Continuation of the Shaykh’s explanation of the Qudsi hadith narrated by Anas, and his discussion of the second part, which is His saying (So seek My forgiveness, and I will forgive you), and clarification of what is related to that

The Shaykh : ... I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said it is a good hadith. Qirab al-ard, with a kasrah on the qaf and with a dammah, is the more famous meaning; it is what is near the fullness of it. Then we recited this hadith to you in the previous lesson and commented on what Allah Blessed and Exalted made easy regarding the first phrase of it, and specifically His saying, peace and blessings be upon him, about his Lord We clarified that supplication in Islam has a very great importance, and that supplication, seeking refuge, and humility before Allah Mighty and Majestic is the way of the prophets. And among what some people suffered from as a deviation from Islam is their saying that supplication is not something to which the sincere ones who stand for Allah Mighty and Majestic resort, until one of them said "Your seeking from Him is an accusation against Him" And we clarified that this is a deviation from this hadith and the hadiths similar to it, and indeed many verses, some of which we referred to the other night.
And now we continue the commentary on what remains of this hadith. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) relates from his Lord that He said The purpose of this phrase is to draw the Muslim’s attention to always being desirous of Allah Mighty and Majestic, humble to Him that He forgive his sins, and not to forget that he is in need of the pardon of his Lord Mighty and Majestic and His forgiveness. Allah the Exalted said The clouds of the sky, meaning the clouds. This is an allusion that the Muslim servant, no matter how many his sins are, to the point that some people weak in faith may fall into despair that Allah Mighty and Majestic will forgive these sins for him because of their multitude, their horror, and their seriousness. In this hadith, the servant’s attention is drawn to not despair of the mercy of Allah, because And this is the text of the Noble Qur'an. Rather, the servant should turn to Allah Blessed and Exalted with a sincere heart in his worship of his Lord, that He forgive his sins. So Allah Mighty and Majestic forgives these sins no matter how many they are, even if they reach the clouds. Allah Mighty and Majestic is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. But here is a note that must be reminded of again and again: In this hadith, there is no doubt an encouragement for the servant regarding the forgiveness of Allah Mighty and Majestic and His vast pardon. But that is conditioned and tied to the servant’s request from his Lord Mighty and Majestic that He forgive him. So this encouragement mentioned in this hadith for the servant regarding the pardon of Allah Mighty and Majestic is not merely a hope from the servant that Allah will forgive his sins no matter how many they are. Rather, that is with a condition and a requirement that he seek the forgiveness of Allah Mighty and Majestic, because He says So this is also an affirmation of the necessity of the servant turning to Allah Mighty and Majestic with supplication and seeking forgiveness from Him. And this is supported by the authentic hadith that Imam Muslim extracted in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said So this hadith explicitly states that the forgiveness in which our Lord Mighty and Majestic encourages His servants is tied to the servants turning to Him by seeking forgiveness from Him. And in this hadith, as some of the heedless imagine, there is no encouragement to commit many sins. Because the hadith says So they take the first part of the hadith and deduce from it an urging of the Muslim to turn to the disobedience of Allah Mighty and Majestic. But the truth is that the hadith was not reported for this purpose, and it is not conceivable that there would be in the Shari'ah an encouragement from Allah Mighty and Majestic for the servants to disobedience. Rather, the hadith was reported to address what a person may fall into of disobedience and sins, that he may rectify that. With what? With seeking forgiveness and humility to Allah Mighty and Majestic that He forgive him. For that reason, He said He did not say "A people come who sin, and Allah forgives them," but rather He said So forgiveness is tied to the servant’s request for it from Allah Blessed and Exalted. And in that is an affirmation, as we explained in the previous lesson, of the servitude of the servant and his submission to his Lord Mighty and Majestic, and his not being self-sufficient without His pardon and forgiveness.
In this hadith, the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that I mentioned just now, there is a reference to the nature of man upon which Allah Blessed and Exalted created him, and that is that man was not created and not endowed with a nature of not committing disobedience. Because Allah Blessed and Exalted, by His wisdom, created the creatures in two categories: a category that is obligated (mukallaf) and a category that is not obligated.
The category of those who are accountable includes humans, jinn, and angels. Then he divided this category into two: a category protected from sin, which consists of the angels alone. This is the statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: The characteristic of the angels of Allah is that they do not disobey Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He; rather, their nature is to obey the command of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. From this, we can remind you of the falsity of the story attributed to Harut and Marut, in which they claim that they were two angels and that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sent them down from the sky to teach people sorcery when sorcery was a profession and craft exploited to mislead people and compel them to submit to arrogant kings. They claim that when these two came down to earth, they were captivated in a long story by a beautiful woman, and they did not cease with her until they committed adultery with her, and she led them astray from their religion. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, transformed them and transformed the woman, making her the star known as Venus. Unfortunately, this story is narrated in some books of tafsir and hadith, but it is a story whose attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not established. Rather, it is from the Isra'iliyyat, and it contradicts the previous verse: How can it be attributed to the angels that they drank intoxicants and committed adultery with that woman? This is impossible. Therefore, the first category is that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created the angels not to disobey Allah, as He said in the Noble Qur'an. And He created the two heavy ones, humans and jinn, with an innate disposition toward sin. But Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in His wisdom, enabled them and decreed for them that they not drown in sin. First, since He created them with a disposition toward sin, He enabled them to be saved from their burdens and sins by turning to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and seeking His forgiveness. The previous hadith means that the will and wisdom of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, preceded in that He would create the accountable creation in two categories: a category that does not disobey Allah, and another category that disobeys Allah. He says to humans: So that there would be a creation other than the creation of the angels, and so that a characteristic or effect of one of the attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, would appear in His creation, namely the attribute of forgiveness; He is the All-Forgiving, the Merciful. If there were no creation that disobeys Allah, Mighty and Majestic, there would be no effect of the attribute of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, which is forgiveness. So in this hadith, there is an explanation of the reality of this accountable category that was created with a disposition toward sin: that they should not rely on this disposition and say, "Since we were created not to be protected from sin like the angels, sin is inevitable." The answer is: Yes, sin is inevitable, but this sin may be small or large. A person is able to strive against his self and not fall into the greater part of it. As for the small amount of it, it is inevitable so that the attribute of the forgiveness of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, would appear in this accountable human being. So we affirm and say that a person must make mistakes, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, decreed this in the creation of man, unlike the angels. This was also affirmed by him (peace and blessings be upon him) in the well-known hadith whose authenticity is established by the narration of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: It is written for the son of Adam, and he is close to the angels, These preliminaries, which are from the minor sins, are written for the human being, so he will inevitably commit them. Therefore, the first part of the hadith intends that the wisdom of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, necessitated that He create humans who disobey Allah in contrast to the angels who do not disobey Allah. But He did not create them to disobey Allah out of compulsion, force, or defeat; rather, they have the choice in that. Nevertheless, whatever they choose, if they choose to fear Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and to stay away from sins and disobedience, it is inevitable that their foot will slip a little or a lot. But Allah, Mighty and Majestic, made an exit for them, so He said: As in the other Qudsi hadith that Imam Muslim extracted in his Sahih: So, do we rely on the guidance of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as most sinful people say when they are called to turn to righteousness? They are told, "Fear Allah," and they say, "My brother, guidance is from Allah, Mighty and Majestic. If He wills to guide us, He will guide us." Yes, He guided you to knock on the door to hear the answer. He said in this hadith: All these hadiths take hold of one another and ascend to this reality: that if a human being is created with a disposition toward sin, or some sin, that does not mean he should remain in his sin, stained by its filth and dirt. Rather, he must follow the path of purification from it, and that is by turning to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and seeking His forgiveness for him.