in place until it is uprooted all at once.”
In the two Sahīh collections, it is also reported that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“No illness, fatigue, anxiety, sorrow, distress or harm afflicts a believer—not even the prick of a thorn—without Allah expiating some of his sins thereby.”
In the hadith of Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, he said:
“I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which people are most severely tried?’ He replied, ‘The prophets, then the righteous, then those nearest to them in virtue, and so on. A man is tried according to his religious commitment. If his commitment is firm, his trials are increased; if it is weak, they are eased. Trials continue to afflict the believer until he walks upon the earth without a single sin upon him.’”
Reported by Ahmad, al-Tirmidhī and others.
He also said:
“Illness removes sins from the one afflicted with it, just as a dry tree sheds its leaves.”
There are many hadiths on this subject. Whoever remains free of all three kinds of wrongdoing will have complete security and complete guidance. Whoever does not remain free of wronging himself will have security and guidance in a general sense: he will inevitably enter Paradise, as promised in the other verse. Allah has guided him to the straight path, which ultimately leads him to Paradise. Yet his security and guidance will be diminished in proportion to the diminution of his faith through his wronging himself.
By saying, “It refers only to associating partners with Allah,” the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not mean that whoever avoids major association of partners with Allah will have complete security and complete guidance. His many hadiths, together with the texts of the Quran, make clear that those who commit major sins are exposed to fear. They have attained neither complete security nor the complete guidance by which they would follow the straight path—the path of those whom Allah has blessed among the prophets, the steadfastly truthful, the martyrs and the righteous—without suffering any punishment. Rather, they have a basic measure of guidance to