Striving against the self and guarding against its desires
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
A young man is afflicted with some of Satan’s whispers, and he commits some sins that weaken faith; what is his position regarding this?
Answer:
The young man and the old man are both equal in this; they must fear Allah, and guard against being swept along by the self that commands evil, and guard against the sins of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) wherever one is.
So the young man, the old man, the man, and the woman, all those who are accountable, must guard against the prohibitions of Allah, and not be swept along by sins, and not obey Satan in what he calls them to. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:[An-Nazi'at 79:40] So indeed, Paradise is the refuge [Al-Nazi'at: 40, 41].
So one must strive against the self, guard against its desires, and incline toward what it wants of the forbidden pleasures. This is not limited to beards, or to unlawful sexual intercourse, or to anything else, but rather all prohibitions, all sins, one must guard against all of them, whether men, women, young people, or the elderly, it is upon all of them. And if one falls into any of that, let him hasten to repentance and reform, and Allah accepts the repentance of those who repent.
So repentance is necessary; one should not despair, not lose hope, not feel safe from the scheme of Allah, and not linger in sins. No, rather, one must hasten to repent, and that is by regretting the past, and resolving not to return to sins, and abandoning them, and guarding against them, and returning injustices to their owners if there are injustices with him.
This is how repentance is, with sincerity in that, and fear of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and seeking His help, and seeking His steadfastness, then the company of the good people after that. He does not return to his bad companions until they drag him into sin. If he repents, he goes to the good people and keeps the company of the good, righteous people. If he does not find anyone, let him stay in his home and his mosque, along with his trade in which he is engaged, with the fear of Allah in that, and guarding against everything that angers Him (Glorified and Exalted is He).
A young man is afflicted with some of Satan’s whispers, and he commits some sins that weaken faith; what is his position regarding this?
Answer:
The young man and the old man are both equal in this; they must fear Allah, and guard against being swept along by the self that commands evil, and guard against the sins of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) wherever one is.
So the young man, the old man, the man, and the woman, all those who are accountable, must guard against the prohibitions of Allah, and not be swept along by sins, and not obey Satan in what he calls them to. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:
But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination,
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى So one must strive against the self, guard against its desires, and incline toward what it wants of the forbidden pleasures. This is not limited to beards, or to unlawful sexual intercourse, or to anything else, but rather all prohibitions, all sins, one must guard against all of them, whether men, women, young people, or the elderly, it is upon all of them. And if one falls into any of that, let him hasten to repentance and reform, and Allah accepts the repentance of those who repent.
So repentance is necessary; one should not despair, not lose hope, not feel safe from the scheme of Allah, and not linger in sins. No, rather, one must hasten to repent, and that is by regretting the past, and resolving not to return to sins, and abandoning them, and guarding against them, and returning injustices to their owners if there are injustices with him.
This is how repentance is, with sincerity in that, and fear of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and seeking His help, and seeking His steadfastness, then the company of the good people after that. He does not return to his bad companions until they drag him into sin. If he repents, he goes to the good people and keeps the company of the good, righteous people. If he does not find anyone, let him stay in his home and his mosque, along with his trade in which he is engaged, with the fear of Allah in that, and guarding against everything that angers Him (Glorified and Exalted is He).
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.