these matters may strengthen
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until the repentant person
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returns to a rank higher than his previous one,
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and he becomes, after
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his repentance, better than he was
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before the sin.
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Thus, the sin may be,
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in his case, a mercy,
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for it purged from him the disease of vanity,
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and freed him from his self-reliance
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and his pride
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in his own deeds.
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It placed his cheek of supplication, humility,
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and brokenness
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upon the threshold of the door of his Master
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and Protector.
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It made him know his own capacity,
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and made him witness his need
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for his Master’s protection of him,
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for His pardon,
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and for His forgiveness.
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It cast out from his heart
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the arrogance of obedience,
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and humbled his pride so that he would not boast
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of it, or become arrogant through it,
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or see himself through it
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as better than others.
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It caused him to stand before his Lord
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in the position of the sinful, the erring,
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with head bowed
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before his Lord,
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ashamed and fearful of Him,
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viewing his own obedience as insignificant,
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and viewing his disobedience as grave.
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He recognized himself
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by deficiency and blameworthiness,
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while his Lord is unique
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in perfection, praise,
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and faithfulness.
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So this category, O Hawwa',
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is the one that benefited from its sin
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through sincere repentance,
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so Allah guided him to the truth,
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and his states changed
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for the better,
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and the signs of guidance appeared upon him.
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May Allah make me and you
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of this category.
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We shall continue in a
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future meeting, if Allah wills.
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And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
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The story of our mother Hawwa'.