16. WOE TO THOSE WHO RECOGNISE PUNISHMENT YET PREFER PLEASURE
Beware that the repayment is inescapable, whether it is for a good deed or a bad deed. It is folly for the sinner to assume that since he does not see a punishment that he is forgiven, since punishment could be delayed.
It is rare that someone commits a sin without being penalised for it. Allah (the Almighty) said,
“Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it.” [al-Nisa (4:) 123]
An example of this is when Adam (‘alayhi as-salam) ate the morsel from the tree; and you know what happened to him.
Wahb Ibn Munnabih said, ‘Allah,the Almighty revealed to him31, “Did I not create you for Myself, house you in My house and make My angels bow down to you, then (how can) you disobey Me and forget the covenant you made to Me? By My honour, if I filled the Earth with people like you, who worship and supplicate to Me day and night, and then they disobeyed me, I will place them in the ranks of the sinners.”
Then Jibrll (‘alayhi as-salam) removed the crown from his head, Mika’il (‘alayhi as-salam) untied the wreath from his forehead, he was pulled by his forelock and brought down (to earth).
Adam then cried for three hundred years on the mountains of India, where his tears flowed in the valleys of its mountains, and the evergreen trees grew over these tears.
Similarly [Prophet] Dawud (‘alayhi as-salam); he took a look at what necessitated his continual regret and crying, until grass sprouted from his tears.
As for [Prophet] Sulayman (‘alayhi as-salam), some people sought his arbitration, but he inclined with his whim to one of them, so he was reprimanded and changed in the sight of people. He used to say, “Feed me,” and none would feed him.
As for [Prophet] Ya’qub {‘alayhi as-salam), it is said that he slaughtered a calf in front of its mother, so was therefore punished by separation from Yusuf {‘alayhi as-salam).
As for [Prophet] Yusuf {‘alayhi as-salam), he drew attention to himself; each of his brothers had twelve sons, and he was reduced to having only one.
As for [Prophet] Ayyub {^alayhi as-salani), he did not oppose a tyrant king due to some horses that were close to him, so calamity befell him.
As for [Prophet] Yunus (‘alayhi as-salani), he left his people without permission, so the whale swallowed him.
Allah Almighty said to Jeremiah, “Your people left that by which I honoured their ancestors. Upon My honour, I will incite against them armies that do not feel pity for their tears.”
He said, “O Lord, they are the descendants of your close friend, Ibrahim, the nation of your chosen one, Musa and the people of your Prophet, Dawud.”
Allah Almighty revealed to him, “I only honoured Ibrahim, Musa and Dawud for obeying Me. Had they disobeyed Me, I would have put them among the rank of sinners.”
A worshipper once looked at a beautiful person, so his teacher told him, ‘You will find the punishment for that look!’ So after forty years, he forgot the Qur’an he memorised.
Another said, ‘I made fun of a person who lost some of his teeth, so my teeth were scattered, and I looked at a woman who was not lawful for me, so my wife was looked at by whom I did not want.’
An insolent child beat his father and dragged him to some place, so the father exclaimed, ‘Stop here! This is where 1 dragged my father.’ Ibn Sirin said, ‘I made fun of a man for becoming bankrupt, so I ended up going went bankrupt.’
There are many such examples.
One of the strangest things I have heard in this regard is the story of the minister, Ibn Hasir, nicknamed “A l-Nazzam”. Al-Muqtafi got angry with him and commanded that ten thousand dinars be confiscated from him.
His family entered upon him in a distressed state, saying, ‘How can you arrange ten thousand dinar?’ He replied, ‘Neither ten, five, nor four will be taken from me.’
They said, ‘How can you be so certain?’ He said, ‘I was unfair to a man once and obligated him to pay three thousand; so nothing more will be taken from me.’ It came to be that he paid three thousand dinar and the Caliph released him and relieved him of the rest.
I can say the same about myself; no calamity, distress or grief befell me except because of a mistake I knew (I made). It was enough for me to say, ‘This happened due to such-and-such.’ Sometimes, I ponder upon it afterwards and see the punishment.
One must watch out for the punishment of sins, because rarely is one saved from it. Sincerity in repentance is also crucial, it was narrated in that hadith, “Nothing catches up to something faster than a new good deed to an old sin.”
Besides repentance {tawbah), one must be afraid {khaif) of expecting punishment, for Allah Almighty’ has accepted the repentance of the Prophets, yet in the hadith of intercession, Adam (‘alayhi as-salam) will exclaim, “My sin,’’ and Ibrahim and Musa will exclaim, “My sin.”
If someone claims that Allah’s saying
“Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it.” [al-Nisa (4): 123],
Is a statement indicating that He does not forgive a sinner, but we know that He accepts repentance and forgives sinners.
There are two ways of answering that:
First: It applies only to those who died insisting on the sin, without making repentance, because repentance erases what preceded it.
Second: The statement is absolute— this is the position I choose—as evidenced from text and interpretation.
As for the text, then when this verse was revealed, Abu Bakr (radiy Allahu ‘anhu) said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger! Are we recompensed for everything we do?’ He said, “Do you not get sick? Do you not grieve? Are you not hit by misfortune? That is the recompense.”
As for the interpretation, if the believer repents from sin and regrets it, his continuous sorrow for his sins is stronger than any punishment.
Therefore, woe to him, who knew the bitterness of punishment and still preferred the pleasure of the sin, even momentarily.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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