STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. All praises are due to Allah, who has encouraged us to increase in intending and doing good deeds, and promised us in return the abode of Paradise by His grace. O Allah to You belongs all praise. We believe in You, Your Angels, Your Divine Books, Your Messengers, in the Last Day, and in Your Divine decree, both its good and the apparent bad. We testify that there is nothing worthy of worship except You, the uniquely One, who has no partners in His one-ness. We are content with You as our Lord, Islam as our religion, and our Sayyid, Sayyiduna Muhammad, as our Prophet. O Allah, send Your peace and blessings upon him and upon his family, his companions and whomsoever follows him in guidance until the Last Day.
To Continue: I advise you, O slaves of Allah and myself, with the Taqwa of Allah, for verily Allah says:
قُلْ يَاعِبَادِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا فِي هَذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ
Say, “O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good [Qur’an: 39:10]
O Believers: A man who had done some sin came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), after he mentioned the sin he had done to the Prophet, the revelation came down saying:
وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ ذَلِكَ ذِكْرَى لِلذَّاكِرِينَ
And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. [Qur’an: 11:114]
A man from the companions asked:
يَا نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ، هَذَا لَهُ خَاصَّةً؟
O Prophet of Allah is this [revelation] specifically for him?
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied by saying:
بَلْ لِلنَّاسِ كَافَّةً
Rather it is for all of the people [Bukhari and Muslim]
So how great is the mercy of Allah with regards to his slaves, for he forgives their sins and erases their misdeeds when they perform good deeds acting upon the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who said: وَأَتْبِعِ السَّيِّئَةَ الْحَسَنَةَ تَمْحُهَا
Do good deeds after doing bad ones, the former will wipe out the latter. [Al – Tirmidhi]
So, whoever does much good, then they can hope that Allah through His grace will erase thereby his previous sins, and exchange them for the good deeds in his record of deeds. With regards to this our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) informed us of a person in this situation by saying:
يُؤْتَى بِهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ… فَيُقَالُ: عَمِلْتَ يَوْمَ كَذَا وَكَذَا؛ كَذَا وَكَذَا، فَيَقُولُ: نَعَمْ… فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: فَإِنَّ لَكَ مَكَانَ كُلِّ سَيِّئَةٍ حَسَنَةً
A man who would be brought on the Day of Resurrection and it will be said [to him]: On such and such a day you did so and so and on such and such a day you did so and so. He would say: Yes… It would [then] be said to him: In place of every evil deed you will have a good deed. [Muslim]
The Scholars say that such an exchange or replacement of bad deeds by good deeds can be hoped for someone who sincerely regrets and repents from the sins they have done. Such people are conscious of the sins they have done, and this consciousness increases their sense of humility and awe before Allah, which further builds their resolve to hasten to righteousness and do more good deeds. As Allah says:
فَأُولَئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا
For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. [Qur’an: 25:70]
Slaves of Allah: Indeed, from the mercy of Allah is that He has made the means by which we can do good deeds and draw near to Him variegated and of different natures and types. So, we can draw near to him by performing the prayer, giving charity, fasting, honoring the ties of kinship, and doing many other types of devotion, all of which help remove and erase sin from our lives. Amongst the greatest of good deeds we can do is that of dhikr or remembrance of Allah and attaining gatherings of dhikr which includes any gatherings we may attend for the seeking of knowledge that draws us near to Allah, which even includes the act of listening to the Jumuah Khutba. In this regards the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
مَا مِنْ قَوْمٍ اجْتَمَعُوا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ، لَا يُرِيدُونَ بِذَلِكَ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ، إِلَّا نَادَاهُمْ مُنَادٍ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ: أَنْ قُومُوا مَغْفُورًا لَكُمْ، قَدْ بُدِّلَتْ سَيِّئَاتُكُمْ حَسَنَاتٍ
No group of people assemble sincerely for the dhikr of Allah, not seeking anything besides His countenance, except that a caller calls out to them from the heavens: “Rise for you are forgiven, as your [previous] sins have been replaced by good deeds.” [Ahmad]
O Allah facilitate for us for the ability to good deeds and bless us with paradise, and accept all of us for Your obedience and bless us with obedience towards Your Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and obedience towards those whom You have ordered us to show obedience towards, in accordance with Your saying:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ
O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. [Qur’an: 4:59]
I say this and I seek forgiveness for myself and for you, so seek His forgiveness, indeed He is the most forgiving, most Merciful.
Second Khutbah
All praises are due to Allah, the uniquely One. And may peace and blessings be upon our Sayyid, Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and upon all of his companions. I advise you slaves of Allah and myself with the Taqwa of Allah, so have Taqwa of Him.
O Believers: Indeed, from the bounty of using our time in doing good deeds is making sure whenever blessed occasions come that we make the most of them. So here we are in the month of Shaban, which is a month in which the subtle breezes of Divine grace come upon us wherein our deeds for the entire year are raised up. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to increase in his fasting, as it is amongst the greatest of good deeds we can do through which we erase the sins we have done. As Usama ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with both father and son) narrates, he once said to the Prophet: “O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), I do not see you fasting any month as much as Shaban.’ He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) responded:
ذَلِكَ شَهْرٌ يَغْفُلُ النَّاسُ عَنْهُ بَيْنَ رَجَبٍ وَرَمَضَانَ، وَهُوَ شَهْرٌ تُرْفَعُ فِيهِ الْأَعْمَالُ إِلَى رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، فَأُحِبُّ أَنْ يُرْفَعَ عَمَلِى وَأَنَا صَائِمٌ
That is a month to which people do not pay much attention, between Rajab and Ramadan. It is a month in which the deeds are taken up to the Lord of the worlds, and I like that my deeds be taken up when I am fasting. [Nisai]
Aside from the devotional deeds mentioned, one of the most important things we can do which aids our sins to be removed, and through which we can hope to be forgiven our shortcomings, is to adhere to purifying our hearts and souls, by having a heart free of grudges and rancor. This entails that we are able to forgive others for their transgressions towards us, and to let go of any bitterness that may still be in our hearts towards them, for Allah tells us: وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا أَلَا تُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
And let them [the believers] pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. [Qur’an: 24:22]
