Moreover, the very ordering and choice of the words contain many subtle secrets—this is not the place to expound them; the purpose here is merely to lay down a foundation for what we shall discuss, Allah willing.
It has been said that His statement, “and there awaits them an abiding punishment” (Q 9:68), points to the psychological pains that dog them in this world and the next: anxiety and grief, hardness and darkness of heart, and ignorance. Disbelief and sin indeed carry with them immediate and constant sufferings, known fully only to Allah. Hence you will find that most such people can sweeten their lives only by turning to what stupefies the mind and distracts the heart: drinking intoxicants, watching frivolous entertainments, listening to captivating music, and the like. In contrast He says about the believers, “Those—Allah will show them mercy” (Q 9:71), for Allah—
(1) In manuscript C: “in sha Allah taʿala” (God willing, exalted be He).
(2) Qur’an, Surah al-Tawbah, part of verse 68.
(3) Manuscript A reads: “and darkness and ignorance,” omitting the word “heart.”
(4) In manuscript T: “and He casts.”
(5) The printed edition has: “except that which removes their reason and distracts their hearts.”
(6) Hence we observe that many Muslims today, having deviated from Allah’s religion, fallen into sin, and allowed corruption to spread among them, now suffer greater psychological pain: their hearts have hardened, they have been deprived of the sweetness of faith and serenity, and they flee this anxiety and spiritual torment through every diversion that the sham modern civilisation provides—intoxicants, narcotics, songs, and other distractions that afflict the community such as sports and the arts, together with the frivolity and licentiousness they entail, and all that the media promotes of these and similar pursuits. All of this busies the heart, corrupts the conscience, and weakens faith. Its root cause is the sinner’s own awareness of the pain of sin, which is why psychiatrists are multiplying and demand for them is rising. Likewise, outward signs of anxiety and frail faith—suicide, nervous breakdowns, hysteria, the khanfasa fad, and reckless indifference—grow worse each day as people persist in error and vice. We ask Allah for well-being.
(7) bi-izaʾ: that is, “in opposition to” or “in exchange for” that.
(8) Qur’an, Surah al-Tawbah, part of verse 71.