A person may think of his sins as entries in a record that will only be opened on the Day of Judgement. The Qur’an and the scholars describe something more: sins do things to a person here, in this world, before that record is opened. They work on his heart, on his provision and the blessings around him, on the land he lives in and the people he lives among, and on his standing with Allah and with people. This page gathers what the books say about those effects, in their own words. It is a companion to Does Allah Forgive Every Sin? and What Is Istighfar?, linked below: those pages treat the way back, and this page treats what makes the way back necessary.
One fence stands around everything that follows. This page speaks of sins and their effects in general, exactly as the books state them. It does not read any person’s life, and it names no one. A hardship that falls on a man is not, by itself, a judgement on his sins, and a life of ease is not, by itself, a sign of Allah’s pleasure with him. The books themselves refuse both readings, and the refusal is part of what they teach, as the later sections show.
On the Heart
The first place a sin lands is the heart of the one who commits it. Allah describes what repeated sins build up there:
“Nay; rather their hearts have been covered with the stain of their misdeeds.”
Allah’s words in Surah al-Mutaffifeen (83), verse 14, Tafseer as-Sa’di (Vol. 10, printed p. 350).
The Prophet ﷺ described the same covering as it grows, in a hadith [a report of what the Prophet ﷺ said or did] recorded in the edition’s footnote to this verse:
“If the believer commits a sin, a black spot appears on his heart. If he repents, gives it up and seeks forgiveness, his heart is cleansed, but if he does more, then (that spot) increases until it covers his heart.”
The Prophet ﷺ, as recorded in the footnote to Tafseer as-Sa’di on Surah al-Mutaffifeen (83), verse 14 (Vol. 10, printed pp. 350-351), where the footnote states that it was recorded by Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi and that Shaykh al-Albani graded it as authentic.
As-Sa’di draws out what the covering does to a person’s sight. A covered heart, he says, belongs to those who are “prevented from seeing the truth” (on verse 14, printed p. 352). And he closes his explanation of these verses with the warning in full:
“These verses also contain a warning against sin, for it stains the heart, gradually covering it until its light is extinguished and its ability to recognise things as they are ceases to function, whereupon facts are turned upside down, so that the individual sees falsehood as truth and truth as falsehood. This is one of the punishments for sin.”
Abdur Rahman as-Sa’di, Tafseer as-Sa’di, on Surah al-Mutaffifeen (83), verses 14-17 (Vol. 10, printed pp. 352-353).
So the loss is not only of feeling. It is a loss of sight: the light by which a person recognises things as they are goes out by degrees, until wrong begins to look right to him. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, in his sermon on the ill effects of sins, lists the trials that befall people and places the trials of the Deen [the religion, the way of life Allah prescribed] at the head of their harm. After trials in the person and trials in wealth, he names trials that touch the religion itself, doubts and desires that assail the hearts of the Ummah [the Muslims as one community]:
“and trials relating to the Deen – the doubts and desires which assail the hearts and keep the Ummah away from the Deen of Allah, and keep it away from the way of our Pious Predecessors (Salaf) and which lead it to destruction. The trials of the heart are the worst and the most severe of all the trials in this world since worldly misfortunes when they occur can only cause loss in this world, which will pass away anyway, whether sooner or later but trials relating to the Deen cause loss of this world and the Hereafter.”
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, The Ill Effects of Sins (printed pp. 11-12).
On Provision and Blessing
Every blessing a person holds comes from one source, and the Shaykh begins there:
“We believe that whatever good or state of ease and security comes upon us, then it is from Allah’s blessings upon us and it is an obligation upon us that we give praise and thanks to the One who granted and provided that for us. This is done by returning to obedience to Him, avoiding whatever He forbade and doing whatever He ordered. If we carry out our duty of obedience to Allah then we will be giving thanks for His blessings and would then deserve the increase in these blessings which Allah has promised us from His bounty.”
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 5).
Gratitude, then, is kept by obedience, and its opposite carries its own announced end:
“And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: ‘If you give thanks, I will give you more (of My blessings), but if you are thankless, verily My punishment is indeed severe.’”
Allah’s words in Surah Ibraheem (14), verse 7, as quoted by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen in The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 5).
The same link between what people do and what reaches them stands in the verse of the towns. Where a people believed and had taqwa [fearing Allah and keeping His commands], the door of blessing stood open; where they belied the Messengers, they were taken for what they earned:
“And if the people of the towns had believed and had taqwaa (piety), certainly, We should have opened for them blessings from the heavens and the earth, but they belied (the Messengers). So we took them (with punishment) for what they used to earn (polytheism, and crimes etc.).”
Allah’s words in Surah al-A’raaf (7), verse 96, as quoted by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen in The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 15).
As-Sa’di treats the decline itself, in his explanation of the verse of corruption on land and sea:
“Corruption and disorder have appeared on land and sea because of what people’s hands have earned. Thus Allah causes them to taste the consequences of some of what they have done, so that they may turn in repentance.”
Allah’s words in Surah ar-Room (30), verse 41, Tafseer as-Sa’di (Vol. 7, printed pp. 318-319).
“That is, corruption has appeared on land and sea, meaning that their livelihood has declined, with blight damaging the crops, sicknesses and epidemics sweeping over the people, and so on. That is because of what their hands have wrought of corrupt deeds that spread corruption far and wide.”
Abdur Rahman as-Sa’di, Tafseer as-Sa’di, on Surah ar-Room (30), verse 41 (Vol. 7, printed p. 319).
Provision shrinks, crops fail, sickness spreads: the books trace these to what hands have earned, not to chance. And Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen recites the same verse in the rendering he quotes, with its ending kept in view: evil has appeared on land and sea “that Allah may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allah)” (The Ill Effects of Sins, printed p. 8). A part, not the whole, and with a purpose: return.
On a Person’s Standing, With Allah and With People
Sins also work outward, between people themselves. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen describes how this nation is punished for its disobedience, in words that join mercy to the warning:
“Allah, from His Wisdom and His Mercy, punishes this nation for its sins and disobedience by setting some part of it upon the others so that they destroy one another and take each other prisoner.”
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 9).
He then recites Allah’s words on the same matter:
“Say: ‘He has power to send torment on you from above you or from under your feet, or to cover you with confusion in party strife, and make you to taste the violence of one another.’”
Allah’s words in Surah al-An’aam (6), verse 65, as quoted by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen in The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 9).
Division, confusion and violence between people are named here as things Allah sends in response to sin, not as accidents of politics alone. And a person’s standing is not measured by what he holds. The Shaykh quotes one of the Pious Predecessors, the Salaf [the pious first generations of Muslims], on the man whose blessings keep flowing while he continues in disobedience:
“If you see Allah grant blessings to a certain person, and then you see that person continuing in disobedience to Him, then know that this is from Allah’s plan against him and that he is referred to by Allah, the Most Highs, saying: ‘We shall gradually seize them with punishment in ways they perceive not. And I respite them; certainly My plot is strong.’”
One of the Pious Predecessors (Salaf), as quoted by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen in The Ill Effects of Sins (printed p. 15); the verse is Surah al-A’raaf (7), verses 182-183.
So ease proves nothing about a person’s standing with Allah, just as hardship, by itself, proves nothing against him. What a person is upon, obedience or disobedience, is the measure the books keep returning to.
The Door Back Stays Open
None of these effects is the last word, and the books do not leave them standing alone. The corruption of the verse of ar-Room is a tasting of “some of what they have done”, given “so that they may turn in repentance”, and As-Sa’di ends his explanation of that verse in wonder at the mercy inside it:
“Glory be to the One Who brings about blessings through His trials and tests, and Who bestows grace through His punishment. Otherwise, if He caused them to taste the consequences of all that they have earned, He would not leave any living creature on the face of the earth.”
Abdur Rahman as-Sa’di, Tafseer as-Sa’di, on Surah ar-Room (30), verse 41 (Vol. 7, printed p. 319).
The stain on the heart is cleansed the same way it was described: the believer repents, gives the sin up and seeks forgiveness. What repentance is, its conditions, and whether any sin is too great for Allah’s forgiveness are treated on the pages linked below, and they are the other half of this subject. The effects gathered here are a warning to turn back, and the turning back is real, and it is accepted.
So, What Do Sins Do to a Person?
Gathering the page together:
- They stain the heart, spot by spot, until the covering grows over it; repentance, giving the sin up and seeking forgiveness cleanse it (83:14; the Prophet ﷺ, in the footnote to Tafseer as-Sa’di).
- They put out the heart’s light by degrees, until it can no longer recognise things as they are, and falsehood looks like truth and truth like falsehood (as-Sa’di on 83:14-17).
- They bring the trials of the Deen, doubts and desires that keep people away from Allah’s way, and these are the worst of trials, because their loss reaches this world and the Hereafter together (Ibn Uthaymeen).
- They stand against blessing: blessings are from Allah, gratitude is kept by obedience and promised increase, and thanklessness is answered with a severe punishment (Ibn Uthaymeen; 14:7).
- They close what belief and taqwa would have opened: blessings from the heavens and the earth (7:96; Ibn Uthaymeen).
- They spread corruption on land and sea, so that livelihood declines, crops are blighted and sickness sweeps over people (30:41; as-Sa’di).
- They set people against one another, in confusion, party strife and violence (6:65; Ibn Uthaymeen).
- They do not always show at once: blessings that keep flowing to a person who continues in disobedience are a gradual leading on, not a sign of honour (one of the Salaf; 7:182-183).
- And what reaches a person of their consequences in this world is only some of what he earned, sent so that he may return; the door of repentance and istighfar [seeking Allah’s forgiveness] stands open (30:41; as-Sa’di).
So sins are not small things that pass over a person and leave him as he was. They mark the heart, narrow the blessing, trouble the land and divide the people, and they do their worst work quietly, on the light by which a person sees. I ask Allah to protect me and the reader from their effects, and to make us quick to return to Him. Whoever wants the fuller treatment will find it in Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s sermon The Ill Effects of Sins, and in Tafseer as-Sa’di on Surahs ar-Room and al-Mutaffifeen.
Further Reading
- Does Allah Forgive Every Sin?: the other half of this subject: whether Allah forgives every sin, including the major sins and shirk, for the one who turns back.
- What Is Istighfar? Seeking Allah’s Forgiveness and Its Virtue: the companion page: what seeking forgiveness is, and what Allah has promised the one who holds fast to it.
- Repentance (Tawbah): what repentance is, its conditions, and when it is no longer accepted, from Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s explanation of Riyad as-Salihin.
References
- Abdur Rahman as-Sa’di, Tafseer as-Sa’di, Vols. 7 and 10. International Islamic Publishing House, English Edition 1, 2018; translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab. Used for: ar-Room (30), verse 41 (Vol. 7, printed pp. 318-319), and al-Mutaffifeen (83), verse 14 (Vol. 10, printed pp. 350-353, including the edition’s footnote 43).
- Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, The Ill Effects of Sins. Al-Hidaayah Publishing & Distribution, First Edition, 1415 AH/1994 CE; translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank; ISBN 1 898649 04 9. Owner-supplied copy. Used for: blessings, gratitude and obedience (printed p. 5), evil appearing on land and sea (printed p. 8), the nation set upon itself and party strife (printed p. 9), the trials of the heart (printed pp. 11-12), and blessings opened for belief and taqwaa, with the saying of one of the Salaf (printed p. 15).
✓ Verified 2026-10-24 against the sources named in References above: every quotation on this page was checked against Tafseer as-Sa’di, Vols. 7 and 10, and Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s The Ill Effects of Sins.