What Allah has censured regarding the hardness of hearts
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The question: Our sister says: Often, some people are afflicted with hardness of heart, so their hearts do not incline toward the remembrance of Allah. Are they those about whom the warning was mentioned in the Noble Qur'an?
The answer: If this matter means that it prevents them from performing the obligatory duties and abandoning the prohibitions, then they are threatened with punishment. But if the hardness does not prevent them from performing the obligatory duty or cause them to fall into what is forbidden, then it is a deficiency in their work that does not harm them. However, the one who has humility has more softness, and he is better than them.
So hardness is of two kinds: Hardness that leads to abandoning some of the obligatory duties or committing some of the prohibitions. This harms them because of the commission of what is forbidden or the abandonment of what is obligatory that results from it.
And the hardness that does not result in that, but one feels some hardness and does not find some humility in his deeds. This does not harm him, but he misses out on some of the reward that is obtained by those who are humble and those who remember Allah frequently. However, it does not harm him if it does not lead him to disobedience or to abandoning an obligatory duty, but rather it causes him to abandon some of the recommended acts or reject some of the remembrance. This does not harm him greatly, even though it causes him to miss out on some good. But it harms him if it leads him to abandoning an obligatory duty or committing a sin. This is a great deficiency, and this heedlessness harms him. But if the heedlessness only results in some disliked acts or the abandonment of some recommended acts, then its harm is slight. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
The answer: If this matter means that it prevents them from performing the obligatory duties and abandoning the prohibitions, then they are threatened with punishment. But if the hardness does not prevent them from performing the obligatory duty or cause them to fall into what is forbidden, then it is a deficiency in their work that does not harm them. However, the one who has humility has more softness, and he is better than them.
So hardness is of two kinds: Hardness that leads to abandoning some of the obligatory duties or committing some of the prohibitions. This harms them because of the commission of what is forbidden or the abandonment of what is obligatory that results from it.
And the hardness that does not result in that, but one feels some hardness and does not find some humility in his deeds. This does not harm him, but he misses out on some of the reward that is obtained by those who are humble and those who remember Allah frequently. However, it does not harm him if it does not lead him to disobedience or to abandoning an obligatory duty, but rather it causes him to abandon some of the recommended acts or reject some of the remembrance. This does not harm him greatly, even though it causes him to miss out on some good. But it harms him if it leads him to abandoning an obligatory duty or committing a sin. This is a great deficiency, and this heedlessness harms him. But if the heedlessness only results in some disliked acts or the abandonment of some recommended acts, then its harm is slight. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.