Hellfire, my brothers, is something Wallahi- not to be taken lightly; and, I recall a Hadeeth we mentioned last week in relation to the majority of the believers that enter hellfire, why do they enter hell? The Prophet (sa) said: “The majority of the reasons why Muslims end up in hellfire for a while is- he called it ‘Muhakirat Al Zounub’”; they are the sins that we take for granted, like little things, they are forbidden, but they are not major. And, we don’t take them as important , we say: ‘It’s just a sin, it’s alright, it’s just a little bit, it’s just a look, it’s just a lie, it’s just little cheat, it’s just a little theft, it’s just once, It’s ok’. We take them for granted, what happens when you take a small sin for granted? When you don’t care about it? When you are careless!
What happens?
What do you do?
You keep doing it; you keep repeating it, that’s the danger!
When you take something so lightly, we in our nature, we continue to repeat it- until finally it becomes a habit; we are desensitized to it, we are not sensitive to it anymore, and so it becomes a normal part of our life. Would you believe that some people, and I am very sad to say that among the Muslims themselves- they have false hope, and so sins in their life become so normal like they are eating and drinking; it means nothing, it actually becomes Halal to them. They will think it’s Halal, it’s alright, what’s wrong with that? It’s Halal, it’s Okay- why religion is so hard?
Is the religion hard or you?
Religion is not hard, we make it hard on ourselves; but when we take sins for granted, we ruin our character! You know we tell our children: Do not lie! Why are we so harsh on that? We are so careful that our children turn 5/6 years old we teach them not to lie, or to steal and we punish them. Why?
Because, we do not want this habit to develop in them, they are just children. They lied once or twice- it’s not a big deal, no one is going to hold it against them, they are just children. But, we are afraid of the habit, it becomes a routine- they become liars, they become cheats, they become thieves.
Similarly, Islam forbids minor sins because of the same reason. So, the Prophet (sa) said: ‘With great sorrow many of the people of my Ummah will enter hellfire because they take minor sins for granted; therefore, it becomes a habit for them’.
So, some people have false hope ‘Allah (swt) will forgive me’. You need to cure yourself! Allah (swt) cannot be fooled.
Transcribed by Hira Naqi