What are the matters that help a person to abandon sin?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
His EminenceThe Shaykh : What are the matters that help a person to abandon sin?
The Shaykh : The most important thing that helps a person to abandon sin is the fear of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and that he should repeat in his mind the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Inshiqaq 84:6], and that he should believe and be certain that any deed he does, he will meet his Lord with it.
Second: that he should think about the outcome, what is the outcome of sin? The consequences of sins are bad, because they make it easy for the servant to commit the sin of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so he continues with Shaytan until he leads him to shirk (associating partners with Allah). For this reason, some of the scholars of knowledge said: sins are the messenger of kufr (disbelief).
That is: the person travels from it stage by stage until he reaches the end—seeking refuge in Allah—and what indicates this saying is the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):[Al-Mutaffifin 83:13-14]: So when sins have settled upon the heart, seeking refuge in Allah, it makes the verses of Allah, the great Qur'an, seem to him like the tales of the ancients, meaning: nonsense. So if a person reflects on the consequences of sin, this is one of the reasons for his distance from it.
Third: that he should know that sin does not increase him in anything from Allah except distance, and if he distances himself from Allah, seeking refuge in Allah, people distance themselves from him, because when a person distances himself from Allah, seeking refuge in Allah, there becomes in his heart a sense of alienation, and it becomes as if there is a page in front of him that people read with his faults and sins, and he finds that humiliation has been written upon him. So he reflects on such things, and this is what strengthens him to abandon sin.
Fourth: and among the reasons for that also: if this sin is due to the company of some of the people of evil, let him distance himself from them and keep away from them, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) compared the companion of evil to the bellows-blower, he said:Sahih Ibn Hibban 6:255.
His EminenceThe Shaykh : What are the matters that help a person to abandon sin?
The Shaykh : The most important thing that helps a person to abandon sin is the fear of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and that he should repeat in his mind the saying of Allah the Exalted:
O mankind, indeed you are laboring toward your Lord with [great] exertion and will meet it.
يَا أَيُّهَا الإِنْسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحاً فَمُلاقِيهِSecond: that he should think about the outcome, what is the outcome of sin? The consequences of sins are bad, because they make it easy for the servant to commit the sin of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so he continues with Shaytan until he leads him to shirk (associating partners with Allah). For this reason, some of the scholars of knowledge said: sins are the messenger of kufr (disbelief).
That is: the person travels from it stage by stage until he reaches the end—seeking refuge in Allah—and what indicates this saying is the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):
(13) When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." (14) No! Rather, the stain has covered their hearts of that which they were earning.
إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ * كَلَّا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَThird: that he should know that sin does not increase him in anything from Allah except distance, and if he distances himself from Allah, seeking refuge in Allah, people distance themselves from him, because when a person distances himself from Allah, seeking refuge in Allah, there becomes in his heart a sense of alienation, and it becomes as if there is a page in front of him that people read with his faults and sins, and he finds that humiliation has been written upon him. So he reflects on such things, and this is what strengthens him to abandon sin.
Fourth: and among the reasons for that also: if this sin is due to the company of some of the people of evil, let him distance himself from them and keep away from them, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) compared the companion of evil to the bellows-blower, he said: