When Sin Takes Hold of the Heart
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID — In simple terms, sin is any act that violates the commandments of Allah and involves doing what He has forbidden, whether through deeds, words, or the heart. Sin can also distance a person from remembering Him. When the heart is overcome by sin, one gradually loses the awareness to do good, abandons the attitude of ihsan, and drifts ever further from the path approved by Allah.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, in his work Ad-Da’ wa ad-Dawa, explains that sin distances the doer from righteous deeds. Sin keeps the perpetrator away from ihsan and bars the reward owed to those who do good.
In truth, if it takes hold of the heart, ihsan can protect a person from sinning. One cannot worship Allah as though seeing Him unless one remembers Him, loves Him, fears Him, and is full of hope in Him.
Such ihsan will deter a person from the desire to commit sin, let alone fall into it. Should one depart from ihsan, one must recognise that ihsan is a beneficial companion—one that brings pleasure and well-being. If one desires goodness, Allah grants it to the believer. Whoever commits sin deliberately is judged to have lost faith.
The Prophet Muhammad SAW said: “No fornicator commits fornication whilst being a believer at the moment he does it. No drinker of khamr drinks whilst being a believer at the moment he drinks. No thief steals whilst being a believer at the moment he steals. No one seizes spoils whilst people look away from him whilst being a believer at the moment he takes them.”
Sin can also lead a person ever further from Allah SWT. When someone forgets Allah, he may be made to forget himself as well, losing concern for his welfare in this world and the hereafter, until he sinks into wickedness. The Qur’an reminds Muslims not to become like those who forgot Allah, for in the end they were made to forget themselves.
In Ad-Da’ wa ad-Dawa it is explained that sin causes a person to forget Allah, and Allah in turn will forget him and leave him in the company of Satan. It is then that he perishes, with no hope of salvation.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala says: O you who believe, fear Allah, and let every soul consider what it has prepared for tomorrow (the Hereafter). Fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is fully aware of what you do. And do not be like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves. It is they who are the defiantly disobedient. (QS Al-Hashr, verses 18–19)