Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī used to say:

“Even if fine horses prance beneath them and mules clatter for their service, the humiliation of sin is still fastened around their necks. Allah refuses to do other than humble the one who disobeys Him. Whoever obeys Allah—Allah befriends him in the very matter in which he was obedient; but whoever disobeys Him carries within himself a share of the conduct of those who opposed Him through their disobedience.”

In the qunūt supplication it is said: “Indeed, none whom You befriend is ever demeaned, and none whom You oppose is ever honoured.”1

As for the practitioners of blatant indecency—those who neither lower their gaze nor guard their private parts—Allah depicts them with the opposite qualities: stupor, blindness, ignorance, lack of intellect and sound judgment, loathsomeness, and the blurring of their vision, in addition to describing them as impure, defiantly sinful, aggressive, excessive, evil, obscene, corrupt, and criminal. Concerning the people of Lot He said:

“Rather, you are a people acting ignorantly.”

And He said: “By your life! They wandered blindly in their intoxication.”

And He said: “Is there not among you a single right-minded man?”

And He said: “We would indeed have obliterated their eyes.”

And He said: “No, you are a people given to excess.”

And He said: “So look at the outcome of the criminals.”

And He said: “They were an evil, rebellious people.”

And He said: “Do you really approach men, cut off the travellers, and commit in your gatherings what is detestable?” (Al-ʿAnkabūt 29)