Sins II – The Consequences

In the last khutbah we spoke about major and minor sins and that we should avoid committing both types of sins to the best of our abilities. In order to minimise committing sins, we must understand the negative effects of sins and therefore in this khutbah we will look at some of the negative effects of committing sins.   

One of the major negative effects of sinning and disobeying Allah is that we remove the majesty and dignity that Allah deserves from us. We certainly wouldn’t be committing sins if we knew a lot about Allah and worship Him the way He deserves. Allah says,
  وَمَا قَدَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدۡرِهِۦ 
“They have not appraised Allah with true appraisal (appreciation of His attributes) ….” (39:67) 
 
So, this verse tells us that people didn’t give Allah what was due to Him. If we were conscious in the way Allah deserves then we would try our best to not continuously commit sins. If we really knew that Allah is the one who gave us our life, we wouldn’t waste it. If we really acknowledged that Allah gave us our eyes, ears, nose, and tongue then we wouldn’t use them to commit haram. Imagine being born with one eye or with one hand or with one leg. But Alhamdulillah, Allah gave us everything. Allah gave us all our organs for free; some organ transplants cost around £40,000. But Allah gave them to us for free so then we worship him. So yes, the more we learn about Allah and His Mercy and the other attributes, the less we will commit sins.   

Another effect of sinning, whether it is major or minor, is that it will cause our imaan, our belief system, to diminish. All of us have an imaan tree, this tree grows when we learn about Allah, Islam and generally do good deeds. We all want that tree to be big and to keep on growing until the tree helps us enter Jannah. However, when we sin the imaan tree starts shrinking. Unfortunately, some people commit sins day and night, until they no longer believe in Allah and so that imaan tree is destroyed forever.  
A third consequence of sinning is that it hardens the heart. Allah says:
 كَلَّاۖ بَلۡۜ رَانَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُواْ يَكۡسِبُونَ 
 “But no! In fact, their hearts have been stained by all (the evil) they used to commit!” (83:14) 

Just like a physical disease spread around the body and damages it, sins spread around the heart until it damages it. That is why as people grow and are embedded into different types of sins, they no longer are moved by the Quran or Islamic reminders. They tend to be difficult people, who always harm people around them.   

A fourth consequence of sinning is that Allah will take away the blessings that He has provided. The blessing of health, family, good friends, and the greatest one imaan all can be taken away from us. In fact, Allah can make us forget ourselves.   Allah says,
 وَلَا تَكُونُواْ كَٱلَّذِينَ نَسُواْ ٱللَّهَ فَأَنسَىٰهُمۡ أَنفُسَهُمۡۚ أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡفَٰسِقُونَ 
“And do not be like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves. Those are the defiantly disobedient.” (59:19) 

So, people forgot Allah and so Allah made them forget themselves. What does it mean they will forget themselves? They will forget the purpose of life, what they should stand for, how they are supposed to live, and the priorities of life. Just look at some of the celebrities. They need drugs to keep them happy. They cannot find natural ways of being happy. They have 5 or more different life partners, each partner cheats on them and leaves them for someone more famous. Even though they have a lot of money, these celebrities are not satisfied with life and so many of them contemplate committing suicide. The truth is, they don’t have Allah in their life. They have a big hole in their life, and they think a lot of material goods will fill that vacuum. So, we don’t want to be like these people who forget Allah and therefore Allah degrades them.  

In summary, sins have multiple negative consequences in one’s life and therefore we should avoid them as much as possible.   

Allah didn’t create us to be sinless, this isn’t our goal. But we must do our best to reduce the number of sins we are doing, especially the major ones. One of the ways we can reduce sinning is by thinking and studying the consequences of a sin in our lives. It is part of our religion to study sins, for example we should study what shirk is, what kufr is, why something is made haram. Moreover, we should study the effects of smoking cigarettes, the dangers of drugs, alcohol and all the other ills of society. By knowing that cigarettes cause mutation, damages the lungs and so there’ll be breathing issues, is addictive and expensive and so you will spend thousands of pounds, can cause cancer and harm those who are nearby and overall kills people. Maybe just by knowing some of these facts one will avoid the sin of smoking cigarettes. By knowing that alcohol is a depressant, damages the liver, can cause cancer and can kill, I hope none of us will be enticed by it. So, studying the social, moral ethical and physical harms caused by sins can help us avoid them.  

As mentioned before, we will never be perfect, but certain things must be avoided. Top of the list for us is not to publicise our sins. We learn from a hadith that the Prophet ﷺ said:  “All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujahirin (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people) ….” [Bukhari] 

So don’t publicise your sins by putting pictures and videos up on your social media for people to see and don’t tell others about it. This is a huge problem in our society. There was a time people did not want to publicise their bad actions, but now you’ll probably get more likes and followers if you announce your sins. Within a decade, social media has almost turned us upside down when it comes to making public our bad actions. 

The second actions that must be avoided is to think that your sin is bigger than Allah’s mercy. Never ever think that you have committed too many sins and that Allah won’t forgive you. No matter what sin you have done never ever stop making istighfar, asking Allah for forgiveness. Always be in a state of saying Astaghfirullah when you find yourself doing something bad. And always ask Allah to help you come out of the bad.  
Allah says:  
۞قُلۡ يَٰعِبَادِيَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسۡرَفُواْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ لَا تَقۡنَطُواْ مِن رَّحۡمَةِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغۡفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًاۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ 
Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful” (39:53) 
 
So, a clear message given by Allah to all of us, Allah’s Mercy is much bigger than all of our sins, but we have to take the action of asking Allah for forgiveness and help us stop doing bad actions. The key is not to get tricked by Shaytan, who wants us to think if we sin we can’t go back to Allah. Allah tells us that he forgives all sins, we just need to regret doing them and ask for His forgiveness. 

In conclusion, we all have sins that we fall into and struggle with, but we need try to be better ourselves and help each other. No one is an angel, as long as you are struggling and trying, do not lose hope in Allah’s Mercy, then you are on the right track. Let us all make a promise to overcome some of our sins, to avoid doing them for as long as possible, and even if you slip ask Allah to forgive you, continue being in this state, if you fall into sin again then again ask Allah to forgive you, repeat this until you die and return to Allah.  

May Allah give us the ability to reduce the amount of sins we do and make us amongst those who continuously ask for forgiveness.