A Million Little Steps Away From Allah
The Path to Sincere Repentance: Reliance on Allah and the Remembrance of God
Summary
This sermon discusses the importance of sincere repentance and returning to the path of Allah. The speaker explains how people gradually stray from Islam through small compromises rather than major sins, and emphasizes that repentance requires complete reliance on Allah rather than self-reliance. The sermon references a hadith about a man asking the Prophet Muhammad for one foundational practice to begin with, to which the Prophet recommends constant remembrance of Allah (dhikr). The speaker concludes with an announcement about fundraising for the masjid's monthly expenses of $25,000.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Happens that changes a person. Even if one big major sin were to occur, the person is still very likely to repent to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to return to the path of Allah because that is not that person's environment. Off of the path of Allah is not that person's world. However, a million little steps and each time we take that extra step, he reassures us, it's just one step. It's just one time. It's not that big a deal. You can go back anytime you want until before we know it, we have lost sight of the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. till some have been led so far away from that path that they don't even know where to start to look for it again. And so Allah Subhanahu Waaala tells us time and time again do not follow the footsteps of a shan one step at a time. And that is how he takes men and women off of his off of the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. However, in spite of understanding that that a person may step off of the path of Allah and put distance between himself and the path of Allah with repentance, they may reverse that process entirely. With repentance, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revives that once dead or very hard heart. But we have to understand that this is also a process. A person's heart may be back on the path of Allah, but it is going to take time for their body and for the rest of their environment to follow suit. So how do we repent? How do we go back to the path of Allah? Allah subhanahuaala tells us he tells us subhanahua repent and return fully to Allah in the most sincere and complete of ways. Why do we fail at repentance? One of the main reasons people fail in their repentance is because they have not placed their reliance upon Allah in repenting. They placed their reliance on their own self. Our prophet sallall.aii wasallam used to make dua every day and night. Oh Allah, do not place me as a sole disposer of my own affairs even for the blink of an eye ever, ever. Because if a person is left in charge of his own self without Allah's guidance and protection, then the person has been placed at the mercy of an ignorant, weak, shortsighted creature that often times we don't even know what's good for us. neither in the moment nor in the future or the long run. Allah tells us that the human being makes dua and praise for his own for his own failure and for his own harm with the fervance of his same prayer. the same prayer that he makes fervently for his own good. We're making dua for something. We want it. We have that fervor. We have that vehements. But really what we are actually asking for something that is bad for us and we don't even know the difference. And so the human being is not to ever look at himself as a source of strength in this way. Never. And I know this goes against what society around us has taught us. Those of us who have grown up in America especially and now it has reached and has wrapped its tentacles even around the minds of those in the far east. That is you have to have confidence. You have to have self-esteem. You have to believe in yourself. You have to reach inside and pull out that strength. Where is that strength coming from? Well, you know, it is like the ever paradoxical pulling oneself up by his own bootstraps. Ever imagine that? Going to grab my own bootstraps. I'm going to lift myself in the air with my own bootstraps. How? I'm going to bring the strength from within. Where's the strength from within going to come from? I'm going to bring it from without. It's a paradox circular reasoning. A person is not able to make himself more powerful or weaker. We draw our strength and our resolve from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When a person repents, if they try and attempt to repent by relying on their own selves for this repentance, they're going to fail. And not only will they fail, but they will continue to fail until a shan brings you to your knees. Until you finally just say, "This is who I am. I might as well embrace it." A person is not to place his reliance in himself ever, but especially not in repentance. A person places his reliance in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Now this is where the rubber meets the road. Why? Because deep down many people are afraid to do this. Why? Because there are whispers in his heart. There are whispers of doubt, whispers of fears of rejection. What if Allah lets me down? What if Allah rejects my repentance? What if Allah etc. These whispers may even get so bad that they will cause a person to question even Allah's existence. This is not abnormal. This is not something that the companions of did not experience. They all experienced that. Those are the beginning stages of belief really in the grand scheme of things. Whispers that, those are the first steps in a very long journey. Not until a person gives himself over entirely, has the courage to allow himself to free fall and to embrace entirely Allah's fate, Allah's destiny, and to allow himself to be caught and supported entirely by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No more doubts. In spite of the doubts, in spite of the reservations, in spite of the what-ifs. And if a person does this, their repentance will be accepted by Allah. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made promises in the Quran. And we are to look for those promises and take those promises literally and very much to heart because when a person relies upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala entirely impossible that this person will fail never will Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala ALLOW A servant of his who calls out to him, who raises his hands to the heavens, will he ever subhanahu allow those hands to go back down to the earth empty. And so a person must learn to trust Allah. A person must learn to give up himself. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, he tells us, "Oh you who have believed, enter into Islam entirely." Entirely meaning an entire people, but entirely meaning all of each individual person. All of you, your money, your reputation, your body, your heart, your mind, everything is to enter into Islam. There is something for it in Islam.
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Came to the messenger of Allah. Wasam as mentioned by Abdullahbus. Abdullahbus a companion of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. He narrates to us that a man asked the messenger of Allah. Wasam saying,.
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A man asked the messenger of Allah. Wasam. He said, "Oh messenger of Allah, I find it very difficult to keep track and to adopt all of the rulings of Islam. He found that there were so many laws or so many new things coming at him at once that he didn't feel like he knew where to start. And so he said, "Tell me one thing that I should start with and focus on entirely and hold to that if I fulfill this one thing and if I perfect it first, the rest will fall into place." And so the prophet sallall.aii Wasam said, "Make it so that your tongue is always moist or wet with the remembrance of Allah." So here this man asked for one thing, that first domino that would cause that effect that would cause the rest of the dominoes to fall. What is that one thing? He commanded him with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala at all times. Every time every moment that a person remembers himself, he is remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If a person holds to this, every time you remember Allah, Allah will remember you. And if you remember Allah in yourself, Allah will remember you in himself. And if you mention Allah amongst the people, he will mention you amongst a greater set of company. And so Allah is always more generous than his servants. So the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam commanded him with this one thing and if we find ourselves at that crossroads don't try to do everything all at once start where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala started in the Quran one thing at a time reverse those steps until you find yourself back on the path of Allah entirely Islamus.
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Alhamdulillah. Allahbar ill.
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Ill.
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Stand shouldertosh shoulder. Close all of the gaps.
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Alhamdulillah.
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A means.
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For me. forboly.
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Hamidel.
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Allah Allah. Alhamdulillah. for.
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Holy. Amen. for.
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Allah. Say Allah. Allahbar.
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Allahbel So Allah.
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Allah.
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Brothers and sisters, assalamu alaykum. Assalamu alaykum. I I would to request you brothers and sisters, please give us five minutes of your time. Even if you do not donate the donation of your time is definitely is really the tremendous reward from Allah subhana wa t'ala. So please give us few minutes. I just wanted to let you know that we are going to raise funds today for our masid. Alhamdulillah Alam all the facility that this you see here all the activities all this is done supported and contributed by you brothers and sisters. You have done a marvelous job over the years and we're going to ask again our today the run rate right now for the masjid is 25,000 a month which is about our budget is 300,000 so monthly is $25,000 and if you really think about this this includes all the utilities which includes the Rahma Academy utilities also so whatever you're contributing to donating today is going to be also helping that Rahma Academy but also So the the payroll, the all the taxes, the things that we do to make sure the maintenance and stuff is every bit of that is really managed and controlled the best we can. So without any further delay, I would to ask you and and she is going to help me with that. Who is going to donate the first $10,000? Takabir Takir. Dr. Come on, tech.