Are calamities a punishment or an expiation for sins?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you. We said that in the discussion of divine decree, when a person is afflicted with calamities and misfortunes and is patient with them, they serve as an expiation for his sins and a raising of his rank. This is confusing to me in light of the statement of some scholars who cited as evidence the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And whatever misfortune befalls you is for what your hands have earned.”
The Shaykh : No,[Ash-Shuraa 42:30].
The questioner :[Ash-Shuraa 42:30].
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : They said that the cause of a servant being afflicted with calamities and misfortunes is his sins. How do we reconcile this?
The Shaykh : What did they say?
The questioner : That the cause of the misfortunes that befall a servant
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : is his sins and shortcomings. How do we reconcile this matter?
The Shaykh : We say that when misfortunes befall a person, they are an expiation, an expiation, and there is no reward in them; there is a reduction of sins if he is patient. If he seeks reward, then there is expiation and reward in them. That is to say: the reward is only for the one who seeks reward from Allah, whereas the expiation occurs simply by the misfortune befalling him; it expiates his sins.
The questioner : And his being afflicted with the misfortune, that is
The Shaykh : from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The questioner : Yes, but can one who is not a sinner be afflicted?
The Shaykh : Yes, perhaps one who is not a sinner is afflicted to raise his ranks. There is no doubt in this. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would suffer fever as two of us would suffer it, and in that there is a raising of his ranks, and so that the rank of the patient is completed for him. For this reason, the most patient of people with the decrees of Allah, with misfortunes, and with the Shari'ah is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The questioner : Shaykh, Allah the Exalted says in His Book:[Al-Baqarah 2:253] And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: .
The Shaykh : Says?
The questioner :Sahih al-Bukhari 3414, 3415.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner :Sahih al-Bukhari 3414, 3415.
The Shaykh : No,
And whatever strikes you of disaster
وما أصابكم من مصيبةThe questioner :
strikes you of disaster - it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much.
من مصيبة فبما كسبت أيديكم ويعفو عن كثيرThe Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : They said that the cause of a servant being afflicted with calamities and misfortunes is his sins. How do we reconcile this?
The Shaykh : What did they say?
The questioner : That the cause of the misfortunes that befall a servant
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : is his sins and shortcomings. How do we reconcile this matter?
The Shaykh : We say that when misfortunes befall a person, they are an expiation, an expiation, and there is no reward in them; there is a reduction of sins if he is patient. If he seeks reward, then there is expiation and reward in them. That is to say: the reward is only for the one who seeks reward from Allah, whereas the expiation occurs simply by the misfortune befalling him; it expiates his sins.
The questioner : And his being afflicted with the misfortune, that is
The Shaykh : from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The questioner : Yes, but can one who is not a sinner be afflicted?
The Shaykh : Yes, perhaps one who is not a sinner is afflicted to raise his ranks. There is no doubt in this. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would suffer fever as two of us would suffer it, and in that there is a raising of his ranks, and so that the rank of the patient is completed for him. For this reason, the most patient of people with the decrees of Allah, with misfortunes, and with the Shari'ah is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The questioner : Shaykh, Allah the Exalted says in His Book:
Those messengers - some of them We caused to exceed others.
تلك الرسل فضلنا بعضهم على بعضDo not prefer some of Allah’s messengers over others, and I will not say that anyone is better than Yunus ibn Matta
لا تفضلوا بين أنبياء الله ولا أقولن إن أحدا أفضل من يونس بن متىThe Shaykh : Says?
The questioner :
Don't give superiority to any prophet amongst Allah's Prophets
لا تفضلوا بين أنبياء اللهThe Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner :