Hadith No. 31 – Sahih al-Bukhari

Salam,

Bismillah.

Injustice can be divided into two types – one is with people, the other is with our own selves.

Yes. We do wrong our souls. How? By committing sins. Nobody, apart from the Prophets, is exempted from this.

Volume 1, Book 2, Number 31:

Narrated ‘Abdullah:

When the following verse was revealed: “It is those who believe and confuse not their belief with wrong (injustice)” (6:83), the companions of Allah’s Apostle asked, “Who is amongst us who had not done injustice (wrong)?” Allah revealed: “No doubt, joining others in worship with Allah is a great injustice (wrong) indeed.” (31.13)

Sins have categories and divisions. And so do punishments. Sins and their respective punishments also have similarities. For example, a thief gets his hands cut off (because he uses hands to steal). The greatest of all sins is Shirk. So is its punishment – eternal Hellfire.

Dawai Shaafi (a book by Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah) explains these concepts in great detail. Here’s a glimpse:

Evil is in all of us. It tempts us to commit sins. Sins result in punishments, which are of two types:

– Physical: like karma. You do bad, bad happens to you.

– Of the heart: after doing something wrong, you feel guilt.

The effect on the heart is the worst of the two. And actually it is the root cause of physical punishments.

Prophet (SAW) used to seek Allah’s refuge from the evil inside in his sermons by saying:

“We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds.”

There are two ways to prevent this evil:

– Asking for Allah’s help against committing sins

– Hoping Allah will save us from the punishments of the sins we commit

Lesson: Every sin is followed by its punishment.

Hope it’s helpful. =)

Wassalam.