The cause of one’s destruction is his following of the lusts

No doubt, no nation shall be inflicted with miseries unless it loses the ways of righteousness and expedience.

Wherever there is news of the destruction of a nation in the Holy Qur’an, God mentions the cause for that specific chastisement so that people may realize that following one’s wishes will lead to his corruption.

God has said in the Holy Quran:

فَكُلًّا أَخَذْنَا بِذَنْبِهِ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ حَاصِبًا وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَخَذَتْهُ الصَّيْحَةُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ خَسَفْنَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَغْرَقْنَا وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ  [1]

“So each We punished for his sin; of them was he on whom We sent down a violent storm, and of them was he whom the rumbling overtook, and of them was he whom We made to be swallowed up by the earth, and of them was he whom We drowned; and it did not beseem Allah that He should be unjust to them, but they were unjust to their own souls.”

One of those nations was the people of Madyan. When the members of this community turned into traitors, cheaters and wrong doers, God’s chastisement befall them. For instance, treason in sail was not considered a nasty value. They would not feel ashamed if they were rebuked for their wrong doings; instead they would blame the person who provided them with advice. They would not understand their shortcomings. They would not consider sins as bad. The Almighty God tells us about them:

وَإِلَى مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ وَلَا تَنقُصُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ وَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ مُحِيطٍ. وَيَا قَوْمِ أَوْفُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا النَّاسَ أَشْيَاءَهُمْ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ  [2]

 “And to Madyan We sent their brother Shu’aib. He said: O my people! Serve Allah, you have no god other than Him, and do not give short measure and weight: surely I see you in prosperity and surely I fear for you the punishment of all – encompassing day. And, O my people! Give full measure and weight fairly, and defraud not men of their things and do not act corruptly in the Land, making mischief.”

The following points are stressed in the above sacred verses:

1. Serve and worship Allah, you have no god other than Him;

2. Do not give short measure and weight,

3. Your prosperity lies in your dealing justly with people;

4. I fear for you the punishment of all – encompassing day;

5. Give full measure;

6. Defraud not men in their things;

7. Do not act corruptly in the Land.

Then God continues to state:

وَلَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُنَا نَجَّيْنَا شُعَيْبًا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ مِنَّا وَأَخَذَتْ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا الصَّيْحَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دِيَارِهِمْ جَاثِمِينَ[3]

 “And when our decree come to pass We delivered Shu’aib, and those who believed with him by mercy from Us, and the rumbling overtook those who were unjust so they became motionless bodies in their abodes.”

The Nouh, Salih, Lut, and other nations who suffered God’s chastisement, were like the nation of Madyan. These were destroyed because they followed their unrealistic wishes or unfounded lusts.

The differences that lie between being God’s servant and the servant of lusts are parallel between the difference between light and darkness. A servant of lusts would not refrain from performing any kind of corruption and murder; conversely, any God’s servant will not refrain from doing anything good.

In an article, Jobran Khalil describes man’s slavery in the hands of his lusts and false desires in the following manner:

Men are slaves to their lives and as a result of this servitude they are wretched during the day and miserable at night.

In my life what I have seen and observed have been men obedient to their unfounded desires.

I have visited castles, universities, and temples. I have stood in front of thrones, I have visited sanctuaries, and I have attended lectures and have seen that the laborer is a servant in the hands of a capitalist and a businessman, that a capitalist is a servant in the hands of a military man, that a military man is a servant in the hands of a politician, that a politician is a slave in the hands of the king, that the king is a slave in the hands of the diviner(soothsayer), that the diviner is a slave in the hands of his idol, and that the idol is composed of earth and dust which is constructed by satans over dead skulls.

I have visited the castles and courts of the powerful affluent men with their treasures of jewelry and gold bullions; I have as well visited the huts of the miserable which look like a cave with suffocating air inside.

I have seen children who learn the ways of servitude by sucking their mother’s breasts; I have observed how adolescents put on the dress of servitude; I have noticed how women are dominated by tyrant spouses.

From the shores of the River Gang up to the shores of the Euphrates, the Nile Basin, the Sina mountain, Athens squares, Roman cathedrals, the constantinopol alleys and London skyscrapers, I have noticed servitude being driven in a luxurious cart, people gathering around it and paying their respect to it, sometimes calling it a god, and offering their sons and daughters as sacrifices for it, sometimes people calling it an emperor and offer him wine, and at times people calling it a soothsayer and fumigating it and calling it the law per se, and fall down making obeisance to it, at times people calling it patriotism, and shed blood for it, and destroy one another’s shelters for it doing that in the name of brotherhood, and equality; at time they would call it business, putting an immense amount of endeavors to make it flourish.

So it is one thing under different names and titles; it is one truth with different manifestations; it is one eternal disease which inflicts people each time with strange side-effects; it is a disease which is handed down from the father to his son; it is a microbe which is transferred from one generation to another.

The strangest kinds of servitudes that I have observed are of the following kinds: