What is your opinion regarding a young man who has been extravagant in his sins?
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The questioner : He says: I am a young man who has been very extravagant in my sins, but I am still holding on to the prayer, even though I delay it from its time a lot. I fear that I will abandon it completely and thus become a disbeliever in Allah. What is your opinion? May Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh : The opinion, my brother the questioner, is that you should turn to Allah the Exalted. As long as you have the foundation of faith, and praise be to Allah, through the prayer, strive to abandon sins and perform acts of obedience. Be confident that the more a person turns to Allah, the more Allah turns to him. We ask Allah to make us and you among those who turn to Allah, to whom Allah turns. Allah the Exalted said in the Holy Hadith: So the favor of Allah is broader than your deeds. Turn to Allah, my brother, and increase in acts of obedience and strive against your self. Today, your doing of acts of obedience will be a struggle, and tomorrow it will become a nature and an instinct, because when a person becomes accustomed to something, it becomes a habit for him. Every person has from his time what he is accustomed to. So you must turn to Allah the Exalted with earnestness and sincerity until Allah helps you. And I say to everyone: whenever you turn away from an act of obedience, know that the cause of that is a sin. There is a previous sin that made you turn away from obedience. The evidence for that is His saying, the Exalted: [Al-Ma'idah 5:49] He made turning away a calamity due to some previous sins. Therefore, if you see in yourself a turning away from obedience, hold yourself to account. There must be sins that caused you to turn away from obedience. If you had been pure, you would have been turning toward the obedience of Allah. I ask Allah the Exalted to help us and you in His remembrance and gratitude, and in the excellence of His worship. Indeed, He is Generous and Bountiful.
The questioner : I do not know except for this night.
The Shaykh : No, I mean on Sunday night, in the lesson on the coming Sunday night.
The Shaykh : The opinion, my brother the questioner, is that you should turn to Allah the Exalted. As long as you have the foundation of faith, and praise be to Allah, through the prayer, strive to abandon sins and perform acts of obedience. Be confident that the more a person turns to Allah, the more Allah turns to him. We ask Allah to make us and you among those who turn to Allah, to whom Allah turns. Allah the Exalted said in the Holy Hadith:
Whoever fears
من تقىWhoever draws near to Me a hand's width, I draw near to him an arm's length. And whoever draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him an outstretched arm. And whoever comes to Me walking, I come to him running.
تقرب الي شبرا تقربت اليه ذراعا ومن تقرب اليه ذراعا تقربت منه باعا ومن اتاني يمشي اتيته هرولاAnd if they turn away - then know that Allah only intends to afflict them with some of their [own] sins
فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُصِيبَهُم بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْThe questioner : I do not know except for this night.
The Shaykh : No, I mean on Sunday night, in the lesson on the coming Sunday night.
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1411هـ - 5 — binothaimeen.net (50:56)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.