Allah sees every sin and holds us accountable
“Everything is being recorded and everything is going to be presented in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.”
We fall into sin when we forget that Allah is watching us, is with us, knows our hearts, and will hold us accountable, yet no matter how great our sins, sincere faith and Allah's mercy can outweigh them all.
The khutbah in 8 steps
- Opening call to abandon all sin, public and private, and to be a full-hearted believer
- Refraining from sins draws you closer to Allah than extra individual worship
- Four causes of sin: feeling unwatched, no one nearby, no one will find out, no consequences
- Quranic remedies for each cause: Al-Mirsad, Allah's presence, His knowledge of eyes and hearts, Day of Judgment punishment
- Four witnesses to every deed: the spot of earth, the two angels, one's own body parts, the scroll of deeds
- Individual accountability, but entry into Jannah is only through Allah's mercy
- The hadith of the man whose 99 scrolls of sins were outweighed by one shahada
- Closing exhortation and du'a: never despair, renew faith, pray for death upon iman
In the khateeb's words
“That when you refrain from sins That brings you more closer to Almighty God Than any individual worship can bring you”
“So you can think of it kind of like security cameras Or surveillance cameras Everything is being recorded And everything is going to be presented In front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala”
“It is only through the mercy of Almighty God that we will enter into paradise There is no person who will enter into paradise Without the grace and mercy of Almighty God”
“That never in your life Become discouraged That it's too late For you to turn back To Almighty God Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala It's never too late As long as you are alive As long as you are breathing”
For the dinner table
Today the imam taught that Allah asks us to leave every sin, the ones people see and the ones done in secret. He explained four tricks our minds play, thinking no one is watching, no one is nearby, no one will find out, or that there will be no consequences, and answered each with a verse of the Quran. He told us that everything we do leaves witnesses: the ground beneath us, two angels on our shoulders, our own hands and feet, and a scroll recording it all. But the most beautiful part was the ending: even a man with ninety-nine long scrolls of bad deeds was saved by one small paper saying la ilaha illa Allah, because Allah's mercy is greater than His anger. So the message is hope, while we are alive, it is never too late to come back to Allah.
- If you knew the spot you were standing on would talk about you one day, what would you want it to say?
- Why do you think one small good deed could weigh more than ninety-nine scrolls of bad deeds?
- What is one thing you could stop doing this week that you usually only do when no one is watching?
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