Alhamdulillaah was salaatu was salaamu alaa nabiyyinaa wa habeebinaa muhammad

Taken from 'Jawaab al-Kaafi of ibn al-Qayyim'



It is necessary to know that performing sins is detrimental and harmful to the servant. The harm that sins cause to the heart is comparable to the differing levels of harm that various types of poison cause to the body. Indeed is there a single evil that occurs in the world or will occur in the Hereafter (i.e. entering Hell) except that its cause is sin?

What caused our parents to be ejected from Paradise – the land of delight, felicity and joy, to the land of pain, misery and affliction?

What caused Iblees to be ejected from enjoying the company of the Angels to being debased and cursed? What caused his outward and inward form to be disfigured such that he took on the most vile of features and his inner features even worse? What caused him to become distant (from Allaah) after being close, being under the Mercy (of Allaah) to being under His curse, from being beautiful to being ugly, from being in Paradise to being in the blazing Fire, from being a believer to being a disbeliever, from being the friend of Allaah to being His greatest enemy, from being a person devoted to the glorification of his Lord to being a person of kufr, shirk, lies and shameful deeds, from wearing the raiment of faith to wearing the raiment

of disbelief, sin and disobedience such that he became completely worthless and insignificant in the Sight of Allaah? O Allaah we seek refuge with You from opposing Your Command and taking on board Your Prohibition!

What caused the inhabitants of the earth to be drowned to such an extent that the water rose above the highest peaks?

What caused the wind to rage over the people of Aad until the men could be seen lying dead as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees? Their land, homes and animals were destroyed and they remain a lesson for all who follow until the Day of Judgement.

What caused the people of Thamud to be destroyed by the awful cry such that their very hearts stopped beating and they were killed to the last of them?

What was it that caused the city of Lut to be raised so high that the Angels could hear the whining of their dogs and then its being turned upside down and everything being destroyed? Then He followed this up by

raining stones upon them from the sky and hence combined for them a punishment that had not been meted out to any before them, and their brothers shall get a similar punishment and that is not far off.

What was it that caused the cloud to come upon the people of Shu`ayb and rain down upon them blazing fire?

What was it that caused Pharaoh and his people to be drowned and their souls to be presented with Fire day and night, so the bodies were drowned and the souls burnt?

What was it that caused Qaaroon, his family, wealth and property to be swallowed by the earth?

What was it that caused the nations that succeeded Nuh to be destroyed?