NEVER GIVE UP HOPE IN ALLAH

All praise be to Allah the lord of all that exists, the Sustainer, the All Merciful, All Forgiving one.  Glory be to him the creator of the heavens and the earth.  And abundant peace and blessings be on his messenger (saw)

The most inspiring and heart warming thing when coming back to Allah, is his mercy.  The mercy of Allah is unimaginable.  We have to hope that whatever we do or have done Allah will forgive us.  We have to expect mercy because we cannot turn to anyone else.  Allah is the Muslims refuge we seek refuge in him from his punishment.  The above talk mentions  the companions (RA) and their understanding of the boundless rahmah of Allah.  Abu taweel ra who left the prophet (SAW) making takbeer after being told that Allah will forgive all sins.  Allah forgives and forgives and forgives.   THIS IS HAQQ in surah Az zumar Allah says clearly he "forgives all sins"

How amazing is the mercy of Allah.  

So never get bogged down in thinking what you have done is too bad.  We are human we make mistakes Sometimes the same mistake over and over again.   A few points that Sheikh Hesham made in his talk, I would like to highlight are:
1) Allah's mercy is boundless Allah was willing to forgive firaun, the biggest tyrant the world has ever seen, who murdered  new born children and who enslaved a whole nation.(20:44)  So if Allah was willing to forgive Firaun we definitely have a chance, if we reflect on this for a second it is so re assuring. 
2) Don't Delay in Repentance As soon as you commit a sin immediately remember Allah and ask him to forgive you
3) Don't try and rationalise and justify your sin   too many times we add a but after the admission of a sin to ourselves.  We should understand when we sin we are in the wrong and it is just one battle we have lost in the war against shaytaan and our nafs.  It is not "who we are" it is a temporary situation we have the power to change, with the help of Allah.
4)Take the sin seriously

 "A believer sees his sins as if he were sitting under a mountain which he is affraid may fall on him, whereas the wicked person considers his sins as flies passing over his nose and he just drives them away like this (and he moved his hand over his nose in illustration)." [Ibn Mas'ud]

5)Follow up with a good deed  if you commit a bad deed immediately follow up with a good one.  The Prophet (SAW) said

"On the authority of Abu Dharr Jundub ibn Junada and Abu Abdul Rahmaan Muaadh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with both of them) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who said, Fear Allah wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good one and it will wipe it out, and behave well towards people."[Tirmidhi]

This month is the month of Mercy so turn back to Allah the most high and ask him to forgive us.  Please remember me in your dua's.

RELAPSE

You have been on the deen striving hard to make those much needed changes.  AND THEN,  you slip back to your old ways sometimes even worse than before.  You go back to the sin that had a hold over you for so long.    You go back to the crowd that you used to roll with that were into that bad deed.  We are only human.  We were created weak.  Allah says (4:28).

"And Allah wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak."
SO you see Allah already knows that we will make mistakes, but what he loves is when you make a mistake and come back to him.  (4:27)


Allah wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.

so it is amazing how these two ayat are connected.  And how he the exalted mentions that he wants to accept your repentance before he tells us we were created weak.  So if we reflect on this Allah the all merciful is always ready to accept our repentance.  Allah the most forgiving in his infinite knowledge knows that we are weak because we are created that way.

How glorious is Allah! 

Allah also mentions those who follow their desires, who don't want you to change, they want you to stay with them, they want you to deviate from the path you have chosen

SO You have to be steadfast.  

I sometimes compare  the righteous ones to the fish swimming up stream.  Already the current is against them, not only that but the other fish are taking the easy road and going down stream but the determined fish continues to swim and swim sometimes expiring themselves in the process,  May Allah make us of the ones that strive.

This said you have to be sincere in your repentance and in your heart want to change.  It is never easy to change and stay changed but if you are sincere and keep trying you can expect the help of allah!!!! and remember:(3:156) 

"It is Allah Who gives life and death and Allah sees well all that you do." 

So be SINCERE

ask Allah to help you with your hijrah.  Surely Allah is most forbearing most forgiving.

Ok so you made a mistake don't let it get you down and don't let the Shaytaan trick you into not coming back to your lord.  Check Ustadh Nouman Ali khans lecture on one of the tricks of the Shaytaan.

May Allah accept our towbah(repentance) Ameen ya Rabil Alameen.