Do Not Despair

Bismillah

Chapter (39) sūrat l-zumar (The Groups)

Sahih International: Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

Sahih International: And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped.

Sahih International: And follow the best of what was revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment comes upon you suddenly while you do not perceive.

As we strive to submit to Allah and let go of our desires, there shall inevitably come upon us temptations and pitfalls, and every so often, we will all stumble in some way or another. It may just be negligence, forgetfulness, laziness or impatience. It may also be so much more. The key to staying near Allah is not forget that He is The Greatest, The Highest, The Most Able, The Owner of Everything (including our very soul), and so much more. If we can remember His Attributes and Names, and where they fit in, in our lives, we can then easily know that there is no need to despair of His Mercy and Forgiveness and Help and Protection and Provision and Guidance to what is better, etc. 

Despair is for the disbelievers, the ungrateful, those en-steeped in their desires, those who forgot or forget Allah, those who do not see beyond themselves, who are convinced they know and others do not, etc.  Despair thus becomes Kufr (ungratefulness and forgetting Who and What Allah is). 

So, I'd like to encourage myself and others, biidhniAllah, now that we have embraced the Truth and wish to live it and implement it and grow with it and from it (etc), the one thing we can never do, ever again is embrace despair.

We must accept that Allah is All Powerful and we are very weak. Our very make up is weak, as clay is weak. Yet clay can withstand fire and water, without burning or melting, respectively. We need to hold on to our 'shape' that Allah gave us and that is the Fitra that we were made with/upon. 

So, on those days when our desires overwhelm us, or we become forgetful, or our laziness overtakes our best intentions, etc, let us remember Allah first and rush to hold on to Him, to repent to Him, to return ourselves to Him, to seek Him, to press against Him and take refuge in Him. We might be untrustworthy and given to wavering regularly but Allah is worthy of our trust. Let us then tawakkul 'ala Allah and surrender ourselves anew to Him, at every turn and in every moment inshaAllah

Alhamdulillah



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