Islamic Stories,Rays of Guidance ✓

Repent

🍀بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم🍀
ﷺ ♥̸̨͡🍃ﷺ♥̸̨͡🍃ﷺ

Isn’t it Time to Repent? An Inspiring Story

By:Abdullah Ash-Sherif

I used to work as a taxi driver in the period between 2004 & 2008 as temporary work until I could find another job.

One day, while driving in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, & listening to the voice of Sheikh Mishari Ar-Rashid reciting some verses of Surat Al-Hadid (Qur’an, Chapter 57) a man in his 60s stopped me & asked to take him to Karmuz (one of the oldest neighborhoods in Alexandria.) He got into the car & I started driving to his destination.

Though focusing on the road, I noticed that the man was overly irritated. He was shaking his knees, rubbing his hands & looking to the cassette player from time to time. He kept doing that until the Sheikh recited the following Ayah:

{Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah aиϑ what has come down of the truth?

Aиϑ let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, aиϑ a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; aиϑ many of them are defiantly disobedient.}
 (Al-Hadid 57:16)

Here the story really started!

The man burst into tears all of a sudden & cried hysterically. He never stopped so I had to stop the car at the road side to calm him down. I talked to him but he never replied; he just went on crying & weeping.

I thought that the Qur’an recitation was the reason for his crying so I turned off the cassette player. However, the old man asked to replay the last verse. When I did, he started wailing again.I had to wait until the Sheikh finished the Surah. Only then, the man started to calm down & tell his story:

Excuse me my dear son. My name is Mus'ad, I had a heart disease & my sons used to rush me to our neighbor doctor when I had a heart attack at night.

One night, I had the attack & we went to him as usual, but he pretended to be asleep & never opened the door for us.

So, my children took me to a public hospital & m as you know, no real care is offered in public hospitals. Anyway, I told my children that I was getting better. Actually, I just wanted them to go home because they had work in the morning & they could not afford missing the work.

After we got home, the pains were so acute. I felt so sick. So, I left my home & sat at the side of the Mahammadyah (an old water canal in Alexandria).

For hours, I kept praying to Allah & earnestly asking Him to heal me from this heart disease. I erupted in tears & said,

“O Allah, You make me suffer because I don’t pray, please, heal me & I won’t leave a Rak'ah anymore.”

My pains increased more. I cried in a higher tone, “Stop it! Don’t You feel sorry for me?!”

A while later, I felt a bit at ease & went to sleep. When I woke up, I felt I was much better.

Since that day, I have never experienced that pain or heart crisis anymore.

But I have never prayed even one Rak'ah.

When you played this recitation, I felt that Allah, the Almighty, was speaking to me. He was reprimanding me for my negligence of praying.

Do you think that I was crying because I feared that He would afflict me with heart disease?

No, By Allah, I was not! I just felt embarrassed & ashamed of myself. Allah fulfilled my wish but I never kept my word.

Isn't it time to repent!
Isn't it time to come back to اللَّهُ Subhana wa Ta'ala!
Let us not wait for a catastrophe to befall us to force us to turn back towards Him.
What a dreadful loss it will be , if the Angel of Death arrives & we haven't paid any attention to repenting & reforming.
🍃🌹🍃

Rabbana thalamnaa anfusanaa
wa illam taghfir lanaa wa tar hamnaa lanakoo nunna meen al khasireen.

Our Lord! We have sinned against ourselves
aиϑ unless You grant us forgiveness aиϑ bestow Your mercy upon us,
we shall most certainly be lost.
🍃🌹🍃🌹🍃🌹🍃🌹🍃🌹