"Has the time not yet come for those who believe that their hearts should be humble for the remembrance of Allah and for the truth that has descended? They must not be like those to whom the Book was given before, but a long period passed on them (in which they did not repent), therefore their hearts became hard, and (thus) many of them are sinners." [57;16]
Essentially the change of a person is truly down to the person themselves, the change can only be done by them. No other is able to affect the heart and intentions of the person. No other person is able to control this persons actions and speech. No other person is in control of this persons gaze and hearing. It is only up to this person himself'/herself to change their way.
It is down to this person themselves to make a firm resolution that they will change and rectify their previous life. The intention needs to be strong as temptation can very easily cause this person to drop their goal.
One important piece of advise is that this person should forget everyone and everything else and do what they are intending to do. They must ignore remarks from others, and temptations of desires. They should do that which only Allah and His messenger (Saw) has asked of him to do.
A person must sit back and think, when will I change? For how long will I change? Will I commit the same sins again? How will I face Allah on Judgement day, how will I stand before Him whilst he tells my sins? What face will I show Rasulullah (Saw) on that day? ..... If the answers to these are something the person worries about then the change must be made now to avoid the torment later.
Many intend to play hard, chillax, sin and then plan to worship Allah in their later years, some even think in a few years they will perform Hajj and their sins will not be accounted for - they will come back sin free. Such a person has definitely erased the reality of death from their minds, such a person is playing with his own mentality. Does he ever think, what if I die before then? Will I reach my old age? If he aims to please Allah, and truly loves Him then on hearing such reminder of Judgement day he will definitely change.
Nothing in this life is certain, a person must fight his temptations now so that he can be raised up in front of Allah as those who did good, those who made an effort to please Allah. This is why change is important, Now!
For any difficult goal to be achieved or any change to become successful, a person needs to firstly have determination.The Prophet Muhammad (Saw) has said in the well known Hadith,
'Indeed actions are according to intentions and for every man is what he intended..'
The Hadith makes it clear that not only will a person be judged on his intentions, but rather he will also only go as far as his intention. If his intention was firm and with it he had huge determination, then he will continue to reach the goal despite any various hardships or distractions along the way. On the contrary, if a persons intention is weak and his determination fades away then his resolve will crumble at the very first distraction or hardship. As a result he will fail to reach his goal and may go back to his old ways or find other unsuccessful ways to reach his goal.
The reality is every human in the world knows that when it comes to battling the diseases of the heart and mind, nothing is easy. But although the hardship and fear of success one must carry on with all hope and not lose courage. With the will of Allah he shall reach the end, if his intention is strong. One must keep on going forward even if it feels like a mountain climb. The light after the mountain will surely make this trek full of hardship worth it.
Throughout this journey a persons attention will slowly fade away from worldly needs and they shall begin to focus on Allah. Allahs focus will also be upon this slave who will be resulting in mass progress, InShaaAllah. When desires of the world begin to cloud the mind with his intention firm and strong he will now be able to overcome them. During the time of frustration feelings of the past (before the change) may surround him but with his intention he will stand firm on his feet and ignore them. He will pick himself up and try again even if he fails. His intention will be unchanged, he will think to himself 'even if death comes to me throughout this change, I will be in the midst of getting the impurities out of my heart'.
Such a strong resolve is much loved by Allah. Allah loves a servants effort and struggle to become closer to Him and change. Thus Allah gives His slave the ability to fulfill his task.
May Allah guard the gates of our heart and fill our hearts with only the Love of Allah and His messenger. May Allah accept all our repentance, and efforts to please Him. May He grant us success in this life and salvation in the hereafter. Oh Turner of hearts, make our heart firm on your Deen. Ameen, Thumma Ameen.
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