How to Have Good Expectation of Allah and Its Relationship to Self-Admiration
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner asks: How can a person have good expectation of Allah, of his deeds, and then of his righteous deeds? Does this conflict with his admiration for himself?
Answer:
No. Having good expectation of Allah means believing that Allah is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. One should not despair of the mercy of Allah, nor think that Allah will not forgive him. He should not refrain from repenting to Allah and say, “How can I repent? Allah will not forgive this sin.” That is the delusion of Satan, and may Allah protect us from it. Allah is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.[Az-Zumar 39:53] He forgives all sins. Extend your hand to Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He). Extend your hands and say, “I seek Allah’s forgiveness and I repent to Him. O Allah, forgive me. O Allah, forgive me. O Allah, forgive me.” Allah will wipe it away and end it. Allah is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful, Glorified is He.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner asks: How can a person have good expectation of Allah, of his deeds, and then of his righteous deeds? Does this conflict with his admiration for himself?
Answer:
No. Having good expectation of Allah means believing that Allah is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. One should not despair of the mercy of Allah, nor think that Allah will not forgive him. He should not refrain from repenting to Allah and say, “How can I repent? Allah will not forgive this sin.” That is the delusion of Satan, and may Allah protect us from it. Allah is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل إذا كان كل عمل فأصله المحبة والإرادة والمقصود به التنعم بالمراد المحبوب — islamhouse.com (1:05:16)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.