old age with the ugliest of faces. Indeed, among those Turks and others in whose ranks this is widespread, a person may be among the most handsome in youth and the ugliest in old age. This is not caused by anything inherent in the body’s nature—for the normal course of things is one of consistency in this regard—but by the indecency and injustice that come to dominate him. He becomes effeminate, a sodomite, an oppressor, and a helper of oppressors, and this clothes his face in ugliness and disfigurement.

Another instance of this is that Allah transformed those among earlier nations whose transgression had grown severe into apes and pigs. It is also established in an authentic hadith that some members of this nation will likewise be transformed into apes and pigs. Punishments and rewards correspond to evil and good deeds, as has been explained elsewhere.

There is no doubt that things Allah does not love, whether things that incur His displeasure or otherwise, are made attractive in the minds of many people, until they regard them as beautiful and good. They find pleasures in them that reinforce this perception, even though those pleasures entail pains greater than themselves.

As Allah Most High says:

“Beautified for people is the love of desires: women, sons, heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, fine horses, livestock, and cultivated land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but with Allah is the best return.”
[Surah Āl ʿImrān 14]

And He says:

“Is one whose evil deeds have been made attractive to him, so that he regards them as good, like one rightly guided? Indeed, Allah lets go astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills.”
[Surah Fātir 8]