 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim wal-fajr wal-ayal in'ashu wa-shafa'i wal-watr wal-layli iza yasr. We are in these blessed days of the Al-Hijjah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala swars by. Allah doesn't swar by anything insignificant, anything that he swars by, it's marvelous, it's amazing. Some we might know the meanings of, some we might not know the meanings of. Some it took 1400 years for people to know why Allah is swearing by the bees or the Surat An-Nahl, the miracles in the bees now. That's science proof, but Allah swars by these 10 nights. The 10 nights under these 10 days are according to Abna Abbas, are these 10 days of the Al-Hijjah. Some say it's the last 10 nights of Ramadan, but they say that the 10 days of the Al-Hijjah are the best days of the year and the 10 nights of Ramadan are the best 10 nights of the year, the last 10 nights, because it has little qadr. But these 10 days are the days of forgiveness, because it has the Yom Al-Arafa and then it has day of Nahar, the day of slaughter. Yom Al-Arafa is the day that people stand on Mount Arafa and on the 9th of the Al-Hijjah and they ask for forgiveness. It's a day, everybody is asking for forgiveness, nobody is asking for justice on that day. Everybody wants to be forgiven and they make dua. These are the days of dua that the Prophet ﷺ said there are no better days in the year than these days to make dua. To say Allahu Akbar, to increase saying Allahu Akbar, to increase saying La ilaha illallah, to increase saying Subhanallah, to increase saying these are the basic du'as that Muslims they do throughout the day or throughout the year, but during these 10 days to increase them. But one of the things that really struck me about these days is in reality these are the best days to make Toba, to turn to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala because the generosity of Allah, because the forgiveness of Allah, because the mercy of Allah is so immense in these days. It's throughout the year, but these special days that the forgiveness is really easy to achieve, to turn to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala for those mistakes that we do. In human being, the nature of human being is that we will make mistakes. We are not infallible in our tradition, we believe only the prophets are infallible. They are ma'asoon. They don't have the capability to sin. But human being, everyone falls short, even the saints will fall short, and they make mistakes. But not great mistakes, but they make mistakes. Everybody makes. Kullu ibn Adam khatta'un, the Prophet ﷺ said, every son and daughters of Adam will make mistakes. Everyone. Everyone. But the best of those who make mistakes are those who make Toba and turn to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in the Qimai Sa'adah, in the book called The Al-Qimai of Happiness, has a beautiful Qaida where he says, Why don't people make Toba? Why don't people make Toba when they know that this is something they should do? He said, the reason why people don't make Toba and they continue to have a lifestyle of disobedience and sinfulness are five. There are five reasons he give. Number one, he says, because those people either they don't believe in the hereafter or they have doubt about the hereafter. Either they don't believe in it, for some people the hereafter is like a movie. Or is it real? Is it fake? I don't know. So it's not bil haq. It's not bil haq. One of the things that the Prophet ﷺ reminded us, An'ar haq, wa l-jannah haq, wa siraat haq, these are real. Paradise is real. It's more real than this dunya. The fire of hell is real. The bridge hereafter crosses real. Everything about the Akhira is more real than what it is in this dunya. Than we experience. And having doubt about hereafter will make you fall into sinfulness. Will make you fall into sinfulness. And the state of sinfulness continues and it continues and it continues because you have doubt about hereafter. Or you don't believe it's real. But look at this dunya. If you look at the life of the saints, what separates the saints from ordinary people is that the hereafter is more real than the dunya. The hereafter is more real than this dunya. When they asked Mawlana Rumi, they said about, I said, Is this real the hereafter? He said, I remember. I even remember the hereafter because we came. Irji'i ila rabbi karadiya tan mardiya. What does irji'i means? You go to a place where you have been. Come, come back to your Lord. We were in the Divine Presence. Ma zifalak buda'im. Yare malak buda'im. Boz human jaravim jumlaki an shahramaz. We were in the Divine Presence. Our companions and friends were the angels. We're going to go back because that is our place of permanent residency. This is not the dunya. We are here on visa. For a few short times. Our place of permanent residency is the hereafter. Rumi says, just reflect on yourself. Look, you are a pearl. A pure pearl. What are you doing in this planet made out of dirt? Do you think it's fair that a pearl like you that carries the breath of God inside is made for the planet made out of dirt? You are here just for a short while. You're going to go back. You're going to go back. But how do we go back? We have to connect ourselves to our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Because Rumi said, qafala sallarimah fakhri jahan mustafa. So he said, it's a caravan. And you have to connect yourself to this caravan. And at the head of this caravan is Muhammad al-Mustafa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Guiding you back to where you came from. There was a day we stood in front of Allah. And he asked us in the Qur'an, alastu bi-rabiqum. Am I not your Lord? And we all said, bala shahidna. We all testified in affirmation that yes, you are our Lord. We're going to go back to that day. We're going to go back to that place to the divine presence. That's real. These are realities. This is the hereafter. It's not a matrix. It's not a Disney movie. It's not a fairy tale. It's more real than this dunya. Believe in it and you'll make toba. The second thing that he said, he said that people, the desires of disobedience, sinfulness, have taken them over. And they don't have the strength to fight it. It's taking them over. It becomes habitual. Aristotle said, if you do something, if you constantly do it, it becomes habitual. You don't want these sinfulness to become habitual in your life. And he said, the enjoyment of sins will make them in a state of gifla, heedlessness, that they don't see all of the danger sign that Allah and His messenger told us. It's like a drunk driver who gets drunk and he's driving on the street, on the road. And what happens? He doesn't see it. Stop ahead. Railroad crossing. All these signs come. He doesn't see it. Because he's drunk. He's enjoying his intoxication. And he's driving and boom, he went ahead on collision. He kills himself and the people who are with him. This is the nature of the hereafter is the same. That if you get intoxicated with the enjoyment of the sin, you will not see all of the signs that Allah has put. Everywhere there are signs on the horizon. There are signs in you that Allah is guiding you. There are detours everywhere. But if you don't see the detours, you're going to fall into the ditch. Just like in this dunya, you will fall into the ditch of the pit of fire. So don't let the ladda, this temporary enjoyment. The Qur'an says, You prefer the life of this dunya? And yet the hereafter is better? And more enduring? It is longer? How do you prefer the dunya over the hereafter? How do you prefer the dunya over the hereafter? The third one that he said, he said, this dunya is cash. The hereafter is a promissory note. It's far from the eyes. It's far from the heart. Oh, you know, they had a sheikh was teaching us a class many years ago. He said there was a study that was done about with the children. They asked the children, do you want one cookie now or do you want two cookies later? He said all of the children that said we want two cookies later, they all became like the CEO of the companies. They become all these leaders. But the one who chose the one cookie immediately, they all became like very ordinary low level employees. But that is the, would we prefer the hereafter just because there's some credit, just because it's a promissory note for immediate cash? Really? That's what we're going to do because we just want it now, now, now. That's what the Quran reminds us. The hereafter is better. You know, the dunya is going to trick you. It's going to tell you, oh come on, just grab it. It's now. Enjoy it for a few days. You're destroying yourself. If you take the dunya, you know, Abdullah Ansari said, he said this dunya is like water, but it's salt water. The more you drink it, the thirstier you get. That's the nature of sin. It's salt water. It's not sweet water. And he said, what happens? You keep drinking it until it kills you. The same water is supposed to give you life. It kills you because it's the water that has salt. The fourth category, he said, are the believers, the mu'min. And what do they do? Why do they make toba? They say, you know what? After this, I make toba. After this, I just, after this, I make toba. You know, there are people who say, oh, I go to hajj when I'm old. I'm just enjoying my life then I go to hajj. What guarantee do we have that we'll make it to the next hajj? Right? What guarantee do we have? So this is another problem that, oh, I'll do it later. It's okay. I have time. I'll do it later. I'll make toba. I'm just going to do this. Allah will forgive. And then I'll do it later. I'll make toba. So they just keep delaying, turning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and making toba. And that is the fourth category. The fifth category are those people. This is a very dangerous group of people who say, we know that sins equals to fire. We know that if he disobey Allah, he will throw us in the fire. But come on, Allah is merciful. He's not going to throw me in the fire. I can disobey and you will forgive because Allah has mercy. This is, they're trying to play God. God will not be played, my friend. All right? You call the women and nasimah, يقول أَمَنَّا بِالْلَهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْأَخِرِ This is at the beginning of Al-Baqarah. Allah has put this verse at the beginning of the Qur'an. There are people amongst the Imam. They say, oh, we believe in Allah. We believe in Allah. They say, we are believers. يُخَادِ اُنَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ أَمَنِ وَمَا يَخْضَعُونَ إِلْلَا اِنْ فُسَهُمْ They're trying to trick God to say, oh, we believe? No, no, no. They're not fooling anyone. They're fooling themselves. Those people who are trying to fool God, they're fooling themselves. Because Allah knows the affairs of your hearts. Allah knows the intention. This is why اِنَّمَ الْأَعْمَلْ بِنْ يَعْدِ Your actions are given, rewarded according to your intention. If your intention is not because Allah is looking in your heart, in your intention. So if you're trying to say, oh, it's okay. I can do whatever I want. Allah will forgive. That's not how it works. That's not how it works. Allah will forgive. Allah will forgive. But not you trying to trick God. Not you. But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's mercy is greater than the forms of ocean. So the Qur'an reminds us وَتُوبُ إِلَّ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا All of you make tawbah. Make universal tawbah. Make global tawbah. Turn to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah loves the tawabim. إنَّ اللَّهِ يُحِبُوا الطوابين Allah loves those who make tawbah. You become amongst the beloved of Allah. The moment you make tawbah. What a maqam. What a station to be in. Just to be someone who turned to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and asked for forgiveness. Because the nature of human being is that we sin. We fall short. But we constantly go back to our Lord. We constantly go back to our Lord. There's a beautiful Hadith that Imam Ghazali mentioned in the Al-Kimi of Happiness about a person who makes sin and then he makes tawbah. He turns to Allah and makes tawbah. He said, In that moment Allah will make the angel forget his sins. So they don't write. Allah will make the angel forget his sins. And on the day of judgment when he's raised up his limbs that he committed the sin with Allah will make the limbs forget so they don't testify against him. He stands pure from that sin because he makes sincere tawbah. That's the mercy of Allah if the tawbah is sincere. If the tawbah is sincere whoever makes tawbah the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that whoever makes tawbah and they have sinned is as though they have never sinned. Is as though that sin never existed. That's the secret of tawbah. So may Allah make us amongst the people of tawbah. Inshallah. Alhamdulillah. One of the things about tawbah is that in reality tawbah is a light. It's a light of ma'rifah. And when people make tawbah through that light you will see the reality of your sins. And this is why real tawbah people will hate the action that they did because now they're seeing through the lens of purity of tawbah. They're seeing through the lens of ma'rifah. This is a beautiful lens to put on when you turn. And there's a beautiful metaphor that Imam Khasali mentions about a man who says that doesn't make tawbah because you know what I'll make tawbah next year. There are people who do that. I'll make tawbah next year. I'll make tawbah next time. And he says as though somebody comes and says cut this tree. And he says no, no, I'll cut this tree down. It's too big. I'll cut it next year. He said oh food by next year the tree is stronger and bigger and you're weaker and older. And the more you wait the stronger the tree will get and the weaker you will get. You have to hasten to tawbah. And Muhammad mentions that he says if someone is sick and the only thing they like to drink is water because water is easy. Even when you're sick it gives you energy. It's easy to drink. He said he loves drinking water and he's sick. But the doctor comes and tells him hey this water if you drink it it makes you worse and it might kill you. He said would he drink that water? He would never drink. He will stop because the doctor said it will kill you, it will destroy you. He said how could we send and disobey when we are drinking poison. Sends or like poison that destroys us. And he said just like if you had poison what would you do? You would run to the bathroom somebody say oh that food had poison in it. You want to vomit that out. You want to vomit it out because it will kill you. He said how do you kill, how do you vomit out? All of the act of disobedience all of the sinfulness that we have done. He said with the fire of tawbah when you make tawbah from that hope from that fear of Allah SWT it starts a fire that annihilates all your evil deeds. Everything you have done Allah will purify you with that fire. And you can become a saint instantly from a sinner to a saint when one breath and we have our Islamic tradition is filled with history. Read atar's memoirs of atar on the memoirs of saint. Read Kashur Mahjoum. Read all these books because it will remind you about the people who are sinners and they turn into saint instantly. Read the Mastavi of Rumi's frequent story of people who turned to Allah SWT and he became saint overnight because of the power of tawbah. Now why tawbah is so powerful? Is it because you're turning towards Allah? Who are we to turn towards Allah and there's power in it? It's powerful because we're turning towards a tawbah the one who's turning towards us. And that connection makes gold. That is a chemistry lab that turned dirt into gold when Allah is looking at you not when you're looking at Allah because his vision his look when he looks at you and you're turning towards him it turns you into gold and you will be remembered forever. And this is why we remember all these people who made tawbah. All of the people that made tawbah they will never be forgotten because of the Nathara of Allah SWT that Allah looked at them Allah is at tawab Allah is constantly turning towards a servant and he's waiting for you to turn and make tawbah to turn you into gold to turn you into gold because we're all in Maulana Rumi said that he said without God he said without God even if you're a diamond you will be turned into a worthless rock but with God if you're a worthless rock Allah will turn you into a precious diamond and that's what this turning is so important that we turn to Allah SWT Inshallah And from an outcast Allah SWT In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Living, and the Ever-Living.