Sheikh Uthman Hadi - What If I Could Have Changed Things This Ramadan?

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

 As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Today, I want to address a common sentiment that many of us experience, especially during the blessed month of Ramadan: the feelings of regret and the haunting phrases of "what if" and "if only." These phrases often echo in our minds, leading us to dwell on missed opportunities, unfulfilled goals, and the choices we wish we could have made differently. However, I invite you to explore a different perspective—one that transforms regret into gratitude and reflection.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sheikh-uthman-hadi--6689369/support.https://sheikhuthmanhadi.beam.lyhttps://open.spotify.com/user/315hadqmwxllibu6ubi5us2cbn2y?si=572b4d8898284e9ehttps://open.spotify.com/show/3MQHfrpjj3XXcqoPbN5Dl8?si=v6YQ42kpSx-VONBFhT3CzA

Bismillah, and Rahman and Rahim, al-Haw bha'u'll bhaelamini, and Salatu, and Salathe, and al-Rasulah, and Aishae, and Aisheu, Aishe, and Abhaheim. My dear brothers and sisters, asa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. I pray that every God, so if you feel us for our sins are a shortcomings, a diverse, especially mercy, not only in this life, but mainly in the next. My dear brothers and sisters, ahmdh-a-is beautiful. We are on episode 16 of our Ramadan series. It doesn't feel like 16 days worth of every single day,

coming to the masajid, you know, we pray Salat al-A-Sha and then speaking, because how fast time flies and the feeling that we have of, whoa, al-Han-da-a, like the days are flying by like that. It's beautiful the fact that we are able to gather here as a community, as an umma, to understand and to learn, inshallah, for the sake of Allah. And I know I said this before in the previous episodes, but I like to say this a lot as well. but I ask Allah supranahu'll tell

to forgive me if I made any mistakes and I ask all of you as well to forgive me if I made any mistakes because I am human and also because I don't want to feel as though I am someone who doesn't make any mistakes and I want to be humbled by that

so just to let you know off of that one and simple straightforwardness my brothers and sisters as we continue on throughout the month of Ramadan one of the highly common felt emotions is regret we all feel regret regret for what

regret for not doing enough regret for not praying enough regret for you know um you know not praying uh or not reading enough Quran or not performing enough dick or not make it up to a which is why why a quite a heck out i got a question um yesterday after i did my talk and i remember seeing i actually thought this morning but i said there was a question and they were asking they said brother last night i was tired last night i felt lazy last night i literally sat in my bed and did whatever uh such as such thing they didn't mention that and even if they did just to let you know I'm not going to mention that because whatever it was that's between them and Allah but as like I said before I don't know what it was but

doing whatever and I was like I'm tired it's late at night 12 o'clock 1 o'clock I gotta wake up for so go back to work do everything I got to do so I'm going to go ahead and just go to sleep and they went to sleep they prayed salat al-a-ishah they went to sleep and then they woke up in the morning and they felt regret like, al-Stallah, I have not prayed. I did not pray, right? And what this made me contemplate over earlier this morning was that

sometimes we feel the regret and it's only temporary actually. Because if we let this regret continue to sit, then it continues to bring us down further and further and further, which is why one of the tricks of the shatana's regret, right? He wants to embed regret into our hearts to embed regret into our lives. Why?

Because the more regret you have, the further down you go. Which is why, yes, that brother had a regret. And what I told him, and I was simply say that in a minute, but the brother had regret, okay, al-a-h-h-a-h-h-h-h-a-h-h-h-hurt. What I told him was, brother, don't worry. Allah, Allah, supranah, I granted you a day. Because if you're giving me this message, and sending me this message today, then that means you're alive right now.

Al-a-a-h-l-h-h-h-h-lat. Because that means you have another chance to fix that, inshallah, not just during the night period of time after Isha, but also just period. My dear brothers and sisters, the questions of what if or only if, or, you know, if only I would have done such and such things are phrases that often echo in our minds leading us to dwell on the missed opportunities. They could lead us to dwell on the, you know, unfulfilled goals and the choices we wish we could have made differently throughout the month of Ramadan and throughout the year, honestly, as well. Because like I said before, one of the tricks of the shaitan is regret, is to get you to continuously regret this and feel bad about this. If you slipped up and made a sin, the shatan will make you feel so regretful for feeling regret. It's kind of crazy how that works, doesn't it?

Like, man, I should not feel bad for commitment. That sin. Allah is my thought is going to forgive me. It's okay. And then you continue committing that sin. And it's a good thing to feel regret for certain things. I'm not saying it's not. And I want to clarify that point before I go to the next one because some of you may be looking like, wait, what?

But when it comes to your sins, it's good to feel regret, regret, repent, and then stop. That's it. That's the cycle. It shouldn't be regret, regret, regret, regret, and you continue going into this regret and you don't fix anything. You just have regret, right? Because what happens is that over time, that regret will turn from super duper, duper low regret to just on my regret, all right, whatever. And then continue on doing the sin. My dear brothers and sisters, I've spoken about sins before, and we are moving into the last 10 nights, al-h-h-a-l-l-h-a-law. With only four more days left, we will be on day 20, because tonight's 16.

No one of the things we have to look at, my dear brothers and sisters, is the nature of regret as it's human. Emotion for us to regret. It's natural for us to regret things that we may have done, things that we may have said, things that we may have said, things that we may have. have wanted or, you know, things that we may have gone through in our lives. It can arise from our actions, our interactions, our inactions, the things that we didn't do, or even our circumstances beyond our control. And during the month of Ramadan, it is a time of heightened spirituality and reflection, which is why we may find ourselves thinking, what if I have prayed more? I haven't prayed enough. You know, what if I haven't read enough Quran? Or what if I haven't

done enough charity. What if I've been more charitable? You know, these thoughts can weigh heavily on our hearts leading to us to feel defeated. Because at this point now, we move on to day 16, and many of us feel as though we haven't done anything beneficial with our Ramadan. We feel as though every single day, we keep saying, I'm going to get better, I'm going to get better, you get better, and mugri of time earlier when we broke our fast, we say, ah, al-h-h-h-l-llah, I broke my fast, and then now, have you break your fast, you think, oh, man, this food wasn't really worth it. I could have done more.

And then the next day you wake up and you're like, oh, I've got to fast again. And then you break your fast, you're like, oh, man, this food wasn't worth it. Man, I did not do enough. I'm going to do more tomorrow. And then the cycle continues going. And the reason isn't because you feel as though you haven't done enough, but maybe it's because that regret, first of all, isn't sincere enough. And second of all, it's because we waste time doing those things, right?

And one of the things I would like to mention my dear brothers and sisters as well is that we must remember that regret can be. you know, a double-edged sword. I like to give it as that example. While it can be, it can motivate us to improve, like I was speaking about when it comes to our sins and our shortcomings, when you feel regret, I'm not going to do this sin anymore because I want to get closer to a lot. I'm tired of feeling a distance between Allah, feeling a barrier between me and Allah. And you say, you know what, I'm going to better my relationship with him. This regret brings you closer. But there's also the regret of the Shetan, which I've also spoke about, which brings you

further away. Further away. Oh, man, you made a mistake in your prayer. That's a good regret, right? You regret doing that. You seek the forgiveness of the law of Allah, and the mercy of Allah, and you continue on with your prayers and you try to get better every single time, as long as you have the ability to live. That's the best, that's the good regret. The bad regret is you praise your five-duty prayers, and, you know, sometimes we think of, oh, you prays your five-duty prayers, oh, you should have prayed more. Oh, you know, you didn't read enough Quran. Oh, you didn't do it. And then eventually, it becomes a of where we just feel regret and we're not changing, which is the regret that leads us down the wrong path.

Which is why my dear brothers and sisters, the Prophet of Allah a.u'll a lai.u'll warned us about the dangers of such of these thoughts, which he said, if something happens to you, do not say, if it did such and such, then such and such and such could have happened rather, but rather say, Allah suhpana or how it decreed this and Allah suhpanao ta'all does whatever he wills for the phrase if all only opens the door to the shatan. What am I giving the, what am I trying to imply here for us? But your brothers and sisters, if you say, oh man, I should have said these words better, oh man, I should have done this better. Well, this is a reminder because even the authentic hadith

and what the Prophet of Allah a Hew'Slam said that when you say something, think about it before you say it because you cannot take it back. Think about it before you say it. Okay, this is a regret. You feel regret for saying such a thing. They're saying such a, whatever it is. Overall, remember my brother's and sisters

sisters that Allah supranahua Allah first decreed it and second of all do not ever say what if I had or if only I would have because it opens the door to the shaytan and now you know the shaytan now has captivity over you because now you feel

ah I should have done this or I should have done that or oh what if I would have done this or what if I would have done that which is why my dear brothers and sisters when we indulge in the what if scenarios we're often questioning Allah supanahua'a'u'a wisdom and decree, and that can lead us to a feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction. I'm sorry, I can't speak right now with our lives. I keep stuttering, but I'm sorry about that. Shaitan, the accursed devil seeks to what, mess with our feelings, whispering doubts

and despair into our hearts, and he wants us to focus on what we are lacking rather than what we have, which is why sometimes we say, oh, man, if I would have taken that job, I would have I would probably be at millions of dollars right now. No, be grateful of what you have. And it's something else we talked about, I believe if I'm not mistaken in episode 14, the importance of gratitude. Gratitude is not just in your actions, but it's actually in your intentions. It's how you actually, you know, live your life, being grateful to people, being grateful to Allah for what he has decreed in his hikima, because Allah, safana, is al-haheem, which is why my dear brothers and sisters, we have to ensure that we are trying

and we want to try and focus on what we have. And by dwelling on what if it actually, you know, we risk falling into a cycle of negativity that distances us from Allah, Supan, and His mercy. And one of the shifts in the perspective is instead of allowing that regret to consume us, we can choose to adopt a more better perspective upon that. So instead of considering the phase, you know, if only, then for what we missed, but rather as an opportunity to reflect on what we were saved from. If only I would have taken this route to work. But what happened if you did?

Because, oh, something led to something else, right? There are certain times, and I don't know we're about around our time. We don't have about two minutes left. But I want to give you this example. If you're driving to work and you're like, oh, man, like, it's like, I just want to take this long route to this place. into that place and this place, okay, right? I'm gonna take this longer route today and then there's a shorter route.

I'm gonna try to take the shorter one. And what happens is that, you know, certain things that will happen. Maybe it's a car accident here. Maybe this happens with traffic, maybe this gets stuck. And then all of a sudden, when we finally get there, we're like, oh, man, my boss is like, oh, you're late.

Now you're fired from the job, now you have no job, now you have nothing to work for. I'm giving a kind of extreme standpoint. You know, hopefully, you know, we don't get kicked out of our jobs. fire from our jobs. We ask Allah to grant us the ability to have halal risk and also for us to maintain our jobs for his sake as well. But, you know, if you're late to a job or a meeting or something like that, your boss is going to be upset at you. And then you think in your head, what if I would have done this or what if I would have done that? You know that car accident you

saw on the way to work? What if that was you in that car accident? Right? What if that was you there? And sometimes it might just be the little things that get us and that bring us away from because we start to question Allah supanahua hua ta'u's wisdom his decree, his hykma because Allah supanahua is the all-wise he is the all-knowing he knows what's best for his servant which is why my brothers and sisters

we must remember that in this month of Ramadan it is a time for reflection it is a time for growth and a time for renewal what is the first thing we spoke about in this when the series opened or in series started reflection and renewal reflecting upon what you did throughout the year reflecting what you did last

year and, you know, last Ramadan and throughout this year, up until this point, the Lamaata Ramadan, and then now we head into the Mata of Ramadan, how can I get better? Growth, which is why my dear brothers and sisters, it is very natural for us to feel regret. And we must not allow it to overshade and overshadow our blessings or our potential for improvement. Instead of asking what if, we must ask ourselves, what can I do now? How can I become better? How can I build my relationship with Allah? How can I strengthen my relationship? with Allah and the ability to overcome these regrets, my dear brothers and sisters. I'm sorry I wasn't able to give a full detailed talk like I wanted to.

So, inshallah, my dear brothers and sisters, this might be a part two. To this, I won't say part two, by the way, but it would probably be a part two, kind of something similar to this in a later episode, inshallah, to tell us soon, my dear brothers and sisters. We ask Allah, suhpana, our whole without the grant us the strength to overcome our regrets to embrace his mercy and to strive for excellence in our Ibad and our deeds. we ask Allah, to allow for us to use this Ramadan

as a stepping stone towards a more fulfilling and spiritual, enriching life. Amin, and we're acho, waho, al-habila, amen. Chazak for coming again tonight, my dear brothers and sisters,

I pray that we all gain Tafik. I said again, please forgive me if I made any mistakes or said anything wrong. And I ask Allah, to forgive us all of our sins, our shortcomings, the grants to special mercy

in this life and mainly in the next and to accept our fast from us and our efforts from us. And asanaam and a lot of Allah and my dear brothers and sisters.