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Tawba Barriers: What Stops You?

25 June, 2020
Q How do we purify our hearts? What are some barriers along the way?

Answer

Ustadha Ameena Blake
25 June, 2020

Short Answer:

  • Rasulullah mentioned the heart in such a beautiful way. He mentioned that the heart is almost the center of the body.
  • And if the heart is not pure, if the heart is not clean, then there is a problem with the rest of the body.
  • How do we purify our hearts? The 3 barriers are Tawba, Shaytan and The Loss of hope in Allah.
  • Read on and check out this video.

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Tawba Barriers, What Stops You?

Rasulullaah mentioned the heart in such a beautiful way. He mentioned that the heart is almost the center of the body. And if the heart is not pure, if the heart is not clean, then there is a problem with the rest of the body. SubhanAllah..sallalahu alayhi wa salam.

The First Barrier

Now, in order for that renewal, the first step to be taken is that of Tawba. Why? Through life, we create boundaries or barriers between ourselves and Allah. So, when we are taking this journey of Tawba, we need to think what is the foundation part? The foundation part is clearing out the sins that we have collected.

Now, sometimes we are collecting big sins. Brothers and sisters, you are not collecting big sins are you? SubhanAllah. The small ones we all do them, and sometimes we forgot that we are doing these sins. What happens they build up. Imagine lots of little grains of small sand and you are adding them, adding them, adding them and eventually they build up and you have a desert. This is what the desert is made up of of..tiny little grains.

So, in order to do this Tawba, we need to break up this barrier between ourselves and Allah. So, what creates the need for this? Our sins are our responsibility, we know this but we have to do muhasabah. Take account of ourselves before Allah takes account of us. Because surely He will take account of us. But if we are taking account of ourselves first this journey will be much smoother. Because we have already looked deep inside ourselves.

The Second Tawba Barrier

The second barrier between building a barrier between ourselves and Allah is the Shaytan. Allah tells us that Shaytan is not just an enemy but an avowed enemy to us. But we are kind of chilled out about that, aren’t we?

Can you imagine, I want you to really think about this, sisters and brothers. Imagine sitting in your home and you know somebody is going to come and attack you in your home, you know this for sure. What are you going to do? You will set defenses up, right?

You are going to lock the doors, and probably put furniture against the door. You are going to put your family in a locked place, perhaps a cellar or a basement. So, why is it that even though we protect our homes from an invader. why don’t we protect our hearts from Shaytaan? Why do we not see the Shaytaan as an enemy?

The Third Tawba Barrier

Even if we recognize the Shaytaan and we recognize the sins that we are doing. The third barrier is probably the most hidden barrier, and that is our loss of hope in Allah.

As we think our sins are too big, we have done too much wrong. Will Allah ever forgive me? And we start thinking and maybe even doubting that Allah will forgive us.

So, my dear sisters and brothers, we should never lose hope in Allah giving us forgiveness. Why? Because the gates of forgiveness are only closed on 2 occasions. SubhanAllah, we are told this very clearly, we must never lose hope in Allah.

So, there is a beautiful hadith when Rasulilaah explains about what is called the door of the gate of Tawbah. Allah created this gate, and it is so wide it would take 10 years to travel from one opening of the gate to the other side. Can you imagine this? 10 years to travel! This is mentioned in the hadith.

So, this amazing gate of Tawba is open for everybody. Because Allah is Ghafoor, Rahim ( The Most Forgiving, The Most Merciful). This gate will only close when? When the sun rises from the west.

So, sisters and brothers, this gate is open. It is not just open, it is waiting for us to go and purify ourselves and to ask Allah for forgiveness from our sins. Because Allah wants us to ask for His forgiveness.

And Allah knows best.

I hope this helps.

Salam and please keep in touch.

Please continue feeding your curiosity, and find more info in the following links:

Where Is Satan? How Does He Mislead Billions?

Does God Accept Deathbed Repentance?

Why is Bismillah Missing From Surah al-Tawbah?

Sound Heart how to repent to Allah tawba shaytan's traps purify heart
About Ustadha Ameena Blake
From Sheffield, UK; Ustadha Ameena Blake embraced Islam in 1992. Her academic qualifications include undergraduate in English Studies, Post Graduate in teaching, MSc in Leadership and Management and MA in Islamic Studies. Ameena has been active since 1994 having studied under various shuyukh and academics including Dr Jamal Badawi, Sh Abdul Aziz Atiq (Yemen), Sh Faisal Manjoo, Dr Atullah Siddiqui and others. Roles have included Vice President of MAB, Assistant Secretary General of the MCB and Head teacher of a girl’s Islamic school. She is founding director of the EHUK women’s refuge project and is a lecturer at Markfield Institute of Higher Education. She also sits on Mosque boards and is an Islamic advisor on Halal Guide. Ustadha Ameena lectures about Islam nationally and internationally and has appeared at conferences, fundraisers and events across the globe. Her topics include tazkiyah, women in the Quran, dawah and Seerah and others. She delivers regular live interactive lectures on Facebook and has appeared on channels including Channel 4, Sky TV, The Islam channel, BBC radio, Iqraa TV and others.