The Messenger of Allah (Salallaahu Alaihi Wasalaam) said:
“ Beware of sins that are treated as minor. (It is) just like a people who encamp in the centre of a village and someone brings a stick of firewood and someone else brings another stick of firewood until they are able to bake their bread (with all the wood collected). Likewise sins treated as being minor eventually destroy a person (as they accumulate) when (or even before) he is taken to account for them. ” (MUSNADE-AHMAD)
The message of this hadeeth is reiterated by the words of Hadrat Abdullah Bin Mas’ood when he said: “ The believer sees his sins as if he were sitting beneath a mountain which he feared was about to fall upon him, whereas the wicked sees his sins like a man who finds a fly settle upon his nose, so he does this (one of the narrators said: He brushes it away from his nose). ”
The Muslim should realise the greatness of His Creator, the One free and far from all imperfections, and His tremendous Power and Might, and he should not think of the sin as being great or small!
Rather he should think of it with regard to the One he is disobeying.
Those sins which are ignored by the weak hearted cause their destruction by removing Imaan and fear of Allah Ta’ala from their hearts. When a person regards sins and acts of disobedience as something slight then he is one who is oppressing his own soul, and that should never occur.
Today in the lives we lead we find that the commands of Allah Ta’ala are disregarded on a daily basis. What is alarming is the way these sins are treated. Often we hear the words that it’s ‘just minor’ or even ‘it’s not a sin’. And as long as we take these acts of disobedience as minor we would find ourselves perpetuating these sins without any care in the world.
Noteworthy in this context is the words of Hadrat Abdullah Bin Abbaas (RadiaAllahu Anhu) where he said, “ That which follows a sin, (i.e. its justification) is worse than the sin itself.”
When sin and vice overtakes a person’s life then his world becomes a world darkened by the absence of Divine mercies and graces. The Almighty Allah no longer casts His special glances of mercy and blessings on him. Instead he now becomes the recipient of divine wrath and anger. This anger is not restricted to Allah Ta’ala alone. His angels and saintly servants also become angry at him. He treads the earth of Allah in a state of bewilderment and loss. This is his worldly punishment. That which awaits him in the hereafter, should he not repent, is much more severe and horrendous.
We live in times where no place is free from sin. The temptations and avenues of sinning are wide open and warmly beckon one and all. It is only the prudent and Allah Fearing that are having able to discern right from wrong.
SO IF YOU’RE TRAVELLING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION ON LIFE’S HIGHWAY THEN REMEMBER THAT ALLAH TA’ALA ACCEPTS U-TURNS.
Allah Ta’ala says in the Holy Qur’aan:
Say: “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped”[39:53-54].
Verily! Allah Accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards, to them Allah will turn in Mercy, for Allah is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom. And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them and he says “now have I repented indeed”, nor of those who die rejecting faith: for them have we prepared a chastisement most grievous.”[4:17-18]