Elucidating the sins of the heart.
(Among the sins of the heart are:)
1. (The insincerity- riya’ in performing the good deeds ,) like in paying Zakah, fasting, and reading Qur’an, (i.e., to do the good deeds) the obedience, (for the sake of the people -to be praised by them. This) insincerity in performing the good deeds, (nullifies their reward,) i.e. it nullifies the reward of the obedience it accompanied (and is among the enormous sins;) may Allah protect us from it.
2. (Priding oneself for obeying Allah (^ujb),) in the good deeds one performs, (and deeming one’s worship was by one’s own ability and forgetting the grace of Allah😉 i.e. being unmindful and un-remembering of the fact that one’s good deeds are among the endowments and of Allah upon him.
3. (The Doubt about) the existence of (Allah😉 or to doubt about his Power, Knowledge, Oneness, or about any of His Thirteen attributes which were mentioned previously in the explanation of the meaning of the first shahadah, the testification that no one is God except Allah. Furthermore, having doubt in the existence of Allah is blasphemy.
4. (Feeling safe from the punishment of Allah😉 such that one commits sins consistently relying on the conviction that Allah will have mercy upon him.
5. (Despairing of Allah‘s mercy;) i.e. to think ill of Allah by having the firm conviction that Allah will not forgive him and that for sure Allah will punish him for his numerous sins.
6. (Having arrogance-kibr) towards the slaves of Allah, which is) of two types, the first is (to reject the truth said by someone) while knowing that the speaker was right in his statement, due to the speaker’s young age for example, (and/or) the second type is (to look down on the people;) i.e. to look down on others because he is wealthier, higher in status, or the like.
7. (Have enmity in the heart for a Muslim, if one acts in accordance with this and does not hate it;) such that one firmly intends in his heart on harming the envied person, or to say something which harms him, or do something which harms him, unrightfully.
8. (Envy, i.e., to hate and feel bitter about the endowment on a Muslim, and act in accordance with this feeling;) either by way of a firm intention, saying, or an action.
9. (Reminding a person of the charity one has given to him) by reminding such a person of all the charities one has given to him, with the purpose of breaking his heart, or to mention said charities to someone whom the receiver does wish them to be mentioned to, hence breaking the receiver’s heart; (like to say to the receiver of the charity: “Did I not give you a so-and-so) money (on such and such a day) on which you were in needy with the purpose of breaking his heart or the like, with his hurtful words. (This nullifies) i.e. abolishes, (the reward.) of the charity.
10. (Persisting on sinning;) such that one’s bad deeds exceed his good deeds, so the number of his sins surpass the number of his good deeds, in regards to what has passed among his actions; at such a point one has fallen into an enormous sin.
11. (Believing that Allah shall not grant forgiveness to oneself;) this sin is similar to the sin of “despairing of Allah’s mercy” which was mentioned previously.
12. (Thinking ill of Muslims;) without a legitimate evidence. For example for one to think such-and-such a person stole his money upon its theft without any evidence pointing to that. Doing so is unlawful.
13. (Denying the Qadar (Destining);) This is among the sins of the heart which are blasphemy. Like for one to believe that something or several things can happen without Allah Destining for them to happen.
14. (Being happy about a sin done) committed (byoneself or others;) even if one did not witness that sin himself.
15. (Betraying someone, even a blasphemer, such as to kill one after promising him safety;) like for one to say to another for example, “You are safe, I will not harm you,” then to kill him when he has the chance.
16. (Harming a Muslim deceptively;) to harm a Muslim in a concealed manner.
17. (Hating the Companions,) i.e. abhorring them; cursing them has the same judgment[1] as well, and hating (the Al of the Prophet,) which includes the wives of the Prophets, who are referred to as the mothers of the believers, may Allah raise their ranks, and his Muslim relatives, as was mentioned previously; (and) hating (the righteous Muslims;) a righteous Muslim is a pious Muslims who performed the obligations and refrained from the sins.
18. (Being miser in paying what Allah made obligatory upon one (miser-bukhl);), like abstaining from paying the Zakah and encompassed in the same meaning is:
19. (Being extremely miser in paying what Allah made obligatory upon one (miser- shuhh);) except that this sin pertains to one being more severe in his abstinence from paying, like for one to abstain from paying the Zakah and the obligatory spending on his wife .
20. (Having a strong desire to be rich in a bad, sinful manner (hirs);) this sin is related to having a strong attachment in one’s self to possessing money and gathering in such a way that one does not care about the source of the money, whether it came from a lawful or unlawful source. Furthermore, through this money, such a person aims to superiorize himself over people, to boast, and not to spend except on his unlawful self desires; may Allah protect us from that.
21. (Breaching the rules of glorification) i.e. disregarding and having little care about the glorification (regarding what Allah made glorified (istihanah);) i.e. in that which Allah revealed to be considered religiously great .
22. (Belittling) i.e. mocking (what Allah rendered great in status and consequence, be it obedience,) like the saying of some, “What does your prayer benefit you,” or “Does your prayer feed and clothe you” (or) belittling (disobedience,) matters which were mentioned in the religion as great; as well as legitimizing it such as the saying of some people, “There is no harm in doing some sins.” Or belittling (the Qur’an,) like what a man called alHallaj did. Some people witnessed him authoring a work so they asked him about it, and he said, “This is something that will compete with the Qur’an,”; he meant he is writing something similar to the Qur’an. Or belittling the (Islamic knowledge,) like the saying of Sayid Qutub, that learning the rules of the religion is a waste of one’s life and reward . Or belittling (Paradise,) like the saying of some, “Paradise is a toy for small boys”; (or) belittling (Hellfire.) like the saying of some, “Hellfire is a hospital, not a place of torture.”
[1] Cussing all of the companions as a whole, is blasphemy, as will be mentioned thereafter, insha’ Allah.