Spiritual Disease and Its Cure by Imam Shams-ud-Deen Muhammad bin Abi Bakr bin Qayyim AlJ awziyyah

The Prophet ~ said: "The most common things which bring people into Hell are: the mouth and the private parts." 7 He ~ also said: "The blood of a Muslim man is not permitted (to be shed) except for of three: a mature adulterous person (who is or has been married), a person to be killed (in retaliation) for the killing of another person, and one who abandons his religion, separating himself from the community."1 This Hadith which relates adultery to polytheism and killing is similar in context to Verse 68 of Surat Al-Furqan and the Hadith oflbn Mas'ud ~ . In the above Hadith, the Prophet ~ mentioned that which is happening in order of frequently, as adultery occurs more often than killing people, and killing people occurs more than apostasy. The Prophet ~ also moved from a great sin to the greatest; the consequences of adultery are evil, with regards to the well-being of humanity. When a woman commits adultery, she disgraces her husband, family and relatives, before people. If she should become pregnant and kill her child, she would have combined adultery with killing; but if she tried to relate the child of adultery to her husband, he or she would enter into her family as a stranger, and would inherit from them while being not one of them, and would stay alone with women/men in the family while he/she is unrelated to them. As for the adultery of a man, it also causes the mixing of kinship, and the violation of the sanctity of the woman, who would be liable to all sorts of evil consequences. Some of the characteristics of adultery are that it enjoins poverty, shortens (true) life, darkens the face of the fornicator, and makes him become despised among people. Adultery corrupts the heart with worry, anxiety and fear. It takes the adulterer away from the angels, bringing him closer to the devil. There is no evil consequence greater than killing (an innocent person) than that of adultery. It is for this reason that Islam commands capital punishment for a mature fornicator, in a gruesome way. If any man was informed that his wife had committed a murder, he would find it easier to accept than if he was informed that she had committed adultery. Sa'd bin 'Ubada ~ said: "If I saw a man with my wife, I would strike him (behead him) with the blade of my sword." This news reached the Messenger of Allah ~ who then said: "You people are astonished at Sa'd's ghaira. By Allah, I have more ghaira than he, and Allah has more ghaira than I, and because of Allah's Ghaira, He has made shameful deeds and sins (such as illegal sexual intercourse etc.), done openly or secretly, unlawful."2 The Prophet ~ said: "Allah has a sense of Ghaira, and Allah's Sense of Ghaira is provoked whenever a believer does something which Allah has prohibited."3 The Prophet ~ also said: ""None has more sense of ghaira (self-respect) than Allah, therefore He has prohibited shameful sins (such as illegal sexual intercourse, etc.), whether they are committed openly or secretly; and there is none who likes people to repent to Him and beg His Pardon than Allah, and it is for this reason He ~ sent wamers and bearers of good news; And there is none who likes to be praised more than Allah does , and for this reason, He ~ praises Himself." The Prophet ~ said, when g1vmg a sermon for Sa/at Al- Kusuf (the Eclipse Prayer): "O followers of Muhammad! There is none, who has a greater sense of Ghira (self- respect) than Allah, so He has forbidden that His Male Servant should commit illegal sexual intercourse or that His Female Servant should commit illegal sexual intercourse. 0 followers of Muhammad! If you but knew what I know, you would laugh less and weep more!" 1 The reference of this major sin in the sermon of Salat Al- Kusuf makes so much sense to whoever ponders well over it. Indeed, the spread of adultery is one of the signs of the destruction of this world, and is also one of the Signs of the Hour, as mentioned in the two Sahih books (of Al-Bukhari and Muslim): On the authority of Anas bin Malik ~ ' who said: "I will narrate to you a Hadith that none will relate to you after me, which I heard from the Prophet :!. For I heard the Messenger of Allah ~ say: 'Among the portents of the Hour are (the following): a decrease of Islamic Knowledge, widespread ignorance (about Islam), a common drinking of wine, widespread adultery, and a shortage of men and increase (in number) of women so much so that fifty women would be looked after by one man. "2 It is part of the Pattern set by Allah ~ for His Creation that the prevalence of adultery invites His Anger which inevitably leads to the occurrence of His Punishment on earth. Abdullah bin Mas'ud ~ said: "Whenever usury and adultery prevail in a community, Allah ~ orders its destruction." Allah ~ has assigned three stipulations for the punishment of adultery: First, killing in the most horrible manner (for married adulterers), and the flogging ( eighty lashes) as a corporal punishment, and exile for a year as a mental punishment. Second, Allah ~ has forbidden His Servants to feel pity for the adulterers, a fact which would prevent them from afflicting the prescribed punishment for them. Allah ~ is more Merciful than His Servants, and His Mercy did not prevent Him from prescribing such a punishment for adulterers. Therefore, His Servants should not yield to the mercy within their hearts and abolish this punishment. Third, Allah ~ has ordered that the execution of the punishment be done in public, in the presence of the faithful. This is for the benefit of teaching others a lesson, so that they would think twice before committing such an evil illegal act. The punishment of the married adulterer is derived from the punishment set by Allah ~ for the people of Lut (Lot) (i.e. stoning to death), because adultery and homosexuality are both illegal sexual acts. They both have evil consequences which oppose the Wisdom of Allah ~ in His Creation and His Command. There are so many evil consequences of homosexuality that they cannot be counted. It is better for a sodomiser to be killed than to go no to commit an other homosexual act, because it is such an evil act that it corrupts him in a manner that no good could ever be hoped for from him; he loses all sense of modesty and his soul becomes poisoned with evil. People have differed as to whether or not such person would enter Paradise. Those who say that he would never enter Paradise argue their claim with the following different opinions: That the Prophet ~ said: "A child of adultery does not enter Paradise."3 They say that this is the case of a child of adultery; he/she is a source of evil because he/she is created from an illegal sperm, even if he/she is innocent of that act. Therefore, the sodomised ( or sodomiser) is even more evil than the child born of adultery; he is more likely to attract nothing but wickedness, because he took part in an evil illegal act; besides that, he would never be supported by Allah ~ to fulfil any good deed, nor acquire any beneficial knowledge, nor achieve pure repentance. However, after carefully studying this matter, we could say: "If a person who is afflicted with this evil ailment gives it up and seeks pure repentance, and changes his bad deeds for good deeds, and washes his disgrace away with all kinds of obedient acts to Allah ~. with sincerity and good faith, then such a person would be forgiven by Allah ~, and would become one of the people of Paradise, because Allah ~ forgives all sins." If repentance wipes away every sin, even polytheism, killing of Prophets, sorcery, etc, then it would not be short of wiping away this sin (homosexuality). Indeed, the wisdom of Allah has been established with justice, as it states that: "A person who repents from a sin is like one who has no sin." 1 Allah ~ has guaranteed to those who repent from polytheism, killing (a person), or adultery, that He ~ would change their bad deeds for good deeds; as He ~ has said: ( 0 My Servants who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Do not despair of the Mercy of Allah, verily, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. ) 2 Therefore, no sin is singled out from this generality; yet this only applies to the repentant. A homosexual who carries on into his older life to be more evil than when he was younger, would never be successful and thus achieve pure repentance, regaining whatever good had passed him in his life. Allah would not change his bad deeds into good ones, because he would not be supported so as to savour a good ending, by being allowed entry into Paradise. But rather all this is a punishment for him by Allah ~' as all his evil deeds would be added together to increase his punishment. When you look at the case of many dying people (people in the throes of death) , you may see that they are prevented from achieving a good ending, (i.e. they fail to utter the testimony of faith - la ilaha ilia Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah), as a punishment for their constant evil deeds! Once, Sufyan Ath-Thawri wept all night, and in the morning, it was said to him: "Is all this because you are worried about sins?" Then he took a handful of dust and said: "Sins are of less value than this. But rather, I weep for fear of a bad ending! " This is the greatest example of good understanding in Islam; that a man fears that his sins may betray him in his dying moments, standing between him and a good ending! Imam Ahmad reported that when Abu Darda' ~ was dying, he used to go unconscious and when he came around, he would recite: ( We shall turn their hearts and eyes away from guidance as they refused to believe therein for the first time, and We shall leave them in their trespass to wander blindly .) 3 Imam Ahmad said: " One should know that the bad ending - we seek refuge in Allah ~ from it - does not occur to those whose life was righteous. Rather, it happens to those who insist on disobeying Allah ~ and do not hesitate to commit all kinds of evil deeds. Such people are overwhelmed by their own wickedness, until they are over taken by death, before having had any chance to repent.