Sins Hidden From Ourselves
Today’s reminder is on a topic that is difficult to label but it can be best described through the examples given in hadith and through the Quran.
Before they are mentioned, it is worth introducing the idea of hypocrisy and two-facedness as this is mentioned as a warning throughout the Quran and in many ways, it is one of the worst traits we can have.
But in regards to todays reminder, this is in reference to the lives we are living and the level of delusion that some of us have on the the things that we do in secret.
When we look to one another we see people who impress us, who inspire us and sometime we can be made to feel envious of that person. The truth of the matter is that only Allah SWT knows what that person is truly about.
On the surface they may be one person and in secret they may hide a side to themselves that is hidden from the world.
It is important to make a distinction here. This reminder isn’t talking about those of us who sin and keep it a secret from others. We are all guilty of sin and provided we repent and make efforts to amend our ways then actually it is the correct practice to keep our sins hidden from others.
No, actually this reminder is about those of us who are committing sin but are in a state of delusion because we are attempting to hide those sins from our own accounts, our own selves and worst of all, from Allah SWT.
The imam reminded us of a number of references in the Quran and hadith in reference to this reminder.
The first was Sura Al-Haqqah, ayat 18 which is translated to say:
You will then be presented ˹before Him for judgment˺, and none of your secrets will stay hidden.
Dear brothers and sisters, this clearly demonstrates the importance of the reminder and how important it is for us to not fall into this delusion of hiding from Allah SWT and the final account on the day of judgement.
Alongside this, the imam mentioned Sura Al-Jathia, ayat 29 which is translated to say:
This, Our record, speaks about you in truth. Indeed, We were having transcribed whatever you used to do.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are being advised here that on the Day of Judgement, whatever interpretation we have made to convince ourselves to forget the sin and to not seek repentance from Allah SWT, the book of our accounts will not forget and instead we will be presented with each record in its entirety and in complete truth.
Next, the imam mentioned the following hadeeth in which the Prophet SAWS is reported to have said:
“I certainly know people of my nation who will come on the Day of Resurrection with good deeds like the mountains of Tihamah, but Allah will make them like scattered dust.” Thawban said: “O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us and tell us more, so that we will not become of them unknowingly.” He said: “They are your brothers and from your race, worshipping at night as you do, but they will be people who, when they are alone, transgress the sacred limits of Allah.”
Dear brothers and sisters, again we are reminded that we are under surveillance at all times from the angels who are recorded all our deeds, whether another human can see them or not. We mustn’t fall into the trap of thinking that when we are alone, we are immune to account.
And so, from the reminders that we are given today we can take away the following points:
- Do not compare yourself to anyone else in this dunya because you don’t know everything about anyone else. Only Allah SWT knows the truth of any human and only He can judge. We should aim to be the best that we can be and compare ourselves to who we are today to a time in the past and use that as a means to grow as people. Alongside that we have the seerah of the best of all creation SAWS to help us navigate through the standard we should aim for in this life.
- Whatever mistakes we make in this life, we are not to fall into the trap of ignoring them, hiding them or overlooking them. As mentioned in previous reminders, we should navigate through this life with mindfulness and awareness of what we do and if we do make mistakes then we own them, we seek repentance immediately from Allah SWT and we work hard to avoid repeating them in the future.
- Remind yourselves that everyone, regardless of their position, authority, ability to hide their wicked ways in this world, will on the Day of Judgement, have nowhere to hide and everyone will get their just reward or punishment for what they committed in this life.
