Hud 90: Ask for forgiveness from your Lord and then repent to Allah. Verily, my Lord is Raheem (the One Who very generously accepts repentance) and Wadud (the one Who likes those servants who repent).”

We continue. Verse 90, Surah Hud, verse 90.

Ask your Lord for forgiveness. Yes, people must (?) ask Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness – they must. Because Allah created us deficient, created us deficient in mind. In many things we think we are doing right, we see that we are making mistakes. For example, if you ask a person this, a person – mostly the elderly grasp this much better, what I am going to describe. Maybe he says: my mind of a month ago, or five months ago, I don't like now. My mind of a year ago I don't like now, he says. Was that mind of a year ago not right? It was right, but now he doesn't like it. Why? It developed. His mind developed.

Thinking he was doing right, he made many mistakes. Then he saw that the things he called right were wrong. So we too are doing right, and what do we say? We do wrong. Because we were created deficient, truly created deficient, and because, in the face of so many blessings Allah Almighty has given, we are in error, at every moment we must repent. That is, we say: My Allah, forgive us the sins we have committed knowingly or unknowingly. I repeat the prayer of Jonah (peace be upon him) a lot, every day. Every day, several times even. What do I say? O Lord, I have wronged my soul, forgive me, I say. How?

I have done wrong. I may have committed errors unknowingly. And earned sins. Isn't this a wrong against my soul? It is a wrong. There is also a hadith of the Prophet. Whoever says this prayer, he says, Allah Almighty gives him, as Jonah was given, in return for the prayer (?), he says. Yes.

Ask your Lord for forgiveness. Then repent to Him, it says. Repentance. Yes. Repent because we are at fault. In the face of these blessings He has given, as far as we can – total ingratitude; since we do not fully offer Him the thing, the thanks, we fall into an ungrateful state. From this state too we must repent and seek forgiveness. Surely my Lord is most merciful. He loves His repentant servants very much, it says. He loves His repentant servants very much. Why does He love them? Why did Allah Almighty create us deficient in mind? So that we know our helplessness and know our Lord as great, Allah Almighty created our minds deficient.

In this case, if a person repents for the mistakes he has made, because it accords with Allah Almighty's purpose in creating, Allah Almighty grants that servant great ranks, bestows them, and loves him very much because he repented. That is: O my Allah, I have known my self in helplessness. And Your Being as the Creator. In every case we are helpless to render You our thanks. Pardon us. Forgive us for the sins we have committed, we say. And Allah Almighty, in the face of our Lord's greatness and in the face of our helplessness, because it accords with our Lord's purpose in creating us, raises our station by degrees.

He also says to David (peace be upon him): O David, how did you come to know Me? And David says: O Lord, I knew Your Being as Creator and my self as helpless, he says. Now you have known Me, He says. Yes. If a person cannot reform his nafs through the worship he performs, if he still lives intertwined with his nafs and worship (?) him no benefit, that worship is a burden to him. Because the Prophet (peace be upon him) has a hadith to that effect. If the worship you perform doesn't keep you from evil, it is a burden to you, he says. Then why did Allah Almighty make worship obligatory for us? Why did He (?) us with prayer?

Why does He have us fast? Why does He have us give zakat? Why does He have us help people with sadaqat al-fitr? To break the grandeur of our nafs, to know our helplessness, to be merciful toward Allah's creatures – that is why Allah laid down His law. A person like this cannot do evil, because of his compassion. When he fasts, his heart and soul soften. Because of this softness he becomes more merciful to Allah's servants and more obedient toward his Lord. Prayer constantly makes that person remember Allah. Through worship it keeps him from evils. In this case the person becomes a servant just as Allah Almighty wishes. But if a person both prays and fasts, and pays zakat, and also lives with his nafs as he pleases, then, as we always say, he becomes like a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

He pours in at one place, from above, and it spends out at another, from below. That is, what is this? The evils he has done and the good deeds he has done either are equal to each other, or the evils are more than the good deeds. In this case the person either marks time, or falls from his place, his station. That is why the Prophet says this in his hadiths: When you commit a sin, immediately do a good deed in return, so that that good deed takes that sin away, he says. Takes it away. Yes. For this – why did man come into the world? He came to make himself a witness to himself, to those around him and to Allah.

In this hidden world, where our Lord is not seen, the covenant that man had given – he came to live it in this world without seeing his Lord. To live. At the end of this life of ours, according to the verse, Every soul will taste death and your return is to Me, we will turn to our Lord. This world is a guesthouse. We will come and pass on. So if in this world we know Allah as the Truth, if we know our Lord as Lord and try to carry out His command upon us – and Allah Almighty does not lay on a person anything beyond his power to bear – then a person continues his worship according to his strength.

According to his strength he helps, even if only five kuruş. He helps with five kuruş. If he is not in a position to, Allah does not lay that burden on him. What does he do then? He receives zakat. He receives sadaqat al-fitr.

These too are written to that person as reward. Reward. For me to do a good deed, there has to be a situation before me. Because that person is (?) reward to that situation, he too – and I receive reward. The person who gives zakat is carrying out Allah's command. He does not give that zakat to the person (?). He gives it to Allah. And the person receiving zakat is not taking it from that person. He takes it from Allah. Come on, outside of zakat, say: give me money. To a man. He'd gouge your eyes out. He won't give. But at zakat time he comes and gives you money. Why does he give? He gives not to you but to Allah.

He carries out what Allah said. And you take it from that person, but Allah has it given to you from that person's hand. So here both of you, giver and receiver, receive from Allah. The rewards are shared.

So Allah in no way lays anything beyond a person's power on a person. Yes.

So now the verse, of Surah Hud, verse 90, we are reading. What have we written here? We explained it. O my people! Ask your Lord for forgiveness. Seek pardon. Say: O Allah, absolute Owner of the universe, we, falling into heedlessness toward You, have done ignorant deeds. We associated partners with You. We did bad deeds. Now, out of pity for us, with the prophet You sent, You have shown us the right way. We have understood our mistakes. Forgive us. We give You our word that we will not oppose Your verses again. We obey and believe the prophet who is among us – say this. Yes, say it. Submit to Allah and Allah's Messenger.

O my Allah, Your forgiveness is abundant and You are the Owner of mercy. You pardon those who turn to You. You love Your repentant servants very much. So we too repent in Your presence. We do not believe there is any god but You. Say this, he says – Hud (peace be upon him) addressing his people. Allah loves His repentant servants very much. Allah created people, within their own wills, so that His Being would be known. For this reason Allah created people deficient in mind. Created them deficient in mind. Yes.

For this reason Allah created people deficient in mind. Through the mistakes people make – when people realize they have made mistakes, and turn to their Lord and ask Him for pardon, they find Allah to be most forgiving. Yes.

People's asking their Lord for pardon – their grasping Allah as Creator, that Allah's Being is to be known and that there is no god but Him, that Allah, Owner of the universe, created all these beings, that people are provided for by that One Allah, and that they will go to His presence again – since it accords with Allah's purpose in creating, people's repenting often is so that they know their helplessness before Allah Almighty. That is why Allah forgives every servant who turns to Him and asks His forgiveness, without exception.

Moreover He even turns these servants' sins into rewards.

Even if the sins you have committed, it says, reach the clouds in the sky – this is a hadith –

when you turn to Allah with repentance and seeking forgiveness, with a sincere heart, Allah Almighty turns your evil deeds into good ones, it says. Yes. As long as a person knows his Lord, obeys His commands, realizes his mistake, gets off the crooked path and finds the sirat al-mustaqim, the perfectly straight path. The perfectly straight path.

To those who cannot find the straight path, prophets or scholars He sends. Because Allah is very merciful to His servants and very devoted to them. He wants to protect them from every kind of evil. For this reason Allah lights the way before them, sending His prophets and books. Yes.