١٢٧. عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ:
«إِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَغَارُ وَغَيْرَةُ اللّٰهِ أَنْ يَأْتِىَ الْمُؤْمِنُ مَا حَرَّمَ اللّٰهُ».
127. It is narrated from Abu Huraira (r.a.) that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Allah has a sense of ghira (jealousy), and Allah’s sense of ghira is provoked when a believer does something which Allah has prohibited.” (Bukhari, Nikah, 107; Muslim, Tawbah, 36. Also see Tirmidhi, Rada, 14/1168; Ahmad, II, 519, 536, 539)
١٢٨. عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
«لَا أَحَدٌ أَغْيَرَ مِنَ اللّٰهِ وَلِذٰلِكَ حَرَّمَ الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ».
128. Abdullah bin Mas’ud reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“No being has more sense of ghaira (jealousy) than Allah. Therefore, He prohibits shameful sins whether committed openly or secretly…” (Muslim, Tawbah, 33, 32-35. Also see Bukhari, Tafsir, 6/7; Tawhid, 15)
١٢٩. عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
«إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيُحْرَمُ الرِّزْقَ بِالذَّنْبِ يُصِيبُهُ وَلَا يَرُدُّ الْقَدَرَ إِلَّا الدُّعَاءُ وَلَا يَزِيدُ فِي الْعُمُرِ إِلَّا الْبِرُّ».
129. Thawban reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“A person can be destitute of his livelihood due to a sin that he committed. Only prayer can change destiny. Only good deeds, manners, and being virtues can extend life time.” (Ahmad, V, 277, 280, 282; Ibn Majah, Muqaddimah, 10; Fitan, 22; Hakim, I, 670/1814)
Explanations:
Sinful acts include beliefs, words, acts, and behaviors that are against the divine commands and the religion. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) defined sin in his noble hadith as:
“(Sin) is the thing that scratches your heart and the thing that you do not want others to know.” (Muslim, Birr, 14, 15. Also see Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 52)
“Sin is the thing that you fret about and the thing that questions and bothers you even others give permission (religious ruling) for you to do it.” (Ahmad, IV, 227-228; Darimi, Buyu’, 2)
Humans, who have been sent to this world to be tested, are able to perform both good and bad deeds. The inclination in human character towards sinful acts is due to their desires originating from their carnal self. That is because the carnal soul is the enemy inside of us which is “certainly prone to evil”[1] and makes dark suggestions to us by whispering all the time in order to lead us to commit sins.[2]
Another motivation that leads humans to sinful acts is the desire for an everlasting life in this world and forgetting about the life in the hereafter.[3] Those who follow these poisonous desires act without thinking about the hereafter and fall into a trap by committing a sin in order to satisfy their desires.
Also, there are other factors that drag man into committing sins such as having been created weak,[4] and being fond of wealth, possession, and children.[5]
There are external causes of sinful acts as well. The appeal of this world,[6] ubiquity of bad examples,[7] and the pledge of Satan to deviate men by sitting on the True Path [8] are some of the examples.
In order to fight with all of these distracting temptations, one must be busy with purifying the human soul and heart. Therefore, one must learn to follow a life without being unwary of Allah and remembering Him at all times. As a matter of fact, all of such sinful acts start to step in when men forget Allah.
Quitting sinful acts and staying away from them come before performing the commands of Allah. First, the heart should be purified from all kinds of evil, and then it should be filled with the divine light by performing the obligatory acts. That is because sinful and forbidden acts are like poisons which destroy spirituality. However, in appearance they seem like sweet honey to the people. Those who believe them waste their spiritual lives in the end.
One must not forget that every blessing necessitates some effort. Believers who wish to be in Paradise and to see God’s Face should bear some difficulties in order not to be trapped by the sins that seem sweet to human soul. This situation is one of the secrets of the divine test.
Since Allah loves His servants a lot, He always wants the best for them and treats them with His mercy. Therefore, Allah does not want His servants to fail in this test by committing sins and He never likes this. As expressed in our first hadith, Allah has a sense of ghira (jealousy) so He doesn’t like when His servants commit sins. Omnipotent Allah never wishes His servants to deviate from the true path and the path to Paradise by committing sins due to being carried away by the carnal soul and Satan. He wishes that His servants improve their spirituality by coming towards Him and enter into Paradise. He advises His servants not to forget His Exalted Being and gain the consciousness of being close to Him at all times, because this is the approach which benefits the human beings.
When it is used in respect to Allah, the word “ghira” in the hadith, which we translated from Arabic as “jealousy,” refers to His discontentedness with “His servants’ performances of prohibited and illegitimate acts, their utterances of illegal words, and going astray from the straight path.” Rather He wants them to be on the true path and be happy due to His mercy for them. Otherwise, it is not imaginable to think of jealousy for Allah as it reveals itself in some people as abrupt and abnormal reactions.
Allah expresses that He does not want His servants to be in a difficult position as:
“If you reject (Allah), Truly Allah has no need of you; but He likes not ingratitude from His servants” (Az-Zumar; 39:7)
As a matter of fact the term “jealousy” is generally used for a feeling between wife and husband whereby they guard each other from others due to their feelings of love and protection towards each other and sometimes it is expressed by passion and reproach. As in this example, Allah wants to protect His servants and does not want them to get further away from Him. For this reason, He prohibits committing sins and punishes those who commit sins in order to keep them away from sinful acts and purify them. In such situations, it is said that “this action provokes the ghira of Allah.”
Our Almighty Lord does not like His servants to decline spiritually and be miserable in the hereafter. Sins transform spiritual feelings into bestial feelings and prevent souls to advance towards perfection and drag it to the lowest level (asfal al-safilin). Sins eventually darken the heart and cause it lose its purity. This means the exhaustion of blessed human beings who is created in the best form. Therefore, in order to protect the purity of the heart, one must be extremely careful to avoid sins and negative inspirations.
Allah made everything clear and easy to protect His servants from sins. The following noble hadith clearly presents how merciful Allah the Almighty is:
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Allah the Almighty commands to His angels:
“If My slave intends to do a bad deed then (O Angels) do not write it unless he does it; if he does it, then write it as it is, but if he refrains from doing it for My Sake, then write it as a good deed (in his account). (On the other hand) if he intends to go to a good deed, but does not do it, then write a good deed (in his account), and if he does it, then write it for him (in his account) as ten good deeds up to seven-hundred times.” (Bukhari, Tawhid, 35; Muslim, Iman, 203, 205)
Apart from this, Allah the Almighty always wishes to forgive His servants by leaving many doors of opportunities open for them.
In our second hadith, it is expressed that none has more sense of ghira (jealousy) than Allah, so He prohibits shameful sins whether they are committed openly or secretly.
This means that there is no one who is more merciful to the servants of Allah than Allah Himself. Since Omniscient Allah knows how sins are dangerous for His servants, He prohibits sins whether committed openly or secretly. There cannot be anyone who is against shameful sins as much as Allah is and who prohibits them as strictly as He does. Therefore, one must not be surprised at the punishment that Allah gives to those who disobey. Our Almighty Lord wishes to scare His servants away from shameful sins and protect them from their harms.
Allah the Exalted has sent prophets and books and informed His servants about His commands in order to protect them from sins and evil. He also informed them in advance that He will be angry at those who violate His limits. All of these are because He wishes to protect His servants from shameful sins.
While Allah has a sense of jealousy towards His servants about committing sins, He reacts wisely, justly, and in the best form if this happens. He never treats them with cruelty and injustice. The following report related to our hadith clarifies the subject even more:
One day, Sa‘d b. Ubada (r.a.) said in the presence of the Messenger of Allah that:
“If I see a man next to my wife, I would strike him with the sharp edge of my sword and kill him.”
Upon that, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to people around him:
“Are you surprised with this sense of jealousy and sense of honor of Sa‘d? I have even more sense of jealousy than Sa‘d. Allah has even more sense of jealousy than me.” (Bukhari, Nikah, 36, 107)
Of course, the discontent of Allah and His Messenger when one of Allah’s commands is violated is much more than the feeling of jealousy between the couples. Despite this, Allah had prohibited to make rushed decisions and to act impulsively. He restricted the approach how to react against sins with firm and fundamental principles. Therefore, it is not right for someone to give judgments on one’s own and punish sinners accordingly. One must acknowledge that there are many virtues in Allah’s commands and should obey them.
The term “fawahish” mentioned in our second hadith means all kinds of shameful deeds whether committed in actions or in words. All of the shameful deeds that are prohibited by Allah are included in this term.
The statement “He prohibits shameful sins whether committed openly or secretly” in this hadith refers to the following Qur’anic verse:
“Say: “Come, I will rehearse what Allah has (really) prohibited you from”: Join not anything as equal with Him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want; We provide sustenance for you and for them; come not nigh to shameful deeds whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus does He command you, that you may learn wisdom.” (Al-An‘am; 6:151)
Our Almighty Lord says “do not come near to shameful deeds whether open or secret” instead of “do not perform shameful deeds whether open or secret.” In other words, let alone performing them, He does not even want us come near them. This is one of the wise remarks that show how much Allah is jealous of His servants from shameful deeds.
Allah permitted in the Qur’an benefiting from the permissible, nice, and clean blessings and warned those who want to prohibit them. Then, He said the following to explain that He did not prohibit beneficial things to humans but only prohibited things that are harmful to them:
“Say: the things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are: shameful deeds, whether open or secret; sins and trespasses against truth or reason; assigning of partners to Allah, for which He has given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.” (Al-Araf; 7:33)
Even though Allah the Almighty has a sense of strong jealousy towards His servants from sins, He does not punish them immediately. He gives them time to repent, ask for forgiveness and to turn back to the right path. To be deceived by this and be caught up in sins would be utmost foolishness and causes misery.
It is expressed in another verse:
“If Allah were to punish men according to what they deserve, He would not leave on the back of the (earth) a single living creature: but He gives them respite for a stated term: when their term expires, verily Allah has in His sight all His Servants.” (Al-Fatir; 35:45)
However, in order sinners to wake up from being negligent or to ease their punishment in the Hereafter, Allah may inflict various troubles upon them.[9] These may not be the same for everyone, and they may appear as a variety of warnings. For example, one of them is to decrease in one’s daily bread.
In our third hadith, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us that one may be deprived of some livelihood due to his sins.[10] Even the livelihood predestined for him reaches him, it may somehow get off his hands, and he cannot benefit from it due to his sins. As a matter of fact, when the owners of the garden mentioned in the Chapter the Qalam wanted to secretly harvest their crops to avoid giving some to the poor, their garden faced with a disaster and turned into pitch black. Almighty Allah explains this event in detail[11] for us to learn our lesson and concludes the story as:
“Such is the punishment (in this life); but greater is the punishment in the Hereafter, if only they knew!” (Al-Qalam; 68:33)
Ali (r.a.) told a story as an example to an immediate warning of a sin:
During the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), a man walking in the streets of Medina looked at a woman who was walking as well. Satan cast upon them some doubts, and they thought that they have looked at each other with affection. While they were looking each other like this, a wall appeared in front of the man. The man hit his nose to the wall, and his nose started to bleed. The man realized that he did something wrong and said:
“I swear to Allah I won’t treat my nose and wipe off this bleeding before I go and tell what happened to the Messenger of Allah.”
Then he told the Prophet (pbuh) what happened.
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“This is the punishment of the sin that you have committed.”
Upon this incident, Almighty Allah revealed the following noble verse:
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.” (Al-Nur; 24:30) (Alusi, XVIII, 138)
Therefore, it is necessary to pay extra attention to stay away from shameful deeds and take refuge in Allah. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) became an example to his followers in this respect by praying as:
اَللّٰهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مُوجِبَاتِ رَحْمَتِكَ وَعَزَائِمَ مَغْفِرَتِكَ وَالسَّلَامَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ إِثْمٍ وَالْغَنِيمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ بِرٍّ وَالْفَوْزَ بِالْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّجَاةَ بِعَوْنِكَ مِنَ النَّارِ
“O My Lord! I ask to perform good deeds that make me gain your mercy and forgiveness, and I ask to be safe from all evil deeds, to perform all good deeds and Your commands, to reach Paradise and be safe from the Hell with Your help!” (Hakim, I, 706/1925. Also see Tirmidhi, Witr, 17/479; Ibn Majah, Iqamah, 189)
[2] Qaf; 50:16; Al-Najm; 53:23.
[5] Al-Baqara; 2:155; Al-i Imran; 3:14.
[6] Al-i Imran; 3:14, 185; Yunus; 10:23; Ar-Rad; 13:26.
[7] An’am; 6:116; Al-Furqan; 25:27-29.
[8] Al-A’raf; 7:14-18; Al-Hijr; 15:36-42.
[9] Ibn Majah, Fitan, 22; Hakim, IV, 583/8623.
[10] At the end of the third hadith, we are informed that good deeds may extend one’s lifetime. The scholars of hadith mention having good relations with the relatives at the top of the list. These scholars also argue that the meaning of extending one’s lifetime is to make it fruitful and blessed with good deeds. Those who perform good deeds benefit from their lifetime a lot even if it is short. For sure, this blessed and spiritual benefaction is very important in terms of eternal happiness. On the other hand, there are those who also believe that the lifetime written in our destiny and known by the angel can actually change. That is because Allah may delete the things that He wishes from The Protected Book (Lawh Mahfuz) and keeps the things that He does not want to change as they are. (Al-Ra’d; 13:38) Prayers effect of changing destiny is also understood in the same manner. Praying prevents bad happenings to take place and calls attention to divine mercy. This is also a part of destiny (See. Haydar Hatipoğlu, Sünen-i Ibn Majah Tercemesi ve Şerhi, I, 159-160)
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1. Allah has a sense of jealousy so He doesn’t like when His servants perform sinful acts
١٢٧. عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ:
«إِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَغَارُ وَغَيْرَةُ اللّٰهِ أَنْ يَأْتِىَ الْمُؤْمِنُ مَا حَرَّمَ اللّٰهُ».
127. It is narrated from Abu Huraira (r.a.) that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Allah has a sense of ghira (jealousy), and Allah’s sense of ghira is provoked when a believer does something which Allah has prohibited.” (Bukhari, Nikah, 107; Muslim, Tawbah, 36. Also see Tirmidhi, Rada, 14/1168; Ahmad, II, 519, 536, 539)
١٢٨. عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
«لَا أَحَدٌ أَغْيَرَ مِنَ اللّٰهِ وَلِذٰلِكَ حَرَّمَ الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ».
128. Abdullah bin Mas’ud reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“No being has more sense of ghaira (jealousy) than Allah. Therefore, He prohibits shameful sins whether committed openly or secretly…” (Muslim, Tawbah, 33, 32-35. Also see Bukhari, Tafsir, 6/7; Tawhid, 15)
١٢٩. عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:
«إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيُحْرَمُ الرِّزْقَ بِالذَّنْبِ يُصِيبُهُ وَلَا يَرُدُّ الْقَدَرَ إِلَّا الدُّعَاءُ وَلَا يَزِيدُ فِي الْعُمُرِ إِلَّا الْبِرُّ».
129. Thawban reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“A person can be destitute of his livelihood due to a sin that he committed. Only prayer can change destiny. Only good deeds, manners, and being virtues can extend life time.” (Ahmad, V, 277, 280, 282; Ibn Majah, Muqaddimah, 10; Fitan, 22; Hakim, I, 670/1814)
Explanations:
Sinful acts include beliefs, words, acts, and behaviors that are against the divine commands and the religion. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) defined sin in his noble hadith as:
“(Sin) is the thing that scratches your heart and the thing that you do not want others to know.” (Muslim, Birr, 14, 15. Also see Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 52)
“Sin is the thing that you fret about and the thing that questions and bothers you even others give permission (religious ruling) for you to do it.” (Ahmad, IV, 227-228; Darimi, Buyu’, 2)
Humans, who have been sent to this world to be tested, are able to perform both good and bad deeds. The inclination in human character towards sinful acts is due to their desires originating from their carnal self. That is because the carnal soul is the enemy inside of us which is “certainly prone to evil”[1] and makes dark suggestions to us by whispering all the time in order to lead us to commit sins.[2]
Another motivation that leads humans to sinful acts is the desire for an everlasting life in this world and forgetting about the life in the hereafter.[3] Those who follow these poisonous desires act without thinking about the hereafter and fall into a trap by committing a sin in order to satisfy their desires.
Also, there are other factors that drag man into committing sins such as having been created weak,[4] and being fond of wealth, possession, and children.[5]
There are external causes of sinful acts as well. The appeal of this world,[6] ubiquity of bad examples,[7] and the pledge of Satan to deviate men by sitting on the True Path [8] are some of the examples.
In order to fight with all of these distracting temptations, one must be busy with purifying the human soul and heart. Therefore, one must learn to follow a life without being unwary of Allah and remembering Him at all times. As a matter of fact, all of such sinful acts start to step in when men forget Allah.
Quitting sinful acts and staying away from them come before performing the commands of Allah. First, the heart should be purified from all kinds of evil, and then it should be filled with the divine light by performing the obligatory acts. That is because sinful and forbidden acts are like poisons which destroy spirituality. However, in appearance they seem like sweet honey to the people. Those who believe them waste their spiritual lives in the end.
One must not forget that every blessing necessitates some effort. Believers who wish to be in Paradise and to see God’s Face should bear some difficulties in order not to be trapped by the sins that seem sweet to human soul. This situation is one of the secrets of the divine test.
Since Allah loves His servants a lot, He always wants the best for them and treats them with His mercy. Therefore, Allah does not want His servants to fail in this test by committing sins and He never likes this. As expressed in our first hadith, Allah has a sense of ghira (jealousy) so He doesn’t like when His servants commit sins. Omnipotent Allah never wishes His servants to deviate from the true path and the path to Paradise by committing sins due to being carried away by the carnal soul and Satan. He wishes that His servants improve their spirituality by coming towards Him and enter into Paradise. He advises His servants not to forget His Exalted Being and gain the consciousness of being close to Him at all times, because this is the approach which benefits the human beings.
When it is used in respect to Allah, the word “ghira” in the hadith, which we translated from Arabic as “jealousy,” refers to His discontentedness with “His servants’ performances of prohibited and illegitimate acts, their utterances of illegal words, and going astray from the straight path.” Rather He wants them to be on the true path and be happy due to His mercy for them. Otherwise, it is not imaginable to think of jealousy for Allah as it reveals itself in some people as abrupt and abnormal reactions.
Allah expresses that He does not want His servants to be in a difficult position as:
“If you reject (Allah), Truly Allah has no need of you; but He likes not ingratitude from His servants” (Az-Zumar; 39:7)
As a matter of fact the term “jealousy” is generally used for a feeling between wife and husband whereby they guard each other from others due to their feelings of love and protection towards each other and sometimes it is expressed by passion and reproach. As in this example, Allah wants to protect His servants and does not want them to get further away from Him. For this reason, He prohibits committing sins and punishes those who commit sins in order to keep them away from sinful acts and purify them. In such situations, it is said that “this action provokes the ghira of Allah.”
Our Almighty Lord does not like His servants to decline spiritually and be miserable in the hereafter. Sins transform spiritual feelings into bestial feelings and prevent souls to advance towards perfection and drag it to the lowest level (asfal al-safilin). Sins eventually darken the heart and cause it lose its purity. This means the exhaustion of blessed human beings who is created in the best form. Therefore, in order to protect the purity of the heart, one must be extremely careful to avoid sins and negative inspirations.
Allah made everything clear and easy to protect His servants from sins. The following noble hadith clearly presents how merciful Allah the Almighty is:
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Allah the Almighty commands to His angels:
“If My slave intends to do a bad deed then (O Angels) do not write it unless he does it; if he does it, then write it as it is, but if he refrains from doing it for My Sake, then write it as a good deed (in his account). (On the other hand) if he intends to go to a good deed, but does not do it, then write a good deed (in his account), and if he does it, then write it for him (in his account) as ten good deeds up to seven-hundred times.” (Bukhari, Tawhid, 35; Muslim, Iman, 203, 205)
Apart from this, Allah the Almighty always wishes to forgive His servants by leaving many doors of opportunities open for them.
In our second hadith, it is expressed that none has more sense of ghira (jealousy) than Allah, so He prohibits shameful sins whether they are committed openly or secretly.
This means that there is no one who is more merciful to the servants of Allah than Allah Himself. Since Omniscient Allah knows how sins are dangerous for His servants, He prohibits sins whether committed openly or secretly. There cannot be anyone who is against shameful sins as much as Allah is and who prohibits them as strictly as He does. Therefore, one must not be surprised at the punishment that Allah gives to those who disobey. Our Almighty Lord wishes to scare His servants away from shameful sins and protect them from their harms.
Allah the Exalted has sent prophets and books and informed His servants about His commands in order to protect them from sins and evil. He also informed them in advance that He will be angry at those who violate His limits. All of these are because He wishes to protect His servants from shameful sins.
While Allah has a sense of jealousy towards His servants about committing sins, He reacts wisely, justly, and in the best form if this happens. He never treats them with cruelty and injustice. The following report related to our hadith clarifies the subject even more:
One day, Sa‘d b. Ubada (r.a.) said in the presence of the Messenger of Allah that:
“If I see a man next to my wife, I would strike him with the sharp edge of my sword and kill him.”
Upon that, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to people around him:
“Are you surprised with this sense of jealousy and sense of honor of Sa‘d? I have even more sense of jealousy than Sa‘d. Allah has even more sense of jealousy than me.” (Bukhari, Nikah, 36, 107)
Of course, the discontent of Allah and His Messenger when one of Allah’s commands is violated is much more than the feeling of jealousy between the couples. Despite this, Allah had prohibited to make rushed decisions and to act impulsively. He restricted the approach how to react against sins with firm and fundamental principles. Therefore, it is not right for someone to give judgments on one’s own and punish sinners accordingly. One must acknowledge that there are many virtues in Allah’s commands and should obey them.
The term “fawahish” mentioned in our second hadith means all kinds of shameful deeds whether committed in actions or in words. All of the shameful deeds that are prohibited by Allah are included in this term.
The statement “He prohibits shameful sins whether committed openly or secretly” in this hadith refers to the following Qur’anic verse:
“Say: “Come, I will rehearse what Allah has (really) prohibited you from”: Join not anything as equal with Him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want; We provide sustenance for you and for them; come not nigh to shameful deeds whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus does He command you, that you may learn wisdom.” (Al-An‘am; 6:151)
Our Almighty Lord says “do not come near to shameful deeds whether open or secret” instead of “do not perform shameful deeds whether open or secret.” In other words, let alone performing them, He does not even want us come near them. This is one of the wise remarks that show how much Allah is jealous of His servants from shameful deeds.
Allah permitted in the Qur’an benefiting from the permissible, nice, and clean blessings and warned those who want to prohibit them. Then, He said the following to explain that He did not prohibit beneficial things to humans but only prohibited things that are harmful to them:
“Say: the things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are: shameful deeds, whether open or secret; sins and trespasses against truth or reason; assigning of partners to Allah, for which He has given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.” (Al-Araf; 7:33)
Even though Allah the Almighty has a sense of strong jealousy towards His servants from sins, He does not punish them immediately. He gives them time to repent, ask for forgiveness and to turn back to the right path. To be deceived by this and be caught up in sins would be utmost foolishness and causes misery.
It is expressed in another verse:
“If Allah were to punish men according to what they deserve, He would not leave on the back of the (earth) a single living creature: but He gives them respite for a stated term: when their term expires, verily Allah has in His sight all His Servants.” (Al-Fatir; 35:45)
However, in order sinners to wake up from being negligent or to ease their punishment in the Hereafter, Allah may inflict various troubles upon them.[9] These may not be the same for everyone, and they may appear as a variety of warnings. For example, one of them is to decrease in one’s daily bread.
In our third hadith, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us that one may be deprived of some livelihood due to his sins.[10] Even the livelihood predestined for him reaches him, it may somehow get off his hands, and he cannot benefit from it due to his sins. As a matter of fact, when the owners of the garden mentioned in the Chapter the Qalam wanted to secretly harvest their crops to avoid giving some to the poor, their garden faced with a disaster and turned into pitch black. Almighty Allah explains this event in detail[11] for us to learn our lesson and concludes the story as:
“Such is the punishment (in this life); but greater is the punishment in the Hereafter, if only they knew!” (Al-Qalam; 68:33)
Ali (r.a.) told a story as an example to an immediate warning of a sin:
During the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), a man walking in the streets of Medina looked at a woman who was walking as well. Satan cast upon them some doubts, and they thought that they have looked at each other with affection. While they were looking each other like this, a wall appeared in front of the man. The man hit his nose to the wall, and his nose started to bleed. The man realized that he did something wrong and said:
“I swear to Allah I won’t treat my nose and wipe off this bleeding before I go and tell what happened to the Messenger of Allah.”
Then he told the Prophet (pbuh) what happened.
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“This is the punishment of the sin that you have committed.”
Upon this incident, Almighty Allah revealed the following noble verse:
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.” (Al-Nur; 24:30) (Alusi, XVIII, 138)
Therefore, it is necessary to pay extra attention to stay away from shameful deeds and take refuge in Allah. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) became an example to his followers in this respect by praying as:
اَللّٰهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مُوجِبَاتِ رَحْمَتِكَ وَعَزَائِمَ مَغْفِرَتِكَ وَالسَّلَامَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ إِثْمٍ وَالْغَنِيمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ بِرٍّ وَالْفَوْزَ بِالْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّجَاةَ بِعَوْنِكَ مِنَ النَّارِ
“O My Lord! I ask to perform good deeds that make me gain your mercy and forgiveness, and I ask to be safe from all evil deeds, to perform all good deeds and Your commands, to reach Paradise and be safe from the Hell with Your help!” (Hakim, I, 706/1925. Also see Tirmidhi, Witr, 17/479; Ibn Majah, Iqamah, 189)
[1] Yusuf; 12:53.
[2] Qaf; 50:16; Al-Najm; 53:23.
[3] Al-Baqara; 2:95-96.
[4] An-Nisa; 4:28.
[5] Al-Baqara; 2:155; Al-i Imran; 3:14.
[6] Al-i Imran; 3:14, 185; Yunus; 10:23; Ar-Rad; 13:26.
[7] An’am; 6:116; Al-Furqan; 25:27-29.
[8] Al-A’raf; 7:14-18; Al-Hijr; 15:36-42.
[9] Ibn Majah, Fitan, 22; Hakim, IV, 583/8623.
[10] At the end of the third hadith, we are informed that good deeds may extend one’s lifetime. The scholars of hadith mention having good relations with the relatives at the top of the list. These scholars also argue that the meaning of extending one’s lifetime is to make it fruitful and blessed with good deeds. Those who perform good deeds benefit from their lifetime a lot even if it is short. For sure, this blessed and spiritual benefaction is very important in terms of eternal happiness. On the other hand, there are those who also believe that the lifetime written in our destiny and known by the angel can actually change. That is because Allah may delete the things that He wishes from The Protected Book (Lawh Mahfuz) and keeps the things that He does not want to change as they are. (Al-Ra’d; 13:38) Prayers effect of changing destiny is also understood in the same manner. Praying prevents bad happenings to take place and calls attention to divine mercy. This is also a part of destiny (See. Haydar Hatipoğlu, Sünen-i Ibn Majah Tercemesi ve Şerhi, I, 159-160)
[11] Al-Qalam; 68:17-33.
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