183.

١٨٣. قَالَتْ زَيْنَبُ ابْنَةُ جَحْشٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا: فَقُلْتُ:

«يَا رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ، أَنَهْلِكُ وَفِينَا الصَّالِحُونَ؟» قَالَ:

«نَعَمْ إِذَا كَثُرَ الْخَبَثُ».

183. Zainab bint Jahsh (r.anha) narrated:

I asked the Messenger of Allah:

“O Allah’s Apostle! Shall we be destroyed even though there are pious persons among us?”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“Yes, when the evil people (sinking in sin) increases!” (Bukhari, Anbiya, 7)

 

Explanations:

In our first hadith, we’re informed that the major sins are destructive and seven of these are counted. We had covered the topic of polytheism before. Sorcery, which comes next, is also among the major sins. Our covering of magic and sorcery here is not because it is lighter compared to the earlier topics. This is because it is counted among the other sins that we cover it here. Actually, enumerating major sins completely is quite difficult. When we look at the narrations we see that each one is worse and more harmful than the other. The best way is to keep away from all knowing that each of them will destroy humans.

The lexical meaning of the term sihr (magic) is something that is covered and secret. The terminological meaning is to turn something from its true nature to something else. In traditional context, magic is understood as an influence, directing, deceiving, or making one fall into certain negative conclusions without sufficient evidence. In this sense, things like illusion and deception which are secret and causing untrue images are magic.

The majority of Muslim scholars accepted the existence and impact of magic. The 102^th verse of Chapter Al Baqarah shows this.

Since it causes great harm to people in their absence and at unexpected instances by influencing them, magic is an extremely sinful act and its punishment is severe. Only people who are not afraid of God and whose faith are weak engage with it.

In the noble worse, instead of saying “Soloman never conducted magic” it is said that “the blasphemers were, not Solomon, but the evil ones.”^[1]This expression equates magic to blasphemy, which is sufficient to show the evilness and ugliness or magic and sorcery. Harut and Marut’s warning of “We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme (by conducting magic)” also shows that magic is among the main reasons that lead one to blasphemy and unbelief. (Al-Baqarah; 2:102-103)

This is because in magic lies the claim to perform acts beyond Allah’s control and power. On the other hand, since the thought of selfishness belies under magic and sorcery, the people who engage in these do not acknowledge religion or sacred.

In the Noble Qur’an, Allah declared His prophets and the revelations that we revealed to them were the truth and have nothing to do with sorcery or sorcerers, mentioned the opposition and slanders of sorcerers against the prophets and informed us that they are liars and deceitful people who will never achieve salvation. (Al-Araf; 7:116; Al-Taha; 20:69 (Yunus; 10:76-77) (Al-Zariyat; 51:52) (Al-Zukhruf; 43:30)

In our second hadith, it is told that acts such as tying a knot and blowing on the knot that carry the meaning of magic have been prohibited and that sorcery is a sin close to associating partners with God.

One of the usual acts of sorcerers is to take a piece of string and tie a knot and blow to the knot by uttering some magical words. Whoever does such a thing would commit a work of the people of sorcery. This act is among those of the people of idolatry. It leads the person to idolatry step by step. At the very least, it causes hidden idolatry since one leaves trusting in Allah and destiny (after doing the best one can), i.e., tawaqqul, and relies on sorcery.^[2]

Based on this and other similar rulings, Muslim scholars have put forth miscellaneous opinions on learning and practicing sorcery. According to Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal learning and practicing sorcery is unbelief. According to some of the authorities of the Hanafi school, sorcery can be learned to be protected from its evil and this is not considered as disbelief. However, it leads to unbelief to believe that practicing sorcery is allowed or that it provides benefits. The Islamic punishment of those who perform magic and sorcery is explained in detail in our books of Islamic jurisprudence. (See Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur’ân Dili, I, 441-451; Kâmil Miras, Tecrîd Tercümesi, VIII, 224-235) Muslim Scholars have expressed that magicians and sorcerers can hurt no one except by the Will of Allah and that it is prohibited for Muslims to engage with sorcery or have someone perform sorcery. It is not right for people who have been subjected to sorcery to apply in order to be free of its influence to insincere people who have assumed this a profession. Before all, it is necessary to seek refuge in Allah, worship and pray, and donate to poor. If a trustworthy, pious, and knowledgeable person is helping people then it is also possible to benefit from that person.

Almighty God commands as follows in the Chapter of Daybreak desiring that we seek refuge in Him from the evil of sorcerers. (Al-Falaq; 113:

“Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn from the mischief of created things; from the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads; from the mischief of those who practice secret arts; and from the mischief of the envious one as he practices envy.” (Al-Falaq; 113:1-5)

When it comes to other great sins, violating the property rights of orphans is counted among these. An orphan refers here to a young child whose father has passed away. According to what is understood from the noble verses and hadith, orphans are God’s trusts to the Muslim society. Namely, it is necessary to protect the orphans and their property as a society.

Citing the violation of the property rights of orphans among the destructive sins shows how severe a crime and responsibility it is.

Allah the Almighty says:

“To orphans restore their property (when they reach their age), nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin.” (An-Nisa; 4:2)

Ibn Abbas (r.a.) narrates the following about how careful the noble companions were in respect to the orphans’ property:

“When the following verses were revealed,

“And come not near to the orphan’s property, except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; give measure and weight with (full) justice…”^[3]

“Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire!”^[4] the noble companions who had orphans in their care immediately left and separated their food and drinks from their own. When something was left from the food and drinks of the orphans, companions would not touch them, and they would keep them until the orphan ate them or they would spoil.

This placed a heavy burden on them. They brought the matter to the attention of the Prophet (pbuh). Upon this, the Almighty and Exalted Allah revealed the following noble verse:

“…They ask you concerning orphans. Say: “The best thing to do is what is for their good; if you mix their affairs with yours, they are your brethren; but Allah knows the man who means mischief from the man who means good. And if Allah had wished, He could have put you into difficulties: He is indeed Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Al-Baqarah; 2:220)

After the revelation of this verse, the noble companions mixed the food and drinks of the orphans with theirs. (Abu Dawud, Wasaya, 7/2871; Nasai, Wasaya, 11)

If someone taking care of an orphan is poor and needy, he is allowed to benefit from the property of the orphan without going to excess and waste. If he is rich, he should be content with the property Allah gave him and stay away from the orphan’s property. In the noble verse, it is reminded that Almighty Allah knows the people who watch for the orphans versus people with evil intentions who want to utilize their property by abusing their weakness and wanted people who deal with orphans to control the feelings in their hearts.

One of the greater sins is to run away from the fight with the enemy. Jihad is one of the most important duties performed in order to to protect the religion, life, property, and modesty and chastity. Running away from doing jihad means first endangering his personal security and then the life of the Muslim society. So, unless it is a battle tactic, running away from the battle ground is among the greatest sins that are never forgiven.

Allah the Almighty commands:

“O you who believe! When you meet the unbelievers in hostile array, never turn your backs to them. If any do turn his back to them on such a day – unless it be in a stratagem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own) – he draws on himself the wrath of Allah, and his abode is Hell, – an evil refuge (indeed)!” (Al-Anfal; 8:15-16)

On the other hand, launching a charge against chaste Muslim women and trying to blemish their honor and dignity, i.e. slandering with adultery, is one of the destructive great sins. The slander against chaste Muslim men has the same ruling. The people who violate this prohibition are extremely wicked transgressors. For this reason they are flogged with eighty stripes in this world. (Al-Nur; 24:4)

On the other hand, Almighty Allah states the spiritual punishment in the Hereafter as follows:

“Those who slander chaste women, indiscreet but believing, are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous penalty, On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions.” (Al-Nur; 24:23-24)

There are other great sins than the ones that we hitherto counted. For this reason, it is not right to limit the great sins with a certain number or to consider them limited with the lists given in a hadith. The restrictions in the hadith are meant to say “these seven acts are among the great sins.” The seven, four, or three sins in miscellaneous narrations are brought forward because they are the most prominent, most disconcerting, and most frequent.

Some of the great sins apart from the ones we have studied are as follows:

• Contempt and scorn a Muslim, belittling and putting him down
• Deceiving people
• Calling a Muslim unbeliever and believing that he is like that
• To neglect the duty of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil
• A person’s negligence of his duties against the individuals whose sustenance he assumed
• Leaving the ritual prayer

In the noble verse, it is said that:

“But after them there followed a posterity who missed prayers and followed after lusts soon, then, will they face Destruction.” (Maryam; 19:59)

• Telling the private things that one shared with his wife to others
• Committing a forbidden act in the Masjid al Haram (Mecca) (Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Wasaya, 10/2875)
• Researching and trying to keep a custom from the Era of Ignorance alive in the Muslim community (Muslim, Iman, 165)
• Stealing (Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 17/3144)
• Gambling
• Dying without leaving sufficient property to pay off one’s debt even though one owes a debt.^[5]

The punishment for such sins is extremely severe and painful.

The following narration which informs us about certain sins and their respective punishments in the grave is extremely important for our subject.

Samura b. Jundub (r.a.) narrated:

The Messenger of Allah would very often ask his companions:

“Did anyone of you see a dream?”  So dreams would be narrated to him by those whom Allah wished to tell. One morning the Prophet said:

“Last night two persons (Gabriel and Mikhail) came to me (in a dream) and woke me up and said to me, “Proceed!” I set out with them and we came across a man lying down, and behold, another man was standing over his head, holding a big rock. Behold, he was throwing the rock at the man’s head, injuring it. The rock rolled away and the thrower followed it and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head returned to the normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before. I said to the angels:

“Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?”

They said, “Proceed!” So we proceeded and came to a man lying flat on his back and another man standing over his head with an iron hook, and behold, he would put the hook in one side of the man’s mouth and tear off that side of his face to the back (of the neck) and similarly tear his nose from front to back and his eye from front to back. Then he turned to the other side of the man’s face and did just as he had done with the other side. He hardly completed this side when the other side returned to its normal state. Then he returned to it to repeat what he had done before. I said:

“Subhan Allah! Who are these two persons?”

They said to me, ‘Proceed!’ So we proceeded and came across something like a Tannur (a kind of baking oven, a pit usually clay-lined for baking bread). In that oven there was much noise and voices. We looked into it and found naked men and women, and behold, a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them, they cried loudly.

I asked them:

“Who are these?”

They said to me, ‘Proceed!’ And so we proceeded and came across a river red like blood. And behold, in the river there was a man swimming, and on the bank there was a man who had collected many stones. While the other man was swimming, he went near him. The former opened his mouth and the latter (on the bank) threw a stone into his mouth whereupon he went swimming again. He returned and every time the performance was repeated, I asked my two companions:

“Who are these (two) persons?”

They replied, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ And we proceeded till we came to a man with a repulsive appearance, the most repulsive appearance you ever saw a man having! Beside him there was a fire and he was kindling it and running around it. I asked my companions:

“Who is this man?”

They said to me, ‘Proceed! Proceed!’ So we proceeded till we reached a garden of deep green dense vegetation, having all sorts of spring colors. In the midst of the garden there was a very tall man and I could hardly see his head because of his great height, and around him there were children in such a large number as I have never seen. I said:

“Whose are this man and the children?”

“Proceed! Proceed!” So we proceeded till we came to a majestic huge garden, greater and better than I have ever seen! My two companions said to me, ‘Go up and I went up!’ So we ascended till we reached a city built of gold and silver bricks and we went to its gate and asked (the gatekeeper) to open the gate, and it was opened and we entered the city and found in it, men with one side of their bodies as handsome as the handsomest person you have ever seen, and the other side as ugly as the ugliest person you have ever seen. My two companions ordered those men:

“Throw yourselves into the river!” Behold, there was a river flowing across (the city), and its water was like milk in whiteness. Those men went and threw themselves in it and then returned to us after the ugliness (of their bodies) had disappeared and they became in the best shape.

My two companions (angels) said to me:

“This place is the Eden Paradise, and that is your place.” I rose up my sight, and behold, there I saw a palace like a white cloud! My two companions said to me:

“That (palace) is your place.” I said to them:

“Allah bless you both! Let me enter it.” They replied:

“As for now, you will not enter it, but you shall enter it (one day).”  I said to them:

“I have seen many wonders tonight. What does all that mean which I have seen?” They replied:

“We will inform you.”

“As for the first man you came upon whose head was being injured with the rock, he is the symbol of the one who studies the Qur’an and then neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and sleeps, neglecting the enjoined prayers.

As for the man you came upon whose sides of mouth, nostrils and eyes were torn off from front to back, he is the symbol of the man who goes out of his house in the morning and tells so many lies that it spreads all over the world.

 (In another report, it is narrated as:

“He was a liar and always used to lie when he was on earth. The lies he spread used to cover the horizon.”) so this punishment will go on till the Day of Resurrection.

And those naked men and women whom you saw in a construction resembling an oven, they are the adulterers and the adulteresses.

The man whom you saw swimming in the river and given a stone to swallow, is the eater of usury (Riba).

The bad looking man whom you saw near the fire kindling it and going round it, is Malik, the gatekeeper of Hell.

The tall man whom you saw in the garden, is Abraham and the children around him are those children who die with Al-Fitra (the Islamic Faith).”

Some Muslims asked the Prophet:

“O Allah’s Apostle! What about the children of pagans?”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) replied:

“And also the children of pagans.” The Prophet added:

“The men you saw half handsome and half ugly were those persons who had mixed an act that was good with another that was bad, but Allah forgave them.”  (Bukhari, Ta’bir, 48; Al-Jana’iz, 93; Tahajjud, 12; Buyu, 2; Jihad, 4; Bad’ al-khalk, 6; Anbiya, 8; Tafsir, 9/15; Adab, 69; Tirmidhi, Ru’ya, 10/2295)

The kinds of punishment shown to the Prophet are the ones that are going to continue until the Day of Judgment. There are no mentions here of the kinds of punishments that are going to be given after the accounting.

Another matter is that the dreams of prophets are not like ours. Their dreams are trusted ones. There are examples of this in the Noble Qur’an. For this reason, what the Messenger of Allah told us “I saw in my dream” is an expression of truth. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has warned his nation by informing them about the future and has wished to save them from loss both in this world and in the hereafter.

This is because the punishment for the sins is not just given in the grave or the Hereafter but sometimes also given in this world. Indeed, in our third hadith, certain punishments to be given in this world for bad acts like adultery, betrayal, not giving the zakat, and disobeying Allah’s commands is given.

On the other hand, in our fourth hadith, we are informed that once the sins increase in a society people can face total destruction. This ruling will not change even though there are pious people among them,

If Almighty Allah wishes, He sends a calamity that hits everyone – both good and bad – in the society in which sins increase,^[6] and He demolishes places. However, people will be raised based on their intentions and conditions in life and receives compensation accordingly.^[7]

Almighty Allah warns as follows:

“And fear mischief or oppression, which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong: and know that Allah is strict in punishment.” (Al-Anfal; 8:25)

In this case, what is required upon us is to fulfill our duty to enjoin the good and forbid the evil and try to decrease sins.