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This content has been automatically translated. View original in Arabic
"Do you want to make a sheikh out of us?"
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Personal page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EyadQunaibi ===== Twitter account https://twitter.com/Dr_EyadQun
Some young people, when they begin to abandon a sin, face a difficult test—not that they abandon it alone in their room, but that they abandon it in front of their friends who know their past and know they still have other sins. They may discourage them, saying, "Are you trying to act pious in front of us? Have you forgotten what you did on such-and-such a day?"
This is exactly what happened to our friend in the details he shared with me, which I did not include in the main story to avoid length. He told me, "After I recovered from depression, there were still sins in my life. I said to myself, 'I must leave these sins.' I tried to quit smoking but couldn’t, so I decided to start with the smallest sin I could leave without disrupting my day. I began with music."
The storyteller continued: "I truly said, 'O my Lord, I have abandoned it for Your noble sake, and O Lord, help me.' Days passed, and everything was fine. After a few weeks, I was riding in a car with some friends, and since I was sitting in the front seat next to the driver, they asked me to play some music. I refused, but they insisted. Eventually, I felt that God was testing the sincerity of my repentance."
I told them, "I don’t want to play music because it is forbidden, and I have repented to God the Almighty for it." At that point, they launched into a "mockery session," saying, "Leave the cigarette in your hand first, man! Are you trying to lecture us now? Have you forgotten what you did with the girls?" They kept reminding me of my sins—may God forgive them.
I felt pain, but God the Exalted increased my determination to remain steadfast. I said to them, "Do you want to hear music? Let me out on the road." Praise be to God, they didn’t make me leave, and no one played any music. They remained "grimacing" (frowning) the entire way.
Here is the lesson, my brothers and sisters: one of the signs of sincere repentance is that you please God even if it angers people, for God is more worthy of your fear. The Almighty says:
"Do you fear them? God is more worthy of your fear if you are believers." (Quran 9:13)
When you face a test, do not ask, "What will my friends say?" Instead, ask, "What pleases my Lord?" Lose a song, lose a laugh, lose the approval of a group in a car—but do not lose your sincerity with God the Almighty. As the narration states, "Whoever seeks God’s pleasure despite people’s displeasure, God will suffice him against the people’s harm."
Do not let anyone belittle your abandonment of any sin on the pretext that you haven’t abandoned all your other sins. Your abandonment of one sin is a virtue, a success, and an achievement upon which you can build. Do not allow people to discourage you by reminding you of your past, for the God to Whom you have turned is far more merciful than all the sins of your past.