Consequences of sins (Abdullah Cheng)
Consequences of sins
Dear brothers and sisters,
All praise is due to Allah who is the best Creator of all creators, who has revealed the Qur’an in a language we understand so that we may ponder its meaning. Allah in His Infinite Wisdom has designed us human beings to be desireful and lustful, craving for satisfaction in different aspects of life. However, these desires and lusts never have an end and they do not lead us anywhere, and can instead lead us to a path of self-destruction if we only listen to our desires.
Allah is perfectly All-Knowing (Al-Aleem) and understands what is good for us and what is bad for us, and Allah in His Infinite Mercy gives us clear sets of boundaries and restrictions to guide us on how to deal with these desires, so that we may attain the ultimate success in the Hereafter. These restrictions and boundaries are not just rules out of nowhere only to make our lives hard, but rather they are specifically designed for us and not for animals and other creatures. These rules are being set out of Divine Wisdom from Allah that takes into account the nature of our hearts and the motivation that drives us.
As human beings, our motivation is based on two things: desire for reward or fear of punishment. If we have a clear understanding of both the reward and the punishment we receive for committing certain actions, then it can lead us to achieve our goals a lot easier and motivate us to work on reaching our goals.
For example, we have an important exam to prepare for. The reward for passing the exam is the admission into a prestigious university with a full scholarship, monthly allowance, free dormitory, etc. If the student understands the reward and is sure about it, then it will be a great source of motivation. On the other hand, if he fails the exam, then he will have to prepare for another year, or pay the full tuition, finding his own apartment, etc. If the student understands the consequences he needs to bear if he fails the exam, this would be a source of motivation for him to work hard as well.
Similarly in the Qur’an, whenever the rewards of Paradise are mentioned, they are meant to motivate us to work harder for it, and whenever the punishments of Hellfire are mentioned, they are meant to motivate us to not get close to them.
For example, Allah tells us in the Qur’an about the drinks of the people in Paradise:
مَّثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ ۖ فِيهَا أَنْهَارٌ مِّن مَّاءٍ غَيْرِ آسِنٍ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِّن لَّبَنٍ لَّمْ يَتَغَيَّرْ طَعْمُهُ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِّنْ خَمْرٍ لَّذَّةٍ لِّلشَّارِبِينَ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِّنْ عَسَلٍ مُّصَفًّى ۖ وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ كَمَنْ هُوَ خَالِدٌ فِي النَّارِ وَسُقُوا مَاءً حَمِيمًا فَقَطَّعَ أَمْعَاءَهُمْ
The description of the Paradise promised to the righteous is that in it are rivers of fresh water, rivers of milk that never changes in taste, rivers of wine delicious to drink, and rivers of pure honey. There they will ˹also˺ have all kinds of fruit, and forgiveness from their Lord. ˹Can they be˺ like those who will stay in the Fire forever, left to drink boiling water that will tear apart their insides? [47:15]
Allah is taking things that we know from this world to describe to us so that we can imagine how beautiful and attractive is life in Jannah, but Jannah is in fact way better than anything we can imagine. If Allah mentions the actual descriptions of Jannah to us, we wouldn’t be able to comprehend it, and therefore it would be hard to serve as a motivation for us.
Therefore, when the descriptions of Paradise and Hellfire are mentioned in the Qur’an, they are meant to motivate us. The descriptions of Hellfire are not just meant for disbelievers. Even though we are already Muslims, when we hear about the punishments of Hellfire and learn about the consequences of sinning, they should serve as warnings for us to stay away from transgressing the limits that Allah has set for us.
Whenever somebody commits a sin, there are effects that come out of it that are not necessarily obvious and visible. There are consequences to bear after sinning. Ibn Al-Qayyim has listed many effects of sins. For example, blessings would be taken away, modesty would be diminished, corruption and disasters would occur in the land, life situations become difficult, and so on. Among them, one of the most dangerous effects is that it can weaken and reduce the magnification of Allah in our hearts. In other words, sins can make us lose the honor and respect that Allah deserves in our hearts, therefore causing our Iman to be weaker. If we truly understand who Allah is, if we truly understand His attributes and His power and abilities and we have Taqwa in our hearts, then we would not have sinned. We all know that Allah is Al-Samee’ Al-Basir (All-Hearing, All-Seeing), but if we are committing sins privately, then it means that we only understand the words in our heads, but not in our hearts.
Once a sin is committed, it can cause our hearts to be less sensitive about the severity of the sin, which can gradually turn into a habit, and eventually, the person who commits the sin doesn’t feel any guilt about the sin anymore and doesn’t feel bothered by it, to the point that he would tell other people about the sin or even committing the sin in front of people publicly. And this is something that our Prophet (SAW) warned us about. He said:
“All of my ummah (followers) will be fine except for those who commit sin openly” (Sahih Bukhari 6069)
That is one of the things we should avoid after committing a sin. Allah didn’t create us to be perfect and sinless. The goal for us is to turn back to Allah after sinning, acknowledge our mistakes, and ask for forgiveness. The Prophet (SAW) said: “Every son of Adam is a sinner, but the best among them is the one who repents.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhi 2499)
If we commit a sin, it is not the end of the world, but we should also try our best to alleviate the effects and recover from it, just like extinguishing the fire, by keeping the sin private, by constantly asking forgiveness from Allah, and by making Du’a to Allah to improve the situation.
If we publicize the sin, it can cause the situation to be even worse: if you are in a Haram relationship, don’t boast to people about it; if you have missed your prayers, don’t speak about it casually; if you have lied or cheated, don’t take pride in being clever. This would not only encourage evil and spread immorality among the Muslims, but it also shows how the sinner doesn’t take the sin seriously and disrespects the boundaries set by Allah.
May Allah protect our Iman and keep us firm in obedience to Him, may Allah purify our hearts from filthiness, and may Allah accept us to be among the people who repent.