Shaykh ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) on some consequences of sins on the one who commits them:
1 – Being deprived of knowledge, for knowledge is light which Allah allows to reach the heart, and sin extinguishes this light. When Imam ash-Shafi’i sat before Imam Malik and read to him, he admired him because of the intelligence, alertness and understanding he saw in him. He said, “I think Allah has given light to your heart, so do not extinguish it with the darkness of sin.”
2 – Being deprived of provision (Rizq). It is transmitted in Musnad Ahmad that Thawban said, “The Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “A man is deprived of his Risq because of the sins he commits.”” (Transmitted by ibn Majah, 4022, classified as Hasan by al-Albani in Sahih ibn Majah).
3 – A feeling of alienation that comes between a person and his Lord, and between him and other people. One of the Salaf said, “When I disobey Allah, I see it in the attitude of my mount and my wife towards me.”
4 – Things become difficult for him, so he does not give his attention to one thing without it blocking his way or finding it difficult. For the same reason, things are made easy for him who fears Allah.
5 – The sinner will find darkness in his heart, which he will feel as he feels the darkness of the night. So this darkness affects his heart as physical darkness affects his sight. For obedience (to Allah) is light and disobedience is darkness. The more the darkness grows, the greater his confusion becomes, until he falls into bid’a, misguidance and other things that lead to ruin without realising it; like a blind man walking out alone into the darkness of the night. This darkness grows stronger until it covers the eyes, then it grows stronger still until it covers the face, which appears darker and is seen by all.
‘Abd-Allah ibn’ Abbas said, “Good deeds make the face radiant, give light to the heart, and bring abundant provision (livelihood increases), physical strength and love in the hearts of the people for the Mu’min.
Bad deeds make the face dark, bring darkness to the heart, and bring physical weakness, lack of provision, and hatred in the hearts of people for the sinner.”
6 – The loss of ibadah and obedience (to Allah). If sin brought no other punishment except that it prevented a person from doing worship which is the opposite of sin and cut off access to other acts of worship, that would be bad enough. So sin cuts off a third way and a fourth way and so on, and because of sin, he is cut off from many acts of worship, each of which would have been better for him than this world and all that is in it. Thus he is like a man who eats a certain food which causes a protracted illness, and thus he is deprived of many other foods which would have been better than these. And Allah is He Whose help we seek.
7 – Sin begets sin until it dominates a person and he cannot escape from it.
8 – Sin weakens a person’s willpower. Gradually it consolidates its will to sin and weakens its will to repent until it no longer has a will in its heart to repent… so it seeks forgiveness and expresses repentance, but it is only words on its lips, like the repentance of liars whose hearts are still determined to commit sins and who stubbornly cling to them. This is one of the most serious diseases, the most likely to lead to ruin.
9 – The sinner will become desensitised and will no longer find sin detestable; thus, it will become his habit and he will no longer be bothered when people see him committing a sin or when they talk about him because of it.
For the leaders of immorality, this is the ultimate shamelessness in which they feel great joy, to such an extent that they are proud of their sin and talk about it to people who do not know that they have done it, saying, “Oh so and so, I have done so and so.”
Such people can no longer be helped and the path to repentance is blocked for them in most cases. Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Every member of my Ummah is forgiven except those who make their sins public. An example of this is that of a man who commits a sin at night and the next morning, after Allah has covered his sin, says: ‘O so-and-so, I did this and that last night.’ After his Lord kept his sins covered all night and he makes public the next morning what Allah covered.” (Al-Bukhari, 5721; Muslim, 2990)
10 – If there are many sins, they leave marks on the heart of the person who commits them, so he becomes one of the negligent. One of the Salaf said about the Aya (14, of Surah Al-Mutaffifin):
{كَلَّا ۖ بَلْ ۜ رَانَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ}
“Not at all! Rather, that which they used to acquire has settled over their hearts.” This means sin upon sin. How this begins is that the heart becomes stained by sin, and as the sin increases, the stain increases until it becomes a rust (that settles over one’s heart), then it increases until it becomes a seal that covers and seals the heart. When this happens after a person has been righteously guided and has understood (Islam), his heart is turned upside down and at that point Satan gains control over him and guides him as he wills.
Shaykh ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah
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