the limbs, ruining their deeds just as it had ruined the tongue’s words. Lying then engulfs his speech, his actions, and his whole state of being; corruption takes firm hold of him and its disease keeps advancing toward total destruction—unless Allah treats him with the remedy of truthfulness, uprooting that malignant root once and for all.

For this reason, the foundation of every inward act of the heart is truthfulness, whereas its opposites—ostentation, self-admiration, arrogance, boastfulness, swagger, insolence, exultant pride, helplessness, laziness, cowardice, baseness, and the like—all spring from falsehood. Every sound deed, outward or inward, is born of truthfulness, and every corrupt deed, outward or inward, is born of falsehood.

Allah—exalted is He—punishes the liar by making him sit idle and holding him back from what would benefit him, while He rewards the truthful by granting him success in securing the interests of his worldly life and his afterlife. No means has ever secured the benefits of this world and the next like truthfulness, and nothing has ever unleashed their harms and losses like lying.

The Almighty says: “O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and be with those who are truthful” 119 ⦗al-Tawbah 119⦘.

He also says: “This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness” ⦗al-Māʾidah 119⦘.

And He says: “So when the matter was resolved, had they been true to Allah it would have been better for them” ⦗Muḥammad 21⦘.

And He says: “Some of the desert Arabs with excuses came asking leave, whereas those who lied to Allah and His Messenger stayed behind; a painful punishment will befall those of them who disbelieved” 90 ⦗al-Tawbah 90⦘.

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Concerning His words, the Exalted: “It may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is bad for you; Allah knows, and you do not know” 216.