Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sins and their Effects

Category: SOUND

Women's behaviour is significant

In this regard, women play a significant role. If they decide to mold their lives according to the Commands of Allah and His Messenger(saw) then the atmosphere in the house becomes very ideal because a woman is the main character in a house. If she is obedient to Allah and His Messenger(saw), the entire household stands reformed, but if she pays no attention to it and is sinful, then the atmosphere in the house becomes very bad.


Sin

What is sin? And, what are the consequences and repercussions of sin? We must understand these things first. Sin is a disobedience. Suppose an elder tells someone to do something but he refuses to do it, or if he forbids him from doing something but he insists on doing it then he is being disobedient to the elder. If anyone is disobedient to Allah and His Messenger(saw) then he is committing a sin. The results of being disobedient to Allah are grave to an unimaginable extent.


Damages of sin - First, Selfishness

The first damage caused by sin is that the sinner is selfish, ungrateful and a usurper of the rights of his Benefactor. His Benefactor who has created man who is always drowned in His blessings. Allah's favours cover him from head to foot. But we cannot obey Him even in the little He asks of us and are thus involed in the first defect of sin: selfishness, ungratefulness, and usurption of the rights of our Benefactor.


Second damage, rusting of their hearts

The second damage caused by sin is described by the Prophet(saw) in a Hadith. He said, If a man commits sin for the first time a dark spot shows itself on his heart. What this spot is, Allah alone knows! When that man sins again, a second spot appears on his heart and if he sins the third time, a third spot comes up on his heart. However, if they repent, meanwhile, then the spots are effaced but if they do not express repentance and persist in sins then the spots keep multiplying and cover up their heart as marks of rust and their heart becomes corroded. When a man's heart is corroded, it no longer can listen to the Truth and it becomes inattentive and indifferent so that it will not recognize sin and they do not sense the repercussions of sin. It is as though they are bereft of intelligence.


Third damage, darkness

The point is that we have become accustomed to the environment of sin so we do not notice the darkness and abhorrence. There is so much darkness from sin and excessive abhorrence to it that a man blessed by Allah with perfect faith cannot tolerate it.

We do not become upset of the darkness and do not feel abhorrence for it because we have become accustomed to sin. Our behaviour may be compared to a bad-smelling house offensive to the mind. If any outsider enters it, he will find it difficult to stay even a while in the house, but anyone already staying in it will not sense the difference because he is accustomed to the smell. He will not understand why anyone should rebuke him for staying in the offensive atmosphere. The other man whom Allah has protected from the bad-smelling house and kept in a fragrant atmosphere will be repulsed from a distance when he gets the bad smell. In the same way, Believers whose hearts are devoted to Allah and are clean like a shining mirror are repulsed from the darkness and abhorrence of sin. This then, is the third defect of sin; darkness and abhorrence.


What a great litmus test idea, innit? Wanna know if something's bad? Abstain for a while, and when you see it again, if you feel a natural disgust or abbhorrence towards it, as you would a bad smell, then you know.

Smell is also an important sense, philosophically, as Prophet(saw) said in a hadith that one of his favorite things in this world was pleasant scents. I wrote about that before already.

Fourth damage is to intelligence

The fourth damage from persistent sin is that the sinner suffers loss of intelligence. Their intelligence quotient drops and their thinking and comprehending powers toe an evil path. They regard good as evil and vice-versa. They will not receive sound advice even if given politely. They are the one of whom Allah has said: "He whom Allah leaves astray cannot find guidance." Allah does not let anyone go astray unless he insists on sinning and disobedience so that he cannot understand Truth.


There's too much to type next but he refers to the incident of Iblis and how he became pretty much an idiot and incapable of (what to us is) sound logic. He believed himself superior to Adam and refused to bow, but Allah defines superior or inferior so if Allah says bow to man, man is superior. Iblis is not the definer of these things. Thus, his position makes no sense. But he cannot and will not understand.

He also references how people routinely sin and make up intellectual and reasoned excuses. It's the same thing. If you wouldn't tolerate your servant, of an equal human mind, being disobedient how do you expect Allah to tolerate our disobedience as His own Creation? People start doing this and asking a lot of stupid questions when sinning has affected their intelligence (not just spiritual, even mental... they just cannot understand).

He references an incident with the King, Mahmud Ghaznavi. He had a favorite slave who he preferred even over his advisers. To show them why, he brought out a great diamond, had them all comment on how great it was... then asked them to break it. The advisers, using their 'intelligence', refused. His slave smashed it immediately. The diamond be broken rather than the command of his beloved King.

Enlightenment follows (always follows) giving up of sins. After abstaining for some time, you WILL start to see things differently, even if you didn't understand when you started to give them up.

Fifth damage, It stops raining

...A hadith tells us that when Muslims deny Zakah, Allah stops rainfall over them...


Sixth damage, illness

...when men involve themselve in immorality, vulgarity, and lewdness, Allah inflicts them with illnesses which were unknown to their forefathers...


Seventh damage, Killing

...A hadith tells us that towards the final times a period will come when 'Killings will be rampant'. Man will be killed and neither he nor his heirs will find out why he was killed or who killed him. The murderer will not know why he kills and the murdered will not know why he was killed...


Abstaining from sin is better than optional worship while sinning.

The heads of families are shephards and share a major part of the responsibility for not reforming those in their flock. No matter how great they are otherwise. Just because you lived your life as you chose and wound up okay (in your opinion) doesn't mean your kids will. They're different people.

Hereafter

It says in the Hadith that Hell is surrounded by desires. Beautiful and attractive things. Paradise is surrounded by disliked things. But once you actually go to them, the true natures come out. The fence of thorns around Paradise turns into flowers, the things surrounding Hell become Fire.

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