Obvious wrongdoing & its consequences

Obvious Wrongdoing

The Almighty Allah, in His Qur’¡n, has prohibited people from approaching wrongdoing and obvious as well as hidden sins (6:151). But obvious sins show the extreme shamelessness of the sinner, and his boldness toward the law and the Islamic society milieu.

Islam does not approve pollution of the society by the sinners, and has determined Islamic punishment for those who contaminate the Islamic nation. It is incumbent upon the conscious believers, especially the Islamic government officials, to avoid the wrongdoing of shameless sinners in any way possible, not to poison others, specifically young girls and boys, with sins.

The obligation of ‘enjoining to good’ (amri bi ma’ruf) in Islam is for eliminating the root of corruption and pollution and keeping the society away from ethical lapses. If the main training centers, that is homes and schools foster the divine attribute of ‘modesty’ among the youth and make it a permanent one, people become immune to obvious and hidden sins.

Modesty, remembering Allah, and thinking of the sins’ outcome are the highest preventing factors for human being.

It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (a.s):

اَلحَيَاءُ مِنَ الإيمَانِ، وَالإيمانُ فِي الجَنَّةِ.

Modesty comes from belief in Allah, and belief results in (entering) His Paradise.[1]

The Messenger of Allah (s.a) stated:

إسْتَحْيوا مِنَ اللهِ حَقَّ الحَيَاءِ.

Be modest before Allah and observe the right of modesty!

“O Messenger of Allah! How should we do it?” he was asked. The Prophet answered:

فَإنْ كُنْتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ، فَلا يَبِيتَنَّ أحَدُكُم إلاَّ وَأجَلُهُ بَيْنَ عَيْنَيْهِ، وَلْيَحْفَظِ الرَّأسَ وَمَا حَوى، وَالبَطْنَ وَمَا وَعى، وَلْيَذْكُرِ القَبْرَ وَالبِلَى، وَمَنْ أرَادَ الآخِرَةَ فَلْيَدَعِ الحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا.

You should not sleep at night and get up in the morning, except that you remember your appointed time (death); so you should keep your heads and its organs, like eyes, ears, and tongue from wrongdoing, keep your bellies from eating unlawful food, and remember your body decay in your graves. One who wishes salvation in the Hereafter should leave the tempting stuff of the world.[2]

Someone told Prophet Mu¦ammad (s.a): “Give me some advice!” The Prophet said:

إسْتَحيِ مِنَ اللهِ كَمَا تَسْتَحْيي مِنَ الرَّجُلِ الصَّالِحِ مِنْ قَوْمِكَ.

Be modest before Allah as you are modest before a decent gentleman from your tribe![3]

Modesty of a Believing Lady

Imam Al-Sajj¡d (a.s) has narrated: A man and his family were traveling by sea when their ship broke and all the passengers on the ship were drowned, except the man’s wife. She took a remnant board of the ship until she reached an island.

In that island, there was a brigand who had torn off all the veils of modesty. When he saw the woman, he asked her: “Are you a jinn or a human?” The woman answered: “A human.” So without saying a word, the bold brigand forcefully took her as if he was his husband. The chaste woman got disturbed. The brigand asked the reason. Pointing to the heaven, the woman answered: “I’m afraid.” The bold man asked: “Have you committed such a sin before?” The lady answered: “By Allah’s Glory not!” The man said: “You fear Allah this way, though you have not committed the sin and I’m forcing you to do so. By Allah that I am more deserved to become disturbed and fearful of Allah than you.” Then he left immediately, went to his family, and always attempted to take repentance.

One day he crossed a monk in his way, while the sun was shining intensively on them. The monk told him: “Implore Allah to send a cloud for us to reduce the hotness of the sun!” The ex-brigand said: “I have done nothing worthy to dare asking Allah a request.” The monk said: “So I pray and you say amen!” Then the monk prayed and the man said amen. A cloud soon shadowed them. They walked under the cloud for a while until they reached a fork in their way. The monk continued one of the ways and the man chose the other. The cloud, too, continued shadowing the man!

Observing this, the monk told the man: “You are more deserved than me. Our prayer was accepted because of you. So tell me your story!” The man explained the story of that lady. The monk said: “Since you feared Allah your previous sins were forgiven. Watch out what you’ll do in the future!”[4]

Scattering Lies

The Messenger of Allah (s.a), Imam Sadiq (a.s) and Imam al-Reza (a.s) have considered lying as a major sin, and the most obscene of them.[5]

Among the most obscene kinds of lying is fabricating the statements of Allah, the prophets, the infallible Imams and the heavenly Books, which misguides many people.

Throughout history, the disbeliever leaders fabricated facts and told lies under the name of science and philosophy to prevent the masses from inclination to the right religion, the prophets, and the Hereafter. These hypocrites, fabricators, and tempters forged issues and led people astray. They represented the erroneous things as right, and the rights as untrue.

The disbelievers denied the heavenly Books that were revealed by Allah for guiding mankind. They opposed Allah’s signs in various ways, and inspired people that nothing is descended from Allah![6]

These oppressors accused the truthful prophets of lying and charged those wise men with magic. They also called prophets, who were unique in mental capability, insane!

The disbelievers resorted to any kind of crime and offence and even fabricated the divine Books of Torah and the Bible to make them in accord with their own disbelief. They dared altering the divine verses and did not fear the outcome of their deeds and Allah’s doomed punishment. If they could, they would have fabricated the holy Qur’¡n, too, but the Absolute Guardian of the world supported it.

The hypocrites in the age of the infallible Imams intensively made false traditions to foster the oppressor ruling of the Umayyad and the Abbasids, keep the Prophet’s Household away from the scene, and deprive people from the divine knowledge of infallible Imams who were the true successors of the Prophet (s.a). They fabricated nearly a million false traditions, attributing them to the great Prophet of Islam (s.a), and included them in Islamic books to introduce them to the nation as the Islamic culture. If it was not for the scientific revolution of the Imams (a.s), especially Imam al-B¡qir and Imam ¯¡diq (a.s) as well as their students, and also the attempts made by Shi’a scholars and jurisprudents to this day, we had to accept some of those traditions fabricated by the agents of the Umayyad and Abbasids. The jurisprudents did this using the tools taught by Imams (a.s) for distinguishing right from wrong, and hence pure Islam was saved by Imams and efforts of Shi’a scientists. This way Allah’s reasons got complete for mankind until the Hereafter and no one can claim s/he has been away from Mohammad’s religion, on the Resurrection Day.

All over the world, these hypocrite fabricators have made so many lies in different scientific fields and in political, material, and spiritual arenas in the past two decades. They imposed the fabricated materials on the societies and thus deceived individuals, making them far away from reality. The deceiving mottos like “Religion is the nations’ opium.” “Government deserves the civilized, victor, and conqueror humans.” “Knowledge is the key for solving all problems.” “Democracy and freedom”, “liberal civil society”, “ruling of people on people” instead of ruling of Allah on people via His pious servants, made many people communist and irreligious. The Muslim believers got entangled among disbelievers and were mocked by them. That’s why the holy Qur’¡n calls out:

…فَنَجْعَلْ لَعْنَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَاذِبِينَ.

So invoke the curse of Allah upon those who lie. (3:61)

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ كَاذِبٌ كَفَّارٌ.

Surely Allah guides not him who is a liar, unthankful. (39:3)

The great Messenger of Allah (s.a) has thus been right in his very important traditions that follow:

ألاَ أُنَبِّؤُكُمْ بِأكْبَرِ الكَبَائِرِ؟ الإشْرَاكُ بِاللهِ، وَعُقُوقُ الوَالِدَيْنِ... ألاَ وَقَوْلُ الزُّورِ.

Do you want me to inform you of the biggest major sin? Polytheism, unkindness toward parents, (and he sat upright and continued) and beware of untrue speech.[7]

He also said:

شَرُّ الرِّوَايَةِ رِوَايَةُ الكَذِبِ.

The worst speech is lying.[8]

It is also narrated from him:

أقَلُّ النَّاسِ مُرُوؤَةً مَنْ كَانَ كَاذِباً.

A liar has the least humanity.[9]

Furthermore, the Prophet (s.a) was asked: “Is there any fearful believer?” He agreed. “Is there any stingy believer?” He approved it again. “Is there any liar believer?” He rejected it.[10]

Am¢r al-Mu’min¢n, Imam `Al¢ (a.s) stated:

لاَ يَجِدُ عَبْدٌ طَعْمَ الإيمَانِ حَتَّى يَتْرُكَ الكَذِبَ هَزْلَهُ وَجِدَّهُ.

Man does not taste the sweetness of belief unless he avoids lying, either seriously or jokingly.[11]

He also said:

لا سُوءَ أسْوَأُ مِنَ الكَذِبِ.

Lying is the worst obscenity.[12]

Another valuable statement of him reads:

اَلصِّدْقُ أمَانَةٌ وَالكَذِبُ خِيَانَةٌ.

Honesty is, in fact, loyalty and lying is betrayal.[13]

Imam ¯¡diq (a.s) has stated:

إنَّ الكَذِبَ هُوَ خَرابُ الإيمَانِ.

The Exalted Allah has set some locks for the sins; the key to these locks is wine, and even worst than wine is lying.[14]

Prophet Moses (a.s) asked Allah: “Which of Your servants is the most well-behaved?” Allah replied: “One whose tongue does not tell lies, whose heart does not go astray, and doest not do adultery.”[15]

Islamic sciences teach us that the liar is transgressor, hypocrite and dishonored. The angels curse the liar. The liar has a fetid mouth. The liar is disbeliever. The liar is subject to Allah’s wrath and curse. The liar is a sinner who is deprived of Allah’s guidance and does not deserve companionship. The liar is a human in appearance, but an unclean animal, indeed!

Judging in contrast to Allah’s Rules

Another sin, which descends adversities, is judgment in contrast to the divine rules. If a judge is aware of Allah’s rule, but denies it in judgment and issues verdict based on irreligious rules, he is, in the speech of holy Qur’¡n, a transgressor, an oppressor, and a disbeliever[16]. He is a disbeliever because he has denied Allah’s rule. He is an oppressor since he has deprived a human from his rights. And he is transgressor for he is away from religion and humanity due to his unfair verdict. Imam ¯¡diq (a.s) has stated:

مَنْ حَكَمَ بَيْنَ اثْنَيْنِ بِغَيْرِ حُكْمِ اللهِ فَقَدْ كَفَرَ بِاللهِ.

One who issues an unfair verdict even on two drachmas has become a blasphemer.[17]