That the conviction that God will punish you for sins against yourself, despite your genuine repentance, is disbelief in a merciful God.

As in, you don’t believe in God.

I would be so bold as to say this is the most pervasive sickness that infects the Ummah, and it’s placed there by “religious leaders” who are hyperfocused on pettiness. There are no intermediaries between you and God. How do we constantly say al Rahman, al Rahim and not feel it in our souls? Honestly despicable.

There is a certain arrogance to believing you can earn heaven. Are you so conceited to think you’ll be granted paradise on a tally of merit? That your character is so flawless? No one gets into heaven based on their good deeds. No one gets into heaven based on their good deeds. Everyone in heaven is there based on God’s mercy. That is the sole reason you can ever enter paradise. And we have been messaged that this mercy floods to us through genuine atonement.

I have observed something in myself. I won’t pretend to know whether it is a truth of the human condition, but perhaps you have noticed it too: Guilt will hold me back from correcting my behavior. Guilt makes you mull endlessly. It makes you agonize. By its nature it’s excessive. It depletes your energy so that you have none left for what’s important: showing remorse by correcting the behavior. And that’s exactly what will compel you to collapse into patterns. If you spiral around your guilt, what time have you to actually stop sinning? The devil will fashion anything into a weapon; I reckon guilt is one of his favorites, because it makes humans feel like we’re really doing a whole lot—while doing nothing at all.

You must remember that when you were entrusted with this journey, you did not agree to come to Earth because you believed you could earn heaven / had faith in yourself. No. You accepted the trust because you had faith in the mercy of God.