(Correspondence of Hazrat Mufti Mahmood Hasan Gangohi rahimahullah)
Letter: (The questioner has apparently requested advice with regards to how to protect oneself from committing sins?)
Reply: Merely recalling one’s sins is not sufficient, since at times this may unknowingly incite us to commit that sin again. May Allah Ta’ala protect us all. Rather, we should picture ourselves on the plains of resurrection, when all our deeds will be presented.
What embarrassment it will be for us in front of everyone! Each and every action will be recorded in our book of deeds, and we ourselves will have to read it out. The action which we committed while hiding from mankind and which we considered to be a source of shame had it been disclosed, how will we now read out the record of that action before our Allah Ta’ala who is All Knowing and All Seeing. If we wish to protect ourselves from this, then let us concern ourselves with doing good deeds and erasing our evil deeds from our book of deeds. (Maktoobaat Vol 5, pg 59)