I hope you feel guilty

Assalaamu’alaykum,

Guilt can feel like a heavy load to carry, but the discomfort of it is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be part of an essential internal mechanism that Allah has placed within us, a kind of spiritual tripwire that goes off to stop us from drifting further away from Him.

The reality of being human is that we are born to be sinners. Every single one of us.

Allah tells us in Surah Ash-Shams:

“And He inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness.” (91:8)

This means that every soul has been given both the capacity to sin and an inner guidance system to recognise what harms and what nourishes it, what takes us further away and what draws us nearer to Allah.

And I want to make a clear distinction between healthy guilt and shame.  

Shame says, “You’re bad.”
Healthy guilt says, “You’re better than this. Come back to yourself, and back to Allah’s way.”

Healthy guilt is divine inspiration. It wakes us up.

It functions like a built-in compass, an internal signal that gets triggered when something is off, when we’re indulging in something that isn’t good for the soul.
That can range from small habits, like overindulging in something we know doesn’t serve us, to more weighty sins done in private.

After (before and during too) comes the guilt.

For some of us, it isn’t just a brief feeling that passes. It lingers and at times it can feel crushing. It can lead to self-berating thoughts and a sense of being an unworthy Muslim. We replay the moment over and over again, asking ourselves, “Why did I do that?” or “I should know better by now.”

If you find yourself in that place, I want to offer you another way of looking at it.

Ask yourself what is actually residing in your heart right now. Are you yearning to return to Allah? Are you making sincere intentions not to repeat that sin? Are you turning back to Him again and again in istighfar?

If that is what’s happening within you, then inshaAllah this does not mean you are failing in faith. It does not mean you are hypocritical. And it certainly does not mean you are beyond Allah’s mercy. It means you are human.

This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Avoiding sin matters and making the right choices should be our primary focus.
But Allah created us knowing that we would slip and from His infinite mercy, He placed something within us when the heart is alive: an internal alert system.

When guilt is activated in the heart, it is meant to redirect us back towards istighfar and towards what pleases Him. It is the voice of a sincere, repentant soul calling upon Allah with hope in His forgiveness. This mechanism alone is a blessing and we never want to be without it.

Because imagine what life would be like without that feeling at all. A heart that feels nothing. A heart untouched by wrongdoing. A heart that moves through life without pause, reflection or concern for consequences.

The world might look at that as freedom, but our faith tells us otherwise. It is a sign of a heart that has become spiritually numb and desensitisation to sin is something we should fear.

We sin consciously and unconsciously every single day, which is why returning to Allah with a repentant heart needs to become part of our daily rhythm, not just something we turn to when guilt feels heavy.

And as a reminder to myself first and foremost, let our minimum be to say each day, at least one hundred sincere:
Astaghfirullaha wa atoobu ilayh
(I seek Allah’s forgiveness and I turn back to Him).

This is an acknowledgement of our weakness and an active, hopeful turning of the heart back to His mercy.
Not mindlessly, but mindfully and consistently returning to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى.

Reflection of the Week

Think of a moment recently where guilt showed up.

Did it push you away from Allah or invite you back to Him?

How might you respond differently if you saw that feeling as guidance rather than condemnation?

Dua of the Week

Duʿaa: Sayyid al-Istighfar
(A Most Superior Way of asking for Forgiveness) 

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ، وَأَنَا عَلَىٰ عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ، أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ، وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي، فَاغْفِرْ لِي، فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ

Allahumma anta Rabbī, lā ilāha illā anta, khalaqtanī wa anā ʿabduka, wa anā ʿalā ʿahdika wa waʿdika mā istaṭaʿtu. Aʿūdhu bika min sharri mā ṣanaʿtu. Abūʾu laka biniʿmatika ʿalayya, wa abūʾu bidhanbī, faghfir lī, fa innahu lā yaghfiru adh-dhunūba illā anta.

O Allah, You are my Lord, there is no deity worthy of worship except You. You created me and I am Your servant, and I am upon Your covenant and promise as best I can. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I acknowledge Your favour upon me, and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for none forgives sins except You.

(Sahih Bukhari)

Allah's name of the Week

Al-Ghaffar (The Constantly Forgiving, The One Who Forgives Again and Again)

Ya Al-Ghaffar, forgive us for the sins we remember and those we have forgotten. Forgive us for what we did knowingly and unknowingly, and never allow our hearts to become numb to wrongdoing. Make our guilt a doorway back to You, not a barrier between us and Your mercy. Ameen ya Rabb.