الذنوبُ تؤثّر في القلب فيعجز عن تعظيم الربّ ~، ويضعُف إحساسه بالطمأنينة. ولو امتلأ القلبُ بالوقار لما تجرّأ على ارتكاب أيّ ذنب. ويقول بعضُ المغرورين: "ما يدفعني أحياناً إلى ارتكاب الذنوب هو الرجاءُ في الانتفاع برحمة الله، لا ضعفُ تعظيمه في قلبي." وهذا خداعٌ للنفس محض؛ لأنّ تعظيم الله ~ في القلب يعني تعظيمَ حرمته، وذلك يمنع من ارتكاب أيّ معصية. أمّا الذين يتجرّؤون بجرأةٍ على معصية الله ~ فإنهم لا يقدرونه حقَّ قدره. وهذا عقوبةٌ من الله ~ تنزع خوفَ عبادِه من قلوبهم، فيحتقرهم الناسُ بمقدار ما احتقروا أوامرَ الله ~. فالناسُ يحبّون الإنسانَ بقدر حبّه لله ~، ويخافونه بقدر خوفه من الله، ويمدحونه بقدر ثنائه على الله ~. فكيف ينتهك الإنسانُ حرمةَ الله ~ ثم لا يتوقّع من الناس أن ينتهكوا حرمته؟ وقد بيّن الله ~ في كتابه (القرآن) عقوبةَ الذنوب، فجعل كبارَ المجرمين في حالِ كفرٍ بما اكتسبوا، وختم على قلوبهم بذنوبهم، وأنساهم كما نسوا ربّهم، وأضلّهم كما أضاعوا دينَه. وقال الله ~ في كتابه، بعد أن وصف سجودَ جميعِ خلقه له: ﴿وَمَن يُهِنِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِن مُّكْرِمٍ﴾ [الحج: 18]؛ فلمّا استكبروا عن السجود لله ~ وأبَوا أن يؤدّوه، أهانهم، فلا يُكرمهم أحدٌ بعد أن أذلّهم الله ~.

Sins affect one's heart so it fails to glorify the Lord ~ and weakens its sense of tranquillity. If one's heart was filled with sobriety it would not have dared to commit any sin. Some deceived people say: "What induces me sometimes to commit sins is the hope of benefiting from Allah's Mercy, not the weakness of glorifying Him in my heart." This is simply self-deception; because glorifying Allah ~ in one's heart means glorifying His Sanctity, which would oppose the committing of any sins. Those who boldly indulge in disobeying Allah ~ do not consider Him with the correct estimation due to Him~. This is a punishment from Allah ~ which removes the sense of fear from the hearts of His Servants, so that sinners would despise hitn/her the way he/she disrespected the Commands of Allah ~ - People love another person according to his/her level of love for Allah ~ ; they fear hitn/her according to the level of his/her fear of Allah; they praise him/her according to the level of his/her praise for Allah ~. How could a person violate the sanctity of Allah ~ and not expect people to violate his/her sanctity? Allah ~ has stated in His Book (the Qur'an) the punishment due for sins. He ~ cast the big sinners into a state of disbelief for what they had earned. He ~ sealed their hearts with their sins, and forgot them the way they had forgotten their Lord. He ~ wasted them the way they had wasted His Religion. Allah ~ stated in His Book, after describing the prostration of all His Creatures to Him: (Whomsoever Allah disgraces, none can honour him)1; when they despised the act of prostrating to Allah ~ and refused to perform it, He ~ disgraced them; and no one could honour them after they had been humiliated by Allah ~-