Editorial

The Illusion of Certainty

In the old times, believers thought of sins as great transgressions against Allah with grave consequences. Every wrongful deed, offense, or misstep would cause a deep sense of grief and trepidation in the believers of past ages. Over the course of centuries, this conscientious outlook has been allowed to fade away into stories and whispers in distant memories. In its stead, the desensitized perspective of the modern world has risen, which imposes a strict regimen of maintaining a hectic pace on the proverbial hamster wheel, reducing our life choices to toggling the switch between a binary choice of “work” and “pleasure” at the expense of everything that makes us “human.” Somewhere along this behavioral devolution, we seem to have forgotten, or worse, chosen to ignore what our sins are, and even the whole concept of sin.

A believer should view their sins as tall as mountains, as devastating as earthquakes, and as dire and withering as death. This may seem like an exaggeration at first but when we think about who we are committing sins against, the unfathomable majesty and might of the one whose commands we spurn by straying from the path, it will help lift the wool from our eyes with the staggering realization of how gravely we put ourselves in danger.

In our struggle to avoid the disastrous consequences of sins overtaking our lives, tawbah is a gate leading to salvation and remains open for as long as the sun continues to rise from the east. And most importantly, it encompasses anyone and everyone who turns to Allah with heartfelt remorse. Allah the Most Merciful can accept even a single repentant step taken towards him as an excuse to forgive a wayward soul. Allah’s mercy often rains down upon the lowest of the low, on the most unsuspecting of people and for the most unexpected reasons. So, none of us have any right to turn so much as a judgmental glare or harbor a deploring thought against others, even if they are not exactly a shining example of piety. What we must have in our hearts is humility before Allah’s judgment, fear that we may not be among those He blesses with His forgiveness, and hope that we may receive the gift of His eternal rida: in other words, adab, hawf and raja. These are all we are entitled to claim for ourselves, not the knowledge of who is saved and who is condemned.

If we are not among the sinners some make the fatal mistake of looking down on, it is because of Allah’s grace and not our worth. If we are rightly guided and shown the better way, the Muslim way to live this life, it is because Allah, the Provider of Guidance, led us to Himself and placed us among His good servants out of His benevolence, not because we earned it. For this reason, it is hoped that those who turn to Allah in repentance, adab and humility are graced by His forgiveness, protection and benefaction. It is also feared that those whose worship is accompanied by a sense of pride and whose piety decays into self-righteousness and arrogance find only disgrace for their efforts in the afterlife.

I hope to see you in the March issue inshallah.

M. Galip Dönmez