How can I get rid of the effects of my sins and attain Allah’s consent?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Loving Allah and knowing that He is pleased with us is difficult to understand because it is an abstract state. A person can say I love Allah. However, since it expresses an inner feeling, we need to show it outwardly.

On the other hand, questions such as “Is Allah pleased with us? What kind of servants are we in His sight?” are also difficult to understand. There must be a way to understand it too.

Allah informs us in the following verse the way to understand that we love Allah and that Allah is pleased with us:

“O Muhammad! Say: ‘If ye do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you’...” (Aal-i Imran, 3/31)

It is important to note that the sign of our love for Allah is to live Islam by following the Prophet (pbuh). If we live our lives following the Prophet (pbuh), we can safely say that Allah loves us in conclusion.

For example, how do you know that you love your father and mother? If you do what they want and give up what they do not like, it is clear that you love them. Even if they do not tell us, we know that they love us too. If it were the other way around, if someone said, ‘I do not do any of what they say, but look at my heart; I love them very much,’ who would believe them?

It means Allah created our Prophet (pbuh) as a model and showed the best examples in him. We should understand the verse above as follows:

“If you love Me, follow the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), whom I sent to you as a prophet. Then, understand that I love you too.”

To sum up: The indicator of Allah’s love for us is how much we resemble the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We can draw conclusions accordingly.

The road map for you, for us and for all people is the Quran and the Sunnah; we cannot recommend anything else to you. That is to say, to accept the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) as our guide, to index ourselves to them and to read the subjects and books of belief with meditation. In other words, if you can find Quranic books and books related to belief, or if you can benefit from them by being with figures who meditate and reflect on those issues, it will be beneficial for both your world and hereafter.

Performing the daily prayers on time, being careful about major sins and doing tasbihat after daily prayers will also improve you.

- What is taqwa and who is called a muttaqi?

Taqwa means fearing, avoiding, keeping away from sins due to the fear of Allah.  Muttaqi means a believer who lives based on taqwa.

The first thing that comes to the mind about taqwa is to abandon harams (forbidden things). After that, avoiding makruh things follow. Makruh means deeds, words or states that are not regarded appropriate. To abandon makruhs is also a sign of taqwa. Next are doubtful things. They are close to harams like makruh things. Taqwa necessitates abandoning things about which there are not definite decrees in case they are haram. Then, mubah (permissible) and halal things follow. Taqwa necessitates using them sufficiently and avoid extravagance.  

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states the following in a hadith:

“Halals are certain and harams are certain. However, there are some doubtful things between them. When a shepherd pastures his sheep near a wood, it is possible that the sheep can enter the wood any time; similarly, a person who does not avoid doubtful things might fall into haram.” (Bukhari, İman, 39)

Doubtful things are close neighbors of haram things. It is highly probable for a person who enters that region to enter haram area. A buffer zone appears between harams and a person who avoids doubtful things.

The following is a lesson of taqwa from the Quran:

“...fear the Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, which is prepared for those who reject Faith.” (al-Baqara, 2/24)

Tafsir scholars say the stones mentioned in the verse are idols. Along with the terror of Hell whose fuel is stones, there is another threat that intimidates believers: To burn together with idols, to be together with them in the same place and to be treated in the same ways as them.  

Taqwa and righteous deeds are two principles that are fundamental in the progress of the spirit and heart. One obtains spiritual profits through righteous deeds. These profits are maintained through taqwa; thus, a person keeps away from loss. A person who does not close the ways of haram may lose more than what he earns and may go bankrupt.

The following hadith related to bankruptcy is very intimidating and frightening:

“The poor of my umma would be he who would come on the Day of Judgment with deeds like prayers, fasting and zakah but since he had hurled abuses upon others, brought calumny against others and unlawfully consumed the wealth of others and shed the blood of others and beat others, he would find himself bankrupt on that day because his virtues would be credited to the account of those who suffered at his hand. And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then his sins would be entered in (his account) and he would be thrown into Hell.” (Muslim, Birr 6; Tirmidhi, Qiyamah 2; Ahmad b. Hanbal, 2/303)

There are three levels of taqwa:

1. Taqwa from polytheism: To be protected from polytheism through belief. Thus, a person is protected from staying in Hell eternally.  

2. Taqwa from bad deeds: To avoid committing major sins and to avoid insisting on minor sins.

3. Taqwa from everything except Him: To keep one’s heart away from everything that prevents him from God.

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