“Truly those who do evil and by their
sinfulness
are engulfed – they are
destined for the Fire,
therein to abide; whereas
those who attain to
faith and do righteous
deeds – they are
destined for Paradise,
therein to abide”
(Qur’an, 2:81-82).
The Qur’an teaches
that human beings are given the special gift of thinking and understanding,
more than any other creation. They are also given a certain freedom to act,
discover, innovate in so many areas in nature (in the land, in the sea, and even
in other planets in the universe), but they should be careful not to transgress
the bounds that God has shown through His ordinances, and not to create
disorder.
Any unjust action against human beings or other creation is considered
a sin to be accounted for by God in the Hereafter.
God says in the
Qur’an: “(On the Day of Judgment,) every human being will be held in pledge for
whatever he has worked” (74:38). “So, he who shall have done an atom’s
weight of good, shall behold it; and he who shall have done an atom’s weight of
evil, shall behold it” (99:7-8).
Nobody can escape
from accountability on the Day of Judgment.
This assertion –
of the Qur’an – that all sins can surround the doer and engulf him/her, draws
indeed a very expressive and illustrative portrait of those who during this
life are addicted to commit sins without refrain. Not only in Chapter 2, but
also in Chapter 83, in which every sinful action is illustrated as a black
stain marked on the heart and recorded in a special record called “sijjin” (= sealed
record): “Nay, verily, the record of the wicked is in Sijjin; and what would
tell you what Sijjin is? It is a sealed Record” (83:7-9).
Philologically the
word “sijjin” comes from “sijn” (= prison), meaning those persons who used to
be in the sealed prison of addiction to sins in this worldly life, will also
have no way to escape in the Hereafter and their deeds will be in a sealed, unavoidable
record. The illustration continues: “Nay, but their hearts are
covered with stains caused by (the evil) that they want to do. Nay, verily, on
that Day they shall be certainly screened off from their Lord” (83:14-15).
Dr Salman Al-Odah calls
Chapter 83 of the Qur’an “a war against people who are addicted to sins” (in his book “Zinzanah”, 2014).
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of God (Peace
and God’s blessings be upon him) said: “Verily when the servant of God commits
a sin, a black stain immediately appears on his heart; when he refrains from
it, by asking forgiveness from God and repents to Him, his heart will be
cleanly polished. But if he returns (to his addiction) the black stain will
increase until it covers his entire heart. That is the black stain, which is
mentioned in the Qur’an (Chapter 83:14)” (Recorded by Tirmidhi).
As a great example
for Muslims, the Prophet (peace and God’s blessings be upon him) said about
himself, (according to one of his companions, Al-Agharr Al-Muzani): “Sometimes I perceive a veil over my heart.
And indeed (that’s why) I supplicate God for forgiveness about one hundred
times a day” (Recorded by Muslim in
his Collection of Hadith).
The reason why he exposed this truth was to teach
his followers to beware of being engulfed by sins.
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