Naming sins as impurity, with the hadith: The believer does not become impure
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Why did Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) name sins and disobedience as impurity, when what was reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is that the believer does not become impure?
The Shaykh:
Yes, there is impurity in it. The sinner has impurity in him; he is a believer, but he has the impurity of disobedience. Just as he is a believer and his garment or body becomes impure when impurity touches him, even if he is a believer, so it is with disobedience. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
And it is a spiritual impurity, not a physical impurity. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Why did Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) name sins and disobedience as impurity, when what was reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is that the believer does not become impure?
The Shaykh:
Yes, there is impurity in it. The sinner has impurity in him; he is a believer, but he has the impurity of disobedience. Just as he is a believer and his garment or body becomes impure when impurity touches him, even if he is a believer, so it is with disobedience. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
And it is a spiritual impurity, not a physical impurity. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل وأما نجاسة الذنوب والمعاصي — islamhouse.com (46:54)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.